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 [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]] 14 [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach] 15 [-s | --signoff] 16 [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature] 17 [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered] 18 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files] 19 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 20 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 21 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] 22 [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>] 23 [--cover-letter] 24 [<common diff options>] 25 [ <since> | <revision range> ] 26 27DESCRIPTION 28----------- 29 30Prepare each commit with its patch in 31one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 32The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 33for use with 'git am'. 34 35There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. 36 371. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading 38 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history 39 that leads to the <since> to be output. 40 412. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING 42 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[1]) means the 43 commits in the specified range. 44 45The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To 46apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of 47history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch 48\--root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you 49can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`. 50 51By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 52first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 53the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names 54will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. 55The names of the output files are printed to standard 56output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified. 57 58If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 59they are created in the current working directory. 60 61By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and 62the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First 63Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`. To omit 64patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`. 65 66If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and 67`References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 68as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to 69reference. 70 71OPTIONS 72------- 73:git-format-patch: 1 74include::diff-options.txt[] 75 76-<n>:: 77 Limits the number of patches to prepare. 78 79-o <dir>:: 80--output-directory <dir>:: 81 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 82 current working directory. 83 84-n:: 85--numbered:: 86 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. 87 88-N:: 89--no-numbered:: 90 Name output in '[PATCH]' format. 91 92--start-number <n>:: 93 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 94 95--numbered-files:: 96 Output file names will be a simple number sequence 97 without the default first line of the commit appended. 98 99-k:: 100--keep-subject:: 101 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 102 commit log message. 103 104-s:: 105--signoff:: 106 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 107 the committer identity of yourself. 108 109--stdout:: 110 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 111 instead of creating a file for each one. 112 113--attach[=<boundary>]:: 114 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 115 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 116 second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`. 117 118--no-attach:: 119 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the 120 configuration setting. 121 122--inline[=<boundary>]:: 123 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 124 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 125 second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`. 126 127--thread[=<style>]:: 128--no-thread:: 129 Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to 130 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the 131 first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to 132 reference. 133+ 134The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. 135'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the 136series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the 137`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep' 138threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. 139+ 140The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration 141is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the 142style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`. 143+ 144Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails 145itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you 146will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`. 147 148--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 149 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a 150 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 151 provide a new patch series. 152 153--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 154 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 155 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 156 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 157 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 158 ignored. 159 160--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 161 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 162 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 163 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 164 combined with the `--numbered` option. 165 166--to=<email>:: 167 Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition 168 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 169 170--cc=<email>:: 171 Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition 172 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 173 174--add-header=<header>:: 175 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition 176 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 177 For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"` 178 179--cover-letter:: 180 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file 181 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can 182 fill in a description in the file before sending it out. 183 184--[no]-signature=<signature>:: 185 Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature 186 is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the 187 signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version 188 number. 189 190--suffix=.<sfx>:: 191 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 192 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is 193 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` 194 suffix. 195+ 196Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, 197you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`. 198 199--no-binary:: 200 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead 201 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated 202 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are 203 still useful for code review. 204 205--root:: 206 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it 207 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a 208 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified 209 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently 210 of this flag. 211 212CONFIGURATION 213------------- 214You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, 215defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when 216outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure 217attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables. 218 219------------ 220[format] 221 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 222 subjectprefix = CHANGE 223 suffix = .txt 224 numbered = auto 225 to = <email> 226 cc = <email> 227 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ] 228 signoff = true 229------------ 230 231 232EXAMPLES 233-------- 234 235* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of 236the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them: 237+ 238------------ 239$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k 240------------ 241 242* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the 243origin branch: 244+ 245------------ 246$ git format-patch origin 247------------ 248+ 249For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory. 250 251* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the 252project: 253+ 254------------ 255$ git format-patch --root origin 256------------ 257 258* The same as the previous one: 259+ 260------------ 261$ git format-patch -M -B origin 262------------ 263+ 264Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites 265intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces 266the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review. 267Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so 268use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 269 270* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them 271as e-mailable patches: 272+ 273------------ 274$ git format-patch -3 275------------ 276 277SEE ALSO 278-------- 279linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] 280 281 282Author 283------ 284Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 285 286Documentation 287-------------- 288Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 289 290GIT 291--- 292Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite