diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index bd291887..1034458c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-0.165.3
+0.166.0
+  - allow optional fork when creating a maintenance request
   -
 
 0.165.2
diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 94c2c7d2..653ca03c 100644
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -3182,6 +3182,8 @@ Please submit there instead, or use --nodevelproject to force direct submission.
                         help='specify message TEXT')
     @cmdln.option('--release-project', metavar='RELEASEPROJECT',
                         help='Specify the release project')
+    @cmdln.option('--enforce-branching', action='store_true',
+                  help='submit from a fresh branched project')
     @cmdln.option('--no-cleanup', action='store_true',
                   help='do not remove source project on accept')
     @cmdln.option('--cleanup', action='store_true',
@@ -3283,7 +3285,7 @@ Please submit there instead, or use --nodevelproject to force direct submission.
                                                                  target_project,
                                                                  None) # unspecified release project
 
-        r = create_maintenance_request(apiurl, source_project, source_packages, target_project, release_project, opt_sourceupdate, opts.message)
+        r = create_maintenance_request(apiurl, source_project, source_packages, target_project, release_project, opt_sourceupdate, opts.message, opts.enforce_branching)
         print(r.reqid)
 
         if supersede_existing:
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index 23ca55f6..961445a5 100644
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -3045,11 +3045,13 @@ class Request:
     def __cmp__(self, other):
         return cmp(int(self.reqid), int(other.reqid))
 
-    def create(self, apiurl, addrevision=False):
+    def create(self, apiurl, addrevision=False, enforce_branching=False):
         """create a new request"""
         query = {'cmd'    : 'create' }
         if addrevision:
             query['addrevision'] = "1"
+        if enforce_branching:
+            query['enforce_branching'] = "1"
         u = makeurl(apiurl, ['request'], query=query)
         f = http_POST(u, data=self.to_str())
         root = ET.fromstring(f.read())
@@ -4175,7 +4177,7 @@ def create_release_request(apiurl, src_project, message=''):
     return r
 
 # create a maintenance incident per request
-def create_maintenance_request(apiurl, src_project, src_packages, tgt_project, tgt_releaseproject, opt_sourceupdate, message=''):
+def create_maintenance_request(apiurl, src_project, src_packages, tgt_project, tgt_releaseproject, opt_sourceupdate, message='', enforce_branching=False):
     import cgi
     r = Request()
     if src_packages:
@@ -4185,7 +4187,7 @@ def create_maintenance_request(apiurl, src_project, src_packages, tgt_project, t
         r.add_action('maintenance_incident', src_project=src_project, tgt_project=tgt_project, tgt_releaseproject=tgt_releaseproject, opt_sourceupdate = opt_sourceupdate)
     # XXX: clarify why we need the unicode(...) stuff
     r.description = cgi.escape(unicode(message, 'utf8'))
-    r.create(apiurl, addrevision=True)
+    r.create(apiurl, addrevision=True, enforce_branching=enforce_branching)
     return r
 
 def create_submit_request(apiurl,