diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
index 50e6452f1cb6..ef79fa81fab8 100644
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -26,6 +26,13 @@ NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT FreeBSD 10.x IS SLOW:
 	disable the most expensive debugging functionality run
 	"ln -s 'abort:false,junk:false' /etc/malloc.conf".)
 
+20130304:
+	The ctl device has been re-enabled in GENERIC for i386 and amd64,
+	but does not initialize by default (because of the new CTL_DISABLE
+	option) to save memory.  To re-enable it, remove the CTL_DISABLE
+	option from the kernel config file or set kern.cam.ctl.disable=0
+	in /boot/loader.conf.
+
 20130301:
 	The ctl device has been disabled in GENERIC for i386 and amd64.
 	This was done due to the extra memory being allocated at system
diff --git a/sys/amd64/conf/GENERIC b/sys/amd64/conf/GENERIC
index 3988195f9699..577cf4b7f98a 100644
--- a/sys/amd64/conf/GENERIC
+++ b/sys/amd64/conf/GENERIC
@@ -138,7 +138,10 @@ device		sa		# Sequential Access (tape etc)
 device		cd		# CD
 device		pass		# Passthrough device (direct ATA/SCSI access)
 device		ses		# Enclosure Services (SES and SAF-TE)
-#device		ctl		# CAM Target Layer
+device		ctl		# CAM Target Layer
+options		CTL_DISABLE	# Disable CTL by default to save memory.
+				# Re-enable with kern.cam.ctl.disable=0 in
+				# /boot/loader.conf
 
 # RAID controllers interfaced to the SCSI subsystem
 device		amr		# AMI MegaRAID
diff --git a/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c b/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
index 768332eaa317..1884c7bdcd8e 100644
--- a/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
+++ b/sys/cam/ctl/ctl.c
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ __FBSDID("$FreeBSD$");
 #include <cam/ctl/ctl_scsi_all.h>
 #include <cam/ctl/ctl_error.h>
 
+#include "opt_ctl.h"
+
 struct ctl_softc *control_softc = NULL;
 
 /*
@@ -317,7 +319,11 @@ static int persis_offset;
 static uint8_t ctl_pause_rtr;
 static int     ctl_is_single;
 static int     index_to_aps_page;
+#ifdef CTL_DISABLE
+int	   ctl_disable = 1;
+#else
 int	   ctl_disable = 0;
+#endif
 
 SYSCTL_NODE(_kern_cam, OID_AUTO, ctl, CTLFLAG_RD, 0, "CAM Target Layer");
 SYSCTL_INT(_kern_cam_ctl, OID_AUTO, disable, CTLFLAG_RDTUN, &ctl_disable, 0,
diff --git a/sys/conf/options b/sys/conf/options
index 75d0c97c7e25..ec9271d46f2d 100644
--- a/sys/conf/options
+++ b/sys/conf/options
@@ -329,6 +329,9 @@ SCSI_PT_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT	opt_pt.h
 # Options used only in cam/scsi/scsi_ses.c
 SES_ENABLE_PASSTHROUGH	opt_ses.h
 
+# Options used only in cam/ctl
+CTL_DISABLE		opt_ctl.h
+
 # Options used in dev/sym/ (Symbios SCSI driver).
 SYM_SETUP_LP_PROBE_MAP	opt_sym.h	#-Low Priority Probe Map (bits)
 					# Allows the ncr to take precedence
diff --git a/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC b/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC
index 3a98ded31057..d35a780d1b39 100644
--- a/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC
+++ b/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC
@@ -146,7 +146,10 @@ device		sa		# Sequential Access (tape etc)
 device		cd		# CD
 device		pass		# Passthrough device (direct ATA/SCSI access)
 device		ses		# Enclosure Services (SES and SAF-TE)
-#device		ctl		# CAM Target Layer
+device		ctl		# CAM Target Layer
+options		CTL_DISABLE	# Disable CTL by default to save memory.
+				# Re-enable with kern.cam.ctl.disable=0 in
+				# /boot/loader.conf
 
 # RAID controllers interfaced to the SCSI subsystem
 device		amr		# AMI MegaRAID