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] [--thread] 13 [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]] 14 [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>] [--start-number <n>] 15 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] 16 [--ignore-if-in-upstream] 17 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] 18 <since>[..<until>] 19 20DESCRIPTION 21----------- 22 23Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in 24one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. 25If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working 26tree is implied. For a more complete list of ways to spell 27<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in 28gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 29 30The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or 31for use with gitlink:git-am[1]. 32 33Each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the 34first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as 35the filename. The names of the output files are printed to standard 36output, unless the --stdout option is specified. 37 38If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise 39they are created in the current working directory. 40 41If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line 42is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". 43 44If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and 45References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear 46as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to 47reference. 48 49OPTIONS 50------- 51include::diff-options.txt[] 52 53-o|--output-directory <dir>:: 54 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the 55 current working directory. 56 57-n|--numbered:: 58 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. 59 60--start-number <n>:: 61 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. 62 63-k|--keep-subject:: 64 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the 65 commit log message. 66 67-s|--signoff:: 68 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using 69 the committer identity of yourself. 70 71--stdout:: 72 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, 73 instead of creating a file for each one. 74 75--attach[=<boundary>]:: 76 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 77 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 78 second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment". 79 80--inline[=<boundary>]:: 81 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of 82 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the 83 second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline". 84 85--thread:: 86 Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and 87 subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates 88 the Message-Id header to reference. 89 90--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 91 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 92 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 93 provide a new patch series. 94 95--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 96 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 97 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 98 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 99 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 100 ignored. 101 102--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 103 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 104 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 105 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 106 combined with the --numbered option. 107 108--suffix=.<sfx>:: 109 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 110 filenames, use specifed suffix. A common alternative is 111 `--suffix=.txt`. 112+ 113Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you 114want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and 115the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would 116not add any suffix. 117 118CONFIGURATION 119------------- 120You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each 121message in the repository configuration. Also you can specify 122the default suffix different from the built-in one: 123 124------------ 125[format] 126 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 127 suffix = .txt 128------------ 129 130 131EXAMPLES 132-------- 133 134git-format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k:: 135 Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply 136 them on top of the current branch using `git-am` to 137 cherry-pick them. 138 139git-format-patch origin:: 140 Extract all commits which are in the current branch but 141 not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file 142 is created in the current directory. 143 144git-format-patch -M -B origin:: 145 The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects 146 and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to 147 produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the 148 amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to 149 review it. Note that the "patch" program does not 150 understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know 151 the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 152 153git-format-patch -3:: 154 Extract three topmost commits from the current branch 155 and format them as e-mailable patches. 156 157See Also 158-------- 159gitlink:git-am[1], gitlink:git-send-email[1] 160 161 162Author 163------ 164Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 165 166Documentation 167-------------- 168Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 169 170GIT 171--- 172Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 173