6 git-tag - Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG
12 'git tag' [-a | -s | -u <key-id>] [-f] [-m <msg> | -F <file>]
13 <tagname> [<commit> | <object>]
14 'git tag' -d <tagname>...
15 'git tag' [-n[<num>]] -l [--contains <commit>] [--points-at <object>]
16 [--column[=<options>] | --no-column] [<pattern>...]
18 'git tag' -v <tagname>...
23 Add a tag reference in `refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
24 to delete, list or verify tags.
26 Unless `-f` is given, the named tag must not yet exist.
28 If one of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>` is passed, the command
29 creates a 'tag' object, and requires a tag message. Unless
30 `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given, an editor is started for the user to type
33 If `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given and `-a`, `-s`, and `-u <key-id>`
34 are absent, `-a` is implied.
36 Otherwise just a tag reference for the SHA-1 object name of the commit object is
37 created (i.e. a lightweight tag).
39 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when `-s` or `-u
40 <key-id>` is used. When `-u <key-id>` is not used, the
41 committer identity for the current user is used to find the
42 GnuPG key for signing. The configuration variable `gpg.program`
43 is used to specify custom GnuPG binary.
45 Tag objects (created with `-a`, `s`, or `-u`) are called "annotated"
46 tags; they contain a creation date, the tagger name and e-mail, a
47 tagging message, and an optional GnuPG signature. Whereas a
48 "lightweight" tag is simply a name for an object (usually a commit
51 Annotated tags are meant for release while lightweight tags are meant
52 for private or temporary object labels. For this reason, some git
53 commands for naming objects (like `git describe`) will ignore
54 lightweight tags by default.
61 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
65 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key.
68 --local-user=<key-id>::
69 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
73 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
77 Delete existing tags with the given names.
81 Verify the gpg signature of the given tag names.
84 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
85 are printed when using -l.
86 The default is not to print any annotation lines.
87 If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
88 If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
92 List tags with names that match the given pattern (or all if no
93 pattern is given). Running "git tag" without arguments also
94 lists all tags. The pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched
95 using fnmatch(3)). Multiple patterns may be given; if any of
96 them matches, the tag is shown.
98 --column[=<options>]::
100 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
101 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
102 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
104 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
106 --contains <commit>::
107 Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
109 --points-at <object>::
110 Only list tags of the given object.
114 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
115 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
116 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
117 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
122 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
123 read the message from the standard input.
124 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
128 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
129 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
130 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
131 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
132 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
135 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
136 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
137 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
138 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
142 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
148 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
149 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <\your@email.address>") to
150 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
151 it in the repository configuration as follows:
153 -------------------------------------
155 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
156 -------------------------------------
165 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
168 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
169 replace the old one. And you're done.
171 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
172 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
173 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
176 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
177 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
178 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
179 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
183 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
184 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
185 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
187 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
188 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
189 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
192 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
193 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
194 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
195 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
196 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
197 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
200 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
201 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
203 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
204 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
207 git fetch origin tag X
209 to get my updated tag.
211 You can test which tag you have by doing
215 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
217 Sorry for the inconvenience.
220 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
221 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
222 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
225 On Automatic following
226 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
228 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
229 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
230 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
231 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
233 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
234 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
235 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
236 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
237 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
238 private anchor point tags from the other person.
240 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
241 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
242 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
246 Linus, please pull from
248 git://git..../proj.git master
250 to get the following updates...
256 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
259 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
262 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
263 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
264 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
265 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
266 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
267 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
268 determines who are interested in whose tags.
270 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
271 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
272 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
273 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
274 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
275 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
276 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
277 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
278 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
279 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
282 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
283 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
284 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
285 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
286 follow such tags is a good thing.
292 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
293 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
294 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
295 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
298 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
299 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
300 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
305 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
308 include::date-formats.txt[]
312 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
316 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob