s->whence = whence;
 }
 
+static void status_init_config(struct wt_status *s, config_fn_t fn)
+{
+       wt_status_prepare(s);
+       gitmodules_config();
+       git_config(fn, s);
+       determine_whence(s);
+       s->hints = advice_status_hints; /* must come after git_config() */
+}
+
 static void rollback_index_files(void)
 {
        switch (commit_style) {
        const char *hook_arg2 = NULL;
        int ident_shown = 0;
        int clean_message_contents = (cleanup_mode != CLEANUP_NONE);
+       int old_display_comment_prefix;
 
        /* This checks and barfs if author is badly specified */
        determine_author_info(author_ident);
        if (s->fp == NULL)
                die_errno(_("could not open '%s'"), git_path(commit_editmsg));
 
+       /* Ignore status.displayCommentPrefix: we do need comments in COMMIT_EDITMSG. */
+       old_display_comment_prefix = s->display_comment_prefix;
+       s->display_comment_prefix = 1;
+
+       /*
+        * Most hints are counter-productive when the commit has
+        * already started.
+        */
+       s->hints = 0;
+
        if (clean_message_contents)
                stripspace(&sb, 0);
 
         */
        if (!commitable && whence != FROM_MERGE && !allow_empty &&
            !(amend && is_a_merge(current_head))) {
+               s->display_comment_prefix = old_display_comment_prefix;
                run_status(stdout, index_file, prefix, 0, s);
                if (amend)
                        fputs(_(empty_amend_advice), stderr);
                s->use_color = git_config_colorbool(k, v);
                return 0;
        }
+       if (!strcmp(k, "status.displaycommentprefix")) {
+               s->display_comment_prefix = git_config_bool(k, v);
+               return 0;
+       }
        if (!prefixcmp(k, "status.color.") || !prefixcmp(k, "color.status.")) {
                int slot = parse_status_slot(k, 13);
                if (slot < 0)
        if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
                usage_with_options(builtin_status_usage, builtin_status_options);
 
-       wt_status_prepare(&s);
-       gitmodules_config();
-       git_config(git_status_config, &s);
-       determine_whence(&s);
+       status_init_config(&s, git_status_config);
        argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
                             builtin_status_options,
                             builtin_status_usage, 0);
        if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
                usage_with_options(builtin_commit_usage, builtin_commit_options);
 
-       wt_status_prepare(&s);
-       gitmodules_config();
-       git_config(git_commit_config, &s);
+       status_init_config(&s, git_commit_config);
        status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_NONE; /* Ignore status.short */
-       determine_whence(&s);
        s.colopts = 0;
 
        if (get_sha1("HEAD", sha1))
                                           !current_head
                                           ? NULL
                                           : current_head->object.sha1,
-                                          0);
+                                          0, NULL);
 
        nl = strchr(sb.buf, '\n');
        if (nl)