diff --git a/git-gui.sh b/git-gui.sh
index 236bc4e61d..201524c34e 100755
--- a/git-gui.sh
+++ b/git-gui.sh
@@ -875,7 +875,6 @@ set default_config(merge.summary) false
 set default_config(merge.verbosity) 2
 set default_config(user.name) {}
 set default_config(user.email) {}
-set default_config(core.commentchar) "#"
 
 set default_config(gui.encoding) [encoding system]
 set default_config(gui.matchtrackingbranch) false
@@ -3437,10 +3436,6 @@ proc trace_commit_type {varname args} {
 	merge         {set txt [mc "Merge Commit Message:"]}
 	*             {set txt [mc "Commit Message:"]}
 	}
-
-	set comment_char [get_config core.commentchar]
-	set txt [string cat $txt \
-				 [mc " (Lines starting with '$comment_char' will be ignored)"]]
 	$ui_coml conf -text $txt
 }
 trace add variable commit_type write trace_commit_type
diff --git a/lib/commit.tcl b/lib/commit.tcl
index 23d67d4651..11379f8ad3 100644
--- a/lib/commit.tcl
+++ b/lib/commit.tcl
@@ -141,20 +141,6 @@ proc setup_commit_encoding {msg_wt {quiet 0}} {
 	}
 }
 
-proc strip_msg {msg} {
-	set cmd [concat [list | ] [_git_cmd stripspace] --strip-comments]
-	_trace_exec $cmd
-	set fd [open $cmd r+]
-	fconfigure $fd -translation binary -encoding utf-8
-
-	puts -nonewline $fd $msg
-	close $fd w
-	set result [read $fd]
-	close $fd
-
-	return $result
-}
-
 proc commit_tree {} {
 	global HEAD commit_type file_states ui_comm repo_config
 	global pch_error
@@ -221,8 +207,8 @@ You must stage at least 1 file before you can commit.
 
 	# -- A message is required.
 	#
-	set msg [strip_msg [$ui_comm get 1.0 end]]
-
+	set msg [string trim [$ui_comm get 1.0 end]]
+	regsub -all -line {[ \t\r]+$} $msg {} msg
 	if {$msg eq {}} {
 		error_popup [mc "Please supply a commit message.