diff --git a/dune-project b/dune-project
index f07cb1e42518..24a49004ea78 100644
--- a/dune-project
+++ b/dune-project
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 (name dune)
 
 (implicit_transitive_deps false)
+(generate_opam_files true)
 
 (license MIT)
 (maintainers "Jane Street Group, LLC <opensource@janestreet.com>")
diff --git a/src/dune_project.ml b/src/dune_project.ml
index 77ac0a46c29e..3a55fa5d5d1a 100644
--- a/src/dune_project.ml
+++ b/src/dune_project.ml
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ let anonymous = lazy (
   ; parsing_context
   ; dune_version = lang.version
   ; allow_approx_merlin = true
-  ; generate_opam_files = true
+  ; generate_opam_files = false
   })
 
 let default_name ~dir ~packages =
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ in your project.")
      in
      let allow_approx_merlin =
        Option.value ~default:false allow_approx_merlin in
-     let generate_opam_files = Option.value ~default:true generate_opam_files in
+     let generate_opam_files = Option.value ~default:false generate_opam_files in
      { name
      ; root = dir
      ; version
diff --git a/src/install_rules.ml b/src/install_rules.ml
index 53b915c32579..cd6d49290f19 100644
--- a/src/install_rules.ml
+++ b/src/install_rules.ml
@@ -303,12 +303,13 @@ let install_file sctx (package : Local_package.t) entries =
       :: docs
     in
     let files =
-      let project = Local_package.project package in
-      if Dune_project.generate_opam_files project then
+      let package = Local_package.package package in
+      match package.kind with
+      | Dune false -> files
+      | Dune true
+      | Opam ->
         (None, Install.Entry.make Lib opam_file ~dst:"opam")
         :: files
-      else
-        files
     in
     local_install_rules sctx ~package:package_name ~install_paths files
     |> List.rev_append entries
diff --git a/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/bad-opam-file/dune-project b/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/bad-opam-file/dune-project
index 1535317c0e68..d2a7e4f51249 100644
--- a/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/bad-opam-file/dune-project
+++ b/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/bad-opam-file/dune-project
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 (license ISC)
 (authors "Anil Madhavapeddy" "Rudi Grinberg")
 
+(generate_opam_files true)
+
 (package
   (name cohttp)
   (synopsis "An OCaml library for HTTP clients and servers")
diff --git a/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/test-fields/dune-project b/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/test-fields/dune-project
index e228c7b8e24a..d876ea2a651f 100644
--- a/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/test-fields/dune-project
+++ b/test/blackbox-tests/test-cases/dune-project-meta/test-fields/dune-project
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 (license ISC)
 (authors "Anil Madhavapeddy" "Rudi Grinberg")
 
+(generate_opam_files true)
+
 (package
   (name cohttp)
   (synopsis "An OCaml library for HTTP clients and servers")