diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PathRepository.php
index 3cb879c5c52c..f382dbf5934d 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/Fixtures/functional/plugin-autoloading-only-loads-dependencies/vendor/composer/installed.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/functional/plugin-autoloading-only-loads-dependencies/vendor/composer/installed.php
index e088b2ffd21f..12600a6e52a6 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/functional/plugin-autoloading-only-loads-dependencies/vendor/composer/installed.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/functional/plugin-autoloading-only-loads-dependencies/vendor/composer/installed.php
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
             'type' => 'library',
             'install_path' => __DIR__ . '/../evil/pkg',
             'aliases' => array(),
-            'reference' => 'a95061d7a7e3cf4466381fd1abc504279c95b231',
+            'reference' => 'c78ed4017d8213c0921dbfee6ba33dbc3b23f667',
             'dev_requirement' => false,
         ),
         'root/pkg' => array(
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Repository/PathRepositoryTest.php
index cb1aa0e3f205..860164a6e53b 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(), '');
+        }
+    }
+
+    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))
+            );
+        }
+    }
 }