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 [--signature-file=<file>]
18 [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
19 [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
20 [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
21 [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
22 [--rfc] [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
23 [(--reroll-count|-v) <n>]
24 [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
25 [--[no-]cover-letter] [--quiet] [--notes[=<ref>]]
26 [--interdiff=<previous>]
27 [--range-diff=<previous>]
29 [<common diff options>]
30 [ <since> | <revision range> ]
35 Prepare each commit with its patch in
36 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
37 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
38 for use with 'git am'.
40 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
42 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
43 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
44 that leads to the <since> to be output.
46 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
47 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
48 commits in the specified range.
50 The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
51 apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
52 history up until <commit>, use the `--root` option: `git format-patch
53 --root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
54 can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
56 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
57 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
58 the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names
59 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
60 The names of the output files are printed to standard
61 output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
63 If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
64 they are created in the current working directory. The default path
65 can be set with the `format.outputDirectory` configuration option.
66 The `-o` option takes precedence over `format.outputDirectory`.
67 To store patches in the current working directory even when
68 `format.outputDirectory` points elsewhere, use `-o .`.
70 By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] " followed by
71 the concatenation of lines from the commit message up to the first blank
72 line (see the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-commit[1]).
74 When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be
75 "[PATCH n/m] ". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`.
76 To omit patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
78 If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and
79 `References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
80 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to
86 include::diff-options.txt[]
89 Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
92 --output-directory <dir>::
93 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
94 current working directory.
98 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
102 Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
105 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
108 Output file names will be a simple number sequence
109 without the default first line of the commit appended.
113 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
118 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
119 the committer identity of yourself.
120 See the signoff option in linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
123 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
124 instead of creating a file for each one.
126 --attach[=<boundary>]::
127 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
128 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
129 second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
132 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
133 configuration setting.
135 --inline[=<boundary>]::
136 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
137 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
138 second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
142 Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
143 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
144 first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to
147 The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
148 'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
149 series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
150 `--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
151 threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
153 The default is `--no-thread`, unless the `format.thread` configuration
154 is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the
155 style specified by `format.thread` if any, or else `shallow`.
157 Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
158 itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
159 will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
161 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
162 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
163 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
164 provide a new patch series.
166 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
167 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
168 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
169 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
170 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
173 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
174 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
175 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
176 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
177 combined with the `--numbered` option.
180 Alias for `--subject-prefix="RFC PATCH"`. RFC means "Request For
181 Comments"; use this when sending an experimental patch for
182 discussion rather than application.
186 Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The
187 output filenames have `v<n>` prepended to them, and the
188 subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
189 `--subject-prefix` option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.
190 `--reroll-count=4` may produce `v4-0001-add-makefile.patch`
191 file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
194 Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
195 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
196 The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so
197 far (from config or command line).
200 Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
201 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
202 The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so
203 far (from config or command line).
207 Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each commit email. If the
208 author ident of the commit is not textually identical to the
209 provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the body of the
210 message with the original author. If no `ident` is given, use
213 Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the
214 emails and want to identify yourself as the sender, but retain the
215 original author (and `git am` will correctly pick up the in-body
216 header). Note also that `git send-email` already handles this
217 transformation for you, and this option should not be used if you are
218 feeding the result to `git send-email`.
220 --add-header=<header>::
221 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
222 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
223 For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`.
224 The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`,
225 `Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command
228 --[no-]cover-letter::
229 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
230 containing the branch description, shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
231 fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
233 --interdiff=<previous>::
234 As a reviewer aid, insert an interdiff into the cover letter,
235 or as commentary of the lone patch of a 1-patch series, showing
236 the differences between the previous version of the patch series and
237 the series currently being formatted. `previous` is a single revision
238 naming the tip of the previous series which shares a common base with
239 the series being formatted (for example `git format-patch
240 --cover-letter --interdiff=feature/v1 -3 feature/v2`).
242 --range-diff=<previous>::
243 As a reviewer aid, insert a range-diff (see linkgit:git-range-diff[1])
244 into the cover letter showing the differences between the previous
245 version of the patch series and the series currently being formatted.
246 `previous` can be a single revision naming the tip of the previous
247 series if it shares a common base with the series being formatted (for
248 example `git format-patch --cover-letter --range-diff=feature/v1 -3
249 feature/v2`), or a revision range if the two versions of the series are
250 disjoint (for example `git format-patch --cover-letter
251 --range-diff=feature/v1~3..feature/v1 -3 feature/v2`).
254 Append the notes (see linkgit:git-notes[1]) for the commit
255 after the three-dash line.
257 The expected use case of this is to write supporting explanation for
258 the commit that does not belong to the commit log message proper,
259 and include it with the patch submission. While one can simply write
260 these explanations after `format-patch` has run but before sending,
261 keeping them as Git notes allows them to be maintained between versions
262 of the patch series (but see the discussion of the `notes.rewrite`
263 configuration options in linkgit:git-notes[1] to use this workflow).
265 --[no-]signature=<signature>::
266 Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
267 is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
268 signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the Git version
271 --signature-file=<file>::
272 Works just like --signature except the signature is read from a file.
275 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
276 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
277 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch`
280 Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
281 you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
285 Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.
288 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
289 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
290 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
291 still useful for code review.
294 Output an all-zero hash in each patch's From header instead
295 of the hash of the commit.
298 Record the base tree information to identify the state the
299 patch series applies to. See the BASE TREE INFORMATION section
303 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it
304 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a
305 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified
306 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently
310 Show progress reports on stderr as patches are generated.
314 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
315 defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
316 outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure
317 attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables.
321 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
322 subjectPrefix = CHANGE
327 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
336 The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
337 with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
338 from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
341 From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
342 From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
343 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
344 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
345 =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
347 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
348 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
350 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
351 (See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
353 Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
357 Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
358 timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
359 dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
360 with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
361 can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
364 When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
365 'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
366 --scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
367 line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
368 followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
372 > So we should do such-and-such.
374 Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
377 Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
379 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
383 When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
384 patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
385 should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
386 title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
387 patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
388 the Subject: line, like the example above.
390 Checking for patch corruption
391 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
392 Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
393 two common types of corruption:
395 * Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
397 * Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
400 One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
402 * Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
403 with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
406 * Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
411 $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
412 $ git checkout test-apply
416 If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
418 * The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
419 does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
420 the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
423 * The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
424 the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
425 see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
426 corruption patterns mentioned above.
428 * While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
429 If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
430 see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
431 receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
432 your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
433 patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
434 the end of the commit message.
438 Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
443 GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
444 interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
445 use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
446 use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
447 the emails through that.
449 For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
450 GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
452 For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
453 section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
457 By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
458 them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
459 resulting email unusable by Git.
461 There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
462 configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
463 an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
468 Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
469 https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
470 It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
471 that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
472 (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
473 insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
475 Approach #2 (configuration)
476 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
479 1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
480 Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
481 uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
483 2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
486 Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
489 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
490 "mail.wrap_long_lines".
491 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. Also, search for
492 "mailnews.wraplength" and set the value to 0.
494 3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
495 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
496 "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
497 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
499 After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
500 otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
501 and the patches will not be mangled.
503 Approach #3 (external editor)
504 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
506 The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
507 AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
508 External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
510 1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
512 2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
513 uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
514 "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
517 3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
518 window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
519 following to the indicated values:
522 mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
523 mailnews.wraplength => 0
526 4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
528 5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
531 Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
532 about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
535 mail.html_compose => false
536 mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
537 mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
540 There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
541 you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
542 steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
546 This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
548 1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
550 2. Click on New Mail.
552 3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
553 "Word wrap" is not set.
555 4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
557 5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
558 message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
560 BASE TREE INFORMATION
561 ---------------------
563 The base tree information block is used for maintainers or third party
564 testers to know the exact state the patch series applies to. It consists
565 of the 'base commit', which is a well-known commit that is part of the
566 stable part of the project history everybody else works off of, and zero
567 or more 'prerequisite patches', which are well-known patches in flight
568 that is not yet part of the 'base commit' that need to be applied on top
569 of 'base commit' in topological order before the patches can be applied.
571 The 'base commit' is shown as "base-commit: " followed by the 40-hex of
572 the commit object name. A 'prerequisite patch' is shown as
573 "prerequisite-patch-id: " followed by the 40-hex 'patch id', which can
574 be obtained by passing the patch through the `git patch-id --stable`
577 Imagine that on top of the public commit P, you applied well-known
578 patches X, Y and Z from somebody else, and then built your three-patch
579 series A, B, C, the history would be like:
581 ................................................
582 ---P---X---Y---Z---A---B---C
583 ................................................
585 With `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` (or variants thereof, e.g. with
586 `--cover-letter` or using `Z..C` instead of `-3 C` to specify the
587 range), the base tree information block is shown at the end of the
588 first message the command outputs (either the first patch, or the
589 cover letter), like this:
593 prerequisite-patch-id: X
594 prerequisite-patch-id: Y
595 prerequisite-patch-id: Z
598 For non-linear topology, such as
600 ................................................
604 ................................................
606 You can also use `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` to generate patches
607 for A, B and C, and the identifiers for P, X, Y, Z are appended at the
608 end of the first message.
610 If set `--base=auto` in cmdline, it will track base commit automatically,
611 the base commit will be the merge base of tip commit of the remote-tracking
612 branch and revision-range specified in cmdline.
613 For a local branch, you need to track a remote branch by `git branch
614 --set-upstream-to` before using this option.
619 * Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
620 the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
623 $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
626 * Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
630 $ git format-patch origin
633 For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
635 * Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the
639 $ git format-patch --root origin
642 * The same as the previous one:
645 $ git format-patch -M -B origin
648 Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites
649 intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces
650 the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review.
651 Note that non-Git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so
652 use it only when you know the recipient uses Git to apply your patch.
654 * Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them
655 as e-mailable patches:
658 $ git format-patch -3
663 linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
667 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite