Here are some resources for you: Difference between author and committer in Git? -- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856983/why-git-authordate-is-different

Here are some resources for you: Difference between author and committer in Git? -- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856983/why-git-authordate-is-different-from-commitdate http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856983/why-git-authorda... Why git AuthorDate is different from CommitDate? -- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856983/why-git-authordate-is-different-from-commitdate http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11856983/why-git-authorda... What does “authored 7 days ago; committed 14 hours ago” mean on GitHub? -- http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/70383/what-does-authored-7-days-ago-committed-14-hours-ago-mean-on-github http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/70383/what-does-a... I found all of that by googling "author vs committer git". The gist is that, yes, there is a distinction. If your friend, say, gives you a diff and you apply it with `git apply`, you're the committer and your friend is the author. EDIT: Regarding your other questions ("Which one does blame use?"): If you run $ man git-blame This is right at the top: NAME git-blame - Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file