6 git-tag - Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG
12 'git tag' [-a | -s | -u <keyid>] [-f] [-m <msg> | -F <file>] [-e]
13 <tagname> [<commit> | <object>]
14 'git tag' -d <tagname>...
15 'git tag' [-n[<num>]] -l [--contains <commit>] [--no-contains <commit>]
16 [--points-at <object>] [--column[=<options>] | --no-column]
17 [--create-reflog] [--sort=<key>] [--format=<format>]
18 [--merged <commit>] [--no-merged <commit>] [<pattern>...]
19 'git tag' -v [--format=<format>] <tagname>...
24 Add a tag reference in `refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
25 to delete, list or verify tags.
27 Unless `-f` is given, the named tag must not yet exist.
29 If one of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <keyid>` is passed, the command
30 creates a 'tag' object, and requires a tag message. Unless
31 `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given, an editor is started for the user to type
34 If `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given and `-a`, `-s`, and `-u <keyid>`
35 are absent, `-a` is implied.
37 Otherwise, a tag reference that points directly at the given object
38 (i.e., a lightweight tag) is created.
40 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when `-s` or `-u
41 <keyid>` is used. When `-u <keyid>` is not used, the
42 committer identity for the current user is used to find the
43 GnuPG key for signing. The configuration variable `gpg.program`
44 is used to specify custom GnuPG binary.
46 Tag objects (created with `-a`, `-s`, or `-u`) are called "annotated"
47 tags; they contain a creation date, the tagger name and e-mail, a
48 tagging message, and an optional GnuPG signature. Whereas a
49 "lightweight" tag is simply a name for an object (usually a commit
52 Annotated tags are meant for release while lightweight tags are meant
53 for private or temporary object labels. For this reason, some git
54 commands for naming objects (like `git describe`) will ignore
55 lightweight tags by default.
62 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
66 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key.
67 The default behavior of tag GPG-signing is controlled by `tag.gpgSign`
68 configuration variable if it exists, or disabled otherwise.
69 See linkgit:git-config[1].
72 Override `tag.gpgSign` configuration variable that is
73 set to force each and every tag to be signed.
76 --local-user=<keyid>::
77 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
81 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
85 Delete existing tags with the given names.
89 Verify the GPG signature of the given tag names.
92 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
93 are printed when using -l. Implies `--list`.
95 The default is not to print any annotation lines.
96 If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
97 If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
101 List tags. With optional `<pattern>...`, e.g. `git tag --list
102 'v-*'`, list only the tags that match the pattern(s).
104 Running "git tag" without arguments also lists all tags. The pattern
105 is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched using fnmatch(3)). Multiple
106 patterns may be given; if any of them matches, the tag is shown.
108 This option is implicitly supplied if any other list-like option such
109 as `--contains` is provided. See the documentation for each of those
113 Sort based on the key given. Prefix `-` to sort in
114 descending order of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option
115 multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
116 key. Also supports "version:refname" or "v:refname" (tag
117 names are treated as versions). The "version:refname" sort
118 order can also be affected by the "versionsort.suffix"
119 configuration variable.
120 The keys supported are the same as those in `git for-each-ref`.
121 Sort order defaults to the value configured for the `tag.sort`
122 variable if it exists, or lexicographic order otherwise. See
123 linkgit:git-config[1].
126 Respect any colors specified in the `--format` option. The
127 `<when>` field must be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto` (if
128 `<when>` is absent, behave as if `always` was given).
132 Sorting and filtering tags are case insensitive.
134 --column[=<options>]::
136 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
137 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
138 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
140 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
142 --contains [<commit>]::
143 Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
144 specified). Implies `--list`.
146 --no-contains [<commit>]::
147 Only list tags which don't contain the specified commit (HEAD if
148 not specified). Implies `--list`.
150 --merged [<commit>]::
151 Only list tags whose commits are reachable from the specified
152 commit (`HEAD` if not specified).
154 --no-merged [<commit>]::
155 Only list tags whose commits are not reachable from the specified
156 commit (`HEAD` if not specified).
158 --points-at <object>::
159 Only list tags of the given object (HEAD if not
160 specified). Implies `--list`.
164 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
165 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
166 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
167 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <keyid>`
172 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
173 read the message from the standard input.
174 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <keyid>`
179 The message taken from file with `-F` and command line with
180 `-m` are usually used as the tag message unmodified.
181 This option lets you further edit the message taken from these sources.
184 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
185 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
186 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
187 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
188 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
191 Create a reflog for the tag. To globally enable reflogs for tags, see
192 `core.logAllRefUpdates` in linkgit:git-config[1].
193 The negated form `--no-create-reflog` only overrides an earlier
194 `--create-reflog`, but currently does not negate the setting of
195 `core.logAllRefUpdates`.
198 A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from a tag ref being shown
199 and the object it points at. The format is the same as
200 that of linkgit:git-for-each-ref[1]. When unspecified,
201 defaults to `%(refname:strip=2)`.
204 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
205 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
206 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
207 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
211 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
216 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
217 committer identity (of the form `Your Name <your@email.address>`) to
218 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
219 it in the repository configuration as follows:
221 -------------------------------------
223 signingKey = <gpg-keyid>
224 -------------------------------------
226 `pager.tag` is only respected when listing tags, i.e., when `-l` is
227 used or implied. The default is to use a pager.
228 See linkgit:git-config[1].
236 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
239 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
240 replace the old one. And you're done.
242 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
243 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
244 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
247 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
248 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
249 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
250 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
254 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
255 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
256 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
258 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
259 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
260 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
263 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
264 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
265 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
266 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
267 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
268 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
271 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
272 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
274 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
275 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
278 git fetch origin tag X
280 to get my updated tag.
282 You can test which tag you have by doing
286 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
288 Sorry for the inconvenience.
291 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
292 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
293 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
296 On Automatic following
297 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
299 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
300 using remote-tracking branches (eg. `refs/remotes/origin/master`).
301 You usually want the tags from the other end.
303 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
304 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
305 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
306 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
307 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
308 private anchor point tags from the other person.
310 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
311 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
312 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
316 Linus, please pull from
318 git://git..../proj.git master
320 to get the following updates...
326 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
329 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
332 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
333 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
334 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
335 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
336 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
337 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
338 determines who are interested in whose tags.
340 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
341 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
342 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
343 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
344 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
345 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
346 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
347 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
348 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
349 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
352 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
353 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
354 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
355 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
356 follow such tags is a good thing.
362 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
363 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
364 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
365 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
368 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
369 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
370 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
375 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
378 include::date-formats.txt[]
383 include::ref-reachability-filters.txt[]
387 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
388 linkgit:git-config[1].
392 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob