if (verify_signatures) {
                for (p = remoteheads; p; p = p->next) {
-                       struct commit *commit = p->item;
-                       char hex[GIT_MAX_HEXSZ + 1];
-                       struct signature_check signature_check;
-                       memset(&signature_check, 0, sizeof(signature_check));
-
-                       check_commit_signature(commit, &signature_check);
-
-                       find_unique_abbrev_r(hex, &commit->object.oid, DEFAULT_ABBREV);
-                       switch (signature_check.result) {
-                       case 'G':
-                               break;
-                       case 'U':
-                               die(_("Commit %s has an untrusted GPG signature, "
-                                     "allegedly by %s."), hex, signature_check.signer);
-                       case 'B':
-                               die(_("Commit %s has a bad GPG signature "
-                                     "allegedly by %s."), hex, signature_check.signer);
-                       default: /* 'N' */
-                               die(_("Commit %s does not have a GPG signature."), hex);
-                       }
-                       if (verbosity >= 0 && signature_check.result == 'G')
-                               printf(_("Commit %s has a good GPG signature by %s\n"),
-                                      hex, signature_check.signer);
-
-                       signature_check_clear(&signature_check);
+                       verify_merge_signature(p->item, verbosity);
                }
        }
 
 
        return ret;
 }
 
+void verify_merge_signature(struct commit *commit, int verbosity)
+{
+       char hex[GIT_MAX_HEXSZ + 1];
+       struct signature_check signature_check;
+       memset(&signature_check, 0, sizeof(signature_check));
+
+       check_commit_signature(commit, &signature_check);
+
+       find_unique_abbrev_r(hex, &commit->object.oid, DEFAULT_ABBREV);
+       switch (signature_check.result) {
+       case 'G':
+               break;
+       case 'U':
+               die(_("Commit %s has an untrusted GPG signature, "
+                     "allegedly by %s."), hex, signature_check.signer);
+       case 'B':
+               die(_("Commit %s has a bad GPG signature "
+                     "allegedly by %s."), hex, signature_check.signer);
+       default: /* 'N' */
+               die(_("Commit %s does not have a GPG signature."), hex);
+       }
+       if (verbosity >= 0 && signature_check.result == 'G')
+               printf(_("Commit %s has a good GPG signature by %s\n"),
+                      hex, signature_check.signer);
 
+       signature_check_clear(&signature_check);
+}
 
 void append_merge_tag_headers(struct commit_list *parents,
                              struct commit_extra_header ***tail)
 
  */
 extern int check_commit_signature(const struct commit *commit, struct signature_check *sigc);
 
+/*
+ * Verify a single commit with check_commit_signature() and die() if it is not
+ * a good signature. This isn't really suitable for general use, but is a
+ * helper to implement consistent logic for pull/merge --verify-signatures.
+ */
+void verify_merge_signature(struct commit *commit, int verbose);
+
 int compare_commits_by_commit_date(const void *a_, const void *b_, void *unused);
 int compare_commits_by_gen_then_commit_date(const void *a_, const void *b_, void *unused);