diff --git a/src/app/rpmostree-pkg-builtins.c b/src/app/rpmostree-pkg-builtins.c
index 3367feef..469a9c94 100644
--- a/src/app/rpmostree-pkg-builtins.c
+++ b/src/app/rpmostree-pkg-builtins.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ static gboolean opt_cache_only;
 static gboolean opt_download_only;
 static gboolean opt_allow_inactive;
 static gboolean opt_uninstall_all;
+static gboolean opt_unchanged_exit_77;
 
 static GOptionEntry option_entries[] = {
   { "os", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &opt_osname, "Operate on provided OSNAME", "OSNAME" },
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ static GOptionEntry option_entries[] = {
   { "dry-run", 'n', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_dry_run, "Exit after printing the transaction", NULL },
   { "allow-inactive", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_allow_inactive, "Allow inactive package requests", NULL },
   { "idempotent", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_idempotent, "Do nothing if package already (un)installed", NULL },
+  { "unchanged-exit-77", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &opt_unchanged_exit_77, "If no overlays were changed, exit 77", NULL },
   { NULL }
 };
 
@@ -133,7 +135,7 @@ pkg_change (RpmOstreeCommandInvocation *invocation,
     }
 
   return rpmostree_transaction_client_run (invocation, sysroot_proxy, os_proxy,
-                                           options, FALSE,
+                                           options, opt_unchanged_exit_77,
                                            transaction_address,
                                            previous_deployment,
                                            cancellable, error);
diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/test-layering-basic-1.sh b/tests/vmcheck/test-layering-basic-1.sh
index 6c890df9..90969f32 100755
--- a/tests/vmcheck/test-layering-basic-1.sh
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/test-layering-basic-1.sh
@@ -109,7 +109,10 @@ if vm_rpmostree uninstall foo-1.0 &> out.txt; then
 fi
 assert_file_has_content_literal out.txt 'not currently requested'
 vm_rpmostree uninstall foo-1.0 --idempotent
+rc=0
+vm_rpmostree uninstall foo-1.0 --idempotent --unchanged-exit-77 || rc=$?
 assert_streq $old_pending $(vm_get_pending_csum)
+assert_streq $rc 77
 echo "ok idempotent uninstall"
 
 # Test `rpm-ostree status --pending-exit-77`
@@ -118,7 +121,8 @@ vm_rpmostree status --pending-exit-77 || rc=$?
 assert_streq $rc 77
 
 # Test that we don't do progress bars if on a tty (with the client)
-vm_rpmostree install foo-1.0 > foo-install.txt
+# (And use --unchanged-exit-77 to verify that we *don't* exit 77).
+vm_rpmostree install foo-1.0 --unchanged-exit-77 > foo-install.txt
 assert_file_has_content_literal foo-install.txt 'Checking out packages (1/1) 100%'
 echo "ok install not on a tty"