Documentation/git-send-email.txt

   1 git-send-email(1)
   2 =================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-send-email - Send a collection of patches as emails
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git send-email' [<options>] <file|directory|rev-list options>...
  13 'git send-email' --dump-aliases
  14
  15
  16 DESCRIPTION
  17 -----------
  18 Takes the patches given on the command line and emails them out.
  19 Patches can be specified as files, directories (which will send all
  20 files in the directory), or directly as a revision list.  In the
  21 last case, any format accepted by linkgit:git-format-patch[1] can
  22 be passed to git send-email.
  23
  24 The header of the email is configurable via command-line options.  If not
  25 specified on the command line, the user will be prompted with a ReadLine
  26 enabled interface to provide the necessary information.
  27
  28 There are two formats accepted for patch files:
  29
  30 1. mbox format files
  31 +
  32 This is what linkgit:git-format-patch[1] generates.  Most headers and MIME
  33 formatting are ignored.
  34
  35 2. The original format used by Greg Kroah-Hartman's 'send_lots_of_email.pl'
  36 script
  37 +
  38 This format expects the first line of the file to contain the "Cc:" value
  39 and the "Subject:" of the message as the second line.
  40
  41
  42 OPTIONS
  43 -------
  44
  45 Composing
  46 ~~~~~~~~~
  47
  48 --annotate::
  49         Review and edit each patch you're about to send. Default is the value
  50         of `sendemail.annotate`. See the CONFIGURATION section for
  51         `sendemail.multiEdit`.
  52
  53 --bcc=<address>,...::
  54         Specify a "Bcc:" value for each email. Default is the value of
  55         `sendemail.bcc`.
  56 +
  57 This option may be specified multiple times.
  58
  59 --cc=<address>,...::
  60         Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email.
  61         Default is the value of `sendemail.cc`.
  62 +
  63 This option may be specified multiple times.
  64
  65 --compose::
  66         Invoke a text editor (see GIT_EDITOR in linkgit:git-var[1])
  67         to edit an introductory message for the patch series.
  68 +
  69 When `--compose` is used, git send-email will use the From, Subject, and
  70 In-Reply-To headers specified in the message. If the body of the message
  71 (what you type after the headers and a blank line) only contains blank
  72 (or Git: prefixed) lines, the summary won't be sent, but From, Subject,
  73 and In-Reply-To headers will be used unless they are removed.
  74 +
  75 Missing From or In-Reply-To headers will be prompted for.
  76 +
  77 See the CONFIGURATION section for `sendemail.multiEdit`.
  78
  79 --from=<address>::
  80         Specify the sender of the emails.  If not specified on the command line,
  81         the value of the `sendemail.from` configuration option is used.  If
  82         neither the command-line option nor `sendemail.from` are set, then the
  83         user will be prompted for the value.  The default for the prompt will be
  84         the value of GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT, or GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT if that is not
  85         set, as returned by "git var -l".
  86
  87 --reply-to=<address>::
  88         Specify the address where replies from recipients should go to.
  89         Use this if replies to messages should go to another address than what
  90         is specified with the --from parameter.
  91
  92 --in-reply-to=<identifier>::
  93         Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
  94         reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
  95         provide a new patch series.
  96         The second and subsequent emails will be sent as replies according to
  97         the `--[no-]chain-reply-to` setting.
  98 +
  99 So for example when `--thread` and `--no-chain-reply-to` are specified, the
 100 second and subsequent patches will be replies to the first one like in the
 101 illustration below where `[PATCH v2 0/3]` is in reply to `[PATCH 0/2]`:
 102 +
 103   [PATCH 0/2] Here is what I did...
 104     [PATCH 1/2] Clean up and tests
 105     [PATCH 2/2] Implementation
 106     [PATCH v2 0/3] Here is a reroll
 107       [PATCH v2 1/3] Clean up
 108       [PATCH v2 2/3] New tests
 109       [PATCH v2 3/3] Implementation
 110 +
 111 Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose
 112 is not set, this will be prompted for.
 113
 114 --subject=<string>::
 115         Specify the initial subject of the email thread.
 116         Only necessary if --compose is also set.  If --compose
 117         is not set, this will be prompted for.
 118
 119 --to=<address>,...::
 120         Specify the primary recipient of the emails generated. Generally, this
 121         will be the upstream maintainer of the project involved. Default is the
 122         value of the `sendemail.to` configuration value; if that is unspecified,
 123         and --to-cmd is not specified, this will be prompted for.
 124 +
 125 This option may be specified multiple times.
 126
 127 --8bit-encoding=<encoding>::
 128         When encountering a non-ASCII message or subject that does not
 129         declare its encoding, add headers/quoting to indicate it is
 130         encoded in <encoding>.  Default is the value of the
 131         'sendemail.assume8bitEncoding'; if that is unspecified, this
 132         will be prompted for if any non-ASCII files are encountered.
 133 +
 134 Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
 135
 136 --compose-encoding=<encoding>::
 137         Specify encoding of compose message. Default is the value of the
 138         'sendemail.composeencoding'; if that is unspecified, UTF-8 is assumed.
 139
 140 --transfer-encoding=(7bit|8bit|quoted-printable|base64|auto)::
 141         Specify the transfer encoding to be used to send the message over SMTP.
 142         7bit will fail upon encountering a non-ASCII message.  quoted-printable
 143         can be useful when the repository contains files that contain carriage
 144         returns, but makes the raw patch email file (as saved from a MUA) much
 145         harder to inspect manually.  base64 is even more fool proof, but also
 146         even more opaque.  auto will use 8bit when possible, and quoted-printable
 147         otherwise.
 148 +
 149 Default is the value of the `sendemail.transferEncoding` configuration
 150 value; if that is unspecified, default to `auto`.
 151
 152 --xmailer::
 153 --no-xmailer::
 154         Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header.  By default,
 155         the header is added, but it can be turned off by setting the
 156         `sendemail.xmailer` configuration variable to `false`.
 157
 158 Sending
 159 ~~~~~~~
 160
 161 --envelope-sender=<address>::
 162         Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails.
 163         This is useful if your default address is not the address that is
 164         subscribed to a list. In order to use the 'From' address, set the
 165         value to "auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must have
 166         suitable privileges for the -f parameter.  Default is the value of the
 167         `sendemail.envelopeSender` configuration variable; if that is
 168         unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
 169
 170 --smtp-encryption=<encryption>::
 171         Specify the encryption to use, either 'ssl' or 'tls'.  Any other
 172         value reverts to plain SMTP.  Default is the value of
 173         `sendemail.smtpEncryption`.
 174
 175 --smtp-domain=<FQDN>::
 176         Specifies the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used in the
 177         HELO/EHLO command to the SMTP server.  Some servers require the
 178         FQDN to match your IP address.  If not set, git send-email attempts
 179         to determine your FQDN automatically.  Default is the value of
 180         `sendemail.smtpDomain`.
 181
 182 --smtp-auth=<mechanisms>::
 183         Whitespace-separated list of allowed SMTP-AUTH mechanisms. This setting
 184         forces using only the listed mechanisms. Example:
 185 +
 186 ------
 187 $ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...
 188 ------
 189 +
 190 If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones advertised by the
 191 SMTP server and if it is supported by the utilized SASL library, the mechanism
 192 is used for authentication. If neither 'sendemail.smtpAuth' nor `--smtp-auth`
 193 is specified, all mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used.
 194
 195 --smtp-pass[=<password>]::
 196         Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no
 197         argument is specified, then the empty string is used as
 198         the password. Default is the value of `sendemail.smtpPass`,
 199         however `--smtp-pass` always overrides this value.
 200 +
 201 Furthermore, passwords need not be specified in configuration files
 202 or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
 203 `--smtp-user` or a `sendemail.smtpUser`), but no password has been
 204 specified (with `--smtp-pass` or `sendemail.smtpPass`), then
 205 a password is obtained using 'git-credential'.
 206
 207 --smtp-server=<host>::
 208         If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
 209         `smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address).  Alternatively it can
 210         specify a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead;
 211         the program must support the `-i` option.  Default value can
 212         be specified by the `sendemail.smtpServer` configuration
 213         option; the built-in default is to search for `sendmail` in
 214         `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such program is
 215         available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
 216
 217 --smtp-server-port=<port>::
 218         Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP
 219         servers typically listen to smtp port 25, but may also listen to
 220         submission port 587, or the common SSL smtp port 465);
 221         symbolic port names (e.g. "submission" instead of 587)
 222         are also accepted. The port can also be set with the
 223         `sendemail.smtpServerPort` configuration variable.
 224
 225 --smtp-server-option=<option>::
 226         If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server option to use.
 227         Default value can be specified by the `sendemail.smtpServerOption`
 228         configuration option.
 229 +
 230 The --smtp-server-option option must be repeated for each option you want
 231 to pass to the server. Likewise, different lines in the configuration files
 232 must be used for each option.
 233
 234 --smtp-ssl::
 235         Legacy alias for '--smtp-encryption ssl'.
 236
 237 --smtp-ssl-cert-path::
 238         Path to a store of trusted CA certificates for SMTP SSL/TLS
 239         certificate validation (either a directory that has been processed
 240         by 'c_rehash', or a single file containing one or more PEM format
 241         certificates concatenated together: see verify(1) -CAfile and
 242         -CApath for more information on these). Set it to an empty string
 243         to disable certificate verification. Defaults to the value of the
 244         `sendemail.smtpsslcertpath` configuration variable, if set, or the
 245         backing SSL library's compiled-in default otherwise (which should
 246         be the best choice on most platforms).
 247
 248 --smtp-user=<user>::
 249         Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of `sendemail.smtpUser`;
 250         if a username is not specified (with `--smtp-user` or `sendemail.smtpUser`),
 251         then authentication is not attempted.
 252
 253 --smtp-debug=0|1::
 254         Enable (1) or disable (0) debug output. If enabled, SMTP
 255         commands and replies will be printed. Useful to debug TLS
 256         connection and authentication problems.
 257
 258 --batch-size=<num>::
 259         Some email servers (e.g. smtp.163.com) limit the number emails to be
 260         sent per session (connection) and this will lead to a failure when
 261         sending many messages.  With this option, send-email will disconnect after
 262         sending $<num> messages and wait for a few seconds (see --relogin-delay)
 263         and reconnect, to work around such a limit.  You may want to
 264         use some form of credential helper to avoid having to retype
 265         your password every time this happens.  Defaults to the
 266         `sendemail.smtpBatchSize` configuration variable.
 267
 268 --relogin-delay=<int>::
 269         Waiting $<int> seconds before reconnecting to SMTP server. Used together
 270         with --batch-size option.  Defaults to the `sendemail.smtpReloginDelay`
 271         configuration variable.
 272
 273 Automating
 274 ~~~~~~~~~~
 275
 276 --no-[to|cc|bcc]::
 277         Clears any list of "To:", "Cc:", "Bcc:" addresses previously
 278         set via config.
 279
 280 --to-cmd=<command>::
 281         Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
 282         should generate patch file specific "To:" entries.
 283         Output of this command must be single email address per line.
 284         Default is the value of 'sendemail.tocmd' configuration value.
 285
 286 --cc-cmd=<command>::
 287         Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
 288         should generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries.
 289         Output of this command must be single email address per line.
 290         Default is the value of `sendemail.ccCmd` configuration value.
 291
 292 --[no-]chain-reply-to::
 293         If this is set, each email will be sent as a reply to the previous
 294         email sent.  If disabled with "--no-chain-reply-to", all emails after
 295         the first will be sent as replies to the first email sent.  When using
 296         this, it is recommended that the first file given be an overview of the
 297         entire patch series. Disabled by default, but the `sendemail.chainReplyTo`
 298         configuration variable can be used to enable it.
 299
 300 --identity=<identity>::
 301         A configuration identity. When given, causes values in the
 302         'sendemail.<identity>' subsection to take precedence over
 303         values in the 'sendemail' section. The default identity is
 304         the value of `sendemail.identity`.
 305
 306 --[no-]signed-off-by-cc::
 307         If this is set, add emails found in Signed-off-by: or Cc: lines to the
 308         cc list. Default is the value of `sendemail.signedoffbycc` configuration
 309         value; if that is unspecified, default to --signed-off-by-cc.
 310
 311 --[no-]cc-cover::
 312         If this is set, emails found in Cc: headers in the first patch of
 313         the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the cc list
 314         for each email set. Default is the value of 'sendemail.cccover'
 315         configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-cc-cover.
 316
 317 --[no-]to-cover::
 318         If this is set, emails found in To: headers in the first patch of
 319         the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the to list
 320         for each email set. Default is the value of 'sendemail.tocover'
 321         configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-to-cover.
 322
 323 --suppress-cc=<category>::
 324         Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress the
 325         auto-cc of:
 326 +
 327 --
 328 - 'author' will avoid including the patch author
 329 - 'self' will avoid including the sender
 330 - 'cc' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the patch header
 331   except for self (use 'self' for that).
 332 - 'bodycc' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
 333   patch body (commit message) except for self (use 'self' for that).
 334 - 'sob' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Signed-off-by lines except
 335    for self (use 'self' for that).
 336 - 'cccmd' will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
 337 - 'body' is equivalent to 'sob' + 'bodycc'
 338 - 'all' will suppress all auto cc values.
 339 --
 340 +
 341 Default is the value of `sendemail.suppresscc` configuration value; if
 342 that is unspecified, default to 'self' if --suppress-from is
 343 specified, as well as 'body' if --no-signed-off-cc is specified.
 344
 345 --[no-]suppress-from::
 346         If this is set, do not add the From: address to the cc: list.
 347         Default is the value of `sendemail.suppressFrom` configuration
 348         value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-suppress-from.
 349
 350 --[no-]thread::
 351         If this is set, the In-Reply-To and References headers will be
 352         added to each email sent.  Whether each mail refers to the
 353         previous email (`deep` threading per 'git format-patch'
 354         wording) or to the first email (`shallow` threading) is
 355         governed by "--[no-]chain-reply-to".
 356 +
 357 If disabled with "--no-thread", those headers will not be added
 358 (unless specified with --in-reply-to).  Default is the value of the
 359 `sendemail.thread` configuration value; if that is unspecified,
 360 default to --thread.
 361 +
 362 It is up to the user to ensure that no In-Reply-To header already
 363 exists when 'git send-email' is asked to add it (especially note that
 364 'git format-patch' can be configured to do the threading itself).
 365 Failure to do so may not produce the expected result in the
 366 recipient's MUA.
 367
 368
 369 Administering
 370 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 371
 372 --confirm=<mode>::
 373         Confirm just before sending:
 374 +
 375 --
 376 - 'always' will always confirm before sending
 377 - 'never' will never confirm before sending
 378 - 'cc' will confirm before sending when send-email has automatically
 379   added addresses from the patch to the Cc list
 380 - 'compose' will confirm before sending the first message when using --compose.
 381 - 'auto' is equivalent to 'cc' + 'compose'
 382 --
 383 +
 384 Default is the value of `sendemail.confirm` configuration value; if that
 385 is unspecified, default to 'auto' unless any of the suppress options
 386 have been specified, in which case default to 'compose'.
 387
 388 --dry-run::
 389         Do everything except actually send the emails.
 390
 391 --[no-]format-patch::
 392         When an argument may be understood either as a reference or as a file name,
 393         choose to understand it as a format-patch argument (`--format-patch`)
 394         or as a file name (`--no-format-patch`). By default, when such a conflict
 395         occurs, git send-email will fail.
 396
 397 --quiet::
 398         Make git-send-email less verbose.  One line per email should be
 399         all that is output.
 400
 401 --[no-]validate::
 402         Perform sanity checks on patches.
 403         Currently, validation means the following:
 404 +
 405 --
 406                 *       Invoke the sendemail-validate hook if present (see linkgit:githooks[5]).
 407                 *       Warn of patches that contain lines longer than
 408                         998 characters unless a suitable transfer encoding
 409                         ('auto', 'base64', or 'quoted-printable') is used;
 410                         this is due to SMTP limits as described by
 411                         http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt.
 412 --
 413 +
 414 Default is the value of `sendemail.validate`; if this is not set,
 415 default to `--validate`.
 416
 417 --force::
 418         Send emails even if safety checks would prevent it.
 419
 420
 421 Information
 422 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 423
 424 --dump-aliases::
 425         Instead of the normal operation, dump the shorthand alias names from
 426         the configured alias file(s), one per line in alphabetical order. Note,
 427         this only includes the alias name and not its expanded email addresses.
 428         See 'sendemail.aliasesfile' for more information about aliases.
 429
 430
 431 CONFIGURATION
 432 -------------
 433
 434 sendemail.aliasesFile::
 435         To avoid typing long email addresses, point this to one or more
 436         email aliases files.  You must also supply `sendemail.aliasFileType`.
 437
 438 sendemail.aliasFileType::
 439         Format of the file(s) specified in sendemail.aliasesFile. Must be
 440         one of 'mutt', 'mailrc', 'pine', 'elm', or 'gnus', or 'sendmail'.
 441 +
 442 What an alias file in each format looks like can be found in
 443 the documentation of the email program of the same name. The
 444 differences and limitations from the standard formats are
 445 described below:
 446 +
 447 --
 448 sendmail;;
 449 *       Quoted aliases and quoted addresses are not supported: lines that
 450         contain a `"` symbol are ignored.
 451 *       Redirection to a file (`/path/name`) or pipe (`|command`) is not
 452         supported.
 453 *       File inclusion (`:include: /path/name`) is not supported.
 454 *       Warnings are printed on the standard error output for any
 455         explicitly unsupported constructs, and any other lines that are not
 456         recognized by the parser.
 457 --
 458
 459 sendemail.multiEdit::
 460         If true (default), a single editor instance will be spawned to edit
 461         files you have to edit (patches when `--annotate` is used, and the
 462         summary when `--compose` is used). If false, files will be edited one
 463         after the other, spawning a new editor each time.
 464
 465 sendemail.confirm::
 466         Sets the default for whether to confirm before sending. Must be
 467         one of 'always', 'never', 'cc', 'compose', or 'auto'. See `--confirm`
 468         in the previous section for the meaning of these values.
 469
 470 EXAMPLES
 471 --------
 472 Use gmail as the smtp server
 473 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 474 To use 'git send-email' to send your patches through the GMail SMTP server,
 475 edit ~/.gitconfig to specify your account settings:
 476
 477         [sendemail]
 478                 smtpEncryption = tls
 479                 smtpServer = smtp.gmail.com
 480                 smtpUser = yourname@gmail.com
 481                 smtpServerPort = 587
 482
 483 If you have multifactor authentication setup on your gmail account, you will
 484 need to generate an app-specific password for use with 'git send-email'. Visit
 485 https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to create it.
 486
 487 Once your commits are ready to be sent to the mailing list, run the
 488 following commands:
 489
 490         $ git format-patch --cover-letter -M origin/master -o outgoing/
 491         $ edit outgoing/0000-*
 492         $ git send-email outgoing/*
 493
 494 The first time you run it, you will be prompted for your credentials.  Enter the
 495 app-specific or your regular password as appropriate.  If you have credential
 496 helper configured (see linkgit:git-credential[1]), the password will be saved in
 497 the credential store so you won't have to type it the next time.
 498
 499 Note: the following perl modules are required
 500       Net::SMTP::SSL, MIME::Base64 and Authen::SASL
 501
 502 SEE ALSO
 503 --------
 504 linkgit:git-format-patch[1], linkgit:git-imap-send[1], mbox(5)
 505
 506 GIT
 507 ---
 508 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite