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>]
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] [--create-reflog] [--sort=<key>]
17 [--format=<format>] [--[no-]merged [<commit>]] [<pattern>...]
18 'git tag' -v [--format=<format>] <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 <keyid>` 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 <keyid>`
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 <keyid>` is used. When `-u <keyid>` 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=<keyid>::
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 based on the key given. Prefix `-` to sort in
100 descending order of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option
101 multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
102 key. Also supports "version:refname" or "v:refname" (tag
103 names are treated as versions). The "version:refname" sort
104 order can also be affected by the "versionsort.suffix"
105 configuration variable.
106 The keys supported are the same as those in `git for-each-ref`.
107 Sort order defaults to the value configured for the `tag.sort`
108 variable if it exists, or lexicographic order otherwise. See
109 linkgit:git-config[1].
113 Sorting and filtering tags are case insensitive.
115 --column[=<options>]::
117 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
118 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
119 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
121 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
123 --contains [<commit>]::
124 Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
127 --points-at <object>::
128 Only list tags of the given object.
132 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
133 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
134 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
135 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <keyid>`
140 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
141 read the message from the standard input.
142 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <keyid>`
146 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
147 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
148 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
149 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
150 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
153 Create a reflog for the tag. To globally enable reflogs for tags, see
154 `core.logAllRefUpdates` in linkgit:git-config[1].
155 The negated form `--no-create-reflog` only overrides an earlier
156 `--create-reflog`, but currently does not negate the setting of
157 `core.logallrefupdates`.
160 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
161 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
162 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
163 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
167 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
171 A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from the object
172 pointed at by a ref being shown. The format is the same as
173 that of linkgit:git-for-each-ref[1]. When unspecified,
174 defaults to `%(refname:strip=2)`.
176 --[no-]merged [<commit>]::
177 Only list tags whose tips are reachable, or not reachable
178 if `--no-merged` is used, from the specified commit (`HEAD`
183 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
184 committer identity (of the form `Your Name <your@email.address>`) to
185 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
186 it in the repository configuration as follows:
188 -------------------------------------
190 signingKey = <gpg-keyid>
191 -------------------------------------
200 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
203 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
204 replace the old one. And you're done.
206 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
207 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
208 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
211 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
212 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
213 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
214 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
218 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
219 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
220 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
222 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
223 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
224 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
227 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
228 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
229 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
230 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
231 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
232 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
235 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
236 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
238 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
239 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
242 git fetch origin tag X
244 to get my updated tag.
246 You can test which tag you have by doing
250 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
252 Sorry for the inconvenience.
255 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
256 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
257 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
260 On Automatic following
261 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
263 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
264 using remote-tracking branches (eg. `refs/remotes/origin/master`).
265 You usually want the tags from the other end.
267 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
268 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
269 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
270 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
271 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
272 private anchor point tags from the other person.
274 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
275 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
276 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
280 Linus, please pull from
282 git://git..../proj.git master
284 to get the following updates...
290 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
293 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
296 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
297 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
298 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
299 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
300 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
301 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
302 determines who are interested in whose tags.
304 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
305 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
306 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
307 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
308 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
309 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
310 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
311 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
312 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
313 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
316 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
317 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
318 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
319 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
320 follow such tags is a good thing.
326 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
327 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
328 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
329 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
332 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
333 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
334 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
339 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
342 include::date-formats.txt[]
346 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
347 linkgit:git-config[1].
351 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob