diff --git a/Assistant/Threads/Committer.hs b/Assistant/Threads/Committer.hs
index 727b858405..aaec252067 100644
--- a/Assistant/Threads/Committer.hs
+++ b/Assistant/Threads/Committer.hs
@@ -175,10 +175,14 @@ commitStaged = do
 			return True
   where
 	nomessage ps
-		| Git.Version.older "1.7.2" = Param "-m"
-			: Param "autocommit" : ps
-		| otherwise = Param "--allow-empty-message" 
-			: Param "-m" : Param "" : ps
+		| Git.Version.older "1.7.2" =
+			Param "-m" : Param "autocommit" : ps
+		| Git.Version.older "1.7.8" =
+			Param "--allow-empty-message" :
+			Param "-m" : Param "" : ps
+		| otherwise =
+			Param "--allow-empty-message" :
+			Param "--no-edit" : Param "-m" : Param "" : ps
 
 {- OSX needs a short delay after a file is added before locking it down,
  - when using a non-direct mode repository, as pasting a file seems to
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 61a0d3b5c5..8b9cccd155 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+git-annex (4.20130418) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * assistant: Work around misfeature in git 1.8.2 that makes
+    `git commit --alow-empty -m ""` run an editor.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:22:48 -0400
+
 git-annex (4.20130417) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * initremote: Generates encryption keys with high quality entropy.