diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index b15e3119d6..a2ec73d738 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ static int quiet, verbose, no_verify, allow_empty, dry_run, renew_authorship;
 static int no_post_rewrite, allow_empty_message;
 static char *untracked_files_arg, *force_date, *ignore_submodule_arg;
 static char *sign_commit;
-static unsigned int colopts;
 
 /*
  * The default commit message cleanup mode will remove the lines
@@ -1121,7 +1120,7 @@ static int git_status_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 	struct wt_status *s = cb;
 
 	if (!prefixcmp(k, "column."))
-		return git_column_config(k, v, "status", &colopts);
+		return git_column_config(k, v, "status", &s->colopts);
 	if (!strcmp(k, "status.submodulesummary")) {
 		int is_bool;
 		s->submodule_summary = git_config_bool_or_int(k, v, &is_bool);
@@ -1187,7 +1186,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 0, "ignore-submodules", &ignore_submodule_arg, "when",
 		  "ignore changes to submodules, optional when: all, dirty, untracked. (Default: all)",
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t)"all" },
-		OPT_COLUMN(0, "column", &colopts, "list untracked files in columns"),
+		OPT_COLUMN(0, "column", &s.colopts, "list untracked files in columns"),
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 
@@ -1201,8 +1200,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_status_options,
 			     builtin_status_usage, 0);
-	finalize_colopts(&colopts, -1);
-	s.colopts = colopts;
+	finalize_colopts(&s.colopts, -1);
 
 	if (s.null_termination && status_format == STATUS_FORMAT_LONG)
 		status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_PORCELAIN;
@@ -1439,6 +1437,7 @@ int cmd_commit(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	wt_status_prepare(&s);
 	git_config(git_commit_config, &s);
 	determine_whence(&s);
+	s.colopts = 0;
 
 	if (get_sha1("HEAD", sha1))
 		current_head = NULL;
diff --git a/wt-status.h b/wt-status.h
index f4c949bed2..14aa9f7e13 100644
--- a/wt-status.h
+++ b/wt-status.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ struct wt_status {
 	enum untracked_status_type show_untracked_files;
 	const char *ignore_submodule_arg;
 	char color_palette[WT_STATUS_MAXSLOT][COLOR_MAXLEN];
-	int colopts;
+	unsigned colopts;
 	int null_termination;
 	int show_branch;