diff --git a/downloader/src/main/kotlin/VersionControlSystem.kt b/downloader/src/main/kotlin/VersionControlSystem.kt
index 4d16e31b4861d..8c38fc5f7af4f 100644
--- a/downloader/src/main/kotlin/VersionControlSystem.kt
+++ b/downloader/src/main/kotlin/VersionControlSystem.kt
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.config.LicenseFilePatterns
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.orEmpty
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.CommandLineTool
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Plugin
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.collectMessages
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.uppercaseFirstChar
@@ -387,7 +388,8 @@ abstract class VersionControlSystem(
         workingTree: WorkingTree,
         revision: String,
         path: String = "",
-        recursive: Boolean = false
+        recursive: Boolean = false,
+        options: Options = emptyMap() // VCS-specific options only
     ): Result<String>
 
     /**
diff --git a/downloader/src/test/kotlin/VersionControlSystemTest.kt b/downloader/src/test/kotlin/VersionControlSystemTest.kt
index 9349902a37a18..195cd25bfeaab 100644
--- a/downloader/src/test/kotlin/VersionControlSystemTest.kt
+++ b/downloader/src/test/kotlin/VersionControlSystemTest.kt
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.plugins.versioncontrolsystems.git.Git
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.CommandLineTool
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 
 class VersionControlSystemTest : WordSpec({
     val vcsRoot = File("..").absoluteFile.normalize()
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ private class VersionControlSystemTestImpl(
         workingTree: WorkingTree,
         revision: String,
         path: String,
-        recursive: Boolean
+        recursive: Boolean,
+        options: Options // VersionControlSystemTestImpl-specific configuration options only
     ): Result<String> = Result.failure(UnsupportedOperationException("Unexpected invocation."))
 }
diff --git a/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/Git.kt b/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/Git.kt
index 1f77eec9d153d..5dfd600671939 100644
--- a/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/Git.kt
+++ b/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/Git.kt
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.downloader.WorkingTree
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.CommandLineTool
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Os
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.collectMessages
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.safeMkdirs
@@ -170,7 +171,8 @@ class Git : VersionControlSystem(GitCommand) {
         workingTree: WorkingTree,
         revision: String,
         path: String,
-        recursive: Boolean
+        recursive: Boolean,
+        options: Options // Git-specific configuration options only
     ): Result<String> =
         (workingTree as GitWorkingTree).useRepo {
             Git(this).use { git ->
diff --git a/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/GitRepo.kt b/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/GitRepo.kt
index 26cdcb7e28498..1793a3c239069 100644
--- a/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/GitRepo.kt
+++ b/plugins/version-control-systems/git/src/main/kotlin/GitRepo.kt
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.utils.parseRepoManifestPath
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.CommandLineTool
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Os
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.ProcessCapture
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.collectMessages
@@ -192,7 +193,8 @@ class GitRepo : VersionControlSystem(GitRepoCommand) {
         workingTree: WorkingTree,
         revision: String,
         path: String,
-        recursive: Boolean
+        recursive: Boolean,
+        options: Options // GitRepo-specific configuration options only.
     ): Result<String> {
         val manifestRevision = revision.takeUnless { it.isBlank() }
         val manifestPath = workingTree.getInfo().url.parseRepoManifestPath()
diff --git a/plugins/version-control-systems/mercurial/src/main/kotlin/Mercurial.kt b/plugins/version-control-systems/mercurial/src/main/kotlin/Mercurial.kt
index 613ab0e117b1b..9a1bb3d04d6fc 100644
--- a/plugins/version-control-systems/mercurial/src/main/kotlin/Mercurial.kt
+++ b/plugins/version-control-systems/mercurial/src/main/kotlin/Mercurial.kt
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.downloader.WorkingTree
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.CommandLineTool
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.ProcessCapture
 
 const val MERCURIAL_LARGE_FILES_EXTENSION = "largefiles = "
@@ -93,7 +94,13 @@ class Mercurial : VersionControlSystem(MercurialCommand) {
         return getWorkingTree(targetDir)
     }
 
-    override fun updateWorkingTree(workingTree: WorkingTree, revision: String, path: String, recursive: Boolean) =
+    override fun updateWorkingTree(
+        workingTree: WorkingTree,
+        revision: String,
+        path: String,
+        recursive: Boolean,
+        options: Options // Mercurial-specific configuration options only
+    ) =
         runCatching {
             // To safe network bandwidth, only pull exactly the revision we want. Do not use "-u" to update the
             // working tree just yet, as Mercurial would only update if new changesets were pulled. But that might
diff --git a/plugins/version-control-systems/subversion/src/main/kotlin/Subversion.kt b/plugins/version-control-systems/subversion/src/main/kotlin/Subversion.kt
index 5a4a217fb32f8..70ca4e706b196 100644
--- a/plugins/version-control-systems/subversion/src/main/kotlin/Subversion.kt
+++ b/plugins/version-control-systems/subversion/src/main/kotlin/Subversion.kt
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import org.ossreviewtoolkit.downloader.VersionControlSystem
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.downloader.WorkingTree
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsInfo
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.model.VcsType
+import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.Options
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.common.collectMessages
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.ort.OrtAuthenticator
 import org.ossreviewtoolkit.utils.ort.OrtProxySelector
@@ -126,7 +127,13 @@ class Subversion : VersionControlSystem() {
         return pathRevisions.single()
     }
 
-    override fun updateWorkingTree(workingTree: WorkingTree, revision: String, path: String, recursive: Boolean) =
+    override fun updateWorkingTree(
+        workingTree: WorkingTree,
+        revision: String,
+        path: String,
+        recursive: Boolean,
+        options: Options // Subversion-specific configuration options only.
+    ) =
         runCatching {
             // Note that the path should never be part of the URL as that would root the working tree at that path, but
             // the path should be available in the working tree.