diff --git a/tools/release-1-create-branch.sh b/tools/release-1-create-branch.sh
index 4b0b3cee9c4..12bdf2f3b08 100755
--- a/tools/release-1-create-branch.sh
+++ b/tools/release-1-create-branch.sh
@@ -48,8 +48,11 @@ case $yn in
 		exit 1;;
 esac
 
+read -p "What is your apache user-id? " userId
+read -p "What is your real name? " realName
+
 # 3. Do a simple maven branch command with pushChanges=false (inside the Docker container)
-docker compose run --rm releaser bash /ws/mvnw -e -P with-c,with-dotnet,with-go,with-java,with-python,with-sandbox -Dmaven.repo.local=/ws/out/.repository release:branch -DautoVersionSubmodules=true -DpushChanges=false -DdevelopmentVersion="$NEW_VERSION" -DbranchName="$BRANCH_NAME"
+docker compose run --rm releaser bash git config --global user.email "$userId@apache.org" && git config --global user.name "$realName" && /ws/mvnw -e -P with-c,with-dotnet,with-go,with-java,with-python,with-sandbox -Dmaven.repo.local=/ws/out/.repository release:branch -DautoVersionSubmodules=true -DpushChanges=false -DdevelopmentVersion="$NEW_VERSION" -DbranchName="$BRANCH_NAME"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "Got non-0 exit code from docker compose, aborting."
     exit 1