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 <dir> | --stdout] [--thread] 13 [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>] | 14 [--no-attach]] 15 [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>] 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 [ <since> | <revision range> ] 24 25DESCRIPTION 26----------- 27 28Prepare each commit with its patch in 29one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 30The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 31for use with 'git-am'. 32 33There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. 34 351. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading 36 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history 37 that leads to the <since> to be output. 38 392. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING 40 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]) means the 41 commits in the specified range. 42 43The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To 44apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of 45history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: "git format-patch 46\--root <commit>". If you want to format only <commit> itself, you 47can do this with "git format-patch -1 <commit>". 48 49By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 50first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 51the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names 52will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. 53The names of the output files are printed to standard 54output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 55 56If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 57they are created in the current working directory. 58 59By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and 60the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First 61Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use -n. To omit 62patch numbers from the subject, use -N 63 64If given --thread, 'git-format-patch' will generate In-Reply-To and 65References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 66as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 67reference. 68 69OPTIONS 70------- 71:git-format-patch: 1 72include::diff-options.txt[] 73 74-<n>:: 75 Limits the number of patches to prepare. 76 77-o <dir>:: 78--output-directory <dir>:: 79 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 80 current working directory. 81 82-n:: 83--numbered:: 84 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. 85 86-N:: 87--no-numbered:: 88 Name output in '[PATCH]' format. 89 90--start-number <n>:: 91 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 92 93--numbered-files:: 94 Output file names will be a simple number sequence 95 without the default first line of the commit appended. 96 97-k:: 98--keep-subject:: 99 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 100 commit log message. 101 102-s:: 103--signoff:: 104 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 105 the committer identity of yourself. 106 107--stdout:: 108 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 109 instead of creating a file for each one. 110 111--attach[=<boundary>]:: 112 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 113 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 114 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 115 116--no-attach:: 117 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the 118 configuration setting. 119 120--inline[=<boundary>]:: 121 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 122 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 123 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 124 125--thread[=<style>]:: 126 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 127 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 128 the Message-Id header to reference. 129+ 130The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. 131'Shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the 132series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the 133`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'Deep' 134threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. If not 135specified, defaults to the 'format.thread' configuration, or `shallow` 136if that is not set. 137 138--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 139 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 140 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 141 provide a new patch series. 142 143--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 144 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 145 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 146 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 147 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 148 ignored. 149 150--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 151 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 152 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 153 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 154 combined with the --numbered option. 155 156--cc=<email>:: 157 Add a "Cc:" header to the email headers. This is in addition 158 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 159 160--add-header=<header>:: 161 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition 162 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 163 For example, --add-header="Organization: git-foo" 164 165--cover-letter:: 166 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file 167 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can 168 fill in a description in the file before sending it out. 169 170--suffix=.<sfx>:: 171 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 172 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is 173 `--suffix=.txt`. 174+ 175Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 176want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 177the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 178not add any suffix. 179 180--no-binary:: 181 Don't output contents of changes in binary files, just take note 182 that they differ. Note that this disable the patch to be properly 183 applied. By default the contents of changes in those files are 184 encoded in the patch. 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 196in the repository configuration, new defaults for the subject prefix 197and file suffix, control attachements, and number patches when outputting 198more than one. 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 it. 247Note that the "patch" program does not 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