diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 2abd9719..5ff1fd2d 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ NEWS
   * Disable SSLv2 by default
   * Use/enforce sane max-connection values (fixes #1803)
   * Allow mod_compress to return 304 (Not Modified); compress ignores the static-file.etags option.(fixes #1884)
+  * Add option to ignore the "Expect: 100-continue" header instead of returning 417 Expectation failed (closes #1017)
 
 - 1.4.20 - 2008-09-30
 
diff --git a/src/base.h b/src/base.h
index 3de6d77b..00186c9b 100644
--- a/src/base.h
+++ b/src/base.h
@@ -497,6 +497,7 @@ typedef struct {
 #endif
 	} stat_cache_engine;
 	unsigned short enable_cores;
+	unsigned short reject_expect_100_with_417;
 } server_config;
 
 typedef struct {
diff --git a/src/configfile.c b/src/configfile.c
index a9e355ce..f5fd5c15 100644
--- a/src/configfile.c
+++ b/src/configfile.c
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ static int config_insert(server *srv) {
 		{ "etag.use-inode",             NULL, T_CONFIG_BOOLEAN, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_SERVER }, /* 49 */
 		{ "etag.use-mtime",             NULL, T_CONFIG_BOOLEAN, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_SERVER }, /* 50 */
 		{ "etag.use-size",             NULL, T_CONFIG_BOOLEAN, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_SERVER }, /* 51 */
+		{ "server.reject-expect-100-with-417",  NULL, T_CONFIG_BOOLEAN, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_SERVER }, /* 52 */
 		{ "server.host",                 "use server.bind instead", T_CONFIG_DEPRECATED, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_UNSET },
 		{ "server.docroot",              "use server.document-root instead", T_CONFIG_DEPRECATED, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_UNSET },
 		{ "server.virtual-root",         "load mod_simple_vhost and use simple-vhost.server-root instead", T_CONFIG_DEPRECATED, T_CONFIG_SCOPE_UNSET },
@@ -135,6 +136,7 @@ static int config_insert(server *srv) {
 
 	cv[43].destination = &(srv->srvconf.max_conns);
 	cv[12].destination = &(srv->srvconf.max_request_size);
+	cv[52].destination = &(srv->srvconf.reject_expect_100_with_417);
 	srv->config_storage = calloc(1, srv->config_context->used * sizeof(specific_config *));
 
 	assert(srv->config_storage);
diff --git a/src/request.c b/src/request.c
index 5a02aea8..ee9ec4d7 100644
--- a/src/request.c
+++ b/src/request.c
@@ -894,11 +894,12 @@ int http_request_parse(server *srv, connection *con) {
 								 *
 								 */
 
-								con->http_status = 417;
-								con->keep_alive = 0;
-
-								array_insert_unique(con->request.headers, (data_unset *)ds);
-								return 0;
+								if (srv->srvconf.reject_expect_100_with_417 && 0 == buffer_caseless_compare(CONST_BUF_LEN(ds->value), CONST_STR_LEN("100-continue"))) {
+									con->http_status = 417;
+									con->keep_alive = 0;
+									array_insert_unique(con->request.headers, (data_unset *)ds);
+									return 0;
+								}
 							} else if (cmp > 0 && 0 == (cmp = buffer_caseless_compare(CONST_BUF_LEN(ds->key), CONST_STR_LEN("Host")))) {
 								if (!con->request.http_host) {
 									con->request.http_host = ds->value;
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index 37e2712a..fddd3266 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ static server *server_init(void) {
 	srv->srvconf.modules_dir = buffer_init_string(LIBRARY_DIR);
 	srv->srvconf.network_backend = buffer_init();
 	srv->srvconf.upload_tempdirs = array_init();
+	srv->srvconf.reject_expect_100_with_417 = 1;
 
 	/* use syslog */
 	srv->errorlog_fd = -1;