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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/git-format-patch.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-format-patch.txt | 393 |
1 files changed, 330 insertions, 63 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt index 010d9e4..d13c9b2 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt @@ -9,16 +9,19 @@ git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission SYNOPSIS -------- [verse] -'git format-patch' [-k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread] - [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]] - [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>] +'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] - [--cc=<email>] - [--cover-letter] + [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>] + [--cover-letter] [--quiet] + [<common diff options>] [ <since> | <revision range> ] DESCRIPTION @@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ 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'. +for use with 'git am'. There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. @@ -36,34 +39,33 @@ There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on. that leads to the <since> to be output. 2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING - REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]) means the + REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the commits in the specified range. -A single commit, when interpreted as a <revision range> -expression, means "everything that leads to that commit", but -if you write 'git format-patch <commit>', the previous rule -applies to that command line and you do not get "everything -since the beginning of the time". If you want to format -everything since project inception to one commit, say "git -format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the -latter case. +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 +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. +output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified. -If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise +If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise they are created in the current working directory. -If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line -is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject". +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 +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 @@ -72,7 +74,7 @@ OPTIONS include::diff-options.txt[] -<n>:: - Limits the number of patches to prepare. + Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits. -o <dir>:: --output-directory <dir>:: @@ -81,7 +83,7 @@ include::diff-options.txt[] -n:: --numbered:: - Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format. + Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch. -N:: --no-numbered:: @@ -93,7 +95,6 @@ include::diff-options.txt[] --numbered-files:: Output file names will be a simple number sequence without the default first line of the commit appended. - Mutually exclusive with the --stdout option. -k:: --keep-subject:: @@ -112,20 +113,40 @@ include::diff-options.txt[] --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". + 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:: - Add In-Reply-To and References headers to make the second and - subsequent mails appear as replies to the first. Also generates - the Message-Id header to reference. + 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 + 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. @@ -140,38 +161,63 @@ include::diff-options.txt[] 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. + 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. --cc=<email>:: - Add a "Cc:" header to the email headers. This is in addition + Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times. +--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"` + --cover-letter:: - Generate a cover letter template. You still have to fill in - a description, but the shortlog and the diffstat will be - generated for you. + 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`. + `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch` + suffix. + -Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you -want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and -the first letter does not have to be a dot. Leaving it empty would -not add any 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:: - Don't output contents of changes in binary files, just take note - that they differ. Note that this disable the patch to be properly - applied. By default the contents of changes in those files are - encoded in the patch. + 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 -in the repository configuration, new defaults for the subject prefix -and file suffix, and number patches when outputting more than one. +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] @@ -179,15 +225,245 @@ and file suffix, and number patches when outputting more than one. 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: +the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them: + ------------ $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k @@ -217,8 +493,8 @@ $ 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 it. -Note that the "patch" program does not understand renaming patches, so +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 @@ -232,15 +508,6 @@ SEE ALSO -------- linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] - -Author ------- -Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> - -Documentation --------------- -Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. - GIT --- Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |