Documentation/git-format-patch.txt

   1 git-format-patch(1)
   2 ===================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git-format-patch' [-n | -k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread]
  13                    [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]]
  14                    [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>]
  15                    [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
  16                    [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
  17                    [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
  18                    [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
  19                    [ <since> | <revision range> ]
  20
  21 DESCRIPTION
  22 -----------
  23
  24 Prepare each commit with its patch in
  25 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
  26 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
  27 for use with gitlink:git-am[1].
  28
  29 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
  30
  31 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
  32    to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
  33    that leads to the <since> to be output.
  34
  35 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
  36    REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]) means the
  37    commits in the specified range.
  38
  39 A single commit, when interpreted as a <revision range>
  40 expression, means "everything that leads to that commit", but
  41 if you write 'git format-patch <commit>', the previous rule
  42 applies to that command line and you do not get "everything
  43 since the beginning of the time".  If you want to format
  44 everything since project inception to one commit, say "git
  45 format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the
  46 latter case.
  47
  48 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
  49 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
  50 the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names
  51 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
  52 The names of the output files are printed to standard
  53 output, unless the --stdout option is specified.
  54
  55 If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>.  Otherwise
  56 they are created in the current working directory.
  57
  58 If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line
  59 is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject".
  60
  61 If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and
  62 References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
  63 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to
  64 reference.
  65
  66 OPTIONS
  67 -------
  68 include::diff-options.txt[]
  69
  70 -<n>::
  71         Limits the number of patches to prepare.
  72
  73 -o|--output-directory <dir>::
  74         Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
  75         current working directory.
  76
  77 -n|--numbered::
  78         Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format.
  79
  80 --start-number <n>::
  81         Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
  82
  83 --numbered-files::
  84         Output file names will be a simple number sequence
  85         without the default first line of the commit appended.
  86         Mutually exclusive with the --stdout option.
  87
  88 -k|--keep-subject::
  89         Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
  90         commit log message.
  91
  92 -s|--signoff::
  93         Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
  94         the committer identity of yourself.
  95
  96 --stdout::
  97         Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
  98         instead of creating a file for each one.
  99
 100 --attach[=<boundary>]::
 101         Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
 102         which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
 103         second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment".
 104
 105 --inline[=<boundary>]::
 106         Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
 107         which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
 108         second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline".
 109
 110 --thread::
 111         Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and
 112         subsequent mails appear as replies to the first.  Also generates
 113         the Message-Id header to reference.
 114
 115 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
 116         Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
 117         reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
 118         provide a new patch series.
 119
 120 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
 121         Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
 122         <until>..<since>.  This will examine all patches reachable
 123         from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
 124         patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
 125         ignored.
 126
 127 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
 128         Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
 129         line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
 130         allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
 131         combined with the --numbered option.
 132
 133 --suffix=.<sfx>::
 134         Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
 135         filenames, use specified suffix.  A common alternative is
 136         `--suffix=.txt`.
 137 +
 138 Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you
 139 want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and
 140 the first letter does not have to be a dot.  Leaving it empty would
 141 not add any suffix.
 142
 143 CONFIGURATION
 144 -------------
 145 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each
 146 message in the repository configuration.  You can also specify
 147 new defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix.
 148
 149 ------------
 150 [format]
 151         headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
 152         subjectprefix = CHANGE
 153         suffix = .txt
 154 ------------
 155
 156
 157 EXAMPLES
 158 --------
 159
 160 git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k::
 161         Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply
 162         them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to
 163         cherry-pick them.
 164
 165 git-format-patch origin::
 166         Extract all commits which are in the current branch but
 167         not in the origin branch.  For each commit a separate file
 168         is created in the current directory.
 169
 170 git-format-patch \--root origin::
 171         Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the
 172         inception of the project.
 173
 174 git-format-patch -M -B origin::
 175         The same as the previous one.  Additionally, it detects
 176         and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to
 177         produce a renaming patch.  A renaming patch reduces the
 178         amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to
 179         review it.  Note that the "patch" program does not
 180         understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know
 181         the recipient uses git to apply your patch.
 182
 183 git-format-patch -3::
 184         Extract three topmost commits from the current branch
 185         and format them as e-mailable patches.
 186
 187 See Also
 188 --------
 189 gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1]
 190
 191
 192 Author
 193 ------
 194 Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 195
 196 Documentation
 197 --------------
 198 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 199
 200 GIT
 201 ---
 202 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite