strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
+static int sane_ident_split(struct ident_split *person)
+{
+       if (!person->name_begin || !person->name_end ||
+           person->name_begin == person->name_end)
+               return 0; /* no human readable name */
+       if (!person->mail_begin || !person->mail_end ||
+           person->mail_begin == person->mail_end)
+               return 0; /* no usable mail */
+       if (!person->date_begin || !person->date_end ||
+           !person->tz_begin || !person->tz_end)
+               return 0;
+       return 1;
+}
+
 static void determine_author_info(struct strbuf *author_ident)
 {
        char *name, *email, *date;
        if (force_date)
                date = force_date;
        strbuf_addstr(author_ident, fmt_ident(name, email, date, IDENT_STRICT));
-       if (!split_ident_line(&author, author_ident->buf, author_ident->len)) {
+       if (!split_ident_line(&author, author_ident->buf, author_ident->len) &&
+           sane_ident_split(&author)) {
                export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_NAME", author.name_begin, author.name_end, 0);
                export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL", author.mail_begin, author.mail_end, 0);
                export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_DATE", author.date_begin, author.tz_end, '@');
                usage_with_options(builtin_commit_usage, builtin_commit_options);
 
        wt_status_prepare(&s);
+       gitmodules_config();
        git_config(git_commit_config, &s);
        determine_whence(&s);
        s.colopts = 0;