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