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