diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index 7f61e87ebd..29dc3df786 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 				author_ident);
 		free(author_ident);
 
-		if (!user_ident_explicitly_given)
+		if (!user_ident_sufficiently_given())
 			fprintf(fp,
 				"%s"
 				"# Committer: %s\n",
@@ -991,7 +991,7 @@ static void print_summary(const char *prefix, const unsigned char *sha1)
 		strbuf_addstr(&format, "\n Author: ");
 		strbuf_addbuf_percentquote(&format, &author_ident);
 	}
-	if (!user_ident_explicitly_given) {
+	if (!user_ident_sufficiently_given()) {
 		strbuf_addstr(&format, "\n Committer: ");
 		strbuf_addbuf_percentquote(&format, &committer_ident);
 		if (advice_implicit_identity) {
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index bf468e5235..63e0701dee 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -926,6 +926,7 @@ extern const char *config_exclusive_filename;
 extern char git_default_email[MAX_GITNAME];
 extern char git_default_name[MAX_GITNAME];
 extern int user_ident_explicitly_given;
+extern int user_ident_sufficiently_given(void);
 
 extern const char *git_commit_encoding;
 extern const char *git_log_output_encoding;
diff --git a/ident.c b/ident.c
index 26409b2a1b..248f769fd3 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -259,3 +259,8 @@ const char *git_committer_info(int flag)
 			 getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_DATE"),
 			 flag);
 }
+
+int user_ident_sufficiently_given(void)
+{
+	return user_ident_explicitly_given;
+}