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>] 15 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files] 16 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 17 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 18 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] 19 <since>[..<until>] 20 21DESCRIPTION 22----------- 23 24Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in 25one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 26If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working 27tree is implied. For a more complete list of ways to spell 28<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in 29gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 30 31The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 32for use with gitlink:git-am[1]. 33 34By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 35first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 36the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names 37will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. 38The names of the output files are printed to standard 39output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 40 41If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 42they are created in the current working directory. 43 44If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line 45is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". 46 47If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and 48References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 49as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 50reference. 51 52OPTIONS 53------- 54include::diff-options.txt[] 55 56-o|--output-directory <dir>:: 57 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 58 current working directory. 59 60-n|--numbered:: 61 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. 62 63--start-number <n>:: 64 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 65 66--numbered-files:: 67 Output file names will be a simple number sequence 68 without the default first line of the commit appended. 69 Mutually exclusive with the --stdout option. 70 71-k|--keep-subject:: 72 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 73 commit log message. 74 75-s|--signoff:: 76 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 77 the committer identity of yourself. 78 79--stdout:: 80 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 81 instead of creating a file for each one. 82 83--attach[=<boundary>]:: 84 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 85 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 86 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 87 88--inline[=<boundary>]:: 89 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 90 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 91 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 92 93--thread:: 94 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 95 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 96 the Message-Id header to reference. 97 98--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 99 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 100 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 101 provide a new patch series. 102 103--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 104 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 105 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 106 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 107 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 108 ignored. 109 110--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 111 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 112 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 113 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 114 combined with the --numbered option. 115 116--suffix=.<sfx>:: 117 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 118 filenames, use specifed suffix. A common alternative is 119 `--suffix=.txt`. 120+ 121Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 122want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 123the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 124not add any suffix. 125 126CONFIGURATION 127------------- 128You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each 129message in the repository configuration. You can also specify 130new defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix. 131 132------------ 133[format] 134 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 135 subjectprefix = CHANGE 136 suffix = .txt 137------------ 138 139 140EXAMPLES 141-------- 142 143git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k:: 144 Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply 145 them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to 146 cherry-pick them. 147 148git-format-patch origin:: 149 Extract all commits which are in the current branch but 150 not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file 151 is created in the current directory. 152 153git-format-patch -M -B origin:: 154 The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects 155 and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to 156 produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the 157 amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to 158 review it. Note that the "patch" program does not 159 understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know 160 the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 161 162git-format-patch -3:: 163 Extract three topmost commits from the current branch 164 and format them as e-mailable patches. 165 166See Also 167-------- 168gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1] 169 170 171Author 172------ 173Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 174 175Documentation 176-------------- 177Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 178 179GIT 180--- 181Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite