diff --git a/bin/commitlint b/bin/commitlint
index cd4a096a5..2c5fe4cd4 100755
--- a/bin/commitlint
+++ b/bin/commitlint
@@ -53,19 +53,25 @@ function checkmsg()
     SUMMARY=$(echo "$MSG" | head -1)
     FMT="%s%-60s  %b${NRM}\n"
 
+    # Is this some boring commit, eg a hard-to avoid github merge commit ?
+    # Ignore those.
+    if echo "$SUMMARY" | grep -qE '^Merge \w{40} into \w{40}'
+    then 
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2059
+        printf "$FMT" "$HASH" "$SUMMARY" "[ignored]"
     # Does the summary follow convention ?
     # [;]type[!]: [topic: [subtopic: ...]] subject
-    #
     # spaces after ; and ! and : are optional (also before, but that should be discouraged)
     # the type prefix is required and must be all word characters
     # there can be zero or more topic prefixes of increasing depth
     # a topic prefix must begin with a word character, can contain spaces/slashes/commas
     # (so potentially multiple topic labels, eg "imp: bs, cf, is: cli/doc: blah blah")
-    if ! echo "$SUMMARY" | grep -qE '^( *; *)?\w+( *!)? *: *(\w[\w,/ ]* *: *)*'
+    elif ! echo "$SUMMARY" | grep -qE '^( *; *)?\w+( *!)? *: *(\w[\w,/ ]* *: *)*'
     then
         # shellcheck disable=SC2059
         printf "$FMT" "$HASH" "$SUMMARY" "${RED}[FAIL]"
         STATUS=1
+    # Looks like a good commit.
     else
         # shellcheck disable=SC2059
         printf "$FMT" "$HASH" "$SUMMARY" "${GRN}[ok]"