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.
99 Sort in a specific order. Supported type is "refname"
100 (lexicographic order), "version:refname" or "v:refname" (tag
101 names are treated as versions). Prepend "-" to reverse sort
102 order. When this option is not given, the sort order defaults to the
103 value configured for the 'tag.sort' variable if it exists, or
104 lexicographic order otherwise. See linkgit:git-config[1].
106 --column[=<options>]::
108 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
109 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
110 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
112 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
114 --contains [<commit>]::
115 Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
118 --points-at <object>::
119 Only list tags of the given object.
123 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
124 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
125 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
126 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
131 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
132 read the message from the standard input.
133 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
137 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
138 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
139 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
140 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
141 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
144 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
145 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
146 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
147 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
151 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
157 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
158 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <\your@email.address>") to
159 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
160 it in the repository configuration as follows:
162 -------------------------------------
164 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
165 -------------------------------------
174 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
177 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
178 replace the old one. And you're done.
180 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
181 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
182 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
185 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
186 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
187 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
188 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
192 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
193 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
194 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
196 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
197 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
198 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
201 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
202 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
203 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
204 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
205 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
206 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
209 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
210 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
212 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
213 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
216 git fetch origin tag X
218 to get my updated tag.
220 You can test which tag you have by doing
224 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
226 Sorry for the inconvenience.
229 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
230 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
231 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
234 On Automatic following
235 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
237 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
238 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
239 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
240 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
242 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
243 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
244 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
245 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
246 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
247 private anchor point tags from the other person.
249 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
250 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
251 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
255 Linus, please pull from
257 git://git..../proj.git master
259 to get the following updates...
265 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
268 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
271 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
272 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
273 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
274 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
275 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
276 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
277 determines who are interested in whose tags.
279 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
280 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
281 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
282 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
283 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
284 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
285 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
286 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
287 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
288 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
291 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
292 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
293 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
294 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
295 follow such tags is a good thing.
301 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
302 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
303 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
304 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
307 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
308 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
309 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
314 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
317 include::date-formats.txt[]
321 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
322 linkgit:git-config[1].
326 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob