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' [-k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread]
  13                    [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]]
  14                    [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>]
  15                    [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
  16                    [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
  17                    [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
  18                    [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
  19                    [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
  20                    [--cover-letter]
  21                    [ <since> | <revision range> ]
  22
  23 DESCRIPTION
  24 -----------
  25
  26 Prepare each commit with its patch in
  27 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
  28 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
  29 for use with linkgit:git-am[1].
  30
  31 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
  32
  33 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
  34    to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
  35    that leads to the <since> to be output.
  36
  37 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
  38    REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]) means the
  39    commits in the specified range.
  40
  41 A single commit, when interpreted as a <revision range>
  42 expression, means "everything that leads to that commit", but
  43 if you write 'git format-patch <commit>', the previous rule
  44 applies to that command line and you do not get "everything
  45 since the beginning of the time".  If you want to format
  46 everything since project inception to one commit, say "git
  47 format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the
  48 latter case.
  49
  50 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
  51 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
  52 the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names
  53 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
  54 The names of the output files are printed to standard
  55 output, unless the --stdout option is specified.
  56
  57 If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>.  Otherwise
  58 they are created in the current working directory.
  59
  60 If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line
  61 is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject".
  62
  63 If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and
  64 References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
  65 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to
  66 reference.
  67
  68 OPTIONS
  69 -------
  70 :git-format-patch: 1
  71 include::diff-options.txt[]
  72
  73 -<n>::
  74         Limits the number of patches to prepare.
  75
  76 -o|--output-directory <dir>::
  77         Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
  78         current working directory.
  79
  80 -n|--numbered::
  81         Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format.
  82
  83 -N|--no-numbered::
  84         Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
  85
  86 --start-number <n>::
  87         Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
  88
  89 --numbered-files::
  90         Output file names will be a simple number sequence
  91         without the default first line of the commit appended.
  92         Mutually exclusive with the --stdout option.
  93
  94 -k|--keep-subject::
  95         Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
  96         commit log message.
  97
  98 -s|--signoff::
  99         Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
 100         the committer identity of yourself.
 101
 102 --stdout::
 103         Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
 104         instead of creating a file for each one.
 105
 106 --attach[=<boundary>]::
 107         Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
 108         which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
 109         second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment".
 110
 111 --inline[=<boundary>]::
 112         Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
 113         which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
 114         second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline".
 115
 116 --thread::
 117         Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and
 118         subsequent mails appear as replies to the first.  Also generates
 119         the Message-Id header to reference.
 120
 121 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
 122         Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
 123         reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
 124         provide a new patch series.
 125
 126 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
 127         Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
 128         <until>..<since>.  This will examine all patches reachable
 129         from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
 130         patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
 131         ignored.
 132
 133 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
 134         Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
 135         line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
 136         allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
 137         combined with the --numbered option.
 138
 139 --cover-letter::
 140         Generate a cover letter template.  You still have to fill in
 141         a description, but the shortlog and the diffstat will be
 142         generated for you.
 143
 144 --suffix=.<sfx>::
 145         Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
 146         filenames, use specified suffix.  A common alternative is
 147         `--suffix=.txt`.
 148 +
 149 Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you
 150 want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and
 151 the first letter does not have to be a dot.  Leaving it empty would
 152 not add any suffix.
 153
 154 CONFIGURATION
 155 -------------
 156 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message
 157 in the repository configuration, new defaults for the subject prefix
 158 and file suffix, and number patches when outputting more than one.
 159
 160 ------------
 161 [format]
 162         headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
 163         subjectprefix = CHANGE
 164         suffix = .txt
 165         numbered = auto
 166 ------------
 167
 168
 169 EXAMPLES
 170 --------
 171
 172 git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k::
 173         Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply
 174         them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to
 175         cherry-pick them.
 176
 177 git-format-patch origin::
 178         Extract all commits which are in the current branch but
 179         not in the origin branch.  For each commit a separate file
 180         is created in the current directory.
 181
 182 git-format-patch \--root origin::
 183         Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the
 184         inception of the project.
 185
 186 git-format-patch -M -B origin::
 187         The same as the previous one.  Additionally, it detects
 188         and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to
 189         produce a renaming patch.  A renaming patch reduces the
 190         amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to
 191         review it.  Note that the "patch" program does not
 192         understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know
 193         the recipient uses git to apply your patch.
 194
 195 git-format-patch -3::
 196         Extract three topmost commits from the current branch
 197         and format them as e-mailable patches.
 198
 199 See Also
 200 --------
 201 linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
 202
 203
 204 Author
 205 ------
 206 Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 207
 208 Documentation
 209 --------------
 210 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 211
 212 GIT
 213 ---
 214 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite