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