Why not got the whole mile, and do something like this: GIT_AUTHOR_NAME='nil' GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL='nil@example.com' \ GIT_COMMITTER_NAME='nil' GIT_COMMITT

Why not got the whole mile, and do something like this: GIT_AUTHOR_NAME='nil' GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL='nil@example.com' \ GIT_COMMITTER_NAME='nil' GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL='nil@example.com' \ GIT_AUTHOR_DATE='1970-01-01 00:00:01' GIT_COMMITTER_DATE='1970-01-01 00:00:01' \ git commit --no-gpg-sign --allow-empty -m 'NIL' This will give you an identical commit hash every time. [Edit: added --no-gpg-sign as suggested in reply below]