const unsigned char *sha1,
                                   int quiet)
 {
-       if (obj->type != TYPE_COMMIT) {
+       if (obj->type != OBJ_COMMIT) {
                if (!quiet)
                        error("Object %s is a %s, not a commit",
                              sha1_to_hex(sha1), typename(obj->type));
        if (!obj) {
                struct commit *ret = alloc_commit_node();
                created_object(sha1, &ret->object);
-               ret->object.type = TYPE_COMMIT;
+               ret->object.type = OBJ_COMMIT;
                return ret;
        }
        if (!obj->type)
-               obj->type = TYPE_COMMIT;
+               obj->type = OBJ_COMMIT;
        return check_commit(obj, sha1, 0);
 }
 
                        continue;
                }
 
+               if (!subject)
+                       body = 1;
+
                if (is_empty_line(line, &linelen)) {
                        if (!body)
                                continue;
                                continue;
                        if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_SHORT)
                                break;
-               } else {
-                       body = 1;
                }
 
                if (subject) {
        /* Make sure there is an EOLN for the non-oneline case */
        if (fmt != CMIT_FMT_ONELINE)
                buf[offset++] = '\n';
+       /*
+        * make sure there is another EOLN to separate the headers from whatever
+        * body the caller appends if we haven't already written a body
+        */
+       if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_EMAIL && !body)
+               buf[offset++] = '\n';
        buf[offset] = '\0';
        return offset;
 }