diff --git a/core/includes/common.inc b/core/includes/common.inc
index 20d24a7..a38e697 100644
--- a/core/includes/common.inc
+++ b/core/includes/common.inc
@@ -2237,7 +2237,7 @@ function l($text, $path, array $options = array()) {
   if (!isset($use_theme) && function_exists('theme')) {
     // Allow edge cases to prevent theme initialization and force inline link
     // rendering.
-    if (variable_get('theme_link', TRUE)) {
+    if (config('system.performance')->get('theme_link')) {
       drupal_theme_initialize();
       $registry = theme_get_registry(FALSE);
       // We don't want to duplicate functionality that's in theme(), so any
diff --git a/core/modules/system/config/system.performance.yml b/core/modules/system/config/system.performance.yml
index efd50f1..d508591 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/config/system.performance.yml
+++ b/core/modules/system/config/system.performance.yml
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@ js:
 response:
   gzip: '0'
 stale_file_threshold: '2592000'
+theme_link: '1'
+
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
index 5afaf5d..5a83983 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -2331,6 +2331,17 @@ function system_update_8041() {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Moves system theme settings from variable to config.
+ *
+ * @ingroup config_upgrade
+ */
+function system_update_8042() {
+  update_variables_to_config('system.performance', array(
+    'theme_link' => 'theme_link',
+  ));
+}
+
+/**
  * @} End of "defgroup updates-7.x-to-8.x".
  * The next series of updates should start at 9000.
  */
diff --git a/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Tests/Handler/FieldUrlTest.php b/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Tests/Handler/FieldUrlTest.php
index 55336b0..530d53b 100644
--- a/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Tests/Handler/FieldUrlTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/views/lib/Drupal/views/Tests/Handler/FieldUrlTest.php
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ public static function getInfo() {
     );
   }
 
+  public function setup() {
+    parent::setup();
+    $this->enableModules(array('system'));
+  }
+
   function viewsData() {
     $data = parent::viewsData();
     $data['views_test_data']['name']['field']['id'] = 'url';