1 files changed, 3 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 2f61f54b8940..e9618ca31251 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -867,6 +867,7 @@ sub git_commit_info {
 #                   echo "commit $(cut -c 1-12,41-)"
 #               done
         } elsif ($lines[0] =~ /^fatal: ambiguous argument '$commit': unknown revision or path not in the working tree\./) {
+                $id = undef;
         } else {
                 $id = substr($lines[0], 0, 12);
                 $desc = substr($lines[0], 41);
@@ -2606,7 +2607,8 @@ sub process {
                         ($id, $description) = git_commit_info($orig_commit,
                                                               $id, $orig_desc);
 
-                        if ($short || $long || $space || $case || ($orig_desc ne $description) || !$hasparens) {
+                        if (defined($id) &&
+                           ($short || $long || $space || $case || ($orig_desc ne $description) || !$hasparens)) {
                                 ERROR("GIT_COMMIT_ID",
                                       "Please use git commit description style 'commit <12+ chars of sha1> (\"<title line>\")' - ie: '${init_char}ommit $id (\"$description\")'\n" . $herecurr);
                         }