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520 lines
17 KiB
520 lines
17 KiB
git-format-patch(1) |
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=================== |
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NAME |
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---- |
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git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission |
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SYNOPSIS |
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-------- |
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[verse] |
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'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout] |
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[--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]] |
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[(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach] |
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[-s | --signoff] |
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[--signature=<signature> | --no-signature] |
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[-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered] |
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[--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files] |
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[--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] |
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[--ignore-if-in-upstream] |
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[--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] |
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[--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>] |
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[--cover-letter] [--quiet] |
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[<common diff options>] |
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[ <since> | <revision range> ] |
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DESCRIPTION |
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----------- |
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Prepare each commit with its patch in |
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one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. |
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The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or |
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for use with 'git am'. |
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There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. |
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1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading |
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to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history |
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that leads to the <since> to be output. |
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2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING |
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REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the |
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commits in the specified range. |
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The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To |
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apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of |
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history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch |
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\--root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you |
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can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`. |
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By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the |
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first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as |
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the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names |
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will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. |
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The names of the output files are printed to standard |
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output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified. |
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If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise |
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they are created in the current working directory. |
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By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and |
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the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First |
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Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`. To omit |
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patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`. |
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If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and |
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`References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear |
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as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to |
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reference. |
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OPTIONS |
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------- |
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:git-format-patch: 1 |
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include::diff-options.txt[] |
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-<n>:: |
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Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits. |
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-o <dir>:: |
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--output-directory <dir>:: |
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Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the |
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current working directory. |
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-n:: |
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--numbered:: |
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Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. |
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-N:: |
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--no-numbered:: |
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Name output in '[PATCH]' format. |
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--start-number <n>:: |
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Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. |
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--numbered-files:: |
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Output file names will be a simple number sequence |
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without the default first line of the commit appended. |
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-k:: |
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--keep-subject:: |
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Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the |
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commit log message. |
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-s:: |
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--signoff:: |
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Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using |
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the committer identity of yourself. |
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--stdout:: |
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Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, |
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instead of creating a file for each one. |
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--attach[=<boundary>]:: |
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Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of |
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which is the commit message and the patch itself in the |
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second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`. |
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--no-attach:: |
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Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the |
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configuration setting. |
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--inline[=<boundary>]:: |
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Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of |
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which is the commit message and the patch itself in the |
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second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`. |
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--thread[=<style>]:: |
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--no-thread:: |
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Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to |
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make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the |
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first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to |
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reference. |
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+ |
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The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. |
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'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the |
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series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the |
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`\--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep' |
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threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. |
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+ |
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The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration |
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is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the |
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style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`. |
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+ |
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Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails |
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itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you |
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will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`. |
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--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: |
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Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a |
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reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to |
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provide a new patch series. |
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--ignore-if-in-upstream:: |
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Do not include a patch that matches a commit in |
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<until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable |
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from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the |
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patches being generated, and any patch that matches is |
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ignored. |
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--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: |
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Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject |
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line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This |
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allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be |
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combined with the `--numbered` option. |
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--to=<email>:: |
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Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition |
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to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
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The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so |
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far (from config or command line). |
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--cc=<email>:: |
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Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition |
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to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
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The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so |
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far (from config or command line). |
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--add-header=<header>:: |
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Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition |
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to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
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For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`. |
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The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`, |
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`Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command |
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line. |
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--cover-letter:: |
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In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file |
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containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can |
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fill in a description in the file before sending it out. |
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--[no]-signature=<signature>:: |
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Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature |
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is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the |
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signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version |
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number. |
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--suffix=.<sfx>:: |
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Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated |
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filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is |
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`--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` |
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suffix. |
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+ |
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Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, |
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you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`. |
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--quiet:: |
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Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output. |
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--no-binary:: |
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Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead |
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display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated |
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using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are |
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still useful for code review. |
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--root:: |
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Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it |
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is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a |
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<since>). Note that root commits included in the specified |
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range are always formatted as creation patches, independently |
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of this flag. |
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CONFIGURATION |
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------------- |
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You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, |
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defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when |
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outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure |
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attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables. |
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------------ |
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[format] |
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headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" |
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subjectprefix = CHANGE |
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suffix = .txt |
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numbered = auto |
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to = <email> |
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cc = <email> |
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attach [ = mime-boundary-string ] |
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signoff = true |
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------------ |
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DISCUSSION |
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---------- |
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The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format, |
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with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output |
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from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so: |
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------------ |
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From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 |
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From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com> |
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Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700 |
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Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?= |
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=?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?= |
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MIME-Version: 1.0 |
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 |
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit |
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arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script |
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(See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment) |
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Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking |
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... |
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------------ |
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Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add |
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timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three |
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dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts |
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with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers |
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can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with |
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linkgit:git-am[1]. |
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When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by |
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'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am |
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--scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a |
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line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation), |
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followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed: |
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------------ |
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... |
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> So we should do such-and-such. |
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Makes sense to me. How about this patch? |
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-- >8 -- |
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Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet |
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arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script |
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... |
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------------ |
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When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own |
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patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you |
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should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch |
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title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the |
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patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep |
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the Subject: line, like the example above. |
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Checking for patch corruption |
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are |
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two common types of corruption: |
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* Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace. |
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* Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the |
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beginning. |
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One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is: |
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* Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except |
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with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and |
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maintainer address. |
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* Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch, |
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say. |
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* Apply it: |
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$ git fetch <project> master:test-apply |
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$ git checkout test-apply |
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$ git reset --hard |
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$ git am a.patch |
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If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons. |
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* The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but |
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does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase |
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the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in |
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this case. |
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* The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that |
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the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and |
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see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common |
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corruption patterns mentioned above. |
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* While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well. |
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If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to |
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see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the |
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receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying |
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your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the |
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patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals |
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the end of the commit message. |
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MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS |
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------------------ |
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Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using |
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various mailers. |
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GMail |
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~~~~~ |
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GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web |
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interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however |
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use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or |
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use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward |
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the emails through that. |
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For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the |
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GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1]. |
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For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE |
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section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1]. |
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Thunderbird |
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~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag |
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them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the |
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resulting email unusable by git. |
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There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps, |
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configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use |
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an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches. |
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Approach #1 (add-on) |
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
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Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from |
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https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/ |
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It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu |
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that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do |
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(cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to |
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insert line breaks manually in any text that you type. |
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Approach #2 (configuration) |
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
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Three steps: |
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1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text: |
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Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing, |
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uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML". |
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2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap. |
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+ |
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In Thunderbird 2: |
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Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0 |
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+ |
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In Thunderbird 3: |
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Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for |
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"mail.wrap_long_lines". |
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Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. |
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3. Disable the use of format=flowed: |
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Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for |
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"mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed". |
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Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. |
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After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you |
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otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), |
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and the patches will not be mangled. |
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Approach #3 (external editor) |
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
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The following Thunderbird extensions are needed: |
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AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and |
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External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8 |
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1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice. |
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2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to |
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uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the |
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"Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to |
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send the patch. |
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3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose |
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window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the |
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following to the indicated values: |
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+ |
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---------- |
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mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false |
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mailnews.wraplength => 0 |
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---------- |
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4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon. |
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5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit |
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the editor normally. |
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Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with |
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about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet. |
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---------- |
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mail.html_compose => false |
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mail.identity.default.compose_html => false |
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mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false |
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---------- |
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There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help |
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you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the |
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steps above and then use the script as the external editor. |
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KMail |
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~~~~~ |
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This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail. |
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1. Prepare the patch as a text file. |
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2. Click on New Mail. |
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3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that |
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"Word wrap" is not set. |
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4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch. |
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5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the |
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message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send. |
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EXAMPLES |
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-------- |
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|
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* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of |
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the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them: |
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+ |
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------------ |
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$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k |
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------------ |
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* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the |
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origin branch: |
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+ |
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------------ |
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$ git format-patch origin |
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------------ |
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+ |
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For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory. |
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* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the |
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project: |
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+ |
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------------ |
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$ git format-patch --root origin |
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------------ |
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* The same as the previous one: |
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+ |
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------------ |
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$ git format-patch -M -B origin |
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------------ |
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+ |
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Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites |
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intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces |
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the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review. |
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Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so |
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use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch. |
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* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them |
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as e-mailable patches: |
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+ |
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------------ |
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$ git format-patch -3 |
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------------ |
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SEE ALSO |
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-------- |
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linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] |
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GIT |
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--- |
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Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
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