1git-format-patch(1) 2=================== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git-format-patch' [-n | -k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread] 13 [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]] 14 [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>] [--start-number <n>] 15 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 16 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 17 <since>[..<until>] 18 19DESCRIPTION 20----------- 21 22Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in 23one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 24If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working 25tree is implied. For a more complete list of ways to spell 26<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in 27gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 28 29The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 30for use with gitlink:git-am[1]. 31 32Each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 33first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 34the filename. The names of the output files are printed to standard 35output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 36 37If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 38they are created in the current working directory. 39 40If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line 41is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". 42 43If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and 44References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 45as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 46reference. 47 48OPTIONS 49------- 50include::diff-options.txt[] 51 52-o|--output-directory <dir>:: 53 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 54 current working directory. 55 56-n|--numbered:: 57 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. 58 59--start-number <n>:: 60 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 61 62-k|--keep-subject:: 63 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 64 commit log message. 65 66-s|--signoff:: 67 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 68 the committer identity of yourself. 69 70--stdout:: 71 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 72 instead of creating a file for each one. 73 74--attach[=<boundary>]:: 75 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 76 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 77 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 78 79--inline[=<boundary>]:: 80 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 81 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 82 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 83 84--thread:: 85 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 86 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 87 the Message-Id header to reference. 88 89--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 90 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 91 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 92 provide a new patch series. 93 94--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 95 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 96 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 97 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 98 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 99 ignored. 100 101--suffix=.<sfx>:: 102 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 103 filenames, use specifed suffix. A common alternative is 104 `--suffix=.txt`. 105+ 106Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 107want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 108the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 109not add any suffix. 110 111CONFIGURATION 112------------- 113You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each 114message in the repository configuration. Also you can specify 115the default suffix different from the built-in one: 116 117------------ 118[format] 119 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 120 suffix = .txt 121------------ 122 123 124EXAMPLES 125-------- 126 127git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k:: 128 Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply 129 them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to 130 cherry-pick them. 131 132git-format-patch origin:: 133 Extract all commits which are in the current branch but 134 not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file 135 is created in the current directory. 136 137git-format-patch -M -B origin:: 138 The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects 139 and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to 140 produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the 141 amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to 142 review it. Note that the "patch" program does not 143 understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know 144 the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 145 146git-format-patch -3:: 147 Extract three topmost commits from the current branch 148 and format them as e-mailable patches. 149 150See Also 151-------- 152gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1] 153 154 155Author 156------ 157Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 158 159Documentation 160-------------- 161Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 162 163GIT 164--- 165Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 166