diff --git a/bin/release-helper.sh b/bin/release-helper.sh
index b0ca988df4c73..51188a7b93182 100755
--- a/bin/release-helper.sh
+++ b/bin/release-helper.sh
@@ -175,8 +175,7 @@ function cmd-git-commit-release() {
     echo $1 || verify_valid_version
 
     git add "${DEPENDENCY_FILE}"
-    # allow empty commit here as the community version might not have any changes, but we still need a commit for a tag
-    git commit --allow-empty -m "release version ${1}"
+    git commit -m "release version ${1}"
     git tag -a "v${1}" -m "Release version ${1}"
 }