Merge branch 'jc/doc-format-patch-clarify'

Explain pieces of the format-patch output upfront before the rest
of the documentation starts referring to them.

* jc/doc-format-patch-clarify:
  format-patch: give an overview of what a "patch" message is
maint
Junio C Hamano 2021-03-30 14:35:38 -07:00
commit 5c2f7ff018
1 changed files with 19 additions and 2 deletions

View File

@ -36,11 +36,28 @@ SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
-----------

Prepare each commit with its patch in
one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
Prepare each commit with its "patch" in
one "message" per commit, formatted to resemble a UNIX mailbox.
The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
for use with 'git am'.

A "message" generated by the command consists of three parts:

* A brief metadata header that begins with `From <commit>`
with a fixed `Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001` datestamp to help programs
like "file(1)" to recognize that the file is an output from this
command, fields that record the author identity, the author date,
and the title of the change (taken from the first paragraph of the
commit log message).

* The second and subsequent paragraphs of the commit log message.

* The "patch", which is the "diff -p --stat" output (see
linkgit:git-diff[1]) between the commit and its parent.

The log message and the patch is separated by a line with a
three-dash line.

There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.

1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading