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 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 16 <since>[..<until>] 17 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20 21Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in 22one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 23If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working 24tree is implied. For a more complete list of ways to spell 25<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in 26gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 27 28The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 29for use with gitlink:git-am[1]. 30 31Each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 32first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 33the filename. The names of the output files are printed to standard 34output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 35 36If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 37they are created in the current working directory. 38 39If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line 40is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". 41 42If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and 43References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 44as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 45reference. 46 47OPTIONS 48------- 49-o|--output-directory <dir>:: 50 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 51 current working directory. 52 53-n|--numbered:: 54 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. 55 56--start-number <n>:: 57 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 58 59-k|--keep-subject:: 60 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 61 commit log message. 62 63-s|--signoff:: 64 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 65 the committer identity of yourself. 66 67--stdout:: 68 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 69 instead of creating a file for each one. 70 71--attach:: 72 Create attachments instead of inlining patches. 73 74--thread:: 75 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 76 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 77 the Message-Id header to reference. 78 79--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 80 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 81 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 82 provide a new patch series. 83 84--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 85 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 86 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 87 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 88 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 89 ignored. 90 91--suffix=.<sfx>:: 92 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 93 filenames, use specifed suffix. A common alternative is 94 `--suffix=.txt`. 95+ 96Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 97want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 98the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 99not add any suffix. 100 101CONFIGURATION 102------------- 103You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each 104message in the repository configuration. Also you can specify 105the default suffix different from the built-in one: 106 107------------ 108[format] 109 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 110 suffix = .txt 111------------ 112 113 114EXAMPLES 115-------- 116 117git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k:: 118 Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply 119 them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to 120 cherry-pick them. 121 122git-format-patch origin:: 123 Extract all commits which are in the current branch but 124 not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file 125 is created in the current directory. 126 127git-format-patch -M -B origin:: 128 The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects 129 and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to 130 produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the 131 amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to 132 review it. Note that the "patch" program does not 133 understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know 134 the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 135 136git-format-patch -3:: 137 Extract three topmost commits from the current branch 138 and format them as e-mailable patches. 139 140See Also 141-------- 142gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1] 143 144 145Author 146------ 147Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 148 149Documentation 150-------------- 151Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 152 153GIT 154--- 155Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 156