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>]
28 [<common diff options>]
29 [ <since> | <revision range> ]
34 Prepare each commit with its patch in
35 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
36 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
37 for use with 'git am'.
39 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
41 1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
42 to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
43 that leads to the <since> to be output.
45 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
46 REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
47 commits in the specified range.
49 The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
50 apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
51 history up until <commit>, use the `--root` option: `git format-patch
52 --root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
53 can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
55 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
56 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
57 the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names
58 will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
59 The names of the output files are printed to standard
60 output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
62 If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
63 they are created in the current working directory. The default path
64 can be set with the `format.outputDirectory` configuration option.
65 The `-o` option takes precedence over `format.outputDirectory`.
66 To store patches in the current working directory even when
67 `format.outputDirectory` points elsewhere, use `-o .`.
69 By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] " followed by
70 the concatenation of lines from the commit message up to the first blank
71 line (see the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-commit[1]).
73 When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be
74 "[PATCH n/m] ". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`.
75 To omit patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
77 If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and
78 `References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
79 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to
85 include::diff-options.txt[]
88 Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
91 --output-directory <dir>::
92 Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
93 current working directory.
97 Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
101 Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
104 Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
107 Output file names will be a simple number sequence
108 without the default first line of the commit appended.
112 Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
117 Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using
118 the committer identity of yourself.
119 See the signoff option in linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
122 Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
123 instead of creating a file for each one.
125 --attach[=<boundary>]::
126 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
127 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
128 second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
131 Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
132 configuration setting.
134 --inline[=<boundary>]::
135 Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
136 which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
137 second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
141 Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
142 make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
143 first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to
146 The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
147 'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
148 series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
149 `--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
150 threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
152 The default is `--no-thread`, unless the `format.thread` configuration
153 is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the
154 style specified by `format.thread` if any, or else `shallow`.
156 Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
157 itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
158 will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
160 --in-reply-to=Message-Id::
161 Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a
162 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
163 provide a new patch series.
165 --ignore-if-in-upstream::
166 Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
167 <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
168 from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
169 patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
172 --subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>::
173 Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
174 line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This
175 allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be
176 combined with the `--numbered` option.
179 Alias for `--subject-prefix="RFC PATCH"`. RFC means "Request For
180 Comments"; use this when sending an experimental patch for
181 discussion rather than application.
185 Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The
186 output filenames have `v<n>` prepended to them, and the
187 subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
188 `--subject-prefix` option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.
189 `--reroll-count=4` may produce `v4-0001-add-makefile.patch`
190 file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
193 Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
194 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
195 The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so
196 far (from config or command line).
199 Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
200 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
201 The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so
202 far (from config or command line).
206 Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each commit email. If the
207 author ident of the commit is not textually identical to the
208 provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the body of the
209 message with the original author. If no `ident` is given, use
212 Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the
213 emails and want to identify yourself as the sender, but retain the
214 original author (and `git am` will correctly pick up the in-body
215 header). Note also that `git send-email` already handles this
216 transformation for you, and this option should not be used if you are
217 feeding the result to `git send-email`.
219 --add-header=<header>::
220 Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
221 to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
222 For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`.
223 The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`,
224 `Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command
227 --[no-]cover-letter::
228 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
229 containing the branch description, shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
230 fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
232 --interdiff=<previous>::
233 As a reviewer aid, insert an interdiff into the cover letter,
234 or as commentary of the lone patch of a 1-patch series, showing
235 the differences between the previous version of the patch series and
236 the series currently being formatted. `previous` is a single revision
237 naming the tip of the previous series which shares a common base with
238 the series being formatted (for example `git format-patch
239 --cover-letter --interdiff=feature/v1 -3 feature/v2`).
242 Append the notes (see linkgit:git-notes[1]) for the commit
243 after the three-dash line.
245 The expected use case of this is to write supporting explanation for
246 the commit that does not belong to the commit log message proper,
247 and include it with the patch submission. While one can simply write
248 these explanations after `format-patch` has run but before sending,
249 keeping them as Git notes allows them to be maintained between versions
250 of the patch series (but see the discussion of the `notes.rewrite`
251 configuration options in linkgit:git-notes[1] to use this workflow).
253 --[no-]signature=<signature>::
254 Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
255 is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
256 signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the Git version
259 --signature-file=<file>::
260 Works just like --signature except the signature is read from a file.
263 Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
264 filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
265 `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch`
268 Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
269 you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
273 Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.
276 Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
277 display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
278 using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
279 still useful for code review.
282 Output an all-zero hash in each patch's From header instead
283 of the hash of the commit.
286 Record the base tree information to identify the state the
287 patch series applies to. See the BASE TREE INFORMATION section
291 Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it
292 is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a
293 <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified
294 range are always formatted as creation patches, independently
298 Show progress reports on stderr as patches are generated.
302 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
303 defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
304 outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure
305 attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables.
309 headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
310 subjectPrefix = CHANGE
315 attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
324 The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
325 with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
326 from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
329 From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
330 From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
331 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
332 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
333 =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
335 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
336 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
338 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
339 (See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
341 Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
345 Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
346 timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
347 dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
348 with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
349 can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
352 When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
353 'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
354 --scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
355 line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
356 followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
360 > So we should do such-and-such.
362 Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
365 Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
367 arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
371 When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
372 patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
373 should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
374 title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
375 patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
376 the Subject: line, like the example above.
378 Checking for patch corruption
379 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
380 Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
381 two common types of corruption:
383 * Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
385 * Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
388 One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
390 * Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
391 with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
394 * Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
399 $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
400 $ git checkout test-apply
404 If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
406 * The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
407 does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
408 the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
411 * The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
412 the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
413 see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
414 corruption patterns mentioned above.
416 * While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
417 If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
418 see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
419 receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
420 your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
421 patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
422 the end of the commit message.
426 Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
431 GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
432 interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
433 use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
434 use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
435 the emails through that.
437 For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
438 GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
440 For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
441 section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
445 By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
446 them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
447 resulting email unusable by Git.
449 There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
450 configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
451 an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
456 Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
457 https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
458 It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
459 that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
460 (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
461 insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
463 Approach #2 (configuration)
464 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
467 1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
468 Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
469 uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
471 2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
474 Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
477 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
478 "mail.wrap_long_lines".
479 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. Also, search for
480 "mailnews.wraplength" and set the value to 0.
482 3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
483 Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
484 "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
485 Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
487 After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
488 otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
489 and the patches will not be mangled.
491 Approach #3 (external editor)
492 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
494 The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
495 AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
496 External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
498 1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
500 2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
501 uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
502 "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
505 3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
506 window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
507 following to the indicated values:
510 mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
511 mailnews.wraplength => 0
514 4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
516 5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
519 Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
520 about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
523 mail.html_compose => false
524 mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
525 mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
528 There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
529 you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
530 steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
534 This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
536 1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
538 2. Click on New Mail.
540 3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
541 "Word wrap" is not set.
543 4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
545 5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
546 message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
548 BASE TREE INFORMATION
549 ---------------------
551 The base tree information block is used for maintainers or third party
552 testers to know the exact state the patch series applies to. It consists
553 of the 'base commit', which is a well-known commit that is part of the
554 stable part of the project history everybody else works off of, and zero
555 or more 'prerequisite patches', which are well-known patches in flight
556 that is not yet part of the 'base commit' that need to be applied on top
557 of 'base commit' in topological order before the patches can be applied.
559 The 'base commit' is shown as "base-commit: " followed by the 40-hex of
560 the commit object name. A 'prerequisite patch' is shown as
561 "prerequisite-patch-id: " followed by the 40-hex 'patch id', which can
562 be obtained by passing the patch through the `git patch-id --stable`
565 Imagine that on top of the public commit P, you applied well-known
566 patches X, Y and Z from somebody else, and then built your three-patch
567 series A, B, C, the history would be like:
569 ................................................
570 ---P---X---Y---Z---A---B---C
571 ................................................
573 With `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` (or variants thereof, e.g. with
574 `--cover-letter` or using `Z..C` instead of `-3 C` to specify the
575 range), the base tree information block is shown at the end of the
576 first message the command outputs (either the first patch, or the
577 cover letter), like this:
581 prerequisite-patch-id: X
582 prerequisite-patch-id: Y
583 prerequisite-patch-id: Z
586 For non-linear topology, such as
588 ................................................
592 ................................................
594 You can also use `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` to generate patches
595 for A, B and C, and the identifiers for P, X, Y, Z are appended at the
596 end of the first message.
598 If set `--base=auto` in cmdline, it will track base commit automatically,
599 the base commit will be the merge base of tip commit of the remote-tracking
600 branch and revision-range specified in cmdline.
601 For a local branch, you need to track a remote branch by `git branch
602 --set-upstream-to` before using this option.
607 * Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
608 the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
611 $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
614 * Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
618 $ git format-patch origin
621 For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
623 * Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the
627 $ git format-patch --root origin
630 * The same as the previous one:
633 $ git format-patch -M -B origin
636 Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites
637 intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces
638 the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review.
639 Note that non-Git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so
640 use it only when you know the recipient uses Git to apply your patch.
642 * Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them
643 as e-mailable patches:
646 $ git format-patch -3
651 linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
655 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite