diff --git a/Documentation/cmd-list.perl b/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
index 04f99778d8..5aa73cfe45 100755
--- a/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
+++ b/Documentation/cmd-list.perl
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ sub format_one {
 	}
 }
 
+while (<>) {
+	last if /^### command list/;
+}
+
 my %cmds = ();
 for (sort <>) {
 	next if /^#/;
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5f3987fe3b..a215bee461 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2447,7 +2447,7 @@ check-docs::
 		esac ; \
 		test -f "Documentation/$$v.txt" || \
 		echo "no doc: $$v"; \
-		sed -e '/^#/d' command-list.txt | \
+		sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' -e '/^#/d' command-list.txt | \
 		grep -q "^$$v[ 	]" || \
 		case "$$v" in \
 		git) ;; \
@@ -2455,7 +2455,8 @@ check-docs::
 		esac ; \
 	done; \
 	( \
-		sed -e '/^#/d' \
+		sed -e '1,/^### command list/d' \
+		    -e '/^#/d' \
 		    -e 's/[ 	].*//' \
 		    -e 's/^/listed /' command-list.txt; \
 		$(MAKE) -C Documentation print-man1 | \
diff --git a/command-list.txt b/command-list.txt
index 54d8d21ad2..181a9c291f 100644
--- a/command-list.txt
+++ b/command-list.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# List of known git commands.
+### command list (do not change this line)
 # command name                          category [deprecated] [common]
 git-add                                 mainporcelain common
 git-am                                  mainporcelain