diff --git a/doc/05-repositories.md b/doc/05-repositories.md
index 7ab8b9da76d5..88fa95a7f99f 100644
--- a/doc/05-repositories.md
+++ b/doc/05-repositories.md
@@ -755,6 +755,25 @@ variables are parsed in both Windows and Linux/Mac notations. For example
 > **Note:** Repository paths can also contain wildcards like `*` and `?`.
 > For details, see the [PHP glob function](https://php.net/glob).
 
+You can configure the behavior of reference building for a package. Field reference showing when something changed in package.
+There are the following options:
+- null - reference will be always null
+- config - reference is building basing on hash of composer.json and repo config
+- auto (used by default) - reference is building basing on hash of composer.json and repo config, but if the package folder contain git repository, then reference will be equal to the last commit hash in this folder
+```json
+{
+    "repositories": [
+        {
+            "type": "path",
+            "url": "../../packages/my-package",
+            "options": {
+                "reference": "auto"
+            }
+        }
+    ]
+}
+```
+
 ## Disabling Packagist.org
 
 You can disable the default Packagist.org repository by adding this to your
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
index 3cb879c5c52c..5ad28c84ed00 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
@@ -56,6 +56,13 @@
  *             "symlink": false
  *         }
  *     },
+ *     {
+ *         "type": "path",
+ *         "url": "../../relative/path/to/package/",
+ *         "options": {
+ *             "reference": "none"
+ *         }
+ *     },
  * ]
  * @endcode
  *
@@ -81,7 +88,7 @@ class PathRepository extends ArrayRepository implements ConfigurableRepositoryIn
 
     /**
      * @var mixed[]
-     * @phpstan-var array{url: string, options?: array{symlink?: bool, relative?: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}}
+     * @phpstan-var array{url: string, options?: array{symlink?: bool, reference?: string, relative?: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}}
      */
     private $repoConfig;
 
@@ -91,14 +98,14 @@ class PathRepository extends ArrayRepository implements ConfigurableRepositoryIn
     private $process;
 
     /**
-     * @var array{symlink?: bool, relative?: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}
+     * @var array{symlink?: bool, reference?: string, relative: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}
      */
     private $options;
 
     /**
      * Initializes path repository.
      *
-     * @param array{url?: string, options?: array{symlink?: bool, relative?: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}} $repoConfig
+     * @param array{url?: string, options?: array{symlink?: bool, reference?: string, relative?: bool, versions?: array<string, string>}} $repoConfig
      * @param IOInterface $io
      * @param Config      $config
      */
@@ -171,8 +178,13 @@ protected function initialize()
             $package['dist'] = array(
                 'type' => 'path',
                 'url' => $url,
-                'reference' => sha1($json . serialize($this->options)),
             );
+            $reference = $this->options['reference'] ?? 'auto';
+            if ('none' === $reference) {
+                $package['dist']['reference'] = null;
+            } elseif ('config' === $reference || 'auto' === $reference) {
+                $package['dist']['reference'] = sha1($json . serialize($this->options));
+            }
             $package['transport-options'] = $this->options;
             unset($package['transport-options']['versions']);
 
@@ -193,7 +205,7 @@ protected function initialize()
             }
 
             $output = '';
-            if (is_dir($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . '.git') && 0 === $this->process->execute('git log -n1 --pretty=%H'.GitUtil::getNoShowSignatureFlag($this->process), $output, $path)) {
+            if ('auto' === $reference && is_dir($path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . '.git') && 0 === $this->process->execute('git log -n1 --pretty=%H'.GitUtil::getNoShowSignatureFlag($this->process), $output, $path)) {
                 $package['dist']['reference'] = trim($output);
             }
 
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
index cb1aa0e3f205..bff6fd6b24cc 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
@@ -154,4 +154,50 @@ public function testUrlRemainsRelative()
         $relativeUrl = str_replace(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, '/', $relativeUrl);
         $this->assertSame($relativeUrl, $package->getDistUrl());
     }
+
+    public function testReferenceNone()
+    {
+        $ioInterface = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\IO\IOInterface')
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $config = new \Composer\Config();
+
+        $options = array(
+            'reference' => 'none',
+        );
+        $repositoryUrl = implode(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, array(__DIR__, 'Fixtures', 'path', '*'));
+        $repository = new PathRepository(array('url' => $repositoryUrl, 'options' => $options), $ioInterface, $config);
+        $packages = $repository->getPackages();
+
+        $this->assertGreaterThanOrEqual(2, $repository->count());
+
+        foreach ($packages as $package) {
+            $this->assertEquals($package->getDistReference(), null);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testReferenceConfig()
+    {
+        $ioInterface = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\IO\IOInterface')
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $config = new \Composer\Config();
+
+        $options = array(
+            'reference' => 'config',
+            'relative' => true,
+        );
+        $repositoryUrl = implode(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, array(__DIR__, 'Fixtures', 'path', '*'));
+        $repository = new PathRepository(array('url' => $repositoryUrl, 'options' => $options), $ioInterface, $config);
+        $packages = $repository->getPackages();
+
+        $this->assertGreaterThanOrEqual(2, $repository->count());
+
+        foreach ($packages as $package) {
+            $this->assertEquals(
+                $package->getDistReference(),
+                sha1(file_get_contents($package->getDistUrl() . '/composer.json') . serialize($options))
+            );
+        }
+    }
 }