Third hunk adjusted to avoid conflict with current Emacs trunk.
--- emacs-24.4/lisp/simple.el
+++ emacs-24.4/lisp/simple.el
@@ -4391,6 +4391,31 @@
 (declare-function x-selection-exists-p "xselect.c"
                   (&optional selection terminal))
 
+(define-minor-mode dynamic-cursor-mode
+  "Toggle Dynamic Cursor mode.
+With a prefix argument ARG, enable Dynamic Cursor mode if ARG is
+positive, and disable it otherwise.  If called from Lisp, enable
+Dynamic Cursor mode if ARG is omitted or nil.
+
+Dynamic Cursor mode is a buffer-local minor mode.  When enabled,
+`cursor-type' is set dynamically to reflect `mark-active'.")
+
+(define-globalized-minor-mode global-dynamic-cursor-mode
+  dynamic-cursor-mode dynamic-cursor-mode)
+
+;; Enabling before init lets user disable in init file
+(global-dynamic-cursor-mode)
+
+;; Auto-disable to avoid conflict if cursor-type set in init file.
+;; Use emacs-startup-hook instead of after-init-hook in case
+;; cursor-type set in some file loaded as command line option.
+(defun maybe-disable--dynamic-cursor ()
+  (unless (eq (default-value 'cursor-type)
+	      (eval (car (get 'cursor-type 'standard-value))))
+    (global-dynamic-cursor-mode 0)))
+
+(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook #'maybe-disable--dynamic-cursor)
+
 (defun deactivate-mark (&optional force)
   "Deactivate the mark.
 If Transient Mark mode is disabled, this function normally does
@@ -4430,6 +4455,7 @@
      ((eq transient-mark-mode 'lambda)
       (setq transient-mark-mode nil)))
     (setq mark-active nil)
+    (if dynamic-cursor-mode (setq cursor-type t))
     (run-hooks 'deactivate-mark-hook)
     (redisplay--update-region-highlight (selected-window))))
 
@@ -4445,3 +4471,4 @@
+      (if dynamic-cursor-mode (setq cursor-type 'bar))
       (run-hooks 'activate-mark-hook))))
 
 (defun set-mark (pos)