Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough
-description. Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use
-the first line on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the
-body.
+description. The text up to the first blank line in a commit
+message is treated as the commit title, and that title is used
+throughout git. For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a
+commit into email, and it uses the title on the Subject line and the
+rest of the commit in the body.
+
[[ignoring-files]]
Ignoring files
will produce a numbered series of files in the current directory, one
for each patch in the current branch but not in origin/HEAD.
+`git format-patch` can include an initial "cover letter". You can insert
+commentary on individual patches after the three dash line which
+`format-patch` places after the commit message but before the patch
+itself. If you use `git notes` to track your cover letter material,
+`git format-patch --notes` will include the commit's notes in a similar
+manner.
+
You can then import these into your mail client and send them by
hand. However, if you have a lot to send at once, you may prefer to
use the linkgit:git-send-email[1] script to automate the process.