diff --git a/lib/autoproj/build_option.rb b/lib/autoproj/build_option.rb
index 3644e408..ca54e0da 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/build_option.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/build_option.rb
@@ -45,18 +45,35 @@ def doc
             end
         end
 
+        # Return either the current value if it is not nil, or use
+        # a default value
+        #
+        # @return [value, Boolean] Current value, and flag whether this is a
+        # default value
+        def ensure_value(current_value)
+            if !current_value.nil?
+                return current_value.to_s, false
+            elsif options[:default]
+                return options[:default].to_str, true
+            else
+                return '', true
+            end
+        end
+
+        # Ask the user for the setting of this option
+        # by providing the current value as input and falling
+        # back to default values if needed
+        #
+        # @param [String] current_value the option's current value
+        # @param [String] doc a string to override the default option banner
         def ask(current_value, doc = nil)
-            default_value =
-                if !current_value.nil? then current_value.to_s
-                elsif options[:default] then options[:default].to_str
-                else ''
-                end
+            value,_ = ensure_value(current_value)
 
-            STDOUT.print "  #{doc || self.doc} [#{default_value}] "
+            STDOUT.print "  #{doc || self.doc} [#{value}] "
             STDOUT.flush
             answer = STDIN.readline.chomp
             if answer == ''
-                answer = default_value
+                answer = value
             end
             validate(answer)
 
diff --git a/lib/autoproj/cli/base.rb b/lib/autoproj/cli/base.rb
index d6f22e06..1dd4feaa 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/cli/base.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/cli/base.rb
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ def validate_user_selection(user_selection, resolved_selection)
             end
 
             def validate_options(args, options)
+                ws.config.interactive = options[:interactive]
                 self.class.validate_options(args, options)
             end
 
diff --git a/lib/autoproj/cli/main.rb b/lib/autoproj/cli/main.rb
index a2f93d78..816f55c3 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/cli/main.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/cli/main.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ class Main < Thor
                 desc: 'enables or disables colored display (enabled by default if the terminal supports it)'
             class_option :progress, type: :boolean, default: TTY::Color.color?,
                 desc: 'enables or disables progress display (enabled by default if the terminal supports it)'
+            class_option 'interactive', type: :boolean, default: nil,
+                desc: 'tell autoproj to run (non)interactively'
 
             stop_on_unknown_option! :exec
             check_unknown_options!  except: :exec
diff --git a/lib/autoproj/configuration.rb b/lib/autoproj/configuration.rb
index 7ad77f80..e3777fab 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/configuration.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ class Configuration
         attr_reader :displayed_options
         # The path to the underlying configuration file
         attr_reader :path
+        # Whether the configuration should be performed interactively
+        # or not
+        attr_accessor :interactive
 
         def initialize(path = nil)
             @config = Hash.new
@@ -43,16 +46,24 @@ def reset_modified
             @modified = false
         end
 
-        # Deletes the current value for an option
+        # Deletes the current configuration for all options or the one specified
         #
-        # The user will be asked for a new value next time the option is needed
+        # The user will be asked for a new value next time one of the reset
+        # options is needed
         #
-        # @param [String] the option name
+        # @param [String] name the option name (or by default nil to reset all
+        #   options)
         # @return the deleted value
-        def reset(name)
-            @modified ||= config.has_key?(name)
-            config.delete(name)
-            overrides.delete(name)
+        def reset(name = nil)
+            if name
+                @modified ||= config.has_key?(name)
+                config.delete(name)
+                overrides.delete(name)
+            else
+                @config.clear
+                @overrides.clear
+                @modified = true
+            end
         end
 
         # Sets a configuration option
@@ -177,10 +188,18 @@ def configure(option_name)
                 if current_value = config[option_name]
                     current_value = current_value.first
                 end
-                value = opt.ask(current_value)
+                is_default = false
+                if interactive?
+                    value = opt.ask(current_value, nil)
+                else
+                    value, is_default = opt.ensure_value(current_value)
+                    Autoproj.info "       using: #{value} (noninteractive mode)"
+                end
                 @modified = true
-                config[option_name] = [value, true]
-                displayed_options[option_name] = value
+                if !is_default
+                    config[option_name] = [value, true]
+                    displayed_options[option_name] = value
+                end
                 value
             else
                 raise ConfigError.new, "undeclared option '#{option_name}'"
@@ -440,6 +459,21 @@ def randomize_layout=(value)
             set('randomize_layout', value, true)
         end
 
+        # Returns true if the configuration should be performed interactively
+        #
+        # @return [Boolean]
+        # @see interactive=
+        def interactive?
+            if !interactive.nil?
+                return interactive
+            elsif ENV['AUTOPROJ_NONINTERACTIVE'] == '1'
+                return false
+            elsif has_value_for?("interactive")
+                return get('interactive')
+            end
+            true
+        end
+
         DEFAULT_UTILITY_SETUP = Hash[
             'doc' => true,
             'test' => false]
@@ -545,7 +579,11 @@ def prefer_indep_over_os_packages?
         def to_hash
             result = Hash.new
             @config.each do |key, (value, _)|
-                result[key] = value
+                if declared_options.include?(key)
+                    result[key] = declared_options[key].ensure_value(value)
+                else
+                    result[key] = value
+                end
             end
             overrides.each do |key, value|
                 result[key] = value
diff --git a/lib/autoproj/test.rb b/lib/autoproj/test.rb
index 796e695e..f0659b43 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/test.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/test.rb
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ def ws_create_os_package_resolver
                 os_package_manager: 'os')
         end
 
-        def ws_create(dir = make_tmpdir)
+        def ws_create(dir = make_tmpdir, partial_config: false)
             require 'autoproj/ops/main_config_switcher'
             FileUtils.cp_r Ops::MainConfigSwitcher::MAIN_CONFIGURATION_TEMPLATE, File.join(dir, 'autoproj')
             FileUtils.mkdir_p File.join(dir, '.autoproj')
@@ -280,8 +280,11 @@ def ws_create(dir = make_tmpdir)
             @ws = Workspace.new(
                 dir, os_package_resolver: ws_os_package_resolver,
                      package_managers: ws_package_managers)
-            ws.config.set 'osdeps_mode', 'all'
-            ws.config.set 'apt_dpkg_update', true
+
+            if !partial_config
+                ws.config.set 'osdeps_mode', 'all'
+                ws.config.set 'apt_dpkg_update', true
+            end
             ws.config.set 'GITHUB', 'http,ssh', true
             ws.config.set 'GITORIOUS', 'http,ssh', true
             ws.config.set 'gems_install_path', File.join(dir, 'gems')
diff --git a/lib/autoproj/workspace.rb b/lib/autoproj/workspace.rb
index 8743eccb..111c708b 100644
--- a/lib/autoproj/workspace.rb
+++ b/lib/autoproj/workspace.rb
@@ -236,10 +236,16 @@ def overrides_dir
             File.join(config_dir, OVERRIDES_DIR)
         end
 
+        # Load the configuration for this workspace from
+        # config_file_path
+        #
+        # @param [Boolean] reset Set to true to replace the configuration object,
+        #   set to false to load into the existing
+        # @return [Configuration] configuration object
         def load_config(reconfigure = false)
-            @config = Configuration.new(config_file_path)
             if File.file?(config_file_path)
-                config.load(reconfigure: reconfigure)
+                config.reset
+                config.load(path: config_file_path, reconfigure: reconfigure)
                 if raw_vcs = config.get('manifest_source', nil)
                     manifest.vcs = VCSDefinition.from_raw(raw_vcs)
                 else
diff --git a/test/cli/test_reconfigure.rb b/test/cli/test_reconfigure.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7a73e237
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/test_reconfigure.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+require 'autoproj/test'
+require 'autoproj/cli/main'
+require 'autoproj/cli/reconfigure'
+require 'timeout'
+
+module Autoproj
+    module CLI
+        describe Reconfigure do
+            attr_reader :ws
+            before do
+                option_name = "custom-configuration-option"
+                default_value = "option-defaultvalue"
+
+                @ws = ws_create(make_tmpdir, partial_config: true)
+            end
+            after do
+                Autoproj.verbose = false
+            end
+            describe "#reconfigure" do
+                def run_command(*args)
+                    capture_subprocess_io do
+                        ENV['AUTOPROJ_CURRENT_ROOT'] = ws.root_path.to_s
+                        in_ws do
+                            Main.start([*args,"--debug"], debug: true)
+                        end
+                    end
+                end
+
+                it "reconfigure should run interactively" do
+                    assert_raises Timeout::Error do
+                        Timeout.timeout(3) do
+                            run_command 'reconfigure'
+                        end
+                    end
+                end
+                it "reconfigure should run non interactively" do
+                    run_command 'reconfigure','--no-interactive'
+                end
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end
diff --git a/test/test_configuration.rb b/test/test_configuration.rb
index 93cff179..4aca13fc 100644
--- a/test/test_configuration.rb
+++ b/test/test_configuration.rb
@@ -346,6 +346,85 @@ module Autoproj
                 refute @config.modified?
             end
         end
+        describe "#interactive" do
+            it "set interactive mode" do
+                @config.interactive = false
+                assert !@config.interactive?
+
+                @config.interactive = true
+                assert @config.interactive?
+            end
+
+            it "disables interactive configuration setting through config option" do
+                option_name = "custom-configuration-option"
+                default_value = "option-defaultvalue"
+                @config.declare(option_name,"string",default: default_value)
+
+                @config.interactive = false
+
+                Timeout.timeout(3) do
+                    @config.configure(option_name)
+                end
+                assert @config.get(option_name) == default_value
+            end
+
+            it "disables interactive configuration setting through ENV" do
+                option_name = "custom-configuration-option"
+                default_value = "option-defaultvalue"
+                @config.declare(option_name,"string",default: default_value)
+
+                ENV['AUTOPROJ_NONINTERACTIVE'] = '1'
+
+                assert !@config.interactive?
+                begin
+                    Timeout.timeout(3) do
+                        @config.configure(option_name)
+                    end
+                    assert @config.get(option_name) == default_value
+                ensure
+                    ENV.delete('AUTOPROJ_NONINTERACTIVE')
+                end
+            end
+            it "use interactive configuration by default" do
+                option_name = "custom-configuration-option"
+                default_value = "option-defaultvalue"
+                @config.declare(option_name,"string",default: default_value)
+                assert @config.interactive?
+                assert_raises Timeout::Error do
+                    Timeout.timeout(3) do
+                        @config.configure(option_name)
+                    end
+                end
+            end
+            it "skip saving default value" do
+                option_a_name = "custom-configuration-option-a"
+                default_a_value = "option-a-defaultvalue"
+
+                option_b_name = "custom-configuration-option-b"
+                default_b_value = "option-b-default-value"
+                b_value = "option-b-value"
+
+                @config.declare(option_a_name,"string",default: default_a_value)
+                @config.declare(option_b_name,"string",default: default_b_value)
+
+                @config.interactive = false
+                @config.configure(option_a_name)
+                @config.set(option_b_name, b_value)
+                @config.configure(option_b_name)
+
+                assert !@config.has_value_for?(option_a_name)
+                assert @config.has_value_for?(option_b_name)
+
+                tempfile = Tempfile.new("skip-saving-config")
+                @config.save(tempfile)
+
+                loaded_config = Configuration.new(tempfile)
+                loaded_config.load
+                assert !loaded_config.has_value_for?(option_a_name)
+                assert loaded_config.has_value_for?(option_b_name)
+                assert loaded_config.get(option_b_name) == b_value
+            end
+        end
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/test/test_workspace.rb b/test/test_workspace.rb
index efbc2c3d..3a1bd6aa 100644
--- a/test/test_workspace.rb
+++ b/test/test_workspace.rb
@@ -486,6 +486,7 @@ def create_test_executable(path = target_test_path)
                 flexmock(Autoproj::Configuration).new_instances.
                     should_receive(:source_dir).and_return(ws.root_dir)
                 assert_raises(ConfigError) do
+                    ws.config = Configuration.new(ws.root_dir)
                     ws.load_config
                 end
             end