SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-format-patch' [-n | -k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--attach] [-s] [-c]
- [--diff-options] <his> [<mine>]
+'git-format-patch' [-n | -k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread]
+ [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]]
+ [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>]
+ [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
+ [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
+ [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
+ [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
+ [ <since> | <revision range> ]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Prepare each commit with its patch since <mine> head forked from
-<his> head, one file per patch formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox
-format, for e-mail submission or use with gitlink:git-am[1].
-Each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
-first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety)
-as the filename.
+Prepare each commit with its patch in
+one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
+The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
+for use with gitlink:git-am[1].
-When -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>; otherwise
-they are created in the current working directory. This option
-is ignored if --stdout is specified.
+There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
-When -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first
-line is formatted as "[PATCH N/M] Subject", unless you have only
-one patch.
+1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
+ to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
+ that leads to the <since> to be output.
+2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
+ REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]) means the
+ commits in the specified range.
+
+A single commit, when interpreted as a <revision range>
+expression, means "everything that leads to that commit", but
+if you write 'git format-patch <commit>', the previous rule
+applies to that command line and you do not get "everything
+since the beginning of the time". If you want to format
+everything since project inception to one commit, say "git
+format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the
+latter case.
+
+By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
+first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
+the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names
+will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
+The names of the output files are printed to standard
+output, unless the --stdout option is specified.
+
+If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
+they are created in the current working directory.
+
+If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line
+is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject".
+
+If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and
+References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
+as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to
+reference.
OPTIONS
-------
+include::diff-options.txt[]
+
+-<n>::
+ Limits the number of patches to prepare.
+
-o|--output-directory <dir>::
Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
current working directory.
-n|--numbered::
Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format.
+--start-number <n>::
+ Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
+
+--numbered-files::
+ Output file names will be a simple number sequence
+ without the default first line of the commit appended.
+ Mutually exclusive with the --stdout option.
+
-k|--keep-subject::
Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
commit log message.
Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
the committer identity of yourself.
--c|--check::
- Display suspicious lines in the patch. The definition
- of 'suspicious lines' is currently the lines that has
- trailing whitespaces, and the lines whose indentation
- has a SP character immediately followed by a TAB
- character.
-
--stdout::
- This flag generates the mbox formatted output to the
- standard output, instead of saving them into a file per
- patch and implies --mbox.
-
---attach::
- Create attachments instead of inlining patches.
-
+ Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
+ instead of creating a file for each one.
+
+--attach[=<boundary>]::
+ Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
+ which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
+ second part, with "Content-Disposition: attachment".
+
+--inline[=<boundary>]::
+ Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
+ which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
+ second part, with "Content-Disposition: inline".
+
+--thread::
+ Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and
+ subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates
+ the Message-Id header to reference.
+
+--in-reply-to=Message-Id::
+ Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
+ reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
+ provide a new patch series.
+
+--ignore-if-in-upstream::
+ Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
+ <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
+ from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
+ patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
+ ignored.
+
+--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
+ Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
+ line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
+ allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
+ combined with the --numbered option.
+
+--suffix=.<sfx>::
+ Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
+ filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
+ `--suffix=.txt`.
++
+Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you
+want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and
+the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would
+not add any suffix.
CONFIGURATION
-------------
You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each
-message in the repository configuration as follows:
+message in the repository configuration. You can also specify
+new defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix.
+------------
[format]
headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
+ subjectprefix = CHANGE
+ suffix = .txt
+------------
EXAMPLES
cherry-pick them.
git-format-patch origin::
- Extract commits the current branch accumulated since it
- pulled from origin the last time in a patch form for
- e-mail submission.
+ Extract all commits which are in the current branch but
+ not in the origin branch. For each commit a separate file
+ is created in the current directory.
-git-format-patch -M -B origin::
- The same as the previous one, except detect and handle
- renames and complete rewrites intelligently to produce
- renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the amount of
- text output, and generally makes it easier to review
- it. Note that the "patch" program does not understand
- renaming patch well, so use it only when you know the
- recipient uses git to apply your patch.
+git-format-patch \--root origin::
+ Extract all commits which that leads to 'origin' since the
+ inception of the project.
+git-format-patch -M -B origin::
+ The same as the previous one. Additionally, it detects
+ and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to
+ produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the
+ amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to
+ review it. Note that the "patch" program does not
+ understand renaming patches, so use it only when you know
+ the recipient uses git to apply your patch.
+
+git-format-patch -3::
+ Extract three topmost commits from the current branch
+ and format them as e-mailable patches.
See Also
--------
GIT
---
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
-