Third hunk adjusted to avoid conflict with current Emacs trunk.
--- emacs-24.4/lisp/simple.el
+++ emacs-24.4/lisp/simple.el
@@ -4391,6 +4391,22 @@
 (declare-function x-selection-exists-p "xselect.c"
                   (&optional selection terminal))
 
+(defcustom dynamic-cursor t
+  "If non-nil, `cursor-type' is set dynamically to reflect `mark-active'."
+  :type 'boolean
+  :version "25.1"
+  :group 'editing-basics)
+
+;; 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))))
+    (setq dynamic-cursor nil)))
+
+(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 +4446,7 @@
      ((eq transient-mark-mode 'lambda)
       (setq transient-mark-mode nil)))
     (setq mark-active nil)
+    (if dynamic-cursor (setq cursor-type t))
     (run-hooks 'deactivate-mark-hook)
     (redisplay--update-region-highlight (selected-window))))
 
@@ -4445,3 +4462,4 @@
+      (if dynamic-cursor (setq cursor-type 'bar))
       (run-hooks 'activate-mark-hook))))
 
 (defun set-mark (pos)