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>] [<pattern>...]
16 'git tag' -v <tagname>...
21 Add a tag reference in `.git/refs/tags/`, unless `-d/-l/-v` is given
22 to delete, list or verify tags.
24 Unless `-f` is given, the tag to be created must not yet exist in the
25 `.git/refs/tags/` directory.
27 If one of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>` is passed, the command
28 creates a 'tag' object, and requires a tag message. Unless
29 `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given, an editor is started for the user to type
32 If `-m <msg>` or `-F <file>` is given and `-a`, `-s`, and `-u <key-id>`
33 are absent, `-a` is implied.
35 Otherwise just a tag reference for the SHA1 object name of the commit object is
36 created (i.e. a lightweight tag).
38 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when `-s` or `-u
39 <key-id>` is used. When `-u <key-id>` is not used, the
40 committer identity for the current user is used to find the
41 GnuPG key for signing. The configuration variable `gpg.program`
42 is used to specify custom GnuPG binary.
49 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
53 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address's key.
56 --local-user=<key-id>::
57 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
61 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
65 Delete existing tags with the given names.
69 Verify the gpg signature of the given tag names.
72 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
73 are printed when using -l.
74 The default is not to print any annotation lines.
75 If no number is given to `-n`, only the first line is printed.
76 If the tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
80 List tags with names that match the given pattern (or all if no
81 pattern is given). Running "git tag" without arguments also
82 lists all tags. The pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched
83 using fnmatch(3)). Multiple patterns may be given; if any of
84 them matches, the tag is shown.
87 Only list tags which contain the specified commit.
91 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting).
92 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
93 concatenated as separate paragraphs.
94 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
99 Take the tag message from the given file. Use '-' to
100 read the message from the standard input.
101 Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>`
105 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up.
106 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The
107 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at
108 all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and
109 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
112 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe.
113 The new tag name must pass all checks defined by
114 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
115 may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
119 By default, 'git tag' in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
120 committer identity (of the form "Your Name <your@email.address>") to
121 find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify
122 it in the repository configuration as follows:
124 -------------------------------------
126 signingkey = <gpg-key-id>
127 -------------------------------------
136 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would
139 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
140 replace the old one. And you're done.
142 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read
143 your repository directly), then others will have already seen
144 the old tag. In that case you can do one of two things:
147 Just admit you screwed up, and use a different name. Others have
148 already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the same name, you
149 may be in the situation that two people both have "version X",
150 but they actually have 'different' "X"'s. So just call it "X.1"
154 You really want to call the new version "X" too, 'even though'
155 others have already seen the old one. So just use 'git tag -f'
156 again, as if you hadn't already published the old one.
158 However, Git does *not* (and it should not) change tags behind
159 users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a
160 'git pull' on your tree shouldn't just make them overwrite the old
163 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
164 the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big
165 security issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their
166 tag-names. If you really want to do the insane thing, you need
167 to just fess up to it, and tell people that you messed up. You
168 can do that by making a very public announcement saying:
171 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
172 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
174 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
175 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
178 git fetch origin tag X
180 to get my updated tag.
182 You can test which tag you have by doing
186 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
188 Sorry for the inconvenience.
191 Does this seem a bit complicated? It *should* be. There is no
192 way that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically.
193 People need to know that their tags might have been changed.
196 On Automatic following
197 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
199 If you are following somebody else's tree, you are most likely
200 using remote-tracking branches (`refs/heads/origin` in traditional
201 layout, or `refs/remotes/origin/master` in the separate-remote
202 layout). You usually want the tags from the other end.
204 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
205 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
206 get tags from there. This happens more often for people near
207 the toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling
208 from each other do not necessarily want to automatically get
209 private anchor point tags from the other person.
211 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
212 two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this
213 is designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a 'git fetch'
217 Linus, please pull from
219 git://git..../proj.git master
221 to get the following updates...
227 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
230 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
233 One important aspect of git is its distributed nature, which
234 largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or
235 "downstream" in the system. On the face of it, the above
236 example might seem to indicate that the tag namespace is owned
237 by the upper echelon of people and that tags only flow downwards, but
238 that is not the case. It only shows that the usage pattern
239 determines who are interested in whose tags.
241 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
242 the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
243 primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may
244 have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
245 candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
246 consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
247 (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements").
248 The latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
249 internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
250 That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
253 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
254 exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
255 they are most likely tracking each other's progress by
256 having remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
257 follow such tags is a good thing.
263 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
264 to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able
265 to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in
266 the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the
269 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
270 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
271 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
276 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
279 include::date-formats.txt[]
283 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].
287 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob