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