diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 7d90c3591567d10f9a075ec38048b93923f707d4..b4aaaab5bc908d440ab195072ea0b7aa4fac15d4 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1402,12 +1402,10 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 static const char *implicit_ident_advice(void)
 {
-	char *user_config = NULL;
-	char *xdg_config = NULL;
-	int config_exists;
+	char *user_config = expand_user_path("~/.gitconfig");
+	char *xdg_config = xdg_config_home("config");
+	int config_exists = file_exists(user_config) || file_exists(xdg_config);
 
-	home_config_paths(&user_config, &xdg_config, "config");
-	config_exists = file_exists(user_config) || file_exists(xdg_config);
 	free(user_config);
 	free(xdg_config);