diff --git a/git-sh-setup.sh b/git-sh-setup.sh
index f24c7f2..d861db3 100755
--- a/git-sh-setup.sh
+++ b/git-sh-setup.sh
@@ -53,6 +53,33 @@
 	die "fatal: $0 cannot be used without a working tree."
 }
 
+get_author_ident_from_commit () {
+	pick_author_script='
+	/^author /{
+		s/'\''/'\''\\'\'\''/g
+		h
+		s/^author \([^<]*\) <[^>]*> .*$/\1/
+		s/'\''/'\''\'\'\''/g
+		s/.*/GIT_AUTHOR_NAME='\''&'\''/p
+
+		g
+		s/^author [^<]* <\([^>]*\)> .*$/\1/
+		s/'\''/'\''\'\'\''/g
+		s/.*/GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL='\''&'\''/p
+
+		g
+		s/^author [^<]* <[^>]*> \(.*\)$/\1/
+		s/'\''/'\''\'\'\''/g
+		s/.*/GIT_AUTHOR_DATE='\''&'\''/p
+
+		q
+	}
+	'
+	encoding=$(git config i18n.commitencoding || echo UTF-8)
+	git show -s --pretty=raw --encoding="$encoding" "$1" |
+	LANG=C LC_ALL=C sed -ne "$pick_author_script"
+}
+
 if [ -z "$LONG_USAGE" ]
 then
 	LONG_USAGE="Usage: $0 $USAGE"