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>]
17 'git tag' -v <tagname>...
22 Add a tag reference in `.git/refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
23 to delete, list or verify tags.
25 Unless `-f` is given, the tag to be created must not yet exist in the
26 `.git/refs/tags/` directory.
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 SHA1 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.
50 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
54 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key.
57 --local-user=<key-id>::
58 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
62 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
66 Delete existing tags with the given names.
70 Verify the gpg signature of the given tag names.
73 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
74 are printed when using -l.
75 The default is not to print any annotation lines.
76 If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
77 If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
81 List tags with names that match the given pattern (or all if no
82 pattern is given). Running "git tag" without arguments also
83 lists all tags. The pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched
84 using fnmatch(3)). Multiple patterns may be given; if any of
85 them matches, the tag is shown.
88 Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
90 --points-at <object>::
91 Only list tags of the given object.
95 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
96 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
97 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
98 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
103 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
104 read the message from the standard input.
105 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
109 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
110 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
111 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
112 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
113 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
116 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
117 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
118 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
119 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
123 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
124 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <your@email.address>") to
125 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
126 it in the repository configuration as follows:
128 -------------------------------------
130 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
131 -------------------------------------
140 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
143 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
144 replace the old one. And you're done.
146 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
147 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
148 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
151 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
152 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
153 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
154 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
158 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
159 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
160 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
162 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
163 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
164 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
167 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
168 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
169 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
170 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
171 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
172 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
175 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
176 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
178 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
179 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
182 git fetch origin tag X
184 to get my updated tag.
186 You can test which tag you have by doing
190 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
192 Sorry for the inconvenience.
195 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
196 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
197 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
200 On Automatic following
201 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
203 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
204 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
205 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
206 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
208 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
209 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
210 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
211 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
212 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
213 private anchor point tags from the other person.
215 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
216 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
217 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
221 Linus, please pull from
223 git://git..../proj.git master
225 to get the following updates...
231 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
234 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
237 One important aspect of git is its distributed nature, which
238 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
239 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
240 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
241 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
242 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
243 determines who are interested in whose tags.
245 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
246 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
247 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
248 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
249 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
250 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
251 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
252 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
253 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
254 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
257 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
258 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
259 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
260 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
261 follow such tags is a good thing.
267 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
268 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
269 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
270 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
273 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
274 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
275 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
280 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
283 include::date-formats.txt[]
287 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
291 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob