diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index 073fe90ba1..f4974b5542 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ 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_explicitly_given != IDENT_ALL_GIVEN)
 			fprintf(fp,
 				"%s"
 				"# Committer: %s\n",
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index bf468e5235..16c8e8df41 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -925,6 +925,9 @@ 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 const char *git_commit_encoding;
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 37385ce9d3..fa1a0c0299 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -528,8 +528,7 @@ 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;
 	}
 
@@ -537,8 +536,7 @@ 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 e6c1798d98..e67c5ad1e8 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -249,9 +249,10 @@ 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"),