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 Signed-off-by line 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         GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
 113         defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
 114         stuck to the option without a space.
 115
 116 --ff::
 117         If the current HEAD is the same as the parent of the
 118         cherry-pick'ed commit, then a fast forward to this commit will
 119         be performed.
 120
 121 --allow-empty::
 122         By default, cherry-picking an empty commit will fail,
 123         indicating that an explicit invocation of `git commit
 124         --allow-empty` is required. This option overrides that
 125         behavior, allowing empty commits to be preserved automatically
 126         in a cherry-pick. Note that when "--ff" is in effect, empty
 127         commits that meet the "fast-forward" requirement will be kept
 128         even without this option.  Note also, that use of this option only
 129         keeps commits that were initially empty (i.e. the commit recorded the
 130         same tree as its parent).  Commits which are made empty due to a
 131         previous commit are dropped.  To force the inclusion of those commits
 132         use `--keep-redundant-commits`.
 133
 134 --allow-empty-message::
 135         By default, cherry-picking a commit with an empty message will fail.
 136         This option overrides that behavior, allowing commits with empty
 137         messages to be cherry picked.
 138
 139 --keep-redundant-commits::
 140         If a commit being cherry picked duplicates a commit already in the
 141         current history, it will become empty.  By default these
 142         redundant commits cause `cherry-pick` to stop so the user can
 143         examine the commit. This option overrides that behavior and
 144         creates an empty commit object.  Implies `--allow-empty`.
 145
 146 --strategy=<strategy>::
 147         Use the given merge strategy.  Should only be used once.
 148         See the MERGE STRATEGIES section in linkgit:git-merge[1]
 149         for details.
 150
 151 -X<option>::
 152 --strategy-option=<option>::
 153         Pass the merge strategy-specific option through to the
 154         merge strategy.  See linkgit:git-merge[1] for details.
 155
 156 --rerere-autoupdate::
 157 --no-rerere-autoupdate::
 158         Allow the rerere mechanism to update the index with the
 159         result of auto-conflict resolution if possible.
 160
 161 SEQUENCER SUBCOMMANDS
 162 ---------------------
 163 include::sequencer.txt[]
 164
 165 EXAMPLES
 166 --------
 167 `git cherry-pick master`::
 168
 169         Apply the change introduced by the commit at the tip of the
 170         master branch and create a new commit with this change.
 171
 172 `git cherry-pick ..master`::
 173 `git cherry-pick ^HEAD master`::
 174
 175         Apply the changes introduced by all commits that are ancestors
 176         of master but not of HEAD to produce new commits.
 177
 178 `git cherry-pick maint next ^master`::
 179 `git cherry-pick maint master..next`::
 180
 181         Apply the changes introduced by all commits that are
 182         ancestors of maint or next, but not master or any of its
 183         ancestors.  Note that the latter does not mean `maint` and
 184         everything between `master` and `next`; specifically,
 185         `maint` will not be used if it is included in `master`.
 186
 187 `git cherry-pick master~4 master~2`::
 188
 189         Apply the changes introduced by the fifth and third last
 190         commits pointed to by master and create 2 new commits with
 191         these changes.
 192
 193 `git cherry-pick -n master~1 next`::
 194
 195         Apply to the working tree and the index the changes introduced
 196         by the second last commit pointed to by master and by the last
 197         commit pointed to by next, but do not create any commit with
 198         these changes.
 199
 200 `git cherry-pick --ff ..next`::
 201
 202         If history is linear and HEAD is an ancestor of next, update
 203         the working tree and advance the HEAD pointer to match next.
 204         Otherwise, apply the changes introduced by those commits that
 205         are in next but not HEAD to the current branch, creating a new
 206         commit for each new change.
 207
 208 `git rev-list --reverse master -- README | git cherry-pick -n --stdin`::
 209
 210         Apply the changes introduced by all commits on the master
 211         branch that touched README to the working tree and index,
 212         so the result can be inspected and made into a single new
 213         commit if suitable.
 214
 215 The following sequence attempts to backport a patch, bails out because
 216 the code the patch applies to has changed too much, and then tries
 217 again, this time exercising more care about matching up context lines.
 218
 219 ------------
 220 $ git cherry-pick topic^             <1>
 221 $ git diff                           <2>
 222 $ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD        <3>
 223 $ git cherry-pick -Xpatience topic^  <4>
 224 ------------
 225 <1> apply the change that would be shown by `git show topic^`.
 226     In this example, the patch does not apply cleanly, so
 227     information about the conflict is written to the index and
 228     working tree and no new commit results.
 229 <2> summarize changes to be reconciled
 230 <3> cancel the cherry-pick.  In other words, return to the
 231     pre-cherry-pick state, preserving any local modifications
 232     you had in the working tree.
 233 <4> try to apply the change introduced by `topic^` again,
 234     spending extra time to avoid mistakes based on incorrectly
 235     matching context lines.
 236
 237 SEE ALSO
 238 --------
 239 linkgit:git-revert[1]
 240
 241 GIT
 242 ---
 243 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite