diff --git a/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/commit-msg_test.sh b/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/commit-msg_test.sh
index a9247711be..d797be30fd 100755
--- a/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/commit-msg_test.sh
+++ b/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/commit-msg_test.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ function fail {
   exit 1
 }
 
+function prereq_modern_git {
+  # "git interpret-trailers --where" was introduced in Git 2.15.0.
+  git interpret-trailers -h 2>&1 | grep -e --where > /dev/null
+}
+
 function test_nonexistent_argument {
   rm -f input
   if ${hook} input ; then
@@ -38,6 +43,38 @@ EOF
   fi
 }
 
+function test_keep_cutoff_line {
+  if ! prereq_modern_git ; then
+    echo "old version of Git detected; skipping scissors test."
+    return 0
+  fi
+  rm -f input
+  cat << EOF > input
+Do something nice
+
+# Please enter the commit message for your changes.
+# ------------------------ >8 ------------------------
+# Do not modify or remove the line above.
+# Everything below it will be ignored.
+diff --git a/file.txt b/file.txt
+index 625fd613d9..03aeba3b21 100755
+--- a/file.txt
++++ b/file.txt
+@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
+ context
+ line
+ 
++hello, world
+ 
+ context
+ line
+EOF
+  ${hook} input || fail "failed hook execution"
+  grep '>8' input || fail "lost cut-off line"
+  sed -n -e '1,/>8/ p' input >top
+  grep '^Change-Id' top || fail "missing Change-Id above cut-off line"
+}
+
 # a Change-Id already set is preserved.
 function test_preserve_changeid {
   cat << EOF > input
diff --git a/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/tools/root/hooks/commit-msg b/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/tools/root/hooks/commit-msg
index e9ff5977e3..290123258b 100755
--- a/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/tools/root/hooks/commit-msg
+++ b/resources/com/google/gerrit/server/tools/root/hooks/commit-msg
@@ -48,11 +48,6 @@ if test ! -s "${dest}" ; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-if ! mv "${dest}" "$1" ; then
-  echo "cannot mv ${dest} to $1"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
 # Avoid the --in-place option which only appeared in Git 2.8
 # Avoid the --if-exists option which only appeared in Git 2.15
 if ! git -c trailer.ifexists=doNothing interpret-trailers \