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