diff --git a/core/git-access.c b/core/git-access.c
index 982a51cfd..961c9b271 100644
--- a/core/git-access.c
+++ b/core/git-access.c
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ static int try_to_git_merge(git_repository *repo, git_reference **local_p, git_r
 	git_commit *local_commit, *remote_commit, *base_commit;
 	git_index *merged_index;
 	git_merge_options merge_options;
+	struct membuffer msg = { 0, 0, NULL};
 
 	if (verbose) {
 		char outlocal[41], outremote[41];
@@ -430,10 +431,12 @@ static int try_to_git_merge(git_repository *repo, git_reference **local_p, git_r
 		goto write_error;
 	if (git_tree_lookup(&merged_tree, repo, &merge_oid))
 		goto write_error;
-	if (git_signature_default(&author, repo) < 0)
-		if (git_signature_now(&author, "Subsurface", "noemail@given") < 0)
-			goto write_error;
-	if (git_commit_create_v(&commit_oid, repo, NULL, author, author, NULL, "automatic merge", merged_tree, 2, local_commit, remote_commit))
+	if (get_authorship(repo, &author) < 0)
+		goto write_error;
+	const char *user_agent = subsurface_user_agent();
+	put_format(&msg, "Automatic merge\n\nCreated by %s\n", user_agent);
+	free((void *)user_agent);
+	if (git_commit_create_v(&commit_oid, repo, NULL, author, author, NULL, mb_cstring(&msg), merged_tree, 2, local_commit, remote_commit))
 		goto write_error;
 	if (git_commit_lookup(&commit, repo, &commit_oid))
 		goto write_error;
@@ -450,12 +453,14 @@ static int try_to_git_merge(git_repository *repo, git_reference **local_p, git_r
 	git_signature_free(author);
 	if (verbose)
 		fprintf(stderr, "Successfully merged repositories");
+	free_buffer(&msg);
 	return 0;
 
 diverged_error:
 	return report_error(translate("gettextFromC", "Remote storage and local data diverged"));
 
 write_error:
+	free_buffer(&msg);
 	return report_error(translate("gettextFromC", "Remote storage and local data diverged. Error: writing the data failed (%s)"), giterr_last()->message);
 }
 
diff --git a/core/git-access.h b/core/git-access.h
index 19cdde46a..8e20395a4 100644
--- a/core/git-access.h
+++ b/core/git-access.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ void set_git_update_cb(int(*)(const char *));
 int git_storage_update_progress(const char *text);
 char *get_local_dir(const char *remote, const char *branch);
 int git_create_local_repo(const char *filename);
+int get_authorship(git_repository *repo, git_signature **authorp);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/core/save-git.c b/core/save-git.c
index e3564eea7..aaf8d5742 100644
--- a/core/save-git.c
+++ b/core/save-git.c
@@ -1020,7 +1020,7 @@ int update_git_checkout(git_repository *repo, git_object *parent, git_tree *tree
 	return git_checkout_tree(repo, (git_object *) tree, &opts);
 }
 
-static int get_authorship(git_repository *repo, git_signature **authorp)
+int get_authorship(git_repository *repo, git_signature **authorp)
 {
 	if (git_signature_default(authorp, repo) == 0)
 		return 0;