diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py b/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
index 49d32ab0317..45d21dfa70b 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py
@@ -3101,6 +3101,14 @@ def setup(
             if node.namespace is not None:
                 self.explicitly_required_namespaces[node.name] = node.namespace
 
+        # abstract specs with commit variants are assigend version most likely to have commit sha
+        for spec in specs:
+            version = spec.versions.concrete_range_as_version
+            if not version:
+                version = max(spack.repo.PATH.get_pkg_class(spec.fullname).versions.keys())
+                spec.versions = spack.version.VersionList([version])
+
+
         self.gen = ProblemInstanceBuilder()
         compiler_parser = CompilerParser(configuration=spack.config.CONFIG).with_input_specs(specs)
 
@@ -3128,7 +3136,6 @@ def setup(
         specs = tuple(specs)  # ensure compatible types to add
 
         self.gen.h1("Reusable concrete specs")
-        # TODO(psakiev) need fact spec has commit
         self.define_concrete_input_specs(specs, self.pkgs)
         if reuse:
             self.gen.fact(fn.optimize_for_reuse())
@@ -4219,7 +4226,8 @@ def _specs_with_commits(spec):
         if not spec.version.commit_sha:
             # TODO(psakiev) this will be a failure when commit look up is automated
             return
-        spec.variants["commit"] = vt.SingleValuedVariant("commit", spec.version.commit_sha)
+        if not "commit" in spec.variants:
+            spec.variants["commit"] = vt.SingleValuedVariant("commit", spec.version.commit_sha)
 
 
 def _inject_patches_variant(root: spack.spec.Spec) -> None:
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/find.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/find.py
index 502e7647e6f..7e1bc66aead 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/find.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/find.py
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ def _nresults(_qresult):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("install_mockery", "mock_fetch", "mutable_mock_env_path")
-def test_phil_add_find_based_on_commit_sha(mock_git_version_info, monkeypatch):
+def test_find_based_on_commit_sha(mock_git_version_info, monkeypatch):
     repo_path, filename, commits = mock_git_version_info
     file_url = pathlib.Path(repo_path).as_uri()
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/concretization/core.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/concretization/core.py
index 6dbe52a04c8..4f695ab307a 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/concretization/core.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/concretization/core.py
@@ -2729,13 +2729,13 @@ def test_correct_external_is_selected_from_packages_yaml(self, mutable_config):
         assert s.satisfies("%clang")
         assert s.prefix == "/tmp/prefix2"
 
-    def test_phil_add_git_based_version_must_exist_to_use_ref(self):
+    def test_git_based_version_must_exist_to_use_ref(self):
         # gmake should fail, only has sha256
         with pytest.raises(spack.error.UnsatisfiableSpecError) as e:
             s = spack.concretize.concretize_one(f"gmake commit={'a' * 40}")
             assert "Cannot use commit variant with" in e.value.message
 
-    def test_phil_add_commit_variant_in_absence_of_version_selects_max_infinity_version(self):
+    def test_commit_variant_in_absence_of_version_selects_max_infinity_version(self):
         spec = spack.concretize.concretize_one(f"git-ref-package commit={'a' * 40}")
         assert spec.satisfies("@develop")
 
@@ -3277,11 +3277,10 @@ def test_spec_unification(unify, mutable_config, mock_packages):
         (f"git-ref-package@main commit={'a' * 39}", AssertionError),
         (f"git-ref-package@2.1.6 commit={'a' * 40}", spack.error.UnsatisfiableSpecError),
         (f"git-ref-package@git.2.1.6=2.1.6 commit={'a' * 40}", None),
-        # TODO(psakiev): need to monkeypatch git so this case doesn't query the web
-        # (f"git-ref-package@git.2.1.6 commit={'a' * 40}", None),
+        (f"git-ref-package@git.{'a' * 40}=2.1.6 commit={'a' * 40}", None),
     ],
 )
-def test_spec_containing_commit_variant(spec_str, error_type):
+def test_phil_spec_containing_commit_variant(spec_str, error_type):
     spec = spack.spec.Spec(spec_str)
     if error_type is None:
         spack.concretize.concretize_one(spec)
@@ -3290,6 +3289,30 @@ def test_spec_containing_commit_variant(spec_str, error_type):
             spack.concretize.concretize_one(spec)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures("mutable_config", "mock_packages", "do_not_check_runtimes_on_reuse")
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "spec_str, error_type",
+    [
+        (f"git-test-commit@git.main commit={'a' * 40}", None),
+        (f"git-test-commit@git.v1.0 commit={'a' * 40}", None),
+        ("git-test-commit@{sha} commit={sha}", None),
+        ("git-test-commit@{sha} commit=aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", None),
+    ],
+)
+def test_phil_spec_with_commit_interacts_with_lookup(mock_git_version_info, monkeypatch, spec_str, error_type):
+    # This test will be short lived. Technically we could do further checks with a Lookup
+    # but skipping impl since we are going to deprecate
+    repo_path, filename, commits = mock_git_version_info
+    file_url = pathlib.Path(repo_path).as_uri()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(spack.package_base.PackageBase, "git", file_url, raising=False)
+    spec = spack.spec.Spec(spec_str.format(sha = commits[-1]))
+    if error_type is None:
+        spack.concretize.concretize_one(spec)
+    else:
+        with pytest.raises(error_type):
+            spack.concretize.concretize_one(spec)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("mutable_config", "mock_packages", "do_not_check_runtimes_on_reuse")
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("version_str", [f"git.{'a' * 40}=main", "git.2.1.5=main"])
 def test_relationship_git_versions_and_commit_variant(version_str):