1GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1) Git Manual GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)
2
6 git-send-email - Send a collection of patches as emails
7
9 git send-email [<options>] <file|directory|rev-list options>...
10 git send-email --dump-aliases
11
14 Takes the patches given on the command line and emails them out.
15 Patches can be specified as files, directories (which will send all
16 files in the directory), or directly as a revision list. In the last
17 case, any format accepted by git-format-patch(1) can be passed to git
18 send-email.
19 The header of the email is configurable via command-line options. If
21 not specified on the command line, the user will be prompted with a
22 ReadLine enabled interface to provide the necessary information.
23 There are two formats accepted for patch files:
25 1. mbox format files
27 This is what git-format-patch(1) generates. Most headers and MIME
29 formatting are ignored.
30 2. The original format used by Greg Kroah-Hartman’s
32 send_lots_of_email.pl script
33 This format expects the first line of the file to contain the "Cc:"
35 value and the "Subject:" of the message as the second line.
36
38 Composing
39 --annotate
40 Review and edit each patch you’re about to send. Default is the
41 value of sendemail.annotate. See the CONFIGURATION section for
42 sendemail.multiEdit.
43 --bcc=<address>,...
45 Specify a "Bcc:" value for each email. Default is the value of
46 sendemail.bcc.
47 This option may be specified multiple times.
49 --cc=<address>,...
51 Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email. Default is the value
52 of sendemail.cc.
53 This option may be specified multiple times.
55 --compose
57 Invoke a text editor (see GIT_EDITOR in git-var(1)) to edit an
58 introductory message for the patch series.
59 When --compose is used, git send-email will use the From, Subject,
61 and In-Reply-To headers specified in the message. If the body of
62 the message (what you type after the headers and a blank line) only
63 contains blank (or Git: prefixed) lines, the summary won’t be sent,
64 but From, Subject, and In-Reply-To headers will be used unless they
65 are removed.
66 Missing From or In-Reply-To headers will be prompted for.
68 See the CONFIGURATION section for sendemail.multiEdit.
70 --from=<address>
72 Specify the sender of the emails. If not specified on the command
73 line, the value of the sendemail.from configuration option is used.
74 If neither the command-line option nor sendemail.from are set, then
75 the user will be prompted for the value. The default for the prompt
76 will be the value of GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT, or GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT if
77 that is not set, as returned by "git var -l".
78 --reply-to=<address>
80 Specify the address where replies from recipients should go to. Use
81 this if replies to messages should go to another address than what
82 is specified with the --from parameter.
83 --in-reply-to=<identifier>
85 Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
86 reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
87 provide a new patch series. The second and subsequent emails will
88 be sent as replies according to the --[no-]chain-reply-to setting.
89 So for example when --thread and --no-chain-reply-to are specified,
91 the second and subsequent patches will be replies to the first one
92 like in the illustration below where [PATCH v2 0/3] is in reply to
93 [PATCH 0/2]:
94 [PATCH 0/2] Here is what I did...
96 [PATCH 1/2] Clean up and tests
97 [PATCH 2/2] Implementation
98 [PATCH v2 0/3] Here is a reroll
99 [PATCH v2 1/3] Clean up
100 [PATCH v2 2/3] New tests
101 [PATCH v2 3/3] Implementation
102 Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose is not set,
104 this will be prompted for.
105 --subject=<string>
107 Specify the initial subject of the email thread. Only necessary if
108 --compose is also set. If --compose is not set, this will be
109 prompted for.
110 --to=<address>,...
112 Specify the primary recipient of the emails generated. Generally,
113 this will be the upstream maintainer of the project involved.
114 Default is the value of the sendemail.to configuration value; if
115 that is unspecified, and --to-cmd is not specified, this will be
116 prompted for.
117 This option may be specified multiple times.
119 --8bit-encoding=<encoding>
121 When encountering a non-ASCII message or subject that does not
122 declare its encoding, add headers/quoting to indicate it is encoded
123 in <encoding>. Default is the value of the
124 sendemail.assume8bitEncoding; if that is unspecified, this will be
125 prompted for if any non-ASCII files are encountered.
126 Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
128 --compose-encoding=<encoding>
130 Specify encoding of compose message. Default is the value of the
131 sendemail.composeencoding; if that is unspecified, UTF-8 is
132 assumed.
133 --transfer-encoding=(7bit|8bit|quoted-printable|base64|auto)
135 Specify the transfer encoding to be used to send the message over
136 SMTP. 7bit will fail upon encountering a non-ASCII message.
137 quoted-printable can be useful when the repository contains files
138 that contain carriage returns, but makes the raw patch email file
139 (as saved from a MUA) much harder to inspect manually. base64 is
140 even more fool proof, but also even more opaque. auto will use 8bit
141 when possible, and quoted-printable otherwise.
142 Default is the value of the sendemail.transferEncoding
144 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to auto.
145 --xmailer, --no-xmailer
147 Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header. By default, the
148 header is added, but it can be turned off by setting the
149 sendemail.xmailer configuration variable to false.
150 Sending
152 --envelope-sender=<address>
153 Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails. This is useful
154 if your default address is not the address that is subscribed to a
155 list. In order to use the From address, set the value to "auto". If
156 you use the sendmail binary, you must have suitable privileges for
157 the -f parameter. Default is the value of the
158 sendemail.envelopeSender configuration variable; if that is
159 unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
160 --smtp-encryption=<encryption>
162 Specify the encryption to use, either ssl or tls. Any other value
163 reverts to plain SMTP. Default is the value of
164 sendemail.smtpEncryption.
165 --smtp-domain=<FQDN>
167 Specifies the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used in the
168 HELO/EHLO command to the SMTP server. Some servers require the FQDN
169 to match your IP address. If not set, git send-email attempts to
170 determine your FQDN automatically. Default is the value of
171 sendemail.smtpDomain.
172 --smtp-auth=<mechanisms>
174 Whitespace-separated list of allowed SMTP-AUTH mechanisms. This
175 setting forces using only the listed mechanisms. Example:
176 $ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...
178 If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones
180 advertised by the SMTP server and if it is supported by the
181 utilized SASL library, the mechanism is used for authentication. If
182 neither sendemail.smtpAuth nor --smtp-auth is specified, all
183 mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used. The special
184 value none maybe specified to completely disable authentication
185 independently of --smtp-user
186 --smtp-pass[=<password>]
188 Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no argument is
189 specified, then the empty string is used as the password. Default
190 is the value of sendemail.smtpPass, however --smtp-pass always
191 overrides this value.
192 Furthermore, passwords need not be specified in configuration files
194 or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
195 --smtp-user or a sendemail.smtpUser), but no password has been
196 specified (with --smtp-pass or sendemail.smtpPass), then a password
197 is obtained using git-credential.
198 --no-smtp-auth
200 Disable SMTP authentication. Short hand for --smtp-auth=none
201 --smtp-server=<host>
203 If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
204 smtp.example.com or a raw IP address). Alternatively it can specify
205 a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the program
206 must support the -i option. Default value can be specified by the
207 sendemail.smtpServer configuration option; the built-in default is
208 to search for sendmail in /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and $PATH if such
209 program is available, falling back to localhost otherwise.
210 --smtp-server-port=<port>
212 Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP servers
213 typically listen to smtp port 25, but may also listen to submission
214 port 587, or the common SSL smtp port 465); symbolic port names
215 (e.g. "submission" instead of 587) are also accepted. The port can
216 also be set with the sendemail.smtpServerPort configuration
217 variable.
218 --smtp-server-option=<option>
220 If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server option to use. Default
221 value can be specified by the sendemail.smtpServerOption
222 configuration option.
223 The --smtp-server-option option must be repeated for each option
225 you want to pass to the server. Likewise, different lines in the
226 configuration files must be used for each option.
227 --smtp-ssl
229 Legacy alias for --smtp-encryption ssl.
230 --smtp-ssl-cert-path
232 Path to a store of trusted CA certificates for SMTP SSL/TLS
233 certificate validation (either a directory that has been processed
234 by c_rehash, or a single file containing one or more PEM format
235 certificates concatenated together: see verify(1) -CAfile and
236 -CApath for more information on these). Set it to an empty string
237 to disable certificate verification. Defaults to the value of the
238 sendemail.smtpsslcertpath configuration variable, if set, or the
239 backing SSL library’s compiled-in default otherwise (which should
240 be the best choice on most platforms).
241 --smtp-user=<user>
243 Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of sendemail.smtpUser;
244 if a username is not specified (with --smtp-user or
245 sendemail.smtpUser), then authentication is not attempted.
246 --smtp-debug=0|1
248 Enable (1) or disable (0) debug output. If enabled, SMTP commands
249 and replies will be printed. Useful to debug TLS connection and
250 authentication problems.
251 --batch-size=<num>
253 Some email servers (e.g. smtp.163.com) limit the number emails to
254 be sent per session (connection) and this will lead to a failure
255 when sending many messages. With this option, send-email will
256 disconnect after sending $<num> messages and wait for a few seconds
257 (see --relogin-delay) and reconnect, to work around such a limit.
258 You may want to use some form of credential helper to avoid having
259 to retype your password every time this happens. Defaults to the
260 sendemail.smtpBatchSize configuration variable.
261 --relogin-delay=<int>
263 Waiting $<int> seconds before reconnecting to SMTP server. Used
264 together with --batch-size option. Defaults to the
265 sendemail.smtpReloginDelay configuration variable.
266 Automating
268 --to-cmd=<command>
269 Specify a command to execute once per patch file which should
270 generate patch file specific "To:" entries. Output of this command
271 must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
272 sendemail.tocmd configuration value.
273 --cc-cmd=<command>
275 Specify a command to execute once per patch file which should
276 generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries. Output of this command
277 must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
278 sendemail.ccCmd configuration value.
279 --[no-]chain-reply-to
281 If this is set, each email will be sent as a reply to the previous
282 email sent. If disabled with "--no-chain-reply-to", all emails
283 after the first will be sent as replies to the first email sent.
284 When using this, it is recommended that the first file given be an
285 overview of the entire patch series. Disabled by default, but the
286 sendemail.chainReplyTo configuration variable can be used to enable
287 it.
288 --identity=<identity>
290 A configuration identity. When given, causes values in the
291 sendemail.<identity> subsection to take precedence over values in
292 the sendemail section. The default identity is the value of
293 sendemail.identity.
294 --[no-]signed-off-by-cc
296 If this is set, add emails found in Signed-off-by: or Cc: lines to
297 the cc list. Default is the value of sendemail.signedoffbycc
298 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
299 --signed-off-by-cc.
300 --[no-]cc-cover
302 If this is set, emails found in Cc: headers in the first patch of
303 the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the cc list
304 for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.cccover
305 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
306 --no-cc-cover.
307 --[no-]to-cover
309 If this is set, emails found in To: headers in the first patch of
310 the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the to list
311 for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.tocover
312 configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
313 --no-to-cover.
314 --suppress-cc=<category>
316 Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress the
317 auto-cc of:
318 · author will avoid including the patch author.
320 · self will avoid including the sender.
322 · cc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
324 patch header except for self (use self for that).
325 · bodycc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
327 patch body (commit message) except for self (use self for
328 that).
329 · sob will avoid including anyone mentioned in Signed-off-by
331 lines except for self (use self for that).
332 · misc-by will avoid including anyone mentioned in Acked-by,
334 Reviewed-by, Tested-by and other "-by" lines in the patch body,
335 except Signed-off-by (use sob for that).
336 · cccmd will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
338 · body is equivalent to sob + bodycc + misc-by.
340 · all will suppress all auto cc values.
342 Default is the value of sendemail.suppresscc configuration value;
344 if that is unspecified, default to self if --suppress-from is
345 specified, as well as body if --no-signed-off-cc is specified.
346 --[no-]suppress-from
348 If this is set, do not add the From: address to the cc: list.
349 Default is the value of sendemail.suppressFrom configuration value;
350 if that is unspecified, default to --no-suppress-from.
351 --[no-]thread
353 If this is set, the In-Reply-To and References headers will be
354 added to each email sent. Whether each mail refers to the previous
355 email (deep threading per git format-patch wording) or to the first
356 email (shallow threading) is governed by "--[no-]chain-reply-to".
357 If disabled with "--no-thread", those headers will not be added
359 (unless specified with --in-reply-to). Default is the value of the
360 sendemail.thread configuration value; if that is unspecified,
361 default to --thread.
362 It is up to the user to ensure that no In-Reply-To header already
364 exists when git send-email is asked to add it (especially note that
365 git format-patch can be configured to do the threading itself).
366 Failure to do so may not produce the expected result in the
367 recipient’s MUA.
368 Administering
370 --confirm=<mode>
371 Confirm just before sending:
372 · always will always confirm before sending
374 · never will never confirm before sending
376 · cc will confirm before sending when send-email has
378 automatically added addresses from the patch to the Cc list
379 · compose will confirm before sending the first message when
381 using --compose.
382 · auto is equivalent to cc + compose
384 Default is the value of sendemail.confirm configuration value; if
386 that is unspecified, default to auto unless any of the suppress
387 options have been specified, in which case default to compose.
388 --dry-run
390 Do everything except actually send the emails.
391 --[no-]format-patch
393 When an argument may be understood either as a reference or as a
394 file name, choose to understand it as a format-patch argument
395 (--format-patch) or as a file name (--no-format-patch). By default,
396 when such a conflict occurs, git send-email will fail.
397 --quiet
399 Make git-send-email less verbose. One line per email should be all
400 that is output.
401 --[no-]validate
403 Perform sanity checks on patches. Currently, validation means the
404 following:
405 · Invoke the sendemail-validate hook if present (see
407 githooks(5)).
408 · Warn of patches that contain lines longer than 998 characters
410 unless a suitable transfer encoding (auto, base64, or
411 quoted-printable) is used; this is due to SMTP limits as
412 described by http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5322.txt.
413 Default is the value of sendemail.validate; if this is not set,
415 default to --validate.
416 --force
418 Send emails even if safety checks would prevent it.
419 Information
421 --dump-aliases
422 Instead of the normal operation, dump the shorthand alias names
423 from the configured alias file(s), one per line in alphabetical
424 order. Note, this only includes the alias name and not its expanded
425 email addresses. See sendemail.aliasesfile for more information
426 about aliases.
427
429 sendemail.aliasesFile
430 To avoid typing long email addresses, point this to one or more
431 email aliases files. You must also supply sendemail.aliasFileType.
432 sendemail.aliasFileType
434 Format of the file(s) specified in sendemail.aliasesFile. Must be
435 one of mutt, mailrc, pine, elm, or gnus, or sendmail.
436 What an alias file in each format looks like can be found in the
438 documentation of the email program of the same name. The
439 differences and limitations from the standard formats are described
440 below:
441 sendmail
443 · Quoted aliases and quoted addresses are not supported:
445 lines that contain a " symbol are ignored.
446 · Redirection to a file (/path/name) or pipe (|command) is
448 not supported.
449 · File inclusion (:include: /path/name) is not supported.
451 · Warnings are printed on the standard error output for any
453 explicitly unsupported constructs, and any other lines that
454 are not recognized by the parser.
455 sendemail.multiEdit
457 If true (default), a single editor instance will be spawned to edit
458 files you have to edit (patches when --annotate is used, and the
459 summary when --compose is used). If false, files will be edited one
460 after the other, spawning a new editor each time.
461 sendemail.confirm
463 Sets the default for whether to confirm before sending. Must be one
464 of always, never, cc, compose, or auto. See --confirm in the
465 previous section for the meaning of these values.
466
468 Use gmail as the smtp server
469 To use git send-email to send your patches through the GMail SMTP
470 server, edit ~/.gitconfig to specify your account settings:
471 [sendemail]
473 smtpEncryption = tls
474 smtpServer = smtp.gmail.com
475 smtpUser = yourname@gmail.com
476 smtpServerPort = 587
477 If you have multifactor authentication setup on your gmail account, you
479 will need to generate an app-specific password for use with git
480 send-email. Visit
481 https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to create
482 it.
483 Once your commits are ready to be sent to the mailing list, run the
485 following commands:
486 $ git format-patch --cover-letter -M origin/master -o outgoing/
488 $ edit outgoing/0000-*
489 $ git send-email outgoing/*
490 The first time you run it, you will be prompted for your credentials.
492 Enter the app-specific or your regular password as appropriate. If you
493 have credential helper configured (see git-credential(1)), the password
494 will be saved in the credential store so you won’t have to type it the
495 next time.
496 Note: the following perl modules are required Net::SMTP::SSL,
498 MIME::Base64 and Authen::SASL
499
501 git-format-patch(1), git-imap-send(1), mbox(5)
502
504 Part of the git(1) suite
505Git 2.20.1 12/15/2018 GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)