diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index 69241f8ed6..9b9dbaa5bf 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ 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",
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index caeafb2292..bebe1a891d 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -931,7 +931,11 @@ extern const char *config_exclusive_filename;
 #define MAX_GITNAME (1000)
 extern char git_default_email[MAX_GITNAME];
 extern char git_default_name[MAX_GITNAME];
+#define IDENT_NAME_GIVEN 01
+#define IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN 02
+#define IDENT_ALL_GIVEN (IDENT_NAME_GIVEN|IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN)
 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/config.c b/config.c
index f4f2c59a34..6963fbea43 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -533,8 +533,7 @@ static int git_default_user_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		if (!value)
 			return config_error_nonbool(var);
 		strlcpy(git_default_name, value, sizeof(git_default_name));
-		if (git_default_email[0])
-			user_ident_explicitly_given = 1;
+		user_ident_explicitly_given |= IDENT_NAME_GIVEN;
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -542,8 +541,7 @@ static int git_default_user_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		if (!value)
 			return config_error_nonbool(var);
 		strlcpy(git_default_email, value, sizeof(git_default_email));
-		if (git_default_name[0])
-			user_ident_explicitly_given = 1;
+		user_ident_explicitly_given |= IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN;
 		return 0;
 	}
 
diff --git a/ident.c b/ident.c
index 26409b2a1b..9e2438826d 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -85,10 +85,11 @@ static void setup_ident(void)
 	if (!git_default_email[0]) {
 		const char *email = getenv("EMAIL");
 
-		if (email && email[0])
+		if (email && email[0]) {
 			strlcpy(git_default_email, email,
 				sizeof(git_default_email));
-		else {
+			user_ident_explicitly_given |= IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN;
+		} else {
 			if (!pw)
 				pw = getpwuid(getuid());
 			if (!pw)
@@ -168,8 +169,6 @@ static int copy(char *buf, size_t size, int offset, const char *src)
 	return offset;
 }
 
-static const char au_env[] = "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME";
-static const char co_env[] = "GIT_COMMITTER_NAME";
 static const char *env_hint =
 "\n"
 "*** Please tell me who you are.\n"
@@ -204,7 +203,7 @@ const char *fmt_ident(const char *name, const char *email,
 
 		if ((warn_on_no_name || error_on_no_name) &&
 		    name == git_default_name && env_hint) {
-			fprintf(stderr, env_hint, au_env, co_env);
+			fputs(env_hint, stderr);
 			env_hint = NULL; /* warn only once */
 		}
 		if (error_on_no_name)
@@ -251,11 +250,21 @@ const char *git_author_info(int flag)
 
 const char *git_committer_info(int flag)
 {
-	if (getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME") &&
-	    getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL"))
-		user_ident_explicitly_given = 1;
+	if (getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME"))
+		user_ident_explicitly_given |= IDENT_NAME_GIVEN;
+	if (getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL"))
+		user_ident_explicitly_given |= IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN;
 	return fmt_ident(getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME"),
 			 getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL"),
 			 getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_DATE"),
 			 flag);
 }
+
+int user_ident_sufficiently_given(void)
+{
+#ifndef WINDOWS
+	return (user_ident_explicitly_given & IDENT_MAIL_GIVEN);
+#else
+	return (user_ident_explicitly_given == IDENT_ALL_GIVEN);
+#endif
+}