diff --git a/rhodecode/config/environment.py b/rhodecode/config/environment.py
--- a/rhodecode/config/environment.py
+++ b/rhodecode/config/environment.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from rhodecode.config.routing import mak
 from rhodecode.lib import helpers
 from rhodecode.lib.auth import set_available_permissions
 from rhodecode.lib.utils import repo2db_mapper, make_ui, set_rhodecode_config,\
-    load_rcextensions, check_git_version
+    load_rcextensions, check_git_version, set_vcs_config
 from rhodecode.lib.utils2 import engine_from_config, str2bool
 from rhodecode.lib.db_manage import DbManage
 from rhodecode.model import init_model
@@ -87,18 +87,14 @@ def load_environment(global_conf, app_co
         if not int(os.environ.get('RC_WHOOSH_TEST_DISABLE', 0)):
             create_test_index(TESTS_TMP_PATH, config, True)
 
-    #check git version
-    check_git_version()
     DbManage.check_waitress()
     # MULTIPLE DB configs
     # Setup the SQLAlchemy database engine
     sa_engine_db1 = engine_from_config(config, 'sqlalchemy.db1.')
     init_model(sa_engine_db1)
 
+    set_available_permissions(config)
     repos_path = make_ui('db').configitems('paths')[0][1]
-    repo2db_mapper(ScmModel().repo_scan(repos_path),
-                   remove_obsolete=False, install_git_hook=False)
-    set_available_permissions(config)
     config['base_path'] = repos_path
     set_rhodecode_config(config)
 
@@ -113,4 +109,12 @@ def load_environment(global_conf, app_co
     # store config reference into our module to skip import magic of
     # pylons
     rhodecode.CONFIG.update(config)
+    set_vcs_config(rhodecode.CONFIG)
+
+    #check git version
+    check_git_version()
+
+    if str2bool(config.get('initial_repo_scan', True)):
+        repo2db_mapper(ScmModel().repo_scan(repos_path),
+                       remove_obsolete=False, install_git_hook=False)
     return config