diff --git a/Documentation/git-svn.txt b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
index 636e09048e8846..d59379ee234469 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-svn.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
@@ -635,7 +635,8 @@ config key: svn.findcopiesharder
 
 -A<filename>::
 --authors-file=<filename>::
-	Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
+	Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport' but
+	an empty email address can be supplied with '<>':
 +
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 	loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
@@ -654,8 +655,14 @@ config key: svn.authorsfile
 	If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
 	does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
 	with the committer name as the first argument.  The program is
-	expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
-	which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
+	expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>" or
+	"Name <>", which will be treated as if included in the authors
+	file.
++
+Due to historical reasons a relative 'filename' is first searched
+relative to the current directory for 'init' and 'clone' and relative
+to the root of the working tree for 'fetch'. If 'filename' is
+not found, it is searched like any other command in '$PATH'.
 +
 [verse]
 config key: svn.authorsProg
diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index a6b6c3e40c180e..050f2a36f414f1 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -374,7 +374,8 @@ sub term_init {
 usage(1) unless defined $cmd;
 load_authors() if $_authors;
 if (defined $_authors_prog) {
-	$_authors_prog = "'" . File::Spec->rel2abs($_authors_prog) . "'";
+	my $abs_file = File::Spec->rel2abs($_authors_prog);
+	$_authors_prog = "'" . $abs_file . "'" if -x $abs_file;
 }
 
 unless ($cmd =~ /^(?:clone|init|multi-init|commit-diff)$/) {
diff --git a/perl/Git/SVN.pm b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
index 991a5885e9230b..76b29659057d32 100644
--- a/perl/Git/SVN.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
@@ -1482,7 +1482,6 @@ sub call_authors_prog {
 	}
 	if ($author =~ /^\s*(.+?)\s*<(.*)>\s*$/) {
 		my ($name, $email) = ($1, $2);
-		$email = undef if length $2 == 0;
 		return [$name, $email];
 	} else {
 		die "Author: $orig_author: $::_authors_prog returned "
@@ -2020,8 +2019,8 @@ sub make_log_entry {
 		remove_username($full_url);
 		$log_entry{metadata} = "$full_url\@$r $uuid";
 		$log_entry{svm_revision} = $r;
-		$email ||= "$author\@$uuid";
-		$commit_email ||= "$author\@$uuid";
+		$email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $email;
+		$commit_email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $commit_email;
 	} elsif ($self->use_svnsync_props) {
 		my $full_url = canonicalize_url(
 			add_path_to_url( $self->svnsync->{url}, $self->path )
@@ -2029,15 +2028,15 @@ sub make_log_entry {
 		remove_username($full_url);
 		my $uuid = $self->svnsync->{uuid};
 		$log_entry{metadata} = "$full_url\@$rev $uuid";
-		$email ||= "$author\@$uuid";
-		$commit_email ||= "$author\@$uuid";
+		$email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $email;
+		$commit_email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $commit_email;
 	} else {
 		my $url = $self->metadata_url;
 		remove_username($url);
 		my $uuid = $self->rewrite_uuid || $self->ra->get_uuid;
 		$log_entry{metadata} = "$url\@$rev " . $uuid;
-		$email ||= "$author\@" . $uuid;
-		$commit_email ||= "$author\@" . $uuid;
+		$email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $email;
+		$commit_email = "$author\@$uuid" unless defined $commit_email;
 	}
 	$log_entry{name} = $name;
 	$log_entry{email} = $email;
diff --git a/t/t9130-git-svn-authors-file.sh b/t/t9130-git-svn-authors-file.sh
index 7752a1faeb0cc9..d8262854bbee33 100755
--- a/t/t9130-git-svn-authors-file.sh
+++ b/t/t9130-git-svn-authors-file.sh
@@ -112,6 +112,20 @@ test_expect_success !MINGW 'fresh clone with svn.authors-file in config' '
 	)
 '
 
+cat >> svn-authors <<EOF
+ff = FFFFFFF FFFFFFF <>
+EOF
+
+test_expect_success 'authors-file imported user without email' '
+	svn_cmd mkdir -m aa/branches/ff --username ff "$svnrepo/aa/branches/ff" &&
+	(
+		cd aa-work &&
+		git svn fetch --authors-file=../svn-authors &&
+		git rev-list -1 --pretty=raw refs/remotes/origin/ff | \
+		  grep "^author FFFFFFF FFFFFFF <> "
+	)
+	'
+
 test_debug 'GIT_DIR=gitconfig.clone/.git git log'
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t9138-git-svn-authors-prog.sh b/t/t9138-git-svn-authors-prog.sh
index 48109f949f2708..93ef44fae8f281 100755
--- a/t/t9138-git-svn-authors-prog.sh
+++ b/t/t9138-git-svn-authors-prog.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ test_description='git svn authors prog tests'
 
 write_script svn-authors-prog "$PERL_PATH" <<-\EOF
 	$_ = shift;
-	if (s/-sub$//)  {
+	if (s/-hermit//) {
+		print "$_ <>\n";
+	} elsif (s/-sub$//)  {
 		print "$_ <$_\@sub.example.com>\n";
 	} else {
 		print "$_ <$_\@example.com>\n";
@@ -69,6 +71,28 @@ test_expect_success 'authors-file overrode authors-prog' '
 git --git-dir=x/.git config --unset svn.authorsfile
 git --git-dir=x/.git config --unset svn.authorsprog
 
+test_expect_success 'authors-prog imported user without email' '
+	svn mkdir -m gg --username gg-hermit "$svnrepo"/gg &&
+	(
+		cd x &&
+		git svn fetch --authors-prog=../svn-authors-prog &&
+		git rev-list -1 --pretty=raw refs/remotes/git-svn | \
+		  grep "^author gg <> "
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'imported without authors-prog and authors-file' '
+	svn mkdir -m hh --username hh "$svnrepo"/hh &&
+	(
+		uuid=$(svn info "$svnrepo" |
+			sed -n "s/^Repository UUID: //p") &&
+		cd x &&
+		git svn fetch &&
+		git rev-list -1 --pretty=raw refs/remotes/git-svn | \
+		  grep "^author hh <hh@$uuid> "
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'authors-prog handled special characters in username' '
 	svn mkdir -m bad --username "xyz; touch evil" "$svnrepo"/bad &&
 	(