Parece que o está corrigido no etckeeper 1.5 . Aconteceu em /etc/etckeeper/commit.d/50vcs-commit
:
if [ "$VCS" = git ] && [ -d .git ]; then
if [ -n "$USER" ]; then
export GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="$USER"
export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="$USER@$hostname"
fi
if [ -n "$logfile" ]; then
git commit $GIT_COMMIT_OPTIONS -F "$logfile"
else
git commit $GIT_COMMIT_OPTIONS
fi
[ ... ]