my $case = 1;
                        my $space = 1;
                        my $hasdesc = 0;
+                       my $hasparens = 0;
                        my $id = '0123456789ab';
                        my $orig_desc = "commit description";
                        my $description = "";
                        $case = 0 if ($line =~ /\b[Cc]ommit\s+[0-9a-f]{5,40}[^A-F]/);
                        if ($line =~ /\bcommit\s+[0-9a-f]{5,}\s+\("([^"]+)"\)/i) {
                                $orig_desc = $1;
+                               $hasparens = 1;
                        } elsif ($line =~ /\bcommit\s+[0-9a-f]{5,}\s*$/i &&
                                 defined $rawlines[$linenr] &&
                                 $rawlines[$linenr] =~ /^\s*\("([^"]+)"\)/) {
                                $orig_desc = $1;
+                               $hasparens = 1;
                        } elsif ($line =~ /\bcommit\s+[0-9a-f]{5,}\s+\("[^"]+$/i &&
                                 defined $rawlines[$linenr] &&
                                 $rawlines[$linenr] =~ /^\s*[^"]+"\)/) {
                                $orig_desc = $1;
                                $rawlines[$linenr] =~ /^\s*([^"]+)"\)/;
                                $orig_desc .= " " . $1;
+                               $hasparens = 1;
                        }
 
                        ($id, $description) = git_commit_info($orig_commit,
                                                              $id, $orig_desc);
 
-                       if ($short || $long || $space || $case || ($orig_desc ne $description)) {
+                       if ($short || $long || $space || $case || ($orig_desc ne $description) || !$hasparens) {
                                ERROR("GIT_COMMIT_ID",
                                      "Please use git commit description style 'commit <12+ chars of sha1> (\"<title line>\")' - ie: '${init_char}ommit $id (\"$description\")'\n" . $herecurr);
                        }