--------
[verse]
'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout]
- [--thread[=<style>]]
+ [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]]
[(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach]
[-s | --signoff]
+ [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature]
[-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
[--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
[--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
[--ignore-if-in-upstream]
[--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
- [--cc=<email>]
- [--cover-letter]
+ [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
+ [--cover-letter] [--quiet]
[<common diff options>]
[ <since> | <revision range> ]
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 'git-am'.
+for use with 'git am'.
There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
that leads to the <since> to be output.
2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
- REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]) means the
+ REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
commits in the specified range.
The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
-history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: "git format-patch
-\--root <commit>". If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
-can do this with "git format-patch -1 <commit>".
+history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch
+--root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
+can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
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
+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.
+output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
-If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
+If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
they are created in the current working directory.
By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and
the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First
-Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use -n. To omit
-patch numbers from the subject, use -N
+Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`. To omit
+patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
-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
+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.
+ Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
-o <dir>::
--output-directory <dir>::
--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".
+ second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
--no-attach::
Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
--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".
+ second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
--thread[=<style>]::
- 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.
+--no-thread::
+ Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
+ make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
+ first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to
+ reference.
+
The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
-`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
-threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. If not
-specified, defaults to the 'format.thread' configuration, or `shallow`
-if that is not set.
+`--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
+threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
++
+The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration
+is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the
+style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`.
++
+Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
+itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
+will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
--in-reply-to=Message-Id::
- Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
+ 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.
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.
+ combined with the `--numbered` option.
+
+--to=<email>::
+ Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
+ to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
+ The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so
+ far (from config or command line).
--cc=<email>::
- Add a "Cc:" header to the email headers. This is in addition
+ Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
+ The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so
+ far (from config or command line).
--add-header=<header>::
Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
- For example, --add-header="Organization: git-foo"
+ For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`.
+ The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`,
+ `Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command
+ line.
--cover-letter::
In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
+--[no]-signature=<signature>::
+ Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
+ is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
+ signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version
+ number.
+
--suffix=.<sfx>::
Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
+--quiet::
+ Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.
+
--no-binary::
Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
-------------
You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
-outputting more than one patch, add "Cc:" headers, configure attachments,
-and sign off patches with configuration variables.
+outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure
+attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables.
------------
[format]
subjectprefix = CHANGE
suffix = .txt
numbered = auto
+ to = <email>
cc = <email>
attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
signoff = true
------------
+DISCUSSION
+----------
+
+The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
+with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
+from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
+
+------------
+From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
+Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
+Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
+ =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
+(See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
+
+Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
+...
+------------
+
+Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
+timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
+dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
+with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
+can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
+linkgit:git-am[1].
+
+When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
+'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
+--scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
+line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
+followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
+
+------------
+...
+> So we should do such-and-such.
+
+Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
+
+-- >8 --
+Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
+
+arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
+...
+------------
+
+When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
+patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
+should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
+title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
+patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
+the Subject: line, like the example above.
+
+Checking for patch corruption
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
+two common types of corruption:
+
+* Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
+
+* Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
+ beginning.
+
+One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
+
+* Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
+ with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
+ maintainer address.
+
+* Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
+ say.
+
+* Apply it:
+
+ $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
+ $ git checkout test-apply
+ $ git reset --hard
+ $ git am a.patch
+
+If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
+
+* The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
+ does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
+ the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
+ this case.
+
+* The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
+ the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
+ see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
+ corruption patterns mentioned above.
+
+* While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
+ If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
+ see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
+ receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
+ your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
+ patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
+ the end of the commit message.
+
+MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS
+------------------
+Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
+various mailers.
+
+GMail
+~~~~~
+GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
+interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
+use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
+use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
+the emails through that.
+
+For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
+GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
+
+For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
+section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
+
+Thunderbird
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
+them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
+resulting email unusable by git.
+
+There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
+configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
+an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
+
+Approach #1 (add-on)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
+https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
+It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
+that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
+(cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
+insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
+
+Approach #2 (configuration)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Three steps:
+
+1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
+ Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
+ uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
+
+2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
++
+In Thunderbird 2:
+Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
++
+In Thunderbird 3:
+Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
+"mail.wrap_long_lines".
+Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
+
+3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
+Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
+"mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
+Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
+
+After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
+otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
+and the patches will not be mangled.
+
+Approach #3 (external editor)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
+AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
+External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
+
+1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
+
+2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
+ uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
+ "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
+ send the patch.
+
+3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
+ window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
+ following to the indicated values:
++
+----------
+ mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
+ mailnews.wraplength => 0
+----------
+
+4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
+
+5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
+ the editor normally.
+
+Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
+about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
+
+----------
+ mail.html_compose => false
+ mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
+ mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
+----------
+
+There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
+you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
+steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
+
+KMail
+~~~~~
+This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
+
+1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
+
+2. Click on New Mail.
+
+3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
+ "Word wrap" is not set.
+
+4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
+
+5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
+ message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
+
+
EXAMPLES
--------
* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
-the current branch using 'git-am' to cherry-pick them:
+the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
+
------------
$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
--------
linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
-
-Author
-------
-Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
-
-Documentation
---------------
-Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
-
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite