1GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)                 Git Manual                 GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       git-send-email - Send a collection of patches as emails
7

SYNOPSIS

9       git send-email [<options>] <file|directory|rev-list options>...
10       git send-email --dump-aliases
11

DESCRIPTION

13       Takes the patches given on the command line and emails them out.
14       Patches can be specified as files, directories (which will send all
15       files in the directory), or directly as a revision list. In the last
16       case, any format accepted by git-format-patch(1) can be passed to git
17       send-email.
18
19       The header of the email is configurable via command-line options. If
20       not specified on the command line, the user will be prompted with a
21       ReadLine enabled interface to provide the necessary information.
22
23       There are two formats accepted for patch files:
24
25        1. mbox format files
26
27           This is what git-format-patch(1) generates. Most headers and MIME
28           formatting are ignored.
29
30        2. The original format used by Greg Kroah-Hartman’s
31           send_lots_of_email.pl script
32
33           This format expects the first line of the file to contain the "Cc:"
34           value and the "Subject:" of the message as the second line.
35

OPTIONS

37   Composing
38       --annotate
39           Review and edit each patch you’re about to send. Default is the
40           value of sendemail.annotate. See the CONFIGURATION section for
41           sendemail.multiEdit.
42
43       --bcc=<address>,...
44           Specify a "Bcc:" value for each email. Default is the value of
45           sendemail.bcc.
46
47           This option may be specified multiple times.
48
49       --cc=<address>,...
50           Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email. Default is the value
51           of sendemail.cc.
52
53           This option may be specified multiple times.
54
55       --compose
56           Invoke a text editor (see GIT_EDITOR in git-var(1)) to edit an
57           introductory message for the patch series.
58
59           When --compose is used, git send-email will use the From, Subject,
60           and In-Reply-To headers specified in the message. If the body of
61           the message (what you type after the headers and a blank line) only
62           contains blank (or Git: prefixed) lines, the summary won’t be sent,
63           but From, Subject, and In-Reply-To headers will be used unless they
64           are removed.
65
66           Missing From or In-Reply-To headers will be prompted for.
67
68           See the CONFIGURATION section for sendemail.multiEdit.
69
70       --from=<address>
71           Specify the sender of the emails. If not specified on the command
72           line, the value of the sendemail.from configuration option is used.
73           If neither the command-line option nor sendemail.from are set, then
74           the user will be prompted for the value. The default for the prompt
75           will be the value of GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT, or GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT if
76           that is not set, as returned by "git var -l".
77
78       --reply-to=<address>
79           Specify the address where replies from recipients should go to. Use
80           this if replies to messages should go to another address than what
81           is specified with the --from parameter.
82
83       --in-reply-to=<identifier>
84           Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread) appear as a
85           reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
86           provide a new patch series. The second and subsequent emails will
87           be sent as replies according to the --[no-]chain-reply-to setting.
88
89           So for example when --thread and --no-chain-reply-to are specified,
90           the second and subsequent patches will be replies to the first one
91           like in the illustration below where [PATCH v2 0/3] is in reply to
92           [PATCH 0/2]:
93
94               [PATCH 0/2] Here is what I did...
95                 [PATCH 1/2] Clean up and tests
96                 [PATCH 2/2] Implementation
97                 [PATCH v2 0/3] Here is a reroll
98                   [PATCH v2 1/3] Clean up
99                   [PATCH v2 2/3] New tests
100                   [PATCH v2 3/3] Implementation
101
102           Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose is not set,
103           this will be prompted for.
104
105       --subject=<string>
106           Specify the initial subject of the email thread. Only necessary if
107           --compose is also set. If --compose is not set, this will be
108           prompted for.
109
110       --to=<address>,...
111           Specify the primary recipient of the emails generated. Generally,
112           this will be the upstream maintainer of the project involved.
113           Default is the value of the sendemail.to configuration value; if
114           that is unspecified, and --to-cmd is not specified, this will be
115           prompted for.
116
117           This option may be specified multiple times.
118
119       --8bit-encoding=<encoding>
120           When encountering a non-ASCII message or subject that does not
121           declare its encoding, add headers/quoting to indicate it is encoded
122           in <encoding>. Default is the value of the
123           sendemail.assume8bitEncoding; if that is unspecified, this will be
124           prompted for if any non-ASCII files are encountered.
125
126           Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the encoding.
127
128       --compose-encoding=<encoding>
129           Specify encoding of compose message. Default is the value of the
130           sendemail.composeencoding; if that is unspecified, UTF-8 is
131           assumed.
132
133       --transfer-encoding=(7bit|8bit|quoted-printable|base64|auto)
134           Specify the transfer encoding to be used to send the message over
135           SMTP. 7bit will fail upon encountering a non-ASCII message.
136           quoted-printable can be useful when the repository contains files
137           that contain carriage returns, but makes the raw patch email file
138           (as saved from a MUA) much harder to inspect manually. base64 is
139           even more fool proof, but also even more opaque. auto will use 8bit
140           when possible, and quoted-printable otherwise.
141
142           Default is the value of the sendemail.transferEncoding
143           configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to auto.
144
145       --xmailer, --no-xmailer
146           Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header. By default, the
147           header is added, but it can be turned off by setting the
148           sendemail.xmailer configuration variable to false.
149
150   Sending
151       --envelope-sender=<address>
152           Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails. This is useful
153           if your default address is not the address that is subscribed to a
154           list. In order to use the From address, set the value to "auto". If
155           you use the sendmail binary, you must have suitable privileges for
156           the -f parameter. Default is the value of the
157           sendemail.envelopeSender configuration variable; if that is
158           unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
159
160       --sendmail-cmd=<command>
161           Specify a command to run to send the email. The command should be
162           sendmail-like; specifically, it must support the -i option. The
163           command will be executed in the shell if necessary. Default is the
164           value of sendemail.sendmailcmd. If unspecified, and if
165           --smtp-server is also unspecified, git-send-email will search for
166           sendmail in /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and $PATH.
167
168       --smtp-encryption=<encryption>
169           Specify the encryption to use, either ssl or tls. Any other value
170           reverts to plain SMTP. Default is the value of
171           sendemail.smtpEncryption.
172
173       --smtp-domain=<FQDN>
174           Specifies the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used in the
175           HELO/EHLO command to the SMTP server. Some servers require the FQDN
176           to match your IP address. If not set, git send-email attempts to
177           determine your FQDN automatically. Default is the value of
178           sendemail.smtpDomain.
179
180       --smtp-auth=<mechanisms>
181           Whitespace-separated list of allowed SMTP-AUTH mechanisms. This
182           setting forces using only the listed mechanisms. Example:
183
184               $ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...
185
186           If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones
187           advertised by the SMTP server and if it is supported by the
188           utilized SASL library, the mechanism is used for authentication. If
189           neither sendemail.smtpAuth nor --smtp-auth is specified, all
190           mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used. The special
191           value none maybe specified to completely disable authentication
192           independently of --smtp-user
193
194       --smtp-pass[=<password>]
195           Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no argument is
196           specified, then the empty string is used as the password. Default
197           is the value of sendemail.smtpPass, however --smtp-pass always
198           overrides this value.
199
200           Furthermore, passwords need not be specified in configuration files
201           or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
202           --smtp-user or a sendemail.smtpUser), but no password has been
203           specified (with --smtp-pass or sendemail.smtpPass), then a password
204           is obtained using git-credential.
205
206       --no-smtp-auth
207           Disable SMTP authentication. Short hand for --smtp-auth=none
208
209       --smtp-server=<host>
210           If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
211           smtp.example.com or a raw IP address). If unspecified, and if
212           --sendmail-cmd is also unspecified, the default is to search for
213           sendmail in /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and $PATH if such a program is
214           available, falling back to localhost otherwise.
215
216           For backward compatibility, this option can also specify a full
217           pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must
218           support the -i option. This method does not support passing
219           arguments or using plain command names. For those use cases,
220           consider using --sendmail-cmd instead.
221
222       --smtp-server-port=<port>
223           Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP servers
224           typically listen to smtp port 25, but may also listen to submission
225           port 587, or the common SSL smtp port 465); symbolic port names
226           (e.g. "submission" instead of 587) are also accepted. The port can
227           also be set with the sendemail.smtpServerPort configuration
228           variable.
229
230       --smtp-server-option=<option>
231           If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server option to use. Default
232           value can be specified by the sendemail.smtpServerOption
233           configuration option.
234
235           The --smtp-server-option option must be repeated for each option
236           you want to pass to the server. Likewise, different lines in the
237           configuration files must be used for each option.
238
239       --smtp-ssl
240           Legacy alias for --smtp-encryption ssl.
241
242       --smtp-ssl-cert-path
243           Path to a store of trusted CA certificates for SMTP SSL/TLS
244           certificate validation (either a directory that has been processed
245           by c_rehash, or a single file containing one or more PEM format
246           certificates concatenated together: see verify(1) -CAfile and
247           -CApath for more information on these). Set it to an empty string
248           to disable certificate verification. Defaults to the value of the
249           sendemail.smtpsslcertpath configuration variable, if set, or the
250           backing SSL library’s compiled-in default otherwise (which should
251           be the best choice on most platforms).
252
253       --smtp-user=<user>
254           Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of sendemail.smtpUser;
255           if a username is not specified (with --smtp-user or
256           sendemail.smtpUser), then authentication is not attempted.
257
258       --smtp-debug=0|1
259           Enable (1) or disable (0) debug output. If enabled, SMTP commands
260           and replies will be printed. Useful to debug TLS connection and
261           authentication problems.
262
263       --batch-size=<num>
264           Some email servers (e.g. smtp.163.com) limit the number emails to
265           be sent per session (connection) and this will lead to a failure
266           when sending many messages. With this option, send-email will
267           disconnect after sending $<num> messages and wait for a few seconds
268           (see --relogin-delay) and reconnect, to work around such a limit.
269           You may want to use some form of credential helper to avoid having
270           to retype your password every time this happens. Defaults to the
271           sendemail.smtpBatchSize configuration variable.
272
273       --relogin-delay=<int>
274           Waiting $<int> seconds before reconnecting to SMTP server. Used
275           together with --batch-size option. Defaults to the
276           sendemail.smtpReloginDelay configuration variable.
277
278   Automating
279       --no-[to|cc|bcc]
280           Clears any list of "To:", "Cc:", "Bcc:" addresses previously set
281           via config.
282
283       --no-identity
284           Clears the previously read value of sendemail.identity set via
285           config, if any.
286
287       --to-cmd=<command>
288           Specify a command to execute once per patch file which should
289           generate patch file specific "To:" entries. Output of this command
290           must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
291           sendemail.tocmd configuration value.
292
293       --cc-cmd=<command>
294           Specify a command to execute once per patch file which should
295           generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries. Output of this command
296           must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
297           sendemail.ccCmd configuration value.
298
299       --[no-]chain-reply-to
300           If this is set, each email will be sent as a reply to the previous
301           email sent. If disabled with "--no-chain-reply-to", all emails
302           after the first will be sent as replies to the first email sent.
303           When using this, it is recommended that the first file given be an
304           overview of the entire patch series. Disabled by default, but the
305           sendemail.chainReplyTo configuration variable can be used to enable
306           it.
307
308       --identity=<identity>
309           A configuration identity. When given, causes values in the
310           sendemail.<identity> subsection to take precedence over values in
311           the sendemail section. The default identity is the value of
312           sendemail.identity.
313
314       --[no-]signed-off-by-cc
315           If this is set, add emails found in the Signed-off-by trailer or
316           Cc: lines to the cc list. Default is the value of
317           sendemail.signedoffbycc configuration value; if that is
318           unspecified, default to --signed-off-by-cc.
319
320       --[no-]cc-cover
321           If this is set, emails found in Cc: headers in the first patch of
322           the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the cc list
323           for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.cccover
324           configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
325           --no-cc-cover.
326
327       --[no-]to-cover
328           If this is set, emails found in To: headers in the first patch of
329           the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the to list
330           for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.tocover
331           configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
332           --no-to-cover.
333
334       --suppress-cc=<category>
335           Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress the
336           auto-cc of:
337
338author will avoid including the patch author.
339
340self will avoid including the sender.
341
342cc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
343               patch header except for self (use self for that).
344
345bodycc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
346               patch body (commit message) except for self (use self for
347               that).
348
349sob will avoid including anyone mentioned in the Signed-off-by
350               trailers except for self (use self for that).
351
352misc-by will avoid including anyone mentioned in Acked-by,
353               Reviewed-by, Tested-by and other "-by" lines in the patch body,
354               except Signed-off-by (use sob for that).
355
356cccmd will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
357
358body is equivalent to sob + bodycc + misc-by.
359
360all will suppress all auto cc values.
361
362           Default is the value of sendemail.suppresscc configuration value;
363           if that is unspecified, default to self if --suppress-from is
364           specified, as well as body if --no-signed-off-cc is specified.
365
366       --[no-]suppress-from
367           If this is set, do not add the From: address to the cc: list.
368           Default is the value of sendemail.suppressFrom configuration value;
369           if that is unspecified, default to --no-suppress-from.
370
371       --[no-]thread
372           If this is set, the In-Reply-To and References headers will be
373           added to each email sent. Whether each mail refers to the previous
374           email (deep threading per git format-patch wording) or to the first
375           email (shallow threading) is governed by "--[no-]chain-reply-to".
376
377           If disabled with "--no-thread", those headers will not be added
378           (unless specified with --in-reply-to). Default is the value of the
379           sendemail.thread configuration value; if that is unspecified,
380           default to --thread.
381
382           It is up to the user to ensure that no In-Reply-To header already
383           exists when git send-email is asked to add it (especially note that
384           git format-patch can be configured to do the threading itself).
385           Failure to do so may not produce the expected result in the
386           recipient’s MUA.
387
388   Administering
389       --confirm=<mode>
390           Confirm just before sending:
391
392always will always confirm before sending
393
394never will never confirm before sending
395
396cc will confirm before sending when send-email has
397               automatically added addresses from the patch to the Cc list
398
399compose will confirm before sending the first message when
400               using --compose.
401
402auto is equivalent to cc + compose
403
404           Default is the value of sendemail.confirm configuration value; if
405           that is unspecified, default to auto unless any of the suppress
406           options have been specified, in which case default to compose.
407
408       --dry-run
409           Do everything except actually send the emails.
410
411       --[no-]format-patch
412           When an argument may be understood either as a reference or as a
413           file name, choose to understand it as a format-patch argument
414           (--format-patch) or as a file name (--no-format-patch). By default,
415           when such a conflict occurs, git send-email will fail.
416
417       --quiet
418           Make git-send-email less verbose. One line per email should be all
419           that is output.
420
421       --[no-]validate
422           Perform sanity checks on patches. Currently, validation means the
423           following:
424
425           •   Invoke the sendemail-validate hook if present (see
426               githooks(5)).
427
428           •   Warn of patches that contain lines longer than 998 characters
429               unless a suitable transfer encoding (auto, base64, or
430               quoted-printable) is used; this is due to SMTP limits as
431               described by http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5322.txt.
432
433           Default is the value of sendemail.validate; if this is not set,
434           default to --validate.
435
436       --force
437           Send emails even if safety checks would prevent it.
438
439   Information
440       --dump-aliases
441           Instead of the normal operation, dump the shorthand alias names
442           from the configured alias file(s), one per line in alphabetical
443           order. Note, this only includes the alias name and not its expanded
444           email addresses. See sendemail.aliasesfile for more information
445           about aliases.
446

CONFIGURATION

448       sendemail.aliasesFile
449           To avoid typing long email addresses, point this to one or more
450           email aliases files. You must also supply sendemail.aliasFileType.
451
452       sendemail.aliasFileType
453           Format of the file(s) specified in sendemail.aliasesFile. Must be
454           one of mutt, mailrc, pine, elm, or gnus, or sendmail.
455
456           What an alias file in each format looks like can be found in the
457           documentation of the email program of the same name. The
458           differences and limitations from the standard formats are described
459           below:
460
461           sendmail
462
463               •   Quoted aliases and quoted addresses are not supported:
464                   lines that contain a " symbol are ignored.
465
466               •   Redirection to a file (/path/name) or pipe (|command) is
467                   not supported.
468
469               •   File inclusion (:include: /path/name) is not supported.
470
471               •   Warnings are printed on the standard error output for any
472                   explicitly unsupported constructs, and any other lines that
473                   are not recognized by the parser.
474
475       sendemail.multiEdit
476           If true (default), a single editor instance will be spawned to edit
477           files you have to edit (patches when --annotate is used, and the
478           summary when --compose is used). If false, files will be edited one
479           after the other, spawning a new editor each time.
480
481       sendemail.confirm
482           Sets the default for whether to confirm before sending. Must be one
483           of always, never, cc, compose, or auto. See --confirm in the
484           previous section for the meaning of these values.
485

EXAMPLES

487   Use gmail as the smtp server
488       To use git send-email to send your patches through the GMail SMTP
489       server, edit ~/.gitconfig to specify your account settings:
490
491           [sendemail]
492                   smtpEncryption = tls
493                   smtpServer = smtp.gmail.com
494                   smtpUser = yourname@gmail.com
495                   smtpServerPort = 587
496
497       If you have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account,
498       you will need to generate an app-specific password for use with git
499       send-email. Visit
500       https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to create
501       it.
502
503       If you do not have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail
504       account, you will need to allow less secure app access. Visit
505       https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps to enable it.
506
507       Once your commits are ready to be sent to the mailing list, run the
508       following commands:
509
510           $ git format-patch --cover-letter -M origin/master -o outgoing/
511           $ edit outgoing/0000-*
512           $ git send-email outgoing/*
513
514       The first time you run it, you will be prompted for your credentials.
515       Enter the app-specific or your regular password as appropriate. If you
516       have credential helper configured (see git-credential(1)), the password
517       will be saved in the credential store so you won’t have to type it the
518       next time.
519
520       Note: the following core Perl modules that may be installed with your
521       distribution of Perl are required: MIME::Base64, MIME::QuotedPrint,
522       Net::Domain and Net::SMTP. These additional Perl modules are also
523       required: Authen::SASL and Mail::Address.
524

SEE ALSO

526       git-format-patch(1), git-imap-send(1), mbox(5)
527

GIT

529       Part of the git(1) suite
530
531
532
533Git 2.33.1                        2021-10-12                 GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)
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