diff --git a/cmd/helm/dependency_update.go b/cmd/helm/dependency_update.go
index 9855afb92..1c671a0aa 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/dependency_update.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/dependency_update.go
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ func newDependencyUpdateCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 				ChartPath:        chartpath,
 				Keyring:          client.Keyring,
 				SkipUpdate:       client.SkipRefresh,
+        FileOnly:         client.FileOnly,
 				Getters:          getter.All(settings),
 				RepositoryConfig: settings.RepositoryConfig,
 				RepositoryCache:  settings.RepositoryCache,
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ func newDependencyUpdateCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	f.BoolVar(&client.Verify, "verify", false, "verify the packages against signatures")
 	f.StringVar(&client.Keyring, "keyring", defaultKeyring(), "keyring containing public keys")
 	f.BoolVar(&client.SkipRefresh, "skip-refresh", false, "do not refresh the local repository cache")
+	f.BoolVar(&client.FileOnly, "file-only", false, "refresh only file:// dependencies")
 
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/cmd/helm/install.go b/cmd/helm/install.go
index 44f7336c0..65984cdda 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/install.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/install.go
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@ func runInstall(args []string, client *action.Install, valueOpts *values.Options
 					ChartPath:        cp,
 					Keyring:          client.ChartPathOptions.Keyring,
 					SkipUpdate:       false,
+          FileOnly:         false,
 					Getters:          p,
 					RepositoryConfig: settings.RepositoryConfig,
 					RepositoryCache:  settings.RepositoryCache,
diff --git a/pkg/action/dependency.go b/pkg/action/dependency.go
index 4a4b8ebad..df0653f09 100644
--- a/pkg/action/dependency.go
+++ b/pkg/action/dependency.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ type Dependency struct {
 	Verify      bool
 	Keyring     string
 	SkipRefresh bool
+  FileOnly    bool
 }
 
 // NewDependency creates a new Dependency object with the given configuration.
diff --git a/pkg/downloader/manager.go b/pkg/downloader/manager.go
index 00198de0c..8bf871675 100644
--- a/pkg/downloader/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/downloader/manager.go
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ type Manager struct {
 	Keyring string
 	// SkipUpdate indicates that the repository should not be updated first.
 	SkipUpdate bool
+  // FileOnly  indicates that only file:// charts should be updated
+  FileOnly  bool
 	// Getter collection for the operation
 	Getters          []getter.Provider
 	RepositoryConfig string
@@ -277,7 +279,10 @@ func (m *Manager) downloadAll(deps []*chart.Dependency) error {
 			}
 			dep.Version = ver
 			continue
-		}
+		} else if m.FileOnly {
+      fmt.Fprintf(m.Out, "Updating file:// dependencies only - skip %s from repo %s\n", dep.Name, dep.Repository)
+      continue
+    }
 
 		// Any failure to resolve/download a chart should fail:
 		// https://github.com/helm/helm/issues/1439