diff --git a/Documentation/config/revert.txt b/Documentation/config/revert.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..797bfb6d62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/config/revert.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+revert.reference::
+	Setting this variable to true makes `git revert` to behave
+	as if the `--reference` option is given.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-revert.txt b/Documentation/git-revert.txt
index bb92a4a451..8463fe9cf7 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-revert.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-revert.txt
@@ -117,6 +117,15 @@ effect to your index in a row.
 	Allow the rerere mechanism to update the index with the
 	result of auto-conflict resolution if possible.
 
+--reference::
+	Instead of starting the body of the log message with "This
+	reverts <full object name of the commit being reverted>.",
+	refer to the commit using "--pretty=reference" format
+	(cf. linkgit:git-log[1]).  The `revert.reference`
+	configuration variable can be used to enable this option by
+	default.
+
+
 SEQUENCER SUBCOMMANDS
 ---------------------
 include::sequencer.txt[]
diff --git a/builtin/revert.c b/builtin/revert.c
index 51776abea6..ada51e46b9 100644
--- a/builtin/revert.c
+++ b/builtin/revert.c
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ static int run_sequencer(int argc, const char **argv, struct replay_opts *opts)
 			N_("option for merge strategy"), option_parse_x),
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 'S', "gpg-sign", &opts->gpg_sign, N_("key-id"),
 		  N_("GPG sign commit"), PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t) "" },
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "reference", &opts->commit_use_reference,
+			 N_("use the 'reference' format to refer to commits")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 	struct option *options = base_options;
diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index a5f678f452..97abd5932b 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -221,6 +221,9 @@ static int git_sequencer_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 		return ret;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(k, "revert.reference"))
+		opts->commit_use_reference = git_config_bool(k, v);
+
 	status = git_gpg_config(k, v, NULL);
 	if (status)
 		return status;
@@ -2059,6 +2062,20 @@ static int should_edit(struct replay_opts *opts) {
 	return opts->edit;
 }
 
+static void refer_to_commit(struct replay_opts *opts,
+			    struct strbuf *msgbuf, struct commit *commit)
+{
+	if (opts->commit_use_reference) {
+		struct pretty_print_context ctx = {
+			.abbrev = DEFAULT_ABBREV,
+			.date_mode.type = DATE_SHORT,
+		};
+		format_commit_message(commit, "%h (%s, %ad)", msgbuf, &ctx);
+	} else {
+		strbuf_addstr(msgbuf, oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid));
+	}
+}
+
 static int do_pick_commit(struct repository *r,
 			  struct todo_item *item,
 			  struct replay_opts *opts,
@@ -2167,14 +2184,19 @@ static int do_pick_commit(struct repository *r,
 		base_label = msg.label;
 		next = parent;
 		next_label = msg.parent_label;
-		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "Revert \"");
-		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, msg.subject);
-		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "\"\n\nThis reverts commit ");
-		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid));
+		if (!opts->commit_use_reference) {
+			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "Revert \"");
+			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, msg.subject);
+			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "\"");
+		} else {
+			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "DESCRIBE WHY WE ARE REVERTING HERE");
+		}
+		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, "\n\nThis reverts commit ");
+		refer_to_commit(opts, &msgbuf, commit);
 
 		if (commit->parents && commit->parents->next) {
 			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, ", reversing\nchanges made to ");
-			strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, oid_to_hex(&parent->object.oid));
+			refer_to_commit(opts, &msgbuf, parent);
 		}
 		strbuf_addstr(&msgbuf, ".\n");
 	} else {
diff --git a/sequencer.h b/sequencer.h
index da64473636..698599fe4e 100644
--- a/sequencer.h
+++ b/sequencer.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ struct replay_opts {
 	int reschedule_failed_exec;
 	int committer_date_is_author_date;
 	int ignore_date;
+	int commit_use_reference;
 
 	int mainline;
 
diff --git a/t/t3501-revert-cherry-pick.sh b/t/t3501-revert-cherry-pick.sh
index 8617efaaf1..36f9565b92 100755
--- a/t/t3501-revert-cherry-pick.sh
+++ b/t/t3501-revert-cherry-pick.sh
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ test_expect_success 'cherry-pick works with dirty renamed file' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'advice from failed revert' '
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	test_commit --no-tag "add dream" dream dream &&
 	dream_oid=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) &&
 	cat <<-EOF >expected &&
@@ -174,4 +175,34 @@ test_expect_success 'advice from failed revert' '
 	test_must_fail git revert HEAD^ 2>actual &&
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
+
+test_expect_success 'identification of reverted commit (vanilla)' '
+	test_commit to-ident &&
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard to-ident" &&
+	git checkout --detach to-ident &&
+	git revert --no-edit HEAD &&
+	git cat-file commit HEAD >actual.raw &&
+	grep "^This reverts " actual.raw >actual &&
+	echo "This reverts commit $(git rev-parse HEAD^)." >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'identification of reverted commit (reference)' '
+	git checkout --detach to-ident &&
+	git revert --reference --no-edit HEAD &&
+	git cat-file commit HEAD >actual.raw &&
+	grep "^This reverts " actual.raw >actual &&
+	echo "This reverts commit $(git show -s --pretty=reference HEAD^)." >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'identification of reverted commit (reference)' '
+	git checkout --detach to-ident &&
+	git -c revert.reference=true revert --no-edit HEAD &&
+	git cat-file commit HEAD >actual.raw &&
+	grep "^This reverts " actual.raw >actual &&
+	echo "This reverts commit $(git show -s --pretty=reference HEAD^)." >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done
