6 git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission
12 'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout]
13 [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]]
14 [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach]
16 [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature]
17 [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
18 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
19 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
20 [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
21 [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
22 [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
24 [<common diff options>]
25 [ <since> | <revision range> ]
30 Prepare each commit with its patch in
31 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
32 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
33 for use with 'git am'.
35 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
37 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
38 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
39 that leads to the <since> to be output.
41 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
42 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
43 commits in the specified range.
45 The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
46 apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
47 history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch
48 \--root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
49 can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
51 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
52 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
53 the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names
54 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
55 The names of the output files are printed to standard
56 output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
58 If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
59 they are created in the current working directory.
61 By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and
62 the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First
63 Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`. To omit
64 patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
66 If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and
67 `References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
68 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to
74 include::diff-options.txt[]
77 Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
80 --output-directory <dir>::
81 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
82 current working directory.
86 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
90 Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
93 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
96 Output file names will be a simple number sequence
97 without the default first line of the commit appended.
101 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
106 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
107 the committer identity of yourself.
110 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
111 instead of creating a file for each one.
113 --attach[=<boundary>]::
114 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
115 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
116 second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
119 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
120 configuration setting.
122 --inline[=<boundary>]::
123 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
124 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
125 second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
129 Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
130 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
131 first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to
134 The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
135 'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
136 series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
137 `\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
138 threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
140 The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration
141 is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the
142 style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`.
144 Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
145 itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
146 will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
148 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
149 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
150 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
151 provide a new patch series.
153 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
154 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
155 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
156 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
157 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
160 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
161 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
162 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
163 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
164 combined with the `--numbered` option.
167 Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
168 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
171 Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
172 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
174 --add-header=<header>::
175 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
176 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
177 For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`
180 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
181 containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
182 fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
184 --[no]-signature=<signature>::
185 Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
186 is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
187 signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version
191 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
192 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
193 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch`
196 Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
197 you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
200 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
201 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
202 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
203 still useful for code review.
206 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it
207 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a
208 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified
209 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently
214 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
215 defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
216 outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure
217 attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables.
221 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
222 subjectprefix = CHANGE
227 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
235 The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
236 with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
237 from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
240 From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
241 From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
242 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
243 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
244 =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
246 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
247 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
249 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
250 (See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
252 Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
256 Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
257 timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
258 dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
259 with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
260 can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
263 When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
264 'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
265 --scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
266 line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
267 followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
271 > So we should do such-and-such.
273 Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
276 Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
278 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
282 When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
283 patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
284 should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
285 title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
286 patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
287 the Subject: line, like the example above.
289 Checking for patch corruption
290 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
291 Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
292 two common types of corruption:
294 * Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
296 * Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
299 One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
301 * Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
302 with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
305 * Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
310 $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
311 $ git checkout test-apply
315 If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
317 * The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
318 does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
319 the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
322 * The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
323 the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
324 see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
325 corruption patterns mentioned above.
327 * While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
328 If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
329 see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
330 receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
331 your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
332 patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
333 the end of the commit message.
337 Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
342 GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
343 interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
344 use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
345 use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
346 the emails through that.
348 For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
349 GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
351 For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
352 section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
356 By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
357 them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
358 resulting email unusable by git.
360 There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
361 configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
362 an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
367 Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
368 https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
369 It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
370 that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
371 (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
372 insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
374 Approach #2 (configuration)
375 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
378 1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
379 Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
380 uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
382 2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
385 Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
388 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
389 "mail.wrap_long_lines".
390 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
392 3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
393 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
394 "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
395 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
397 After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
398 otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
399 and the patches will not be mangled.
401 Approach #3 (external editor)
402 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
404 The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
405 AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
406 External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
408 1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
410 2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
411 uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
412 "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
415 3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
416 window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
417 following to the indicated values:
420 mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
421 mailnews.wraplength => 0
424 4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
426 5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
429 Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
430 about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
433 mail.html_compose => false
434 mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
435 mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
438 There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
439 you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
440 steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
444 This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
446 1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
448 2. Click on New Mail.
450 3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
451 "Word wrap" is not set.
453 4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
455 5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
456 message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
462 * Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
463 the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
466 $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
469 * Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
473 $ git format-patch origin
476 For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
478 * Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the
482 $ git format-patch --root origin
485 * The same as the previous one:
488 $ git format-patch -M -B origin
491 Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites
492 intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces
493 the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review.
494 Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so
495 use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch.
497 * Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them
498 as e-mailable patches:
501 $ git format-patch -3
506 linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
510 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob