diff --git a/cmd/fluxctl/args.go b/cmd/fluxctl/args.go
index a48d25c893..9ba9a15a55 100644
--- a/cmd/fluxctl/args.go
+++ b/cmd/fluxctl/args.go
@@ -70,9 +70,6 @@ func getUserGitconfig() map[string]string {
 func userGitconfigMap(s string) map[string]string {
 	c := make(map[string]string)
 	lines := splitList(s)
-	if len(lines) == 0 {
-		return c
-	}
 	for _, l := range lines {
 		prop := strings.SplitN(l, "=", 2)
 		p := strings.TrimSpace(prop[0])
diff --git a/cmd/fluxd/main.go b/cmd/fluxd/main.go
index 0dd4418fe2..dd18977b2a 100644
--- a/cmd/fluxd/main.go
+++ b/cmd/fluxd/main.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func main() {
 		gitPath      = fs.String("git-path", "", "path within git repo to locate Kubernetes manifests (relative path)")
 		gitUser      = fs.String("git-user", "Weave Flux", "username to use as git committer")
 		gitEmail     = fs.String("git-email", "support@weave.works", "email to use as git committer")
-		gitSetAuthor = fs.Bool("git-set-author", false, "boolean to set a git author different to git committer")
+		gitSetAuthor = fs.Bool("git-set-author", false, "If set, the author of git commits will reflect the user who initiated the commit and will differ from the git committer.")
 		gitLabel     = fs.String("git-label", "", "label to keep track of sync progress; overrides both --git-sync-tag and --git-notes-ref")
 		// Old git config; still used if --git-label is not supplied, but --git-label is preferred.
 		gitSyncTag  = fs.String("git-sync-tag", defaultGitSyncTag, "tag to use to mark sync progress for this cluster")