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] [--create-reflog] [<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). The "version:refname" sort
102 order can also be affected by the
103 "versionsort.prereleaseSuffix" configuration variable. Prepend
104 "-" to reverse sort order. When this option is not given, the
105 sort order defaults to the value configured for the 'tag.sort'
106 variable if it exists, or lexicographic order otherwise. See
107 linkgit:git-config[1].
109 --column[=<options>]::
111 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
112 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
113 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
115 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
117 --contains [<commit>]::
118 Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
121 --points-at <object>::
122 Only list tags of the given object.
126 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
127 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
128 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
129 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
134 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
135 read the message from the standard input.
136 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
140 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
141 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
142 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
143 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
144 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
147 Create a reflog for the tag.
150 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
151 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
152 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
153 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
157 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
163 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
164 committer identity (of the form `Your Name <your@email.address>`) to
165 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
166 it in the repository configuration as follows:
168 -------------------------------------
170 signingKey = <gpg-key-id>
171 -------------------------------------
180 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
183 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
184 replace the old one. And you're done.
186 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
187 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
188 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
191 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
192 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
193 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
194 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
198 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
199 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
200 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
202 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
203 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
204 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
207 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
208 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
209 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
210 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
211 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
212 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
215 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
216 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
218 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
219 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
222 git fetch origin tag X
224 to get my updated tag.
226 You can test which tag you have by doing
230 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
232 Sorry for the inconvenience.
235 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
236 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
237 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
240 On Automatic following
241 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
243 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
244 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
245 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
246 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
248 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
249 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
250 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
251 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
252 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
253 private anchor point tags from the other person.
255 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
256 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
257 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
261 Linus, please pull from
263 git://git..../proj.git master
265 to get the following updates...
271 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
274 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
277 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
278 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
279 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
280 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
281 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
282 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
283 determines who are interested in whose tags.
285 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
286 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
287 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
288 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
289 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
290 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
291 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
292 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
293 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
294 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
297 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
298 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
299 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
300 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
301 follow such tags is a good thing.
307 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
308 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
309 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
310 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
313 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
314 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
315 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
320 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
323 include::date-formats.txt[]
327 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
328 linkgit:git-config[1].
332 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite