diff --git a/commit.c b/commit.c
index de5e94d1dd..3d3bb1cde8 100644
--- a/commit.c
+++ b/commit.c
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#include <ctype.h>
 #include "tag.h"
 #include "commit.h"
 #include "cache.h"
@@ -193,12 +194,12 @@ static int get_one_line(const char *msg, unsigned long len)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-static int add_author_info(char *buf, const char *line, int len)
+static int add_author_info(enum cmit_fmt fmt, char *buf, const char *line, int len)
 {
 	char *date;
 	unsigned int namelen;
 	unsigned long time;
-	int tz;
+	int tz, ret;
 
 	line += strlen("author ");
 	date = strchr(line, '>');
@@ -208,14 +209,22 @@ static int add_author_info(char *buf, const char *line, int len)
 	time = strtoul(date, &date, 10);
 	tz = strtol(date, NULL, 10);
 
-	return sprintf(buf, "Author: %.*s\nDate:   %s\n",
-		namelen, line,
-		show_date(time, tz));
+	ret = sprintf(buf, "Author: %.*s\n", namelen, line);
+	if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_MEDIUM)
+		ret += sprintf(buf + ret, "Date:   %s\n", show_date(time, tz));
+	return ret;
 }
 
-unsigned long pretty_print_commit(const char *msg, unsigned long len, char *buf, unsigned long space)
+static int is_empty_line(const char *line, int len)
 {
-	int hdr = 1;
+	while (len && isspace(line[len-1]))
+		len--;
+	return !len;
+}
+
+unsigned long pretty_print_commit(enum cmit_fmt fmt, const char *msg, unsigned long len, char *buf, unsigned long space)
+{
+	int hdr = 1, body = 0;
 	unsigned long offset = 0;
 
 	for (;;) {
@@ -237,13 +246,30 @@ unsigned long pretty_print_commit(const char *msg, unsigned long len, char *buf,
 
 		msg += linelen;
 		len -= linelen;
-		if (linelen == 1)
-			hdr = 0;
 		if (hdr) {
+			if (linelen == 1) {
+				hdr = 0;
+				buf[offset++] = '\n';
+				continue;
+			}
+			if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_RAW) {
+				memcpy(buf + offset, line, linelen);
+				offset += linelen;
+				continue;
+			}
 			if (!memcmp(line, "author ", 7))
-				offset += add_author_info(buf + offset, line, linelen);
+				offset += add_author_info(fmt, buf + offset, line, linelen);
 			continue;
 		}
+
+		if (is_empty_line(line, linelen)) {
+			if (!body)
+				continue;
+			if (fmt == CMIT_FMT_SHORT)
+				break;
+		} else {
+			body = 1;
+		}
 		memset(buf + offset, ' ', 4);
 		memcpy(buf + offset + 4, line, linelen);
 		offset += linelen + 4;
diff --git a/commit.h b/commit.h
index 8147551c9e..85736a89f9 100644
--- a/commit.h
+++ b/commit.h
@@ -32,7 +32,15 @@ void free_commit_list(struct commit_list *list);
 
 void sort_by_date(struct commit_list **list);
 
-extern unsigned long pretty_print_commit(const char *msg, unsigned long len, char *buf, unsigned long space);
+/* Commit formats */
+enum cmit_fmt {
+	CMIT_FMT_RAW,
+	CMIT_FMT_MEDIUM,
+	CMIT_FMT_DEFAULT = CMIT_FMT_MEDIUM,
+	CMIT_FMT_SHORT
+};
+
+extern unsigned long pretty_print_commit(enum cmit_fmt fmt, const char *msg, unsigned long len, char *buf, unsigned long space);
 
 
 /** Removes the first commit from a list sorted by date, and adds all
diff --git a/diff-tree.c b/diff-tree.c
index 3881c23ca3..6f8dc2024c 100644
--- a/diff-tree.c
+++ b/diff-tree.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ static int diff_break_opt = -1;
 static const char *orderfile = NULL;
 static const char *header = NULL;
 static const char *header_prefix = "";
+static enum cmit_fmt commit_format = CMIT_FMT_RAW;
 
 // What paths are we interested in?
 static int nr_paths = 0;
@@ -321,7 +322,7 @@ static char *generate_header(const char *commit, const char *parent, const char
 
 	offset = sprintf(this_header, "%s%s (from %s)\n", header_prefix, commit, parent);
 	if (verbose_header) {
-		offset += pretty_print_commit(msg, len, this_header + offset, sizeof(this_header) - offset);
+		offset += pretty_print_commit(commit_format, msg, len, this_header + offset, sizeof(this_header) - offset);
 		this_header[offset++] = '\n';
 		this_header[offset++] = 0;
 	}
diff --git a/rev-list.c b/rev-list.c
index cbfc5c439d..2b098c1e88 100644
--- a/rev-list.c
+++ b/rev-list.c
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ static const char rev_list_usage[] =
 
 static int verbose_header = 0;
 static int show_parents = 0;
-static int pretty_print = 0;
 static int hdr_termination = 0;
 static const char *prefix = "";
 static unsigned long max_age = -1;
 static unsigned long min_age = -1;
 static int max_count = -1;
+static enum cmit_fmt commit_format = CMIT_FMT_RAW;
 
 static void show_commit(struct commit *commit)
 {
@@ -34,13 +34,9 @@ static void show_commit(struct commit *commit)
 	}
 	putchar('\n');
 	if (verbose_header) {
-		const char *buf = commit->buffer;
-		if (pretty_print) {
-			static char pretty_header[16384];
-			pretty_print_commit(commit->buffer, ~0, pretty_header, sizeof(pretty_header));
-			buf = pretty_header;
-		}
-		printf("%s%c", buf, hdr_termination);
+		static char pretty_header[16384];
+		pretty_print_commit(commit_format, commit->buffer, ~0, pretty_header, sizeof(pretty_header));
+		printf("%s%c", pretty_header, hdr_termination);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -103,6 +99,20 @@ struct commit_list *limit_list(struct commit_list *list)
 	return newlist;
 }
 
+static enum cmit_fmt get_commit_format(const char *arg)
+{
+	if (!*arg)
+		return CMIT_FMT_DEFAULT;
+	if (!strcmp(arg, "=raw"))
+		return CMIT_FMT_RAW;
+	if (!strcmp(arg, "=medium"))
+		return CMIT_FMT_MEDIUM;
+	if (!strcmp(arg, "=short"))
+		return CMIT_FMT_SHORT;
+	usage(rev_list_usage);	
+}			
+
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	struct commit_list *list = NULL;
@@ -130,9 +140,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			verbose_header = 1;
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (!strcmp(arg, "--pretty")) {
+		if (!strncmp(arg, "--pretty", 8)) {
+			commit_format = get_commit_format(arg+8);
 			verbose_header = 1;
-			pretty_print = 1;
 			hdr_termination = '\n';
 			prefix = "commit ";
 			continue;