diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 1283522ca..cb9d4014c 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -293,6 +293,9 @@ int git_config_refresh(git_config *cfg)
 		error = file->refresh(file);
 	}
 
+	if (!error && GIT_REFCOUNT_OWNER(cfg) != NULL)
+		git_repository__cvar_cache_clear(GIT_REFCOUNT_OWNER(cfg));
+
 	return error;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/config_cache.c b/src/config_cache.c
index 2f36df7d1..84de3a5ed 100644
--- a/src/config_cache.c
+++ b/src/config_cache.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ struct map_data {
  *	files that have the text property set. Alternatives are lf, crlf
  *	and native, which uses the platform's native line ending. The default
  *	value is native. See gitattributes(5) for more information on
- *	end-of-line conversion. 
+ *	end-of-line conversion.
  */
 static git_cvar_map _cvar_map_eol[] = {
 	{GIT_CVAR_FALSE, NULL, GIT_EOL_UNSET},
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ static git_cvar_map _cvar_map_eol[] = {
 
 /*
  *	core.autocrlf
- *		Setting this variable to "true" is almost the same as setting 
+ *		Setting this variable to "true" is almost the same as setting
  *	the text attribute to "auto" on all files except that text files are
  *	not guaranteed to be normalized: files that contain CRLF in the
  *	repository will not be touched. Use this setting if you want to have
@@ -51,9 +51,22 @@ static git_cvar_map _cvar_map_autocrlf[] = {
 	{GIT_CVAR_STRING, "input", GIT_AUTO_CRLF_INPUT}
 };
 
+/*
+ * Generic map for integer values
+ */
+static git_cvar_map _cvar_map_int[] = {
+	{GIT_CVAR_INT32, NULL, 0},
+};
+
 static struct map_data _cvar_maps[] = {
 	{"core.autocrlf", _cvar_map_autocrlf, ARRAY_SIZE(_cvar_map_autocrlf), GIT_AUTO_CRLF_DEFAULT},
-	{"core.eol", _cvar_map_eol, ARRAY_SIZE(_cvar_map_eol), GIT_EOL_DEFAULT}
+	{"core.eol", _cvar_map_eol, ARRAY_SIZE(_cvar_map_eol), GIT_EOL_DEFAULT},
+	{"core.symlinks", NULL, 0, GIT_SYMLINKS_DEFAULT },
+	{"core.ignorecase", NULL, 0, GIT_IGNORECASE_DEFAULT },
+	{"core.filemode", NULL, 0, GIT_FILEMODE_DEFAULT },
+	{"core.ignorestat", NULL, 0, GIT_IGNORESTAT_DEFAULT },
+	{"core.trustctime", NULL, 0, GIT_TRUSTCTIME_DEFAULT },
+	{"core.abbrev", _cvar_map_int, 1, GIT_ABBREV_DEFAULT },
 };
 
 int git_repository__cvar(int *out, git_repository *repo, git_cvar_cached cvar)
@@ -69,12 +82,16 @@ int git_repository__cvar(int *out, git_repository *repo, git_cvar_cached cvar)
 		if (error < 0)
 			return error;
 
-		error = git_config_get_mapped(out,
-			config, data->cvar_name, data->maps, data->map_count);
+		if (data->maps)
+			error = git_config_get_mapped(
+				out, config, data->cvar_name, data->maps, data->map_count);
+		else
+			error = git_config_get_bool(out, config, data->cvar_name);
 
-		if (error == GIT_ENOTFOUND)
+		if (error == GIT_ENOTFOUND) {
+			giterr_clear();
 			*out = data->default_value;
-
+		}
 		else if (error < 0)
 			return error;
 
diff --git a/src/repository.h b/src/repository.h
index cc2f8c2b8..f7f9ecb1f 100644
--- a/src/repository.h
+++ b/src/repository.h
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include "git2/odb.h"
 #include "git2/repository.h"
 #include "git2/object.h"
+#include "git2/config.h"
 
 #include "index.h"
 #include "cache.h"
@@ -31,7 +32,13 @@
 /** Cvar cache identifiers */
 typedef enum {
 	GIT_CVAR_AUTO_CRLF = 0, /* core.autocrlf */
-	GIT_CVAR_EOL, /* core.eol */
+	GIT_CVAR_EOL,           /* core.eol */
+	GIT_CVAR_SYMLINKS,      /* core.symlinks */
+	GIT_CVAR_IGNORECASE,    /* core.ignorecase */
+	GIT_CVAR_FILEMODE,      /* core.filemode */
+	GIT_CVAR_IGNORESTAT,    /* core.ignorestat */
+	GIT_CVAR_TRUSTCTIME,    /* core.trustctime */
+	GIT_CVAR_ABBREV,        /* core.abbrev */
 	GIT_CVAR_CACHE_MAX
 } git_cvar_cached;
 
@@ -67,7 +74,21 @@ typedef enum {
 #else
 	GIT_EOL_NATIVE = GIT_EOL_LF,
 #endif
-	GIT_EOL_DEFAULT = GIT_EOL_NATIVE
+	GIT_EOL_DEFAULT = GIT_EOL_NATIVE,
+
+	/* core.symlinks: bool */
+	GIT_SYMLINKS_DEFAULT = GIT_CVAR_TRUE,
+	/* core.ignorecase */
+	GIT_IGNORECASE_DEFAULT = GIT_CVAR_FALSE,
+	/* core.filemode */
+	GIT_FILEMODE_DEFAULT = GIT_CVAR_TRUE,
+	/* core.ignorestat */
+	GIT_IGNORESTAT_DEFAULT = GIT_CVAR_FALSE,
+	/* core.trustctime */
+	GIT_TRUSTCTIME_DEFAULT = GIT_CVAR_TRUE,
+	/* core.abbrev */
+	GIT_ABBREV_DEFAULT = 7,
+
 } git_cvar_value;
 
 /* internal repository init flags */