diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c18dd8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+__pycache__/
diff --git a/config/.gitlint b/config/.gitlint
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbb412a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/.gitlint
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+# All these sections are optional. Each section with the exception of [general] represents
+# one rule and each key in it is an option for that specific rule.
+#
+# Rules and sections can be referenced by their full name or by id. For example
+# section "[body-max-line-length]" could also be written as "[B1]". Full section names are
+# used in here for clarity.
+#
+[general]
+# Ignore body-max-line-length and body-hard-tab and rely on the custom
+# OpenBMC-specific rule that covers both of these rules.
+ignore=body-max-line-length,body-hard-tab
+
+# verbosity should be a value between 1 and 3, the commandline -v flags take precedence over this
+# verbosity = 2
+
+# By default gitlint will ignore merge, revert, fixup and squash commits.
+# ignore-merge-commits=true
+# ignore-revert-commits=true
+# ignore-fixup-commits=true
+# ignore-squash-commits=true
+
+# Ignore any data send to gitlint via stdin
+# ignore-stdin=true
+
+# Fetch additional meta-data from the local repository when manually passing a
+# commit message to gitlint via stdin or --commit-msg. Disabled by default.
+# staged=true
+
+# Hard fail when the target commit range is empty. Note that gitlint will
+# already fail by default on invalid commit ranges. This option is specifically
+# to tell gitlint to fail on *valid but empty* commit ranges.
+# Disabled by default.
+# fail-without-commits=true
+
+# Enable debug mode (prints more output). Disabled by default.
+# debug=true
+
+# Enable community contributed rules
+# See http://jorisroovers.github.io/gitlint/contrib_rules for details
+# contrib=contrib-title-conventional-commits,CC1
+
+# Set the extra-path where gitlint will search for user defined rules
+# See http://jorisroovers.github.io/gitlint/user_defined_rules for details
+# extra-path=examples/
+
+# set the title line-length to 72
+[title-max-length]
+line-length=72
+
+# Conversely, you can also enforce minimal length of a title with the
+# "title-min-length" rule:
+[title-min-length]
+min-length=5
+
+[title-must-not-contain-word]
+# Comma-separated list of words that should not occur in the title. Matching is case
+# insensitive. It's fine if the keyword occurs as part of a larger word (so "WIPING"
+# will not cause a violation, but "WIP: my title" will.
+words=
+
+# [title-match-regex]
+# python-style regex that the commit-msg title must match
+# Note that the regex can contradict with other rules if not used correctly
+# (e.g. title-must-not-contain-word).
+# regex=^US[0-9]*
+
+[body-max-line-length-with-exceptions]
+line-length=72
+
+#[body-min-length]
+#min-length=100
+
+[body-is-missing]
+# Whether to ignore this rule on merge commits (which typically only have a title)
+ignore-merge-commits=false
+
+# [body-changed-file-mention]
+# List of files that need to be explicitly mentioned in the body when they are changed
+# This is useful for when developers often erroneously edit certain files or git submodules.
+# By specifying this rule, developers can only change the file when they explicitly reference
+# it in the commit message.
+# files=gitlint-core/gitlint/rules.py,README.md
+
+# [body-match-regex]
+# python-style regex that the commit-msg body must match.
+# E.g. body must end in My-Commit-Tag: foo
+# regex=My-Commit-Tag: foo$
+
+# [author-valid-email]
+# python-style regex that the commit author email address must match.
+# For example, use the following regex if you only want to allow email addresses from foo.com
+# regex=[^@]+@foo.com
+
+# [ignore-by-title]
+# Ignore certain rules for commits of which the title matches a regex
+# E.g. Match commit titles that start with "Release"
+# regex=^Release(.*)
+
+# Ignore certain rules, you can reference them by their id or by their full name
+# Use 'all' to ignore all rules
+# ignore=T1,body-min-length
+
+# [ignore-by-body]
+# Ignore certain rules for commits of which the body has a line that matches a regex
+# E.g. Match bodies that have a line that that contain "release"
+# regex=(.*)release(.*)
+#
+# Ignore certain rules, you can reference them by their id or by their full name
+# Use 'all' to ignore all rules
+# ignore=T1,body-min-length
+
+#[ignore-body-lines]
+#regex=^Signed-off-by:
+#ignore=body-max-line-length
+
+# [ignore-by-author-name]
+# Ignore certain rules for commits of which the author name matches a regex
+# E.g. Match commits made by dependabot
+# regex=(.*)dependabot(.*)
+#
+# Ignore certain rules, you can reference them by their id or by their full name
+# Use 'all' to ignore all rules
+# ignore=T1,body-min-length
+
+# This is a contrib rule - a community contributed rule. These are disabled by default.
+# You need to explicitly enable them one-by-one by adding them to the "contrib" option
+# under [general] section above.
+# [contrib-title-conventional-commits]
+# Specify allowed commit types. For details see: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/
+# types = bugfix,user-story,epic
diff --git a/config/gitlint/block_comment.py b/config/gitlint/block_comment.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f5b51f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/gitlint/block_comment.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import re
+from gitlint.rules import CommitRule, RuleViolation
+from gitlint.options import IntOption
+
+
+class BodyMaxLineLengthWithExceptions(CommitRule):
+    name = "body-max-line-length-with-exceptions"
+    id = "UC1"
+
+    options_spec = [IntOption("line-length", 80, "Max line length")]
+    line_length_violation_message = """Line exceeds max length ({0}>{1}).
+    It's possible you intended to use one of the following exceptions:
+    1. Put logs or shell script in a quoted section with triple quotes (''') before and after the section
+    2. Put a long link at the bottom in a footnote.  example: [1] https://my_long_link.com
+    Line that was too long:
+"""
+    tabs_violation_message = "Line contains hard tab characters (\\t)"
+
+    def validate(self, commit):
+        in_block_comment = False
+        for line in commit.message.body:
+            # allow a quoted string to be over the line limit
+            if (
+                line.startswith("'''")
+                or line.startswith('"""')
+                or line.startswith("```")
+            ):
+                in_block_comment = not in_block_comment
+
+            if in_block_comment:
+                continue
+
+            if "\t" in line:
+                return [RuleViolation(self.id, self.tabs_violation_message, line)]
+
+            # allow footnote url links to be as long as needed example
+            # [1] http://www.myspace.com
+            ret = re.match(r"^\[\d+\]:? ", line)
+            if ret is not None:
+                continue
+
+            # allow signed-off-by
+            if line.startswith("Signed-off-by:"):
+                continue
+
+            max_length = self.options["line-length"].value
+            if len(line) > max_length:
+                return [
+                    RuleViolation(
+                        self.id,
+                        self.line_length_violation_message.format(
+                            len(line), max_length
+                        ),
+                        line,
+                    )
+                ]
+        return None
diff --git a/scripts/build-unit-test-docker b/scripts/build-unit-test-docker
index 5c28aaa..1c50b63 100755
--- a/scripts/build-unit-test-docker
+++ b/scripts/build-unit-test-docker
@@ -849,6 +849,14 @@
 RUN pip3 install requests
 """
 
+# Note, we use sha1s here because the newest gitlint release doesn't include
+# some features we need.  Next time they release, we can rely on a direct
+# release tag
+dockerfile_base += f"""
+RUN pip3 install git+https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint.git@8ede310d62d5794efa7518b235f899f8a8ad6a68\#subdirectory=gitlint-core
+RUN pip3 install git+https://github.com/jorisroovers/gitlint.git@8ede310d62d5794efa7518b235f899f8a8ad6a68
+"""
+
 # Build the base and stage docker images.
 docker_base_img_name = Docker.tagname("base", dockerfile_base)
 Docker.build("base", docker_base_img_name, dockerfile_base)
diff --git a/scripts/format-code.sh b/scripts/format-code.sh
index 23a4dd8..7aa864e 100755
--- a/scripts/format-code.sh
+++ b/scripts/format-code.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@
     --ignore-words=openbmc-spelling-ignore.txt \
     "${DIR}"/.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG
 
+# Note, this check will be removed once the commit message rules have some usage
+if [[ -f "${DIR}/.openbmc-enforce-gitlint" ]]; then
+  # Check for commit message issues
+  gitlint \
+    --target "${DIR}" \
+    --extra-path "${WORKSPACE}/openbmc-build-scripts/config/gitlint/" \
+    --config "${WORKSPACE}/openbmc-build-scripts/config/.gitlint"
+fi
+
 cd "${DIR}"
 
 echo "Formatting code under $DIR/"