diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9381f357f..787f3193a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -327,7 +327,15 @@ macro (CMAKE_BUILD_UTILITIES)
     if(CMAKE_TESTS_CDASH_SERVER)
       set(CMAKE_CURL_TEST_URL "${CMAKE_TESTS_CDASH_SERVER}/user.php")
     endif()
-    option(CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL "Use OpenSSL." OFF)
+    set(_CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL_DEFAULT OFF)
+    if(NOT DEFINED CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL AND NOT WIN32 AND NOT APPLE
+        AND CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "(Linux|FreeBSD)")
+      find_package(OpenSSL QUIET)
+      if(OPENSSL_FOUND)
+        set(_CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL_DEFAULT ON)
+      endif()
+    endif()
+    option(CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL "Use OpenSSL." ${_CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL_DEFAULT})
     mark_as_advanced(CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL)
     if(CMAKE_USE_OPENSSL)
       set(CURL_CA_BUNDLE "" CACHE FILEPATH "Path to SSL CA Certificate Bundle")
diff --git a/Help/release/dev/enable-ssl-automatically.rst b/Help/release/dev/enable-ssl-automatically.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8ded656b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Help/release/dev/enable-ssl-automatically.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+enable-ssl-automatically
+------------------------
+
+* On Linux and FreeBSD platforms, when building CMake itself from source and
+  not using a system-provided libcurl, OpenSSL is now used by default if it is
+  found on the system.  This enables SSL/TLS support for commands supporting
+  network communication via ``https``, such as :command:`file(DOWNLOAD)`,
+  :command:`file(UPLOAD)`, and :command:`ctest_submit`.