diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d3f3278beea1945e50c678a38604897b20b3b914..81c2d304035267f3cfadcec2cdb10811599d8f94 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2015-08-09  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
+	* src/global.c, src/help.c (help_init), src/nano.c (do_toggle, main),
+	src/winio.c (display_string, statusbar): Allow toggling the display
+	of whitespace also when support for nanorc files was not built in,
+	because the default values are quite usable.
+
 2015-08-08  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
 	* src/winio.c (display_string): For some reason the reallocation done
 	by null_at() messes things up.  So put in the null byte "manually".
diff --git a/src/global.c b/src/global.c
index 725ac9046884046348f01caefd21aca509c7f802..4cc01189cc0f3afe8e6f0a5b7d98aba889a0778e 100644
--- a/src/global.c
+++ b/src/global.c
@@ -89,14 +89,10 @@ openfilestruct *openfile = NULL;
 char *matchbrackets = NULL;
 	/* The opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket
 	 * searches. */
-#endif
-
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
 char *whitespace = NULL;
-	/* The characters used when displaying the first characters of
-	 * tabs and spaces. */
+	/* The characters used when visibly showing tabs and spaces. */
 int whitespace_len[2];
-	/* The length of these characters. */
+	/* The length in bytes of these characters. */
 #endif
 
 #ifndef DISABLE_JUSTIFY
diff --git a/src/help.c b/src/help.c
index a6246bae6b500765c63bf117463266e54be5aa79..4c9e55347e1ef498b2abd746cf6007b8d0fdb0be 100644
--- a/src/help.c
+++ b/src/help.c
@@ -197,11 +197,9 @@ void help_init(void)
     int scsfound = 0;
 
 #ifndef NANO_TINY
-#ifndef DISABLE_NANORC
     bool old_whitespace = ISSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
 
     UNSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
-#endif
 #endif
 
     /* First, set up the initial help text for the current function. */
@@ -462,10 +460,8 @@ void help_init(void)
 	}
     }
 
-#ifndef DISABLE_NANORC
     if (old_whitespace)
 	SET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
-#endif
 #endif /* !NANO_TINY */
 
     /* If all went well, we didn't overwrite the allocated space for
diff --git a/src/nano.c b/src/nano.c
index 69c1d22587a3c5d27695329d54ce3748454a12a2..6a35facaf96be63b3b4104eadbdf1f59124dac06 100644
--- a/src/nano.c
+++ b/src/nano.c
@@ -1457,12 +1457,10 @@ void do_toggle(int flag)
 	case SUSPEND:
 	    signal_init();
 	    break;
-#ifndef DISABLE_NANORC
 	case WHITESPACE_DISPLAY:
 	    titlebar(NULL);
 	    edit_refresh();
 	    break;
-#endif
 #ifndef DISABLE_COLOR
 	case NO_COLOR_SYNTAX:
 #endif
@@ -2646,7 +2644,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     if (matchbrackets == NULL)
 	matchbrackets = mallocstrcpy(NULL, "(<[{)>]}");
 
-#ifndef DISABLE_NANORC
     /* If whitespace wasn't specified, set its default value.  If we're
      * using UTF-8, it's Unicode 00BB (Right-Pointing Double Angle
      * Quotation Mark) and Unicode 00B7 (Middle Dot).  Otherwise, it's
@@ -2665,7 +2662,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	    whitespace_len[1] = 1;
 	}
     }
-#endif /* !DISABLE_NANORC */
 #endif /* !NANO_TINY */
 
     /* Initialize the search and replace strings. */
diff --git a/src/proto.h b/src/proto.h
index 70e7ee6aac54bb0111072882e62bbdf79a4e89e8..b975b1a43eff7f39d8838d80a1d0dc61a83a9add 100644
--- a/src/proto.h
+++ b/src/proto.h
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ extern openfilestruct *openfile;
 extern char *matchbrackets;
 #endif
 
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
+#ifndef NANO_TINY
 extern char *whitespace;
 extern int whitespace_len[2];
 #endif
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index b2d5904d982a6ddfcdf402b83506936a0718778c..32f9921be760fd8056b12f812b7d730eb4bffabd 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -1949,7 +1949,7 @@ char *display_string(const char *buf, size_t start_col, size_t len, bool
 
 	/* If buf contains a tab character, interpret it. */
 	if (*buf_mb == '\t') {
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
+#ifndef NANO_TINY
 	    if (ISSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY)) {
 		int i;
 
@@ -1982,7 +1982,7 @@ char *display_string(const char *buf, size_t start_col, size_t len, bool
 	    free(ctrl_buf_mb);
 	/* If buf contains a space character, interpret it. */
 	} else if (*buf_mb == ' ') {
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
+#ifndef NANO_TINY
 	    if (ISSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY)) {
 		int i;
 
@@ -2240,8 +2240,10 @@ void statusbar(const char *msg, ...)
     va_list ap;
     char *bar, *foo;
     size_t start_x;
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
-    bool old_whitespace;
+#ifndef NANO_TINY
+    bool old_whitespace = ISSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
+
+    UNSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
 #endif
 
     va_start(ap, msg);
@@ -2256,16 +2258,13 @@ void statusbar(const char *msg, ...)
 
     blank_statusbar();
 
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
-    old_whitespace = ISSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
-    UNSET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
-#endif
     bar = charalloc(mb_cur_max() * (COLS - 3));
     vsnprintf(bar, mb_cur_max() * (COLS - 3), msg, ap);
     va_end(ap);
     foo = display_string(bar, 0, COLS - 4, FALSE);
     free(bar);
-#if !defined(NANO_TINY) && !defined(DISABLE_NANORC)
+
+#ifndef NANO_TINY
     if (old_whitespace)
 	SET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
 #endif