diff --git a/Doc/ACKS.txt b/Doc/ACKS.txt
index e9ea0b34d5d..f7670b1d184 100644
--- a/Doc/ACKS.txt
+++ b/Doc/ACKS.txt
@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ docs@python.org), and we'll be glad to correct the problem.
    * Mats Wichmann
    * Gerry Wiener
    * Timothy Wild
+   * Paul Winkler
    * Collin Winter
    * Blake Winton
    * Dan Wolfe
diff --git a/Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst b/Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst
index e58937d200d..c7b756bed16 100644
--- a/Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst
+++ b/Doc/distutils/builtdist.rst
@@ -241,7 +241,8 @@ tedious and error-prone, so it's usually best to put them in the setup
 configuration file, :file:`setup.cfg`\ ---see section :ref:`setup-config`.  If
 you distribute or package many Python module distributions, you might want to
 put options that apply to all of them in your personal Distutils configuration
-file (:file:`~/.pydistutils.cfg`).
+file (:file:`~/.pydistutils.cfg`).  If you want to temporarily disable
+this file, you can pass the --no-user-cfg option to setup.py.
 
 There are three steps to building a binary RPM package, all of which are
 handled automatically by the Distutils:
diff --git a/Doc/install/index.rst b/Doc/install/index.rst
index 3781ad9e9ab..b270d577e6a 100644
--- a/Doc/install/index.rst
+++ b/Doc/install/index.rst
@@ -694,6 +694,9 @@ And on Windows, the configuration files are:
 | local        | :file:`setup.cfg`                               | \(3)  |
 +--------------+-------------------------------------------------+-------+
 
+On all platforms, the "personal" file can be temporarily disabled by
+passing the `--no-user-cfg` option.
+
 Notes:
 
 (1)
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/core.py b/Lib/distutils/core.py
index 0fb6f81efba..8073a6bc2ab 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/core.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/core.py
@@ -129,8 +129,9 @@ def setup (**attrs):
     if _setup_stop_after == "config":
         return dist
 
-    # Parse the command line; any command-line errors are the end user's
-    # fault, so turn them into SystemExit to suppress tracebacks.
+    # Parse the command line and override config files; any
+    # command-line errors are the end user's fault, so turn them into
+    # SystemExit to suppress tracebacks.
     try:
         ok = dist.parse_command_line()
     except DistutilsArgError, msg:
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/dist.py b/Lib/distutils/dist.py
index eb7d01c0e43..8dc64d43dae 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/dist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/dist.py
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ class Distribution:
                       ('quiet', 'q', "run quietly (turns verbosity off)"),
                       ('dry-run', 'n', "don't actually do anything"),
                       ('help', 'h', "show detailed help message"),
-                     ]
+                      ('no-user-cfg', None,
+                       'ignore pydistutils.cfg in your home directory'),
+    ]
 
     # 'common_usage' is a short (2-3 line) string describing the common
     # usage of the setup script.
@@ -264,6 +266,22 @@ Common commands: (see '--help-commands' for more)
                     else:
                         sys.stderr.write(msg + "\n")
 
+        # no-user-cfg is handled before other command line args
+        # because other args override the config files, and this
+        # one is needed before we can load the config files.
+        # If attrs['script_args'] wasn't passed, assume false.
+        #
+        # This also make sure we just look at the global options
+        self.want_user_cfg = True
+
+        if self.script_args is not None:
+            for arg in self.script_args:
+                if not arg.startswith('-'):
+                    break
+                if arg == '--no-user-cfg':
+                    self.want_user_cfg = False
+                    break
+
         self.finalize_options()
 
     def get_option_dict(self, command):
@@ -316,7 +334,10 @@ Common commands: (see '--help-commands' for more)
         Distutils installation directory (ie. where the top-level
         Distutils __inst__.py file lives), a file in the user's home
         directory named .pydistutils.cfg on Unix and pydistutils.cfg
-        on Windows/Mac, and setup.cfg in the current directory.
+        on Windows/Mac; and setup.cfg in the current directory.
+
+        The file in the user's home directory can be disabled with the
+        --no-user-cfg option.
         """
         files = []
         check_environ()
@@ -336,15 +357,19 @@ Common commands: (see '--help-commands' for more)
             user_filename = "pydistutils.cfg"
 
         # And look for the user config file
-        user_file = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), user_filename)
-        if os.path.isfile(user_file):
-            files.append(user_file)
+        if self.want_user_cfg:
+            user_file = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), user_filename)
+            if os.path.isfile(user_file):
+                files.append(user_file)
 
         # All platforms support local setup.cfg
         local_file = "setup.cfg"
         if os.path.isfile(local_file):
             files.append(local_file)
 
+        if DEBUG:
+            self.announce("using config files: %s" % ', '.join(files))
+
         return files
 
     def parse_config_files(self, filenames=None):
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py
index 5f032ca60fa..573d0b9b4f4 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py
@@ -209,6 +209,35 @@ class DistributionTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
         kwargs = {'level': 'ok2'}
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, dist.announce, args, kwargs)
 
+    def test_find_config_files_disable(self):
+        # Ticket #1180: Allow user to disable their home config file.
+        temp_home = self.mkdtemp()
+        if os.name == 'posix':
+            user_filename = os.path.join(temp_home, ".pydistutils.cfg")
+        else:
+            user_filename = os.path.join(temp_home, "pydistutils.cfg")
+
+        with open(user_filename, 'w') as f:
+            f.write('[distutils]\n')
+
+        def _expander(path):
+            return temp_home
+
+        old_expander = os.path.expanduser
+        os.path.expanduser = _expander
+        try:
+            d = distutils.dist.Distribution()
+            all_files = d.find_config_files()
+
+            d = distutils.dist.Distribution(attrs={'script_args':
+                                            ['--no-user-cfg']})
+            files = d.find_config_files()
+        finally:
+            os.path.expanduser = old_expander
+
+        # make sure --no-user-cfg disables the user cfg file
+        self.assertEquals(len(all_files)-1, len(files))
+
 class MetadataTestCase(support.TempdirManager, support.EnvironGuard,
                        unittest.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8cf5db426ce..24cb7b3b377 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -427,6 +427,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1180: Added a new global option to ignore ~/.pydistutils.cfg in
+  Distutils.
+
 - Issue #7218: Fix test_site for win32, the directory comparison was done with
   an uppercase.