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' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout] 13 [--thread[=<style>]] 14 [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach] 15 [-s | --signoff] 16 [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered] 17 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files] 18 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 19 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 20 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] 21 [--cc=<email>] 22 [--cover-letter] 23 [<common diff options>] 24 [ <since> | <revision range> ] 25 26DESCRIPTION 27----------- 28 29Prepare each commit with its patch in 30one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 31The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 32for use with 'git-am'. 33 34There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. 35 361. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading 37 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history 38 that leads to the <since> to be output. 39 402. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING 41 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]) means the 42 commits in the specified range. 43 44The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To 45apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of 46history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: "git format-patch 47\--root <commit>". If you want to format only <commit> itself, you 48can do this with "git format-patch -1 <commit>". 49 50By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 51first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 52the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names 53will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. 54The names of the output files are printed to standard 55output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 56 57If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 58they are created in the current working directory. 59 60By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and 61the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First 62Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use -n. To omit 63patch numbers from the subject, use -N 64 65If given --thread, 'git-format-patch' will generate In-Reply-To and 66References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 67as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 68reference. 69 70OPTIONS 71------- 72:git-format-patch: 1 73include::diff-options.txt[] 74 75-<n>:: 76 Limits the number of patches to prepare. 77 78-o <dir>:: 79--output-directory <dir>:: 80 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 81 current working directory. 82 83-n:: 84--numbered:: 85 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. 86 87-N:: 88--no-numbered:: 89 Name output in '[PATCH]' format. 90 91--start-number <n>:: 92 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 93 94--numbered-files:: 95 Output file names will be a simple number sequence 96 without the default first line of the commit appended. 97 98-k:: 99--keep-subject:: 100 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 101 commit log message. 102 103-s:: 104--signoff:: 105 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 106 the committer identity of yourself. 107 108--stdout:: 109 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 110 instead of creating a file for each one. 111 112--attach[=<boundary>]:: 113 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 114 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 115 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 116 117--no-attach:: 118 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the 119 configuration setting. 120 121--inline[=<boundary>]:: 122 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 123 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 124 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 125 126--thread[=<style>]:: 127 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 128 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 129 the Message-Id header to reference. 130+ 131The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. 132'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the 133series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the 134`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep' 135threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. If not 136specified, defaults to the 'format.thread' configuration, or `shallow` 137if that is not set. 138 139--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 140 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 141 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 142 provide a new patch series. 143 144--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 145 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 146 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 147 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 148 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 149 ignored. 150 151--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 152 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 153 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 154 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 155 combined with the --numbered option. 156 157--cc=<email>:: 158 Add a "Cc:" header to the email headers. This is in addition 159 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 160 161--add-header=<header>:: 162 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition 163 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 164 For example, --add-header="Organization: git-foo" 165 166--cover-letter:: 167 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file 168 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can 169 fill in a description in the file before sending it out. 170 171--suffix=.<sfx>:: 172 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 173 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is 174 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` 175 suffix. 176+ 177Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, 178you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`. 179 180--no-binary:: 181 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead 182 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated 183 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are 184 still useful for code review. 185 186--root:: 187 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it 188 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a 189 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified 190 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently 191 of this flag. 192 193CONFIGURATION 194------------- 195You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, 196defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when 197outputting more than one patch, add "Cc:" headers, configure attachments, 198and sign off patches with configuration variables. 199 200------------ 201[format] 202 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 203 subjectprefix = CHANGE 204 suffix = .txt 205 numbered = auto 206 cc = <email> 207 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ] 208 signoff = true 209------------ 210 211 212EXAMPLES 213-------- 214 215* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of 216the current branch using 'git-am' to cherry-pick them: 217+ 218------------ 219$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k 220------------ 221 222* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the 223origin branch: 224+ 225------------ 226$ git format-patch origin 227------------ 228+ 229For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory. 230 231* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the 232project: 233+ 234------------ 235$ git format-patch --root origin 236------------ 237 238* The same as the previous one: 239+ 240------------ 241$ git format-patch -M -B origin 242------------ 243+ 244Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites 245intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces 246the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review. 247Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so 248use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 249 250* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them 251as e-mailable patches: 252+ 253------------ 254$ git format-patch -3 255------------ 256 257SEE ALSO 258-------- 259linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] 260 261 262Author 263------ 264Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 265 266Documentation 267-------------- 268Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 269 270GIT 271--- 272Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite