diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommandTest.java
index 8084505c1..35de73e20 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommandTest.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ReflogEntry;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.StoredConfig;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CommitConfig.CleanupMode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevCommit;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileBasedConfig;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.submodule.SubmoduleWalk;
@@ -514,6 +515,62 @@ public void commitAmendWithAuthorShouldUseIt() throws Exception {
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void commitMessageVerbatim() throws Exception {
+		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
+			writeTrashFile("file1", "file1");
+			git.add().addFilepattern("file1").call();
+			RevCommit committed = git.commit().setMessage("#initial commit")
+					.call();
+
+			assertEquals("#initial commit", committed.getFullMessage());
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void commitMessageStrip() throws Exception {
+		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
+			writeTrashFile("file1", "file1");
+			git.add().addFilepattern("file1").call();
+			RevCommit committed = git.commit().setMessage(
+					"#Comment\ninitial commit\t\n\n commit body \n \t#another comment")
+					.setCleanupMode(CleanupMode.STRIP).call();
+
+			assertEquals("initial commit\n\n commit body",
+					committed.getFullMessage());
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void commitMessageDefault() throws Exception {
+		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
+			writeTrashFile("file1", "file1");
+			git.add().addFilepattern("file1").call();
+			RevCommit committed = git.commit().setMessage(
+					"#Comment\ninitial commit\t\n\n commit body \n\n\n \t#another comment  ")
+					.setCleanupMode(CleanupMode.DEFAULT).call();
+
+			assertEquals("initial commit\n\n commit body",
+					committed.getFullMessage());
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void commitMessageDefaultWhitespace() throws Exception {
+		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
+			writeTrashFile("file1", "file1");
+			git.add().addFilepattern("file1").call();
+			RevCommit committed = git.commit().setMessage(
+					"#Comment\ninitial commit\t\n\n commit body \n\n\n \t#another comment  ")
+					.setCleanupMode(CleanupMode.DEFAULT).setDefaultClean(false)
+					.call();
+
+			assertEquals(
+					"#Comment\ninitial commit\n\n commit body\n\n \t#another comment",
+					committed.getFullMessage());
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void commitEmptyCommits() throws Exception {
 		try (Git git = new Git(db)) {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommand.java
index 37f1d482a..7a591aa3b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CommitCommand.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.annotations.NonNull;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.AbortedByHookException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.CanceledException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.ConcurrentRefUpdateException;
@@ -46,6 +47,8 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.hooks.PreCommitHook;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.JGitText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CommitBuilder;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CommitConfig;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CommitConfig.CleanupMode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.FileMode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.GpgConfig;
@@ -133,6 +136,12 @@ public class CommitCommand extends GitCommand<RevCommit> {
 
 	private CredentialsProvider credentialsProvider;
 
+	private @NonNull CleanupMode cleanupMode = CleanupMode.VERBATIM;
+
+	private boolean cleanDefaultIsStrip = true;
+
+	private Character commentChar;
+
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for CommitCommand
 	 *
@@ -200,7 +209,7 @@ public RevCommit call() throws GitAPIException, AbortedByHookException,
 				throw new WrongRepositoryStateException(
 						JGitText.get().commitAmendOnInitialNotPossible);
 
-			if (headId != null)
+			if (headId != null) {
 				if (amend) {
 					RevCommit previousCommit = rw.parseCommit(headId);
 					for (RevCommit p : previousCommit.getParents())
@@ -210,7 +219,7 @@ public RevCommit call() throws GitAPIException, AbortedByHookException,
 				} else {
 					parents.add(0, headId);
 				}
-
+			}
 			if (!noVerify) {
 				message = Hooks
 						.commitMsg(repo,
@@ -219,6 +228,19 @@ public RevCommit call() throws GitAPIException, AbortedByHookException,
 						.setCommitMessage(message).call();
 			}
 
+			CommitConfig config = null;
+			if (CleanupMode.DEFAULT.equals(cleanupMode)) {
+				config = repo.getConfig().get(CommitConfig.KEY);
+				cleanupMode = config.resolve(cleanupMode, cleanDefaultIsStrip);
+			}
+			char comments;
+			if (commentChar == null) {
+				comments = '#'; // TODO use git config core.commentChar
+			} else {
+				comments = commentChar.charValue();
+			}
+			message = CommitConfig.cleanText(message, cleanupMode, comments);
+
 			RevCommit revCommit;
 			DirCache index = repo.lockDirCache();
 			try (ObjectInserter odi = repo.newObjectInserter()) {
@@ -657,6 +679,57 @@ public CommitCommand setMessage(String message) {
 		return this;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Sets the {@link CleanupMode} to apply to the commit message. If not
+	 * called, {@link CommitCommand} applies {@link CleanupMode#VERBATIM}.
+	 *
+	 * @param mode
+	 *            {@link CleanupMode} to set
+	 * @return {@code this}
+	 * @since 6.1
+	 */
+	public CommitCommand setCleanupMode(@NonNull CleanupMode mode) {
+		checkCallable();
+		this.cleanupMode = mode;
+		return this;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Sets the default clean mode if {@link #setCleanupMode(CleanupMode)
+	 * setCleanupMode(CleanupMode.DEFAULT)} is set and git config
+	 * {@code commit.cleanup = default} or is not set.
+	 *
+	 * @param strip
+	 *            if {@code true}, default to {@link CleanupMode#STRIP};
+	 *            otherwise default to {@link CleanupMode#WHITESPACE}
+	 * @return {@code this}
+	 * @since 6.1
+	 */
+	public CommitCommand setDefaultClean(boolean strip) {
+		checkCallable();
+		this.cleanDefaultIsStrip = strip;
+		return this;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Sets the comment character to apply when cleaning a commit message. If
+	 * {@code null} (the default) and the {@link #setCleanupMode(CleanupMode)
+	 * clean-up mode} is {@link CleanupMode#STRIP} or
+	 * {@link CleanupMode#SCISSORS}, the value of git config
+	 * {@code core.commentChar} will be used.
+	 *
+	 * @param commentChar
+	 *            the comment character, or {@code null} to use the value from
+	 *            the git config
+	 * @return {@code this}
+	 * @since 6.1
+	 */
+	public CommitCommand setCommentCharacter(Character commentChar) {
+		checkCallable();
+		this.commentChar = commentChar;
+		return this;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Set whether to allow to create an empty commit
 	 *
@@ -806,7 +879,7 @@ public CommitCommand setAll(boolean all) {
 	 * command line.
 	 *
 	 * @param amend
-	 *            whether to ammend the tip of the current branch
+	 *            whether to amend the tip of the current branch
 	 * @return {@code this}
 	 */
 	public CommitCommand setAmend(boolean amend) {