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 [-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--no-thread:: 128 Controls addition of In-Reply-To and References headers to 129 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the 130 first. Also controls generation of the Message-Id header to 131 reference. 132+ 133The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. 134'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the 135series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the 136`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep' 137threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. 138+ 139The default is --no-thread, unless the 'format.thread' configuration 140is set. If --thread is specified without a style, it defaults to the 141style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`. 142+ 143Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails 144itself. If you want 'git format-patch' to take care of hreading, you 145will want to ensure that threading is disabled for 'git send-email'. 146 147--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: 148 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a 149 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to 150 provide a new patch series. 151 152--ignore-if-in-upstream:: 153 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in 154 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable 155 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the 156 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is 157 ignored. 158 159--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: 160 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject 161 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This 162 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be 163 combined with the --numbered option. 164 165--cc=<email>:: 166 Add a "Cc:" header to the email headers. This is in addition 167 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 168 169--add-header=<header>:: 170 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition 171 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. 172 For example, --add-header="Organization: git-foo" 173 174--cover-letter:: 175 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file 176 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can 177 fill in a description in the file before sending it out. 178 179--suffix=.<sfx>:: 180 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated 181 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is 182 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` 183 suffix. 184+ 185Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, 186you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`. 187 188--no-binary:: 189 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead 190 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated 191 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are 192 still useful for code review. 193 194--root:: 195 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it 196 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a 197 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified 198 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently 199 of this flag. 200 201CONFIGURATION 202------------- 203You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, 204defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when 205outputting more than one patch, add "Cc:" headers, configure attachments, 206and sign off patches with configuration variables. 207 208------------ 209[format] 210 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" 211 subjectprefix = CHANGE 212 suffix = .txt 213 numbered = auto 214 cc = <email> 215 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ] 216 signoff = true 217------------ 218 219 220EXAMPLES 221-------- 222 223* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of 224the current branch using 'git-am' to cherry-pick them: 225+ 226------------ 227$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k 228------------ 229 230* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the 231origin branch: 232+ 233------------ 234$ git format-patch origin 235------------ 236+ 237For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory. 238 239* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the 240project: 241+ 242------------ 243$ git format-patch --root origin 244------------ 245 246* The same as the previous one: 247+ 248------------ 249$ git format-patch -M -B origin 250------------ 251+ 252Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites 253intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces 254the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review. 255Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so 256use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch. 257 258* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them 259as e-mailable patches: 260+ 261------------ 262$ git format-patch -3 263------------ 264 265SEE ALSO 266-------- 267linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] 268 269 270Author 271------ 272Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 273 274Documentation 275-------------- 276Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 277 278GIT 279--- 280Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite