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1git-send-email(1)
2=================
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3
4NAME
5----
215a7ad1 6git-send-email - Send a collection of patches as emails
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7
8
9SYNOPSIS
10--------
7791a1d9 11[verse]
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12'git send-email' [<options>] <file|directory>...
13'git send-email' [<options>] <format-patch options>
17b7a832 14'git send-email' --dump-aliases
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15
16
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17DESCRIPTION
18-----------
19Takes the patches given on the command line and emails them out.
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20Patches can be specified as files, directories (which will send all
21files in the directory), or directly as a revision list. In the
22last case, any format accepted by linkgit:git-format-patch[1] can
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23be passed to git send-email, as well as options understood by
24linkgit:git-format-patch[1].
479cec96 25
06ab60c0 26The header of the email is configurable via command-line options. If not
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27specified on the command line, the user will be prompted with a ReadLine
28enabled interface to provide the necessary information.
29
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30There are two formats accepted for patch files:
31
321. mbox format files
33+
34This is what linkgit:git-format-patch[1] generates. Most headers and MIME
35formatting are ignored.
36
372. The original format used by Greg Kroah-Hartman's 'send_lots_of_email.pl'
ba170517 38 script
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39+
40This format expects the first line of the file to contain the "Cc:" value
41and the "Subject:" of the message as the second line.
42
917f3e73 43
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44OPTIONS
45-------
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46
47Composing
48~~~~~~~~~
479cec96 49
432b1282 50--annotate::
402596aa 51 Review and edit each patch you're about to send. Default is the value
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52 of `sendemail.annotate`. See the CONFIGURATION section for
53 `sendemail.multiEdit`.
432b1282 54
b1c8a11c 55--bcc=<address>,...::
3971a973 56 Specify a "Bcc:" value for each email. Default is the value of
ae9f6311 57 `sendemail.bcc`.
5ef1f8d4 58+
b1c8a11c 59This option may be specified multiple times.
79ee555b 60
b1c8a11c 61--cc=<address>,...::
da140f8b 62 Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email.
ae9f6311 63 Default is the value of `sendemail.cc`.
5ef1f8d4 64+
b1c8a11c 65This option may be specified multiple times.
79ee555b 66
2718435b 67--compose::
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68 Invoke a text editor (see GIT_EDITOR in linkgit:git-var[1])
69 to edit an introductory message for the patch series.
beece9da 70+
bcf9626a 71When `--compose` is used, git send-email will use the From, Subject, and
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72In-Reply-To headers specified in the message. If the body of the message
73(what you type after the headers and a blank line) only contains blank
06ab60c0 74(or Git: prefixed) lines, the summary won't be sent, but From, Subject,
01d38612 75and In-Reply-To headers will be used unless they are removed.
beece9da 76+
01d38612 77Missing From or In-Reply-To headers will be prompted for.
3a78d078 78+
ae9f6311 79See the CONFIGURATION section for `sendemail.multiEdit`.
479cec96 80
4c0fe0af 81--from=<address>::
09caa24f 82 Specify the sender of the emails. If not specified on the command line,
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83 the value of the `sendemail.from` configuration option is used. If
84 neither the command-line option nor `sendemail.from` are set, then the
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85 user will be prompted for the value. The default for the prompt will be
86 the value of GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT, or GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT if that is not
87 set, as returned by "git var -l".
479cec96 88
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89--reply-to=<address>::
90 Specify the address where replies from recipients should go to.
91 Use this if replies to messages should go to another address than what
92 is specified with the --from parameter.
93
4c0fe0af 94--in-reply-to=<identifier>::
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95 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
96 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
97 provide a new patch series.
98 The second and subsequent emails will be sent as replies according to
2c7ee986 99 the `--[no-]chain-reply-to` setting.
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100+
101So for example when `--thread` and `--no-chain-reply-to` are specified, the
102second and subsequent patches will be replies to the first one like in the
103illustration below where `[PATCH v2 0/3]` is in reply to `[PATCH 0/2]`:
104+
105 [PATCH 0/2] Here is what I did...
106 [PATCH 1/2] Clean up and tests
107 [PATCH 2/2] Implementation
108 [PATCH v2 0/3] Here is a reroll
109 [PATCH v2 1/3] Clean up
110 [PATCH v2 2/3] New tests
111 [PATCH v2 3/3] Implementation
112+
113Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose
114is not set, this will be prompted for.
479cec96 115
4c0fe0af 116--subject=<string>::
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117 Specify the initial subject of the email thread.
118 Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose
119 is not set, this will be prompted for.
a6d62cdd 120
b1c8a11c 121--to=<address>,...::
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122 Specify the primary recipient of the emails generated. Generally, this
123 will be the upstream maintainer of the project involved. Default is the
ae9f6311 124 value of the `sendemail.to` configuration value; if that is unspecified,
6e74e075 125 and --to-cmd is not specified, this will be prompted for.
917f3e73 126+
b1c8a11c 127This option may be specified multiple times.
917f3e73 128
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129--8bit-encoding=<encoding>::
130 When encountering a non-ASCII message or subject that does not
131 declare its encoding, add headers/quoting to indicate it is
132 encoded in <encoding>. Default is the value of the
133 'sendemail.assume8bitEncoding'; if that is unspecified, this
134 will be prompted for if any non-ASCII files are encountered.
135+
136Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
137
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138--compose-encoding=<encoding>::
139 Specify encoding of compose message. Default is the value of the
140 'sendemail.composeencoding'; if that is unspecified, UTF-8 is assumed.
141
7a36987f 142--transfer-encoding=(7bit|8bit|quoted-printable|base64|auto)::
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143 Specify the transfer encoding to be used to send the message over SMTP.
144 7bit will fail upon encountering a non-ASCII message. quoted-printable
145 can be useful when the repository contains files that contain carriage
146 returns, but makes the raw patch email file (as saved from a MUA) much
147 harder to inspect manually. base64 is even more fool proof, but also
7a36987f 148 even more opaque. auto will use 8bit when possible, and quoted-printable
149 otherwise.
150+
151Default is the value of the `sendemail.transferEncoding` configuration
e67a228c 152value; if that is unspecified, default to `auto`.
8d814084 153
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154--xmailer::
155--no-xmailer::
156 Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header. By default,
157 the header is added, but it can be turned off by setting the
158 `sendemail.xmailer` configuration variable to `false`.
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159
160Sending
161~~~~~~~
162
4c0fe0af 163--envelope-sender=<address>::
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164 Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails.
165 This is useful if your default address is not the address that is
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166 subscribed to a list. In order to use the 'From' address, set the
167 value to "auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must have
168 suitable privileges for the -f parameter. Default is the value of the
ae9f6311 169 `sendemail.envelopeSender` configuration variable; if that is
917f3e73 170 unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
73811e66 171
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172--sendmail-cmd=<command>::
173 Specify a command to run to send the email. The command should
174 be sendmail-like; specifically, it must support the `-i` option.
175 The command will be executed in the shell if necessary. Default
176 is the value of `sendemail.sendmailcmd`. If unspecified, and if
177 --smtp-server is also unspecified, git-send-email will search
178 for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH.
179
4c0fe0af 180--smtp-encryption=<encryption>::
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181 Specify the encryption to use, either 'ssl' or 'tls'. Any other
182 value reverts to plain SMTP. Default is the value of
ae9f6311 183 `sendemail.smtpEncryption`.
73811e66 184
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185--smtp-domain=<FQDN>::
186 Specifies the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used in the
187 HELO/EHLO command to the SMTP server. Some servers require the
188 FQDN to match your IP address. If not set, git send-email attempts
69cf7bfd 189 to determine your FQDN automatically. Default is the value of
ae9f6311 190 `sendemail.smtpDomain`.
79ca070c 191
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192--smtp-auth=<mechanisms>::
193 Whitespace-separated list of allowed SMTP-AUTH mechanisms. This setting
194 forces using only the listed mechanisms. Example:
195+
196------
197$ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...
198------
199+
200If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones advertised by the
201SMTP server and if it is supported by the utilized SASL library, the mechanism
bcf9626a 202is used for authentication. If neither 'sendemail.smtpAuth' nor `--smtp-auth`
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203is specified, all mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used. The
204special value 'none' maybe specified to completely disable authentication
205independently of `--smtp-user`
0f2e68b5 206
4c0fe0af 207--smtp-pass[=<password>]::
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208 Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no
209 argument is specified, then the empty string is used as
ae9f6311 210 the password. Default is the value of `sendemail.smtpPass`,
bcf9626a 211 however `--smtp-pass` always overrides this value.
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212+
213Furthermore, passwords need not be specified in configuration files
214or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
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215`--smtp-user` or a `sendemail.smtpUser`), but no password has been
216specified (with `--smtp-pass` or `sendemail.smtpPass`), then
4d31a44a 217a password is obtained using 'git-credential'.
34cc60ce 218
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219--no-smtp-auth::
220 Disable SMTP authentication. Short hand for `--smtp-auth=none`
221
4c0fe0af 222--smtp-server=<host>::
928a5590 223 If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
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224 `smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address). If unspecified, and if
225 `--sendmail-cmd` is also unspecified, the default is to search
226 for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such a
227 program is available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
228+
229For backward compatibility, this option can also specify a full pathname
230of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must support the `-i`
231option. This method does not support passing arguments or using plain
232command names. For those use cases, consider using `--sendmail-cmd`
233instead.
a6d62cdd 234
4c0fe0af 235--smtp-server-port=<port>::
44b2476a 236 Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP
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237 servers typically listen to smtp port 25, but may also listen to
238 submission port 587, or the common SSL smtp port 465);
239 symbolic port names (e.g. "submission" instead of 587)
dd602bf8 240 are also accepted. The port can also be set with the
ae9f6311 241 `sendemail.smtpServerPort` configuration variable.
44b2476a 242
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243--smtp-server-option=<option>::
244 If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server option to use.
ae9f6311 245 Default value can be specified by the `sendemail.smtpServerOption`
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246 configuration option.
247+
248The --smtp-server-option option must be repeated for each option you want
249to pass to the server. Likewise, different lines in the configuration files
250must be used for each option.
251
73811e66 252--smtp-ssl::
3971a973 253 Legacy alias for '--smtp-encryption ssl'.
73811e66 254
35035bbf 255--smtp-ssl-cert-path::
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256 Path to a store of trusted CA certificates for SMTP SSL/TLS
257 certificate validation (either a directory that has been processed
258 by 'c_rehash', or a single file containing one or more PEM format
259 certificates concatenated together: see verify(1) -CAfile and
260 -CApath for more information on these). Set it to an empty string
261 to disable certificate verification. Defaults to the value of the
ae9f6311 262 `sendemail.smtpsslcertpath` configuration variable, if set, or the
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263 backing SSL library's compiled-in default otherwise (which should
264 be the best choice on most platforms).
35035bbf 265
4c0fe0af 266--smtp-user=<user>::
ae9f6311 267 Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of `sendemail.smtpUser`;
bcf9626a 268 if a username is not specified (with `--smtp-user` or `sendemail.smtpUser`),
3971a973 269 then authentication is not attempted.
2363d746 270
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271--smtp-debug=0|1::
272 Enable (1) or disable (0) debug output. If enabled, SMTP
273 commands and replies will be printed. Useful to debug TLS
274 connection and authentication problems.
917f3e73 275
5453b83b 276--batch-size=<num>::
277 Some email servers (e.g. smtp.163.com) limit the number emails to be
c30d4f1b 278 sent per session (connection) and this will lead to a failure when
5453b83b 279 sending many messages. With this option, send-email will disconnect after
280 sending $<num> messages and wait for a few seconds (see --relogin-delay)
281 and reconnect, to work around such a limit. You may want to
282 use some form of credential helper to avoid having to retype
283 your password every time this happens. Defaults to the
284 `sendemail.smtpBatchSize` configuration variable.
285
286--relogin-delay=<int>::
287 Waiting $<int> seconds before reconnecting to SMTP server. Used together
288 with --batch-size option. Defaults to the `sendemail.smtpReloginDelay`
289 configuration variable.
290
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291Automating
292~~~~~~~~~~
293
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294--no-[to|cc|bcc]::
295 Clears any list of "To:", "Cc:", "Bcc:" addresses previously
296 set via config.
297
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298--no-identity::
299 Clears the previously read value of `sendemail.identity` set
300 via config, if any.
301
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302--to-cmd=<command>::
303 Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
304 should generate patch file specific "To:" entries.
305 Output of this command must be single email address per line.
306 Default is the value of 'sendemail.tocmd' configuration value.
307
4c0fe0af 308--cc-cmd=<command>::
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309 Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
310 should generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries.
311 Output of this command must be single email address per line.
ae9f6311 312 Default is the value of `sendemail.ccCmd` configuration value.
917f3e73 313
0fd41f2d 314--[no-]chain-reply-to::
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315 If this is set, each email will be sent as a reply to the previous
316 email sent. If disabled with "--no-chain-reply-to", all emails after
317 the first will be sent as replies to the first email sent. When using
318 this, it is recommended that the first file given be an overview of the
ae9f6311 319 entire patch series. Disabled by default, but the `sendemail.chainReplyTo`
41fe87fa 320 configuration variable can be used to enable it.
917f3e73 321
4c0fe0af 322--identity=<identity>::
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323 A configuration identity. When given, causes values in the
324 'sendemail.<identity>' subsection to take precedence over
325 values in the 'sendemail' section. The default identity is
ae9f6311 326 the value of `sendemail.identity`.
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327
328--[no-]signed-off-by-cc::
3abd4a67 329 If this is set, add emails found in the `Signed-off-by` trailer or Cc: lines to the
ae9f6311 330 cc list. Default is the value of `sendemail.signedoffbycc` configuration
917f3e73 331 value; if that is unspecified, default to --signed-off-by-cc.
2718435b 332
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333--[no-]cc-cover::
334 If this is set, emails found in Cc: headers in the first patch of
335 the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the cc list
336 for each email set. Default is the value of 'sendemail.cccover'
337 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-cc-cover.
338
339--[no-]to-cover::
340 If this is set, emails found in To: headers in the first patch of
341 the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the to list
342 for each email set. Default is the value of 'sendemail.tocover'
343 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-to-cover.
344
4c0fe0af 345--suppress-cc=<category>::
65648283 346 Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress the
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347 auto-cc of:
348+
349--
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350- 'author' will avoid including the patch author.
351- 'self' will avoid including the sender.
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352- 'cc' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the patch header
353 except for self (use 'self' for that).
cb8a9bd5 354- 'bodycc' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
3531e270 355 patch body (commit message) except for self (use 'self' for that).
3abd4a67 356- 'sob' will avoid including anyone mentioned in the Signed-off-by trailers except
af249bfe 357 for self (use 'self' for that).
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358- 'misc-by' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Acked-by,
359 Reviewed-by, Tested-by and other "-by" lines in the patch body,
360 except Signed-off-by (use 'sob' for that).
3531e270 361- 'cccmd' will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
ef0cc1df 362- 'body' is equivalent to 'sob' + 'bodycc' + 'misc-by'.
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363- 'all' will suppress all auto cc values.
364--
365+
ae9f6311 366Default is the value of `sendemail.suppresscc` configuration value; if
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367that is unspecified, default to 'self' if --suppress-from is
368specified, as well as 'body' if --no-signed-off-cc is specified.
65648283 369
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370--[no-]suppress-from::
371 If this is set, do not add the From: address to the cc: list.
ae9f6311 372 Default is the value of `sendemail.suppressFrom` configuration
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373 value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-suppress-from.
374
7ecbad91 375--[no-]thread::
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376 If this is set, the In-Reply-To and References headers will be
377 added to each email sent. Whether each mail refers to the
378 previous email (`deep` threading per 'git format-patch'
379 wording) or to the first email (`shallow` threading) is
380 governed by "--[no-]chain-reply-to".
381+
382If disabled with "--no-thread", those headers will not be added
383(unless specified with --in-reply-to). Default is the value of the
ae9f6311 384`sendemail.thread` configuration value; if that is unspecified,
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385default to --thread.
386+
387It is up to the user to ensure that no In-Reply-To header already
388exists when 'git send-email' is asked to add it (especially note that
389'git format-patch' can be configured to do the threading itself).
390Failure to do so may not produce the expected result in the
391recipient's MUA.
e46f7a0e 392
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393
394Administering
395~~~~~~~~~~~~~
396
4c0fe0af 397--confirm=<mode>::
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398 Confirm just before sending:
399+
400--
401- 'always' will always confirm before sending
402- 'never' will never confirm before sending
403- 'cc' will confirm before sending when send-email has automatically
404 added addresses from the patch to the Cc list
405- 'compose' will confirm before sending the first message when using --compose.
406- 'auto' is equivalent to 'cc' + 'compose'
407--
408+
ae9f6311 409Default is the value of `sendemail.confirm` configuration value; if that
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410is unspecified, default to 'auto' unless any of the suppress options
411have been specified, in which case default to 'compose'.
412
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413--dry-run::
414 Do everything except actually send the emails.
415
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416--[no-]format-patch::
417 When an argument may be understood either as a reference or as a file name,
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418 choose to understand it as a format-patch argument (`--format-patch`)
419 or as a file name (`--no-format-patch`). By default, when such a conflict
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420 occurs, git send-email will fail.
421
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422--quiet::
423 Make git-send-email less verbose. One line per email should be
424 all that is output.
03044a98 425
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426--[no-]validate::
427 Perform sanity checks on patches.
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428 Currently, validation means the following:
429+
430--
6489660b 431 * Invoke the sendemail-validate hook if present (see linkgit:githooks[5]).
f2d06fb1 432 * Warn of patches that contain lines longer than
433 998 characters unless a suitable transfer encoding
434 ('auto', 'base64', or 'quoted-printable') is used;
435 this is due to SMTP limits as described by
fa29f36d 436 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5322.txt.
7ecbad91 437--
dbf5e1e9 438+
ae9f6311 439Default is the value of `sendemail.validate`; if this is not set,
bcf9626a 440default to `--validate`.
7ecbad91 441
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442--force::
443 Send emails even if safety checks would prevent it.
444
a6d62cdd 445
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446Information
447~~~~~~~~~~~
448
449--dump-aliases::
450 Instead of the normal operation, dump the shorthand alias names from
451 the configured alias file(s), one per line in alphabetical order. Note,
452 this only includes the alias name and not its expanded email addresses.
453 See 'sendemail.aliasesfile' for more information about aliases.
454
455
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456CONFIGURATION
457-------------
917f3e73 458
bac1d52c 459include::includes/cmd-config-section-all.txt[]
fc095242 460
bac1d52c 461include::config/sendemail.txt[]
c1f2aa45 462
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463EXAMPLES
464--------
2b873e06 465Use gmail as the smtp server
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466~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
467To use 'git send-email' to send your patches through the GMail SMTP server,
468edit ~/.gitconfig to specify your account settings:
2b873e06 469
1925fe0c
470----
471[sendemail]
472 smtpEncryption = tls
473 smtpServer = smtp.gmail.com
474 smtpUser = yourname@gmail.com
475 smtpServerPort = 587
476----
2b873e06 477
155067ab 478If you have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account, you will
66409881 479need to generate an app-specific password for use with 'git send-email'. Visit
4855f06f 480https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to create it.
66409881 481
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482If you do not have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account,
483you will need to allow less secure app access. Visit
484https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps to enable it.
485
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486Once your commits are ready to be sent to the mailing list, run the
487following commands:
488
489 $ git format-patch --cover-letter -M origin/master -o outgoing/
490 $ edit outgoing/0000-*
491 $ git send-email outgoing/*
492
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493The first time you run it, you will be prompted for your credentials. Enter the
494app-specific or your regular password as appropriate. If you have credential
495helper configured (see linkgit:git-credential[1]), the password will be saved in
496the credential store so you won't have to type it the next time.
497
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498Note: the following core Perl modules that may be installed with your
499distribution of Perl are required:
500MIME::Base64, MIME::QuotedPrint, Net::Domain and Net::SMTP.
501These additional Perl modules are also required:
502Authen::SASL and Mail::Address.
503
2b873e06 504
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505SEE ALSO
506--------
507linkgit:git-format-patch[1], linkgit:git-imap-send[1], mbox(5)
508
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509GIT
510---
9e1f0a85 511Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite