diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 48e21dad6c..8916950694 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -846,6 +846,23 @@ sub chop_str {
 	return "$body$tail";
 }
 
+# takes the same arguments as chop_str, but also wraps a <span> around the
+# result with a title attribute if it does get chopped. Additionally, the
+# string is HTML-escaped.
+sub chop_and_escape_str {
+	my $str = shift;
+	my $len = shift;
+	my $add_len = shift || 10;
+
+	my $chopped = chop_str($str, $len, $add_len);
+	if ($chopped eq $str) {
+		return esc_html($chopped);
+	} else {
+		return qq{<span title="} . esc_html($str) . qq{">} .
+			esc_html($chopped) . qq{</span>};
+	}
+}
+
 ## ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ## functions returning short strings
 
@@ -3395,7 +3412,7 @@ sub git_project_list_body {
 		      "<td>" . $cgi->a({-href => href(project=>$pr->{'path'}, action=>"summary"),
 		                        -class => "list", -title => $pr->{'descr_long'}},
 		                        esc_html($pr->{'descr'})) . "</td>\n" .
-		      "<td><i>" . esc_html(chop_str($pr->{'owner'}, 15)) . "</i></td>\n";
+		      "<td><i>" . chop_and_escape_str($pr->{'owner'}, 15) . "</i></td>\n";
 		print "<td class=\"". age_class($pr->{'age'}) . "\">" .
 		      (defined $pr->{'age_string'} ? $pr->{'age_string'} : "No commits") . "</td>\n" .
 		      "<td class=\"link\">" .
@@ -3437,9 +3454,10 @@ sub git_shortlog_body {
 			print "<tr class=\"light\">\n";
 		}
 		$alternate ^= 1;
+		my $author = chop_and_escape_str($co{'author_name'}, 10);
 		# git_summary() used print "<td><i>$co{'age_string'}</i></td>\n" .
 		print "<td title=\"$co{'age_string_age'}\"><i>$co{'age_string_date'}</i></td>\n" .
-		      "<td><i>" . esc_html(chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 10)) . "</i></td>\n" .
+		      "<td><i>" . $author . "</i></td>\n" .
 		      "<td>";
 		print format_subject_html($co{'title'}, $co{'title_short'},
 		                          href(action=>"commit", hash=>$commit), $ref);
@@ -3487,9 +3505,10 @@ sub git_history_body {
 			print "<tr class=\"light\">\n";
 		}
 		$alternate ^= 1;
+	# shortlog uses      chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 10)
+		my $author = chop_and_escape_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 3);
 		print "<td title=\"$co{'age_string_age'}\"><i>$co{'age_string_date'}</i></td>\n" .
-		      # shortlog uses      chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 10)
-		      "<td><i>" . esc_html(chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 3)) . "</i></td>\n" .
+		      "<td><i>" . $author . "</i></td>\n" .
 		      "<td>";
 		# originally git_history used chop_str($co{'title'}, 50)
 		print format_subject_html($co{'title'}, $co{'title_short'},
@@ -3643,11 +3662,12 @@ sub git_search_grep_body {
 			print "<tr class=\"light\">\n";
 		}
 		$alternate ^= 1;
+		my $author = chop_and_escape_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 5);
 		print "<td title=\"$co{'age_string_age'}\"><i>$co{'age_string_date'}</i></td>\n" .
-		      "<td><i>" . esc_html(chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 5)) . "</i></td>\n" .
+		      "<td><i>" . $author . "</i></td>\n" .
 		      "<td>" .
 		      $cgi->a({-href => href(action=>"commit", hash=>$co{'id'}), -class => "list subject"},
-			       esc_html(chop_str($co{'title'}, 50)) . "<br/>");
+			       chop_and_escape_str($co{'title'}, 50) . "<br/>");
 		my $comment = $co{'comment'};
 		foreach my $line (@$comment) {
 			if ($line =~ m/^(.*)($search_regexp)(.*)$/i) {
@@ -5157,12 +5177,13 @@ sub git_search {
 						print "<tr class=\"light\">\n";
 					}
 					$alternate ^= 1;
+					my $author = chop_and_escape_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 5);
 					print "<td title=\"$co{'age_string_age'}\"><i>$co{'age_string_date'}</i></td>\n" .
-					      "<td><i>" . esc_html(chop_str($co{'author_name'}, 15, 5)) . "</i></td>\n" .
+					      "<td><i>" . $author . "</i></td>\n" .
 					      "<td>" .
 					      $cgi->a({-href => href(action=>"commit", hash=>$co{'id'}),
 					              -class => "list subject"},
-					              esc_html(chop_str($co{'title'}, 50)) . "<br/>");
+					              chop_and_escape_str($co{'title'}, 50) . "<br/>");
 					while (my $setref = shift @files) {
 						my %set = %$setref;
 						print $cgi->a({-href => href(action=>"blob", hash_base=>$co{'id'},