You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
520 lines
17 KiB
520 lines
17 KiB
git-format-patch(1) |
|
=================== |
|
|
|
NAME |
|
---- |
|
git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission |
|
|
|
|
|
SYNOPSIS |
|
-------- |
|
[verse] |
|
'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout] |
|
[--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]] |
|
[(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach] |
|
[-s | --signoff] |
|
[--signature=<signature> | --no-signature] |
|
[-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered] |
|
[--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files] |
|
[--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>] |
|
[--ignore-if-in-upstream] |
|
[--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix] |
|
[--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>] |
|
[--cover-letter] [--quiet] |
|
[<common diff options>] |
|
[ <since> | <revision range> ] |
|
|
|
DESCRIPTION |
|
----------- |
|
|
|
Prepare each commit with its patch in |
|
one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format. |
|
The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or |
|
for use with 'git am'. |
|
|
|
There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. |
|
|
|
1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading |
|
to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history |
|
that leads to the <since> to be output. |
|
|
|
2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING |
|
REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the |
|
commits in the specified range. |
|
|
|
The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To |
|
apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of |
|
history up until <commit>, use the '\--root' option: `git format-patch |
|
--root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you |
|
can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`. |
|
|
|
By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the |
|
first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as |
|
the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names |
|
will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended. |
|
The names of the output files are printed to standard |
|
output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified. |
|
|
|
If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise |
|
they are created in the current working directory. |
|
|
|
By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and |
|
the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First |
|
Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`. To omit |
|
patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`. |
|
|
|
If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and |
|
`References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear |
|
as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-Id` header to |
|
reference. |
|
|
|
OPTIONS |
|
------- |
|
:git-format-patch: 1 |
|
include::diff-options.txt[] |
|
|
|
-<n>:: |
|
Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits. |
|
|
|
-o <dir>:: |
|
--output-directory <dir>:: |
|
Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the |
|
current working directory. |
|
|
|
-n:: |
|
--numbered:: |
|
Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. |
|
|
|
-N:: |
|
--no-numbered:: |
|
Name output in '[PATCH]' format. |
|
|
|
--start-number <n>:: |
|
Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1. |
|
|
|
--numbered-files:: |
|
Output file names will be a simple number sequence |
|
without the default first line of the commit appended. |
|
|
|
-k:: |
|
--keep-subject:: |
|
Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the |
|
commit log message. |
|
|
|
-s:: |
|
--signoff:: |
|
Add `Signed-off-by:` line to the commit message, using |
|
the committer identity of yourself. |
|
|
|
--stdout:: |
|
Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, |
|
instead of creating a file for each one. |
|
|
|
--attach[=<boundary>]:: |
|
Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of |
|
which is the commit message and the patch itself in the |
|
second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`. |
|
|
|
--no-attach:: |
|
Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the |
|
configuration setting. |
|
|
|
--inline[=<boundary>]:: |
|
Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of |
|
which is the commit message and the patch itself in the |
|
second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`. |
|
|
|
--thread[=<style>]:: |
|
--no-thread:: |
|
Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to |
|
make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the |
|
first. Also controls generation of the `Message-Id` header to |
|
reference. |
|
+ |
|
The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`. |
|
'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the |
|
series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the |
|
`--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep' |
|
threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one. |
|
+ |
|
The default is `--no-thread`, unless the 'format.thread' configuration |
|
is set. If `--thread` is specified without a style, it defaults to the |
|
style specified by 'format.thread' if any, or else `shallow`. |
|
+ |
|
Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails |
|
itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you |
|
will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`. |
|
|
|
--in-reply-to=Message-Id:: |
|
Make the first mail (or all the mails with `--no-thread`) appear as a |
|
reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to |
|
provide a new patch series. |
|
|
|
--ignore-if-in-upstream:: |
|
Do not include a patch that matches a commit in |
|
<until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable |
|
from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the |
|
patches being generated, and any patch that matches is |
|
ignored. |
|
|
|
--subject-prefix=<Subject-Prefix>:: |
|
Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject |
|
line, instead use '[<Subject-Prefix>]'. This |
|
allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be |
|
combined with the `--numbered` option. |
|
|
|
--to=<email>:: |
|
Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition |
|
to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
|
The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so |
|
far (from config or command line). |
|
|
|
--cc=<email>:: |
|
Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition |
|
to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
|
The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so |
|
far (from config or command line). |
|
|
|
--add-header=<header>:: |
|
Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition |
|
to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. |
|
For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`. |
|
The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`, |
|
`Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command |
|
line. |
|
|
|
--cover-letter:: |
|
In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file |
|
containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can |
|
fill in a description in the file before sending it out. |
|
|
|
--[no]-signature=<signature>:: |
|
Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature |
|
is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the |
|
signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the git version |
|
number. |
|
|
|
--suffix=.<sfx>:: |
|
Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated |
|
filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is |
|
`--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` |
|
suffix. |
|
+ |
|
Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, |
|
you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`. |
|
|
|
--quiet:: |
|
Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output. |
|
|
|
--no-binary:: |
|
Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead |
|
display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated |
|
using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are |
|
still useful for code review. |
|
|
|
--root:: |
|
Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it |
|
is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a |
|
<since>). Note that root commits included in the specified |
|
range are always formatted as creation patches, independently |
|
of this flag. |
|
|
|
CONFIGURATION |
|
------------- |
|
You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, |
|
defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when |
|
outputting more than one patch, add "To" or "Cc:" headers, configure |
|
attachments, and sign off patches with configuration variables. |
|
|
|
------------ |
|
[format] |
|
headers = "Organization: git-foo\n" |
|
subjectprefix = CHANGE |
|
suffix = .txt |
|
numbered = auto |
|
to = <email> |
|
cc = <email> |
|
attach [ = mime-boundary-string ] |
|
signoff = true |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
|
|
DISCUSSION |
|
---------- |
|
|
|
The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format, |
|
with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output |
|
from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so: |
|
|
|
------------ |
|
From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 |
|
From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com> |
|
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700 |
|
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?= |
|
=?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?= |
|
MIME-Version: 1.0 |
|
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 |
|
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit |
|
|
|
arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script |
|
(See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment) |
|
|
|
Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking |
|
... |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add |
|
timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three |
|
dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts |
|
with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers |
|
can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with |
|
linkgit:git-am[1]. |
|
|
|
When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by |
|
'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am |
|
--scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a |
|
line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation), |
|
followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed: |
|
|
|
------------ |
|
... |
|
> So we should do such-and-such. |
|
|
|
Makes sense to me. How about this patch? |
|
|
|
-- >8 -- |
|
Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet |
|
|
|
arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script |
|
... |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own |
|
patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you |
|
should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch |
|
title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the |
|
patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep |
|
the Subject: line, like the example above. |
|
|
|
Checking for patch corruption |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are |
|
two common types of corruption: |
|
|
|
* Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace. |
|
|
|
* Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the |
|
beginning. |
|
|
|
One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is: |
|
|
|
* Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except |
|
with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and |
|
maintainer address. |
|
|
|
* Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch, |
|
say. |
|
|
|
* Apply it: |
|
|
|
$ git fetch <project> master:test-apply |
|
$ git checkout test-apply |
|
$ git reset --hard |
|
$ git am a.patch |
|
|
|
If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons. |
|
|
|
* The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but |
|
does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase |
|
the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in |
|
this case. |
|
|
|
* The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that |
|
the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and |
|
see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common |
|
corruption patterns mentioned above. |
|
|
|
* While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well. |
|
If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to |
|
see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the |
|
receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying |
|
your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the |
|
patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals |
|
the end of the commit message. |
|
|
|
MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS |
|
------------------ |
|
Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using |
|
various mailers. |
|
|
|
GMail |
|
~~~~~ |
|
GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web |
|
interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however |
|
use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or |
|
use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward |
|
the emails through that. |
|
|
|
For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the |
|
GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1]. |
|
|
|
For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE |
|
section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1]. |
|
|
|
Thunderbird |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag |
|
them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the |
|
resulting email unusable by git. |
|
|
|
There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps, |
|
configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use |
|
an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches. |
|
|
|
Approach #1 (add-on) |
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
|
|
|
Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from |
|
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/ |
|
It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu |
|
that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do |
|
(cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to |
|
insert line breaks manually in any text that you type. |
|
|
|
Approach #2 (configuration) |
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
|
Three steps: |
|
|
|
1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text: |
|
Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing, |
|
uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML". |
|
|
|
2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap. |
|
+ |
|
In Thunderbird 2: |
|
Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0 |
|
+ |
|
In Thunderbird 3: |
|
Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for |
|
"mail.wrap_long_lines". |
|
Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. |
|
|
|
3. Disable the use of format=flowed: |
|
Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for |
|
"mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed". |
|
Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. |
|
|
|
After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you |
|
otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), |
|
and the patches will not be mangled. |
|
|
|
Approach #3 (external editor) |
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |
|
|
|
The following Thunderbird extensions are needed: |
|
AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and |
|
External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8 |
|
|
|
1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice. |
|
|
|
2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to |
|
uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the |
|
"Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to |
|
send the patch. |
|
|
|
3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose |
|
window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the |
|
following to the indicated values: |
|
+ |
|
---------- |
|
mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false |
|
mailnews.wraplength => 0 |
|
---------- |
|
|
|
4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon. |
|
|
|
5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit |
|
the editor normally. |
|
|
|
Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with |
|
about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet. |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
mail.html_compose => false |
|
mail.identity.default.compose_html => false |
|
mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false |
|
---------- |
|
|
|
There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help |
|
you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the |
|
steps above and then use the script as the external editor. |
|
|
|
KMail |
|
~~~~~ |
|
This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail. |
|
|
|
1. Prepare the patch as a text file. |
|
|
|
2. Click on New Mail. |
|
|
|
3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that |
|
"Word wrap" is not set. |
|
|
|
4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch. |
|
|
|
5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the |
|
message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send. |
|
|
|
|
|
EXAMPLES |
|
-------- |
|
|
|
* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of |
|
the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them: |
|
+ |
|
------------ |
|
$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the |
|
origin branch: |
|
+ |
|
------------ |
|
$ git format-patch origin |
|
------------ |
|
+ |
|
For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory. |
|
|
|
* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the |
|
project: |
|
+ |
|
------------ |
|
$ git format-patch --root origin |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
* The same as the previous one: |
|
+ |
|
------------ |
|
$ git format-patch -M -B origin |
|
------------ |
|
+ |
|
Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites |
|
intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces |
|
the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review. |
|
Note that non-git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so |
|
use it only when you know the recipient uses git to apply your patch. |
|
|
|
* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them |
|
as e-mailable patches: |
|
+ |
|
------------ |
|
$ git format-patch -3 |
|
------------ |
|
|
|
SEE ALSO |
|
-------- |
|
linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] |
|
|
|
GIT |
|
--- |
|
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
|
|
|