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![Junio C Hamano](/assets/img/avatar_default.png)
The branch descriptions that are set with "git branch --edit-description" option were used in many places but they weren't clearly documented. * po/doc-branch-desc: doc: show usage of branch description
567 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
567 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
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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[--signature-file=<file>]
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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] [(--reroll-count|-v) <n>]
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[--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
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[--[no-]cover-letter] [--quiet] [--notes[=<ref>]]
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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] " followed by
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the concatenation of lines from the commit message up to the first blank
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line (see the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-commit[1]).
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When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be
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"[PATCH n/m] ". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`.
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To omit 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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-v <n>::
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--reroll-count=<n>::
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Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The
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output filenames have `v<n>` prepended to them, and the
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subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
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`--subject-prefix` option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.
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`--reroll-count=4` may produce `v4-0001-add-makefile.patch`
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file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
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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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--from::
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--from=<ident>::
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Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each commit email. If the
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author ident of the commit is not textually identical to the
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provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the body of the
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message with the original author. If no `ident` is given, use
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the committer ident.
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+
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Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the
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emails and want to identify yourself as the sender, but retain the
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original author (and `git am` will correctly pick up the in-body
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header). Note also that `git send-email` already handles this
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transformation for you, and this option should not be used if you are
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feeding the result to `git send-email`.
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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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--[no-]cover-letter::
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In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
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containing the branch description, 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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--notes[=<ref>]::
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Append the notes (see linkgit:git-notes[1]) for the commit
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after the three-dash line.
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+
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The expected use case of this is to write supporting explanation for
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the commit that does not belong to the commit log message proper,
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and include it with the patch submission. While one can simply write
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these explanations after `format-patch` has run but before sending,
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keeping them as Git notes allows them to be maintained between versions
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of the patch series (but see the discussion of the `notes.rewrite`
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configuration options in linkgit:git-notes[1] to use this workflow).
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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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--signature-file=<file>::
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Works just like --signature except the signature is read from a file.
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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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-q::
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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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coverletter = auto
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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`. Also, search for
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"mailnews.wraplength" and set the value to 0.
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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.
|
|
|
|
----------
|
|
mail.html_compose => false
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|
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
|