Documentation/git-cherry-pick.txt

   1 git-cherry-pick(1)
   2 ==================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-cherry-pick - Apply the changes introduced by some existing commits
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git cherry-pick' [--edit] [-n] [-m <parent-number>] [-s] [-x] [--ff]
  12                   [-S[<keyid>]] <commit>...
  13 'git cherry-pick' (--continue | --skip | --abort | --quit)
  14
  15 DESCRIPTION
  16 -----------
  17
  18 Given one or more existing commits, apply the change each one
  19 introduces, recording a new commit for each.  This requires your
  20 working tree to be clean (no modifications from the HEAD commit).
  21
  22 When it is not obvious how to apply a change, the following
  23 happens:
  24
  25 1. The current branch and `HEAD` pointer stay at the last commit
  26    successfully made.
  27 2. The `CHERRY_PICK_HEAD` ref is set to point at the commit that
  28    introduced the change that is difficult to apply.
  29 3. Paths in which the change applied cleanly are updated both
  30    in the index file and in your working tree.
  31 4. For conflicting paths, the index file records up to three
  32    versions, as described in the "TRUE MERGE" section of
  33    linkgit:git-merge[1].  The working tree files will include
  34    a description of the conflict bracketed by the usual
  35    conflict markers `<<<<<<<` and `>>>>>>>`.
  36 5. No other modifications are made.
  37
  38 See linkgit:git-merge[1] for some hints on resolving such
  39 conflicts.
  40
  41 OPTIONS
  42 -------
  43 <commit>...::
  44         Commits to cherry-pick.
  45         For a more complete list of ways to spell commits, see
  46         linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  47         Sets of commits can be passed but no traversal is done by
  48         default, as if the `--no-walk` option was specified, see
  49         linkgit:git-rev-list[1]. Note that specifying a range will
  50         feed all <commit>... arguments to a single revision walk
  51         (see a later example that uses 'maint master..next').
  52
  53 -e::
  54 --edit::
  55         With this option, 'git cherry-pick' will let you edit the commit
  56         message prior to committing.
  57
  58 --cleanup=<mode>::
  59         This option determines how the commit message will be cleaned up before
  60         being passed on to the commit machinery. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for more
  61         details. In particular, if the '<mode>' is given a value of `scissors`,
  62         scissors will be appended to `MERGE_MSG` before being passed on in the case
  63         of a conflict.
  64
  65 -x::
  66         When recording the commit, append a line that says
  67         "(cherry picked from commit ...)" to the original commit
  68         message in order to indicate which commit this change was
  69         cherry-picked from.  This is done only for cherry
  70         picks without conflicts.  Do not use this option if
  71         you are cherry-picking from your private branch because
  72         the information is useless to the recipient.  If on the
  73         other hand you are cherry-picking between two publicly
  74         visible branches (e.g. backporting a fix to a
  75         maintenance branch for an older release from a
  76         development branch), adding this information can be
  77         useful.
  78
  79 -r::
  80         It used to be that the command defaulted to do `-x`
  81         described above, and `-r` was to disable it.  Now the
  82         default is not to do `-x` so this option is a no-op.
  83
  84 -m <parent-number>::
  85 --mainline <parent-number>::
  86         Usually you cannot cherry-pick a merge because you do not know which
  87         side of the merge should be considered the mainline.  This
  88         option specifies the parent number (starting from 1) of
  89         the mainline and allows cherry-pick to replay the change
  90         relative to the specified parent.
  91
  92 -n::
  93 --no-commit::
  94         Usually the command automatically creates a sequence of commits.
  95         This flag applies the changes necessary to cherry-pick
  96         each named commit to your working tree and the index,
  97         without making any commit.  In addition, when this
  98         option is used, your index does not have to match the
  99         HEAD commit.  The cherry-pick is done against the
 100         beginning state of your index.
 101 +
 102 This is useful when cherry-picking more than one commits'
 103 effect to your index in a row.
 104
 105 -s::
 106 --signoff::
 107         Add a `Signed-off-by` trailer at the end of the commit message.
 108         See the signoff option in linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
 109
 110 -S[<keyid>]::
 111 --gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
 112 --no-gpg-sign::
 113         GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
 114         defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
 115         stuck to the option without a space. `--no-gpg-sign` is useful to
 116         countermand both `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable, and
 117         earlier `--gpg-sign`.
 118
 119 --ff::
 120         If the current HEAD is the same as the parent of the
 121         cherry-pick'ed commit, then a fast forward to this commit will
 122         be performed.
 123
 124 --allow-empty::
 125         By default, cherry-picking an empty commit will fail,
 126         indicating that an explicit invocation of `git commit
 127         --allow-empty` is required. This option overrides that
 128         behavior, allowing empty commits to be preserved automatically
 129         in a cherry-pick. Note that when "--ff" is in effect, empty
 130         commits that meet the "fast-forward" requirement will be kept
 131         even without this option.  Note also, that use of this option only
 132         keeps commits that were initially empty (i.e. the commit recorded the
 133         same tree as its parent).  Commits which are made empty due to a
 134         previous commit will cause the cherry-pick to fail.  To force the
 135         inclusion of those commits, use `--empty=keep`.
 136
 137 --allow-empty-message::
 138         By default, cherry-picking a commit with an empty message will fail.
 139         This option overrides that behavior, allowing commits with empty
 140         messages to be cherry picked.
 141
 142 --empty=(drop|keep|stop)::
 143         How to handle commits being cherry-picked that are redundant with
 144         changes already in the current history.
 145 +
 146 --
 147 `drop`;;
 148         The commit will be dropped.
 149 `keep`;;
 150         The commit will be kept. Implies `--allow-empty`.
 151 `stop`;;
 152         The cherry-pick will stop when the commit is applied, allowing
 153         you to examine the commit. This is the default behavior.
 154 --
 155 +
 156 Note that `--empty=drop` and `--empty=stop` only specify how to handle a
 157 commit that was not initially empty, but rather became empty due to a previous
 158 commit. Commits that were initially empty will still cause the cherry-pick to
 159 fail unless one of `--empty=keep` or `--allow-empty` are specified.
 160 +
 161
 162 --keep-redundant-commits::
 163         Deprecated synonym for `--empty=keep`.
 164
 165 --strategy=<strategy>::
 166         Use the given merge strategy.  Should only be used once.
 167         See the MERGE STRATEGIES section in linkgit:git-merge[1]
 168         for details.
 169
 170 -X<option>::
 171 --strategy-option=<option>::
 172         Pass the merge strategy-specific option through to the
 173         merge strategy.  See linkgit:git-merge[1] for details.
 174
 175 include::rerere-options.txt[]
 176
 177 SEQUENCER SUBCOMMANDS
 178 ---------------------
 179 include::sequencer.txt[]
 180
 181 EXAMPLES
 182 --------
 183 `git cherry-pick master`::
 184
 185         Apply the change introduced by the commit at the tip of the
 186         master branch and create a new commit with this change.
 187
 188 `git cherry-pick ..master`::
 189 `git cherry-pick ^HEAD master`::
 190
 191         Apply the changes introduced by all commits that are ancestors
 192         of master but not of HEAD to produce new commits.
 193
 194 `git cherry-pick maint next ^master`::
 195 `git cherry-pick maint master..next`::
 196
 197         Apply the changes introduced by all commits that are
 198         ancestors of maint or next, but not master or any of its
 199         ancestors.  Note that the latter does not mean `maint` and
 200         everything between `master` and `next`; specifically,
 201         `maint` will not be used if it is included in `master`.
 202
 203 `git cherry-pick master~4 master~2`::
 204
 205         Apply the changes introduced by the fifth and third last
 206         commits pointed to by master and create 2 new commits with
 207         these changes.
 208
 209 `git cherry-pick -n master~1 next`::
 210
 211         Apply to the working tree and the index the changes introduced
 212         by the second last commit pointed to by master and by the last
 213         commit pointed to by next, but do not create any commit with
 214         these changes.
 215
 216 `git cherry-pick --ff ..next`::
 217
 218         If history is linear and HEAD is an ancestor of next, update
 219         the working tree and advance the HEAD pointer to match next.
 220         Otherwise, apply the changes introduced by those commits that
 221         are in next but not HEAD to the current branch, creating a new
 222         commit for each new change.
 223
 224 `git rev-list --reverse master -- README | git cherry-pick -n --stdin`::
 225
 226         Apply the changes introduced by all commits on the master
 227         branch that touched README to the working tree and index,
 228         so the result can be inspected and made into a single new
 229         commit if suitable.
 230
 231 The following sequence attempts to backport a patch, bails out because
 232 the code the patch applies to has changed too much, and then tries
 233 again, this time exercising more care about matching up context lines.
 234
 235 ------------
 236 $ git cherry-pick topic^             <1>
 237 $ git diff                           <2>
 238 $ git cherry-pick --abort            <3>
 239 $ git cherry-pick -Xpatience topic^  <4>
 240 ------------
 241 <1> apply the change that would be shown by `git show topic^`.
 242     In this example, the patch does not apply cleanly, so
 243     information about the conflict is written to the index and
 244     working tree and no new commit results.
 245 <2> summarize changes to be reconciled
 246 <3> cancel the cherry-pick.  In other words, return to the
 247     pre-cherry-pick state, preserving any local modifications
 248     you had in the working tree.
 249 <4> try to apply the change introduced by `topic^` again,
 250     spending extra time to avoid mistakes based on incorrectly
 251     matching context lines.
 252
 253 SEE ALSO
 254 --------
 255 linkgit:git-revert[1]
 256
 257 GIT
 258 ---
 259 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite