6 git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission
12 'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout]
13 [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]]
14 [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach]
16 [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature]
17 [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
18 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
19 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
20 [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
21 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] [--reroll-count <n>]
22 [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
23 [--cover-letter] [--quiet]
24 [<common diff options>]
25 [ <since> | <revision range> ]
30 Prepare each commit with its patch in
31 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
32 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
33 for use with 'git am'.
35 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
37 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
38 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
39 that leads to the <since> to be output.
41 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
42 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
43 commits in the specified range.
45 The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
46 apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
47 history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch
48 --root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
49 can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
51 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
52 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
53 the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names
54 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
55 The names of the output files are printed to standard
56 output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
58 If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
59 they are created in the current working directory.
61 By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] " followed by
62 the concatenation of lines from the commit message up to the first blank
63 line (see the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-commit[1]).
65 When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be
66 "[PATCH n/m] ". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`.
67 To omit patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
69 If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and
70 `References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
71 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to
77 include::diff-options.txt[]
80 Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
83 --output-directory <dir>::
84 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
85 current working directory.
89 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
93 Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
96 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
99 Output file names will be a simple number sequence
100 without the default first line of the commit appended.
104 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
109 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
110 the committer identity of yourself.
113 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
114 instead of creating a file for each one.
116 --attach[=<boundary>]::
117 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
118 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
119 second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
122 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
123 configuration setting.
125 --inline[=<boundary>]::
126 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
127 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
128 second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
132 Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
133 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
134 first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to
137 The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
138 'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
139 series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
140 `--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
141 threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
143 The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration
144 is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the
145 style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`.
147 Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
148 itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
149 will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
151 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
152 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
153 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
154 provide a new patch series.
156 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
157 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
158 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
159 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
160 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
163 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
164 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
165 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
166 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
167 combined with the `--numbered` option.
170 Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The
171 output filenames have `v<n>` prepended to them, and the
172 subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
173 `--subject-prefix` option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.
174 `--reroll-count=4` may produce `v4-0001-add-makefile.patch`
175 file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
178 Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
179 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
180 The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so
181 far (from config or command line).
184 Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
185 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
186 The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so
187 far (from config or command line).
189 --add-header=<header>::
190 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
191 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
192 For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`.
193 The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`,
194 `Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command
198 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
199 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
200 fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
202 --[no]-signature=<signature>::
203 Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
204 is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
205 signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version
209 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
210 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
211 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch`
214 Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
215 you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
218 Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.
221 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
222 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
223 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
224 still useful for code review.
227 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it
228 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a
229 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified
230 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently
235 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
236 defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
237 outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure
238 attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables.
242 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
243 subjectprefix = CHANGE
248 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
256 The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
257 with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
258 from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
261 From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
262 From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
263 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
264 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
265 =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
267 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
268 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
270 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
271 (See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
273 Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
277 Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
278 timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
279 dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
280 with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
281 can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
284 When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
285 'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
286 --scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
287 line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
288 followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
292 > So we should do such-and-such.
294 Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
297 Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
299 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
303 When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
304 patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
305 should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
306 title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
307 patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
308 the Subject: line, like the example above.
310 Checking for patch corruption
311 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
312 Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
313 two common types of corruption:
315 * Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
317 * Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
320 One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
322 * Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
323 with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
326 * Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
331 $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
332 $ git checkout test-apply
336 If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
338 * The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
339 does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
340 the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
343 * The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
344 the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
345 see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
346 corruption patterns mentioned above.
348 * While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
349 If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
350 see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
351 receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
352 your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
353 patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
354 the end of the commit message.
358 Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
363 GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
364 interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
365 use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
366 use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
367 the emails through that.
369 For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
370 GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
372 For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
373 section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
377 By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
378 them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
379 resulting email unusable by git.
381 There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
382 configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
383 an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
388 Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
389 https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
390 It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
391 that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
392 (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
393 insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
395 Approach #2 (configuration)
396 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
399 1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
400 Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
401 uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
403 2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
406 Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
409 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
410 "mail.wrap_long_lines".
411 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
413 3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
414 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
415 "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
416 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
418 After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
419 otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
420 and the patches will not be mangled.
422 Approach #3 (external editor)
423 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
425 The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
426 AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
427 External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
429 1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
431 2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
432 uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
433 "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
436 3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
437 window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
438 following to the indicated values:
441 mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
442 mailnews.wraplength => 0
445 4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
447 5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
450 Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
451 about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
454 mail.html_compose => false
455 mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
456 mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
459 There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
460 you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
461 steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
465 This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
467 1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
469 2. Click on New Mail.
471 3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
472 "Word wrap" is not set.
474 4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
476 5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
477 message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
483 * Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
484 the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
487 $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
490 * Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
494 $ git format-patch origin
497 For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
499 * Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the
503 $ git format-patch --root origin
506 * The same as the previous one:
509 $ git format-patch -M -B origin
512 Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites
513 intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces
514 the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review.
515 Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so
516 use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch.
518 * Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them
519 as e-mailable patches:
522 $ git format-patch -3
527 linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
531 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / thirdparty / git.git / blob