diff --git a/include/git2.h b/include/git2.h
index 34601449c..f260cfacd 100644
--- a/include/git2.h
+++ b/include/git2.h
@@ -45,5 +45,6 @@
 #include "git2/submodule.h"
 #include "git2/notes.h"
 #include "git2/reset.h"
+#include "git2/message.h"
 
 #endif
diff --git a/include/git2/commit.h b/include/git2/commit.h
index a6d9bb0e3..640adf5c2 100644
--- a/include/git2/commit.h
+++ b/include/git2/commit.h
@@ -182,8 +182,8 @@ GIT_EXTERN(const git_oid *) git_commit_parent_oid(git_commit *commit, unsigned i
  * Create a new commit in the repository using `git_object`
  * instances as parameters.
  *
- * The message will be cleaned up from excess whitespace
- * it will be made sure that the last line ends with a '\n'.
+ * The message will not be cleaned up. This can be achieved
+ * through `git_message_prettify()`.
  *
  * @param oid Pointer where to store the OID of the
  *	newly created commit
diff --git a/include/git2/message.h b/include/git2/message.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f2558583
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/git2/message.h
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2012 the libgit2 contributors
+ *
+ * This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
+ * a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
+ */
+#ifndef INCLUDE_git_message_h__
+#define INCLUDE_git_message_h__
+
+#include "common.h"
+
+/**
+ * @file git2/message.h
+ * @brief Git message management routines
+ * @ingroup Git
+ * @{
+ */
+GIT_BEGIN_DECL
+
+/**
+ * Clean up message from excess whitespace and make sure that the last line
+ * ends with a '\n'.
+ *
+ * Optionally, can remove lines starting with a "#".
+ *
+ * @param message_out The user allocated buffer which will be filled with 
+ * the cleaned up message.
+ *
+ * @param size The size of the allocated buffer message_out.
+ *
+ * @param message The message to be prettified.
+ *
+ * @param strip_comments 1 to remove lines starting with a "#", 0 otherwise.
+ *
+ * @return GIT_SUCCESS or an error code
+ */
+GIT_EXTERN(int) git_message_prettify(char *message_out, size_t buffer_size, const char *message, int strip_comments);
+
+/** @} */
+GIT_END_DECL
+#endif /* INCLUDE_git_message_h__ */
diff --git a/include/git2/tag.h b/include/git2/tag.h
index 13dc145b6..b522451a1 100644
--- a/include/git2/tag.h
+++ b/include/git2/tag.h
@@ -137,8 +137,8 @@ GIT_EXTERN(const char *) git_tag_message(git_tag *tag);
  * this tag object. If `force` is true and a reference
  * already exists with the given name, it'll be replaced.
  *
- * The message will be cleaned up from excess whitespace
- * it will be made sure that the last line ends with a '\n'.
+ * The message will not be cleaned up. This can be achieved
+ * through `git_message_prettify()`.
  *
  * @param oid Pointer where to store the OID of the
  * newly created tag. If the tag already exists, this parameter
diff --git a/src/message.c b/src/message.c
index aa0220fd0..a4aadb28f 100644
--- a/src/message.c
+++ b/src/message.c
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
  */
 
 #include "message.h"
-#include <ctype.h>
 
 static size_t line_length_without_trailing_spaces(const char *line, size_t len)
 {
@@ -22,7 +21,7 @@ static size_t line_length_without_trailing_spaces(const char *line, size_t len)
 
 /* Greatly inspired from git.git "stripspace" */
 /* see https://github.com/git/git/blob/497215d8811ac7b8955693ceaad0899ecd894ed2/builtin/stripspace.c#L4-67 */
-int git_message_prettify(git_buf *message_out, const char *message, int strip_comments)
+int git_message__prettify(git_buf *message_out, const char *message, int strip_comments)
 {
 	const size_t message_len = strlen(message);
 
@@ -59,3 +58,25 @@ int git_message_prettify(git_buf *message_out, const char *message, int strip_co
 
 	return git_buf_oom(message_out) ? -1 : 0;
 }
+
+int git_message_prettify(char *message_out, size_t buffer_size, const char *message, int strip_comments)
+{
+	git_buf buf = GIT_BUF_INIT;
+
+	if (strlen(message) + 1 > buffer_size) {	/* We have to account for a potentially missing \n */
+		giterr_set(GITERR_INVALID, "Buffer too short to hold the cleaned message");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	*message_out = '\0';
+
+	if (git_message__prettify(&buf, message, strip_comments) < 0) {
+		git_buf_free(&buf);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	git_buf_copy_cstr(message_out, buffer_size, &buf);
+	git_buf_free(&buf);
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/message.h b/src/message.h
index ddfa13e18..7e4e7f337 100644
--- a/src/message.h
+++ b/src/message.h
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@
 #ifndef INCLUDE_message_h__
 #define INCLUDE_message_h__
 
+#include "git2/message.h"
 #include "buffer.h"
 
-int git_message_prettify(git_buf *message_out, const char *message, int strip_comments);
+int git_message__prettify(git_buf *message_out, const char *message, int strip_comments);
 
 #endif /* INCLUDE_message_h__ */
diff --git a/src/tag.c b/src/tag.c
index 63424f530..463619f63 100644
--- a/src/tag.c
+++ b/src/tag.c
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ static int write_tag_annotation(
 		const git_signature *tagger,
 		const char *message)
 {
-	git_buf tag = GIT_BUF_INIT, cleaned_message = GIT_BUF_INIT;
+	git_buf tag = GIT_BUF_INIT;
 	git_odb *odb;
 
 	git_oid__writebuf(&tag, "object ", git_object_id(target));
@@ -205,15 +205,9 @@ static int write_tag_annotation(
 	git_signature__writebuf(&tag, "tagger ", tagger);
 	git_buf_putc(&tag, '\n');
 
-	/* Remove comments by default */
-	if (git_message_prettify(&cleaned_message, message, 1) < 0)
+	if (git_buf_puts(&tag, message) < 0)
 		goto on_error;
 
-	if (git_buf_puts(&tag, git_buf_cstr(&cleaned_message)) < 0)
-		goto on_error;
-
-	git_buf_free(&cleaned_message);
-
 	if (git_repository_odb__weakptr(&odb, repo) < 0)
 		goto on_error;
 
@@ -225,7 +219,6 @@ static int write_tag_annotation(
 
 on_error:
 	git_buf_free(&tag);
-	git_buf_free(&cleaned_message);
 	giterr_set(GITERR_OBJECT, "Failed to create tag annotation.");
 	return -1;
 }
diff --git a/tests-clar/object/commit/commitstagedfile.c b/tests-clar/object/commit/commitstagedfile.c
index 76352fc58..628ef43c2 100644
--- a/tests-clar/object/commit/commitstagedfile.c
+++ b/tests-clar/object/commit/commitstagedfile.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ void test_object_commit_commitstagedfile__generate_predictable_object_ids(void)
 	git_oid expected_blob_oid, tree_oid, expected_tree_oid, commit_oid, expected_commit_oid;
 	git_signature *signature;
 	git_tree *tree;
+	char buffer[128];
 
 	/*
 	 * The test below replicates the following git scenario
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ void test_object_commit_commitstagedfile__generate_predictable_object_ids(void)
 	 * 100644 blob 9daeafb9864cf43055ae93beb0afd6c7d144bfa4    test.txt
 	 */
 
-	cl_git_pass(git_oid_fromstr(&expected_commit_oid, "b78d8ac0e448a305bf2806a00947ade8e8966d58"));
+	cl_git_pass(git_oid_fromstr(&expected_commit_oid, "1fe3126578fc4eca68c193e4a3a0a14a0704624d"));
 	cl_git_pass(git_oid_fromstr(&expected_tree_oid, "2b297e643c551e76cfa1f93810c50811382f9117"));
 	cl_git_pass(git_oid_fromstr(&expected_blob_oid, "9daeafb9864cf43055ae93beb0afd6c7d144bfa4"));
 
@@ -107,6 +108,9 @@ void test_object_commit_commitstagedfile__generate_predictable_object_ids(void)
 	 */
 	cl_git_pass(git_signature_new(&signature, "nulltoken", "emeric.fermas@gmail.com", 1323847743, 60));
 	cl_git_pass(git_tree_lookup(&tree, repo, &tree_oid));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_message_prettify(buffer, 128, "Initial commit", 0));
+
 	cl_git_pass(git_commit_create_v(
 		&commit_oid,
 		repo,
@@ -114,7 +118,7 @@ void test_object_commit_commitstagedfile__generate_predictable_object_ids(void)
 		signature,
 		signature,
 		NULL,
-		"Initial commit",
+		buffer,
 		tree,
 		0));
 
diff --git a/tests-clar/object/message.c b/tests-clar/object/message.c
index cbdc80a64..43be8b152 100644
--- a/tests-clar/object/message.c
+++ b/tests-clar/object/message.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ static void assert_message_prettifying(char *expected_output, char *input, int s
 {
 	git_buf prettified_message = GIT_BUF_INIT;
 
-	git_message_prettify(&prettified_message, input, strip_comments);
+	git_message__prettify(&prettified_message, input, strip_comments);
 	cl_assert_equal_s(expected_output, git_buf_cstr(&prettified_message));
 
 	git_buf_free(&prettified_message);