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] [<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 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.
87 --column[=<options>]::
89 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
90 column.tag for option syntax.`--column` and `--no-column`
91 without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never' respectively.
93 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation lines.
96 Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
98 --points-at <object>::
99 Only list tags of the given object.
103 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
104 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
105 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
106 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
111 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
112 read the message from the standard input.
113 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
117 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
118 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
119 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
120 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
121 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
124 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
125 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
126 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
127 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
131 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
132 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <\your@email.address>") to
133 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
134 it in the repository configuration as follows:
136 -------------------------------------
138 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
139 -------------------------------------
148 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
151 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
152 replace the old one. And you're done.
154 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
155 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
156 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
159 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
160 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
161 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
162 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
166 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
167 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
168 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
170 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
171 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
172 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
175 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
176 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
177 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
178 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
179 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
180 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
183 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
184 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
186 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
187 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
190 git fetch origin tag X
192 to get my updated tag.
194 You can test which tag you have by doing
198 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
200 Sorry for the inconvenience.
203 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
204 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
205 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
208 On Automatic following
209 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
211 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
212 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
213 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
214 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
216 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
217 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
218 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
219 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
220 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
221 private anchor point tags from the other person.
223 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
224 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
225 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
229 Linus, please pull from
231 git://git..../proj.git master
233 to get the following updates...
239 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
242 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
245 One important aspect of git is its distributed nature, which
246 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
247 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
248 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
249 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
250 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
251 determines who are interested in whose tags.
253 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
254 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
255 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
256 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
257 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
258 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
259 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
260 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
261 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
262 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
265 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
266 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
267 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
268 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
269 follow such tags is a good thing.
275 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
276 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
277 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
278 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
281 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
282 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
283 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
288 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
291 include::date-formats.txt[]
295 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
299 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob