diff --git a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
index 5e10136e9a..7f0c1dcc0f 100755
--- a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
+++ b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
@@ -31,13 +31,8 @@ test_expect_success '"git log :/a -- " should not be ambiguous' '
 test_expect_success '"git log :/detached -- " should find a commit only in HEAD' '
 	test_when_finished "git checkout main" &&
 	git checkout --detach &&
-	# Must manually call `test_tick` instead of using `test_commit`,
-	# because the latter additionally creates a tag, which would make
-	# the commit reachable not only via HEAD.
-	test_tick &&
-	git commit --allow-empty -m detached &&
-	test_tick &&
-	git commit --allow-empty -m something-else &&
+	test_commit --no-tag detached &&
+	test_commit --no-tag something-else &&
 	git log :/detached --
 '
 
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 6bca002316..1587241ba0 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ test_commit () {
 	author= &&
 	signoff= &&
 	indir= &&
+	no_tag= &&
 	while test $# != 0
 	do
 		case "$1" in
@@ -222,6 +223,9 @@ test_commit () {
 			indir="$2"
 			shift
 			;;
+		--no-tag)
+			no_tag=yes
+			;;
 		*)
 			break
 			;;
@@ -244,7 +248,10 @@ test_commit () {
 	git ${indir:+ -C "$indir"} commit \
 	    ${author:+ --author "$author"} \
 	    $signoff -m "$1" &&
-	git ${indir:+ -C "$indir"} tag "${4:-$1}"
+	if test -z "$no_tag"
+	then
+		git ${indir:+ -C "$indir"} tag "${4:-$1}"
+	fi
 }
 
 # Call test_merge with the arguments "<message> <commit>", where <commit>