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>] [<pattern>...]
16 'git tag' -v <tagname>...
21 Add a tag reference in `.git/refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
22 to delete, list or verify tags.
24 Unless `-f` is given, the tag to be created must not yet exist in the
25 `.git/refs/tags/` directory.
27 If one of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>` is passed, the command
28 creates a 'tag' object, and requires a tag message. Unless
29 `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given, an editor is started for the user to type
32 If `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given and `-a`, `-s`, and `-u <key-id>`
33 are absent, `-a` is implied.
35 Otherwise just a tag reference for the SHA1 object name of the commit object is
36 created (i.e. a lightweight tag).
38 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when `-s` or `-u
39 <key-id>` is used. When `-u <key-id>` is not used, the
40 committer identity for the current user is used to find the
41 GnuPG key for signing.
47 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
51 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key
54 --local-user=<key-id>::
55 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key
59 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
63 Delete existing tags with the given names.
67 Verify the gpg signature of the given tag names.
70 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
71 are printed when using -l.
72 The default is not to print any annotation lines.
73 If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
74 If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
78 List tags with names that match the given pattern (or all if no
79 pattern is given). Running "git tag" without arguments also
80 lists all tags. The pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched
81 using fnmatch(3)). Multiple patterns may be given; if any of
82 them matches, the tag is shown.
85 Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
89 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
90 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
91 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
92 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
97 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
98 read the message from the standard input.
99 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
103 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
104 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
105 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
106 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
107 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
110 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
111 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
112 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
113 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
117 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
118 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <your@email.address>") to
119 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
120 it in the repository configuration as follows:
122 -------------------------------------
124 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
125 -------------------------------------
134 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
137 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
138 replace the old one. And you're done.
140 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
141 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
142 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
145 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
146 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
147 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
148 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
152 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
153 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
154 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
156 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
157 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
158 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
161 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
162 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
163 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
164 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
165 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
166 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
169 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
170 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
172 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
173 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
176 git fetch origin tag X
178 to get my updated tag.
180 You can test which tag you have by doing
184 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
186 Sorry for the inconvenience.
189 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
190 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
191 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
194 On Automatic following
195 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
197 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
198 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
199 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
200 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
202 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
203 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
204 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
205 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
206 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
207 private anchor point tags from the other person.
209 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
210 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
211 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
215 Linus, please pull from
217 git://git..../proj.git master
219 to get the following updates...
225 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
228 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
231 One important aspect of git is its distributed nature, which
232 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
233 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
234 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
235 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
236 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
237 determines who are interested in whose tags.
239 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
240 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
241 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
242 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
243 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
244 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
245 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
246 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
247 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
248 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
251 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
252 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
253 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
254 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
255 follow such tags is a good thing.
261 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
262 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
263 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
264 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
267 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
268 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
269 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
274 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
277 include::date-formats.txt[]
281 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
285 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob