diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
index f7e8ff2968..5d6e9dc751 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
@@ -73,10 +73,7 @@ separated with a single space are given.
 	This flag causes "git-diff-tree --stdin" to also show
 	the commit message before the differences.
 
---pretty[=(raw|medium|short)]::
-	This is used to control "pretty printing" format of the
-	commit message.  Without "=<style>", it defaults to
-	medium.
+include::pretty-formats.txt[]
 
 --no-commit-id::
 	git-diff-tree outputs a line with the commit ID when
diff --git a/Documentation/git-log.txt b/Documentation/git-log.txt
index c9ffff734c..79643ac928 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-log.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-log.txt
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ This manual page describes only the most frequently used options.
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
---pretty=<format>::
-	Controls the way the commit log is formatted.
+
+include::pretty-formats.txt[]
 
 --max-count=<n>::
 	Limits the number of commits to show.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-rev-list.txt b/Documentation/git-rev-list.txt
index 00a95e249f..ec43c0b3a8 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rev-list.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rev-list.txt
@@ -79,11 +79,7 @@ Using these options, gitlink:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 more specialized family of commit log tools: gitlink:git-log[1],
 gitlink:git-show[1], and gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]
 
---pretty[='<format>']::
-
-	Pretty print the contents of the commit logs in a given format,
-	where '<format>' can be one of 'raw', 'medium', 'short', 'full',
-	and 'oneline'. When left out the format default to 'medium'.
+include::pretty-formats.txt[]
 
 --relative-date::
 
diff --git a/Documentation/git-show.txt b/Documentation/git-show.txt
index 2b4df3f96f..4c880a8717 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-show.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-show.txt
@@ -26,10 +26,7 @@ OPTIONS
 <commitid>::
 	ID of the commit to show.
 
---pretty=<format>::
-	Controls the output format for the commit logs.
-	<format> can be one of 'raw', 'medium', 'short', 'full',
-	and 'oneline'.
+include::pretty-formats.txt[]
 
 Author
 ------
diff --git a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..996f628903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+--pretty[='<format>']::
+
+        Pretty-prints the details of a commit.  `--pretty`
+	without an explicit `=<format>` defaults to 'medium'.
+	If the commit is a merge, and if the pretty-format
+        is not 'oneline', 'email' or 'raw', an additional line is
+        inserted before the 'Author:' line.  This line begins with
+        "Merge: " and the sha1s of ancestral commits are printed,
+        separated by spaces.  Note that the listed commits may not
+        necessarily be the list of the *direct* parent commits if you
+        have limited your view of history: for example, if you are
+        only interested in changes related to a certain directory or
+        file.  Here are some additional details for each format:
+
+        * 'oneline'
+
+	  <sha1> <title line>
++
+This is designed to be as compact as possible.
+
+        * 'short'
+
+	  commit <sha1>
+	  Author: <author>
+
+	      <title line>
+
+        * 'medium'
+
+	  commit <sha1>
+	  Author: <author>
+	  Date: <date>
+
+	      <title line>
+
+	      <full commit message>
+
+        * 'full'
+
+	  commit <sha1>
+	  Author: <author>
+	  Commit: <committer>
+
+	      <title line>
+
+	      <full commit message>
+
+        * 'fuller'
+
+	  commit <sha1>
+	  Author: <author>
+	  AuthorDate: <date & time>
+	  Commit: <committer>
+	  CommitDate: <date & time>
+
+	       <title line>
+
+	       <full commit message>
+
+
+        * 'email'
+
+	  From <sha1> <date>
+	  From: <author>
+	  Date: <date & time>
+	  Subject: [PATCH] <title line>
+
+	  full commit message>
+
+
+	* 'raw'
++
+The 'raw' format shows the entire commit exactly as
+stored in the commit object.  Notably, the SHA1s are
+displayed in full, regardless of whether --abbrev or
+--no-abbrev are used, and 'parents' information show the
+true parent commits, without taking grafts nor history
+simplification into account.