diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/GitContext.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/GitContext.cs
index e9d9114b..c2c92c8d 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/GitContext.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/GitContext.cs
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public static GitContext Create(string path, string? committish = null, bool wri
         /// <returns>A string that is at least <paramref name="minLength"/> in length but may be more as required to uniquely identify the git object identified by <see cref="GitCommitId"/>.</returns>
         public abstract string GetShortUniqueCommitId(int minLength);
 
-        internal abstract int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion);
+        internal abstract (int height, string? nearestRelevantCommit) CalculateVersionHeightAndNearestRelevantCommit(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion);
 
         internal abstract Version GetIdAsVersion(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion, int versionHeight);
 
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2Context.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2Context.cs
index 65cd8bba..599323d3 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2Context.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2Context.cs
@@ -82,8 +82,11 @@ public override bool TrySelectCommit(string committish)
         /// <inheritdoc/>
         public override string GetShortUniqueCommitId(int minLength) => this.Repository.ObjectDatabase.ShortenObjectId(this.Commit, minLength);
 
-        internal override int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion)
+        internal override (int height, string? nearestRelevantCommit) CalculateVersionHeightAndNearestRelevantCommit(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion)
         {
+            throw new NotImplementedException("nearestRelevantCommit for libgit2");
+
+#if false
             var headCommitVersion = committedVersion?.Version ?? SemVer0;
 
             if (IsVersionFileChangedInWorkingTree(committedVersion, workingVersion))
@@ -99,6 +102,7 @@ internal override int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, V
             }
 
             return LibGit2GitExtensions.GetVersionHeight(this);
+#endif
         }
 
         internal override System.Version GetIdAsVersion(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion, int versionHeight)
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitContext.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitContext.cs
index a6d4fab5..36fdce5f 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitContext.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitContext.cs
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public static ManagedGitContext Create(string path, string? committish = null)
             };
         }
 
-        internal override int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion)
+        internal override (int height, string? nearestRelevantCommit) CalculateVersionHeightAndNearestRelevantCommit(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion)
         {
             var headCommitVersion = committedVersion?.Version ?? SemVer0;
 
@@ -98,11 +98,12 @@ internal override int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, V
                 {
                     // The working copy has changed the major.minor version.
                     // So by definition the version height is 0, since no commit represents it yet.
-                    return 0;
+                    return (0, null);
                 }
             }
 
-            return GitExtensions.GetVersionHeight(this);
+            var (height, nearestRelevantCommit) = GitExtensions.GetVersionHeight(this);
+            return (height, nearestRelevantCommit?.Sha.ToString());
         }
 
         internal override Version GetIdAsVersion(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion, int versionHeight)
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitExtensions.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitExtensions.cs
index e51bf4ea..305462d5 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/Managed/ManagedGitExtensions.cs
@@ -20,16 +20,18 @@ internal static class GitExtensions
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets the number of commits in the longest single path between
         /// the specified commit and the most distant ancestor (inclusive)
-        /// that set the version to the value at <paramref name="context"/>.
+        /// that set the version to the value at <paramref name="context"/>,
+        /// and the nearest commit that is part of that path, taking into
+        /// account path filters.
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="context">The git context for which to calculate the height.</param>
         /// <param name="baseVersion">Optional base version to calculate the height. If not specified, the base version will be calculated by scanning the repository.</param>
-        /// <returns>The height of the commit. Always a positive integer.</returns>
-        internal static int GetVersionHeight(ManagedGitContext context, Version? baseVersion = null)
+        /// <returns>The height of the commit (always a positive integer), and a <see cref="GitContext"/> representing the nearest relevant commit, or <see langword="null"/> if there is no relevant commit.</returns>
+        internal static (int height, GitCommit? nearestRelevantCommit) GetVersionHeight(ManagedGitContext context, Version? baseVersion = null)
         {
             if (context.Commit is null)
             {
-                return 0;
+                return (0, null);
             }
 
             var tracker = new GitWalkTracker(context);
@@ -37,21 +39,21 @@ internal static int GetVersionHeight(ManagedGitContext context, Version? baseVer
             var versionOptions = tracker.GetVersion(context.Commit.Value);
             if (versionOptions is null)
             {
-                return 0;
+                return (0, null);
             }
 
             var baseSemVer =
                 baseVersion is not null ? SemanticVersion.Parse(baseVersion.ToString()) :
                 versionOptions.Version ?? SemVer0;
 
+            // TODO: What if versionHeightPosition is not set, but we still want to know the nearest relevant commit id?
             var versionHeightPosition = versionOptions.VersionHeightPosition;
             if (versionHeightPosition.HasValue)
             {
-                int height = GetHeight(context, c => CommitMatchesVersion(c, baseSemVer, versionHeightPosition.Value, tracker));
-                return height;
+                return GetHeight(context, c => CommitMatchesVersion(c, baseSemVer, versionHeightPosition.Value, tracker));                
             }
 
-            return 0;
+            return (0, null);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -94,11 +96,11 @@ private static bool CommitMatchesVersion(GitCommit commit, SemanticVersion expec
         /// May be null to count the height to the original commit.
         /// </param>
         /// <returns>The height of the commit. Always a positive integer.</returns>
-        public static int GetHeight(ManagedGitContext context, Func<GitCommit, bool>? continueStepping = null)
+        public static (int height, GitCommit? nearestRelevantCommit) GetHeight(ManagedGitContext context, Func<GitCommit, bool>? continueStepping = null)
         {
             Verify.Operation(context.Commit.HasValue, "No commit is selected.");
             var tracker = new GitWalkTracker(context);
-            return GetCommitHeight(context.Repository, context.Commit.Value, tracker, continueStepping);
+            return (GetCommitHeight(context.Repository, context.Commit.Value, tracker, continueStepping), tracker.NearestCommit);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -316,6 +318,10 @@ private class GitWalkTracker
             private readonly Dictionary<GitObjectId, int> heights = new Dictionary<GitObjectId, int>();
             private readonly ManagedGitContext context;
 
+            private int nearestCommitHeight = -1;
+
+            internal GitCommit? NearestCommit { get; private set; }
+
             internal GitWalkTracker(ManagedGitContext context)
             {
                 this.context = context;
@@ -323,7 +329,16 @@ internal GitWalkTracker(ManagedGitContext context)
 
             internal bool TryGetVersionHeight(GitCommit commit, out int height) => this.heights.TryGetValue(commit.Sha, out height);
 
-            internal void RecordHeight(GitCommit commit, int height) => this.heights.Add(commit.Sha, height);
+            internal void RecordHeight(GitCommit commit, int height)
+            {
+                if ( height > this.nearestCommitHeight)
+                {
+                    this.NearestCommit = commit;
+                    this.nearestCommitHeight = height;
+                }
+
+                this.heights.Add(commit.Sha, height);
+            }
 
             internal VersionOptions? GetVersion(GitCommit commit)
             {
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
index 3e62f158..436ca439 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ public static GitObjectId ParseHex(ReadOnlySpan<byte> value)
 
                 bytes[i >> 1] = (byte)(c1 + c2);
             }
+            
+            // Clear any cached sha. This can happen when debugging, and is very confusing.
+            objectId.sha = null;
 
             return objectId;
         }
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/NoGit/NoGitContext.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/NoGit/NoGitContext.cs
index 4d8324db..11298465 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/NoGit/NoGitContext.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/NoGit/NoGitContext.cs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public NoGitContext(string workingTreePath)
         public override void Stage(string path) => throw new InvalidOperationException(NotAGitRepoMessage);
         public override string GetShortUniqueCommitId(int minLength) => throw new InvalidOperationException(NotAGitRepoMessage);
         public override bool TrySelectCommit(string committish) => throw new InvalidOperationException(NotAGitRepoMessage);
-        internal override int CalculateVersionHeight(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion) => 0;
+        internal override (int height, string? nearestRelevantCommit) CalculateVersionHeightAndNearestRelevantCommit(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion) => (0, null);
         internal override Version GetIdAsVersion(VersionOptions? committedVersion, VersionOptions? workingVersion, int versionHeight) => throw new NotImplementedException();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/VersionOracle.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/VersionOracle.cs
index 143fe4eb..26562f2f 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/VersionOracle.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/VersionOracle.cs
@@ -61,9 +61,10 @@ public VersionOracle(GitContext context, ICloudBuild? cloudBuild = null, int? ov
             }
 
             this.BuildingRef = cloudBuild?.BuildingTag ?? cloudBuild?.BuildingBranch ?? context.HeadCanonicalName;
+            string? nearestRelevantCommit = null;
             try
             {
-                this.VersionHeight = context.CalculateVersionHeight(this.CommittedVersion, this.WorkingVersion);
+                (this.VersionHeight, nearestRelevantCommit) = context.CalculateVersionHeightAndNearestRelevantCommit(this.CommittedVersion, this.WorkingVersion);
             }
             catch (GitException ex) when (context.IsShallow && ex.ErrorCode == GitException.ErrorCodes.ObjectNotFound)
             {
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ public VersionOracle(GitContext context, ICloudBuild? cloudBuild = null, int? ov
 
             static Exception ThrowShallowClone(Exception inner) => throw new GitException("Shallow clone lacks the objects required to calculate version height. Use full clones or clones with a history at least as deep as the last version height resetting change.", inner) { iSShallowClone = true, ErrorCode = GitException.ErrorCodes.ObjectNotFound };
 
+
             this.VersionOptions = this.CommittedVersion ?? this.WorkingVersion;
             this.Version = this.VersionOptions?.Version?.Version ?? Version0;
             this.assemblyInformationalVersionComponentCount = this.VersionOptions?.VersionHeightPosition == SemanticVersion.Position.Revision ? 4 : 3;
@@ -90,6 +92,15 @@ public VersionOracle(GitContext context, ICloudBuild? cloudBuild = null, int? ov
 
             this.CloudBuildNumberOptions = this.VersionOptions?.CloudBuild?.BuildNumberOrDefault ?? VersionOptions.CloudBuildNumberOptions.DefaultInstance;
 
+            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(nearestRelevantCommit) && context.GitCommitId != nearestRelevantCommit)
+            {
+                if (!context.TrySelectCommit(nearestRelevantCommit!))
+                {
+                    // This would be very unexpected, given that the context itself provided the commit id we're selecting.
+                    throw new GitException("Failed to select the nearest relevant commit.");
+                }
+            }
+
             // get the commit id abbreviation only if the commit id is set
             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.GitCommitId))
             {