1GIT-TAG(1) Git Manual GIT-TAG(1)
2
6 git-tag - Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG
7
9 git tag [-a | -s | -u <keyid>] [-f] [-m <msg> | -F <file>] [-e]
10 <tagname> [<commit> | <object>]
11 git tag -d <tagname>...
12 git tag [-n[<num>]] -l [--contains <commit>] [--no-contains <commit>]
13 [--points-at <object>] [--column[=<options>] | --no-column]
14 [--create-reflog] [--sort=<key>] [--format=<format>]
15 [--merged <commit>] [--no-merged <commit>] [<pattern>...]
16 git tag -v [--format=<format>] <tagname>...
17
19 Add a tag reference in refs/tags/, unless -d/-l/-v is given to delete,
20 list or verify tags.
21 Unless -f is given, the named tag must not yet exist.
23 If one of -a, -s, or -u <keyid> is passed, the command creates a tag
25 object, and requires a tag message. Unless -m <msg> or -F <file> is
26 given, an editor is started for the user to type in the tag message.
27 If -m <msg> or -F <file> is given and -a, -s, and -u <keyid> are
29 absent, -a is implied.
30 Otherwise, a tag reference that points directly at the given object
32 (i.e., a lightweight tag) is created.
33 A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when -s or -u <keyid> is
35 used. When -u <keyid> is not used, the committer identity for the
36 current user is used to find the GnuPG key for signing. The
37 configuration variable gpg.program is used to specify custom GnuPG
38 binary.
39 Tag objects (created with -a, -s, or -u) are called "annotated" tags;
41 they contain a creation date, the tagger name and e-mail, a tagging
42 message, and an optional GnuPG signature. Whereas a "lightweight" tag
43 is simply a name for an object (usually a commit object).
44 Annotated tags are meant for release while lightweight tags are meant
46 for private or temporary object labels. For this reason, some git
47 commands for naming objects (like git describe) will ignore lightweight
48 tags by default.
49
51 -a, --annotate
52 Make an unsigned, annotated tag object
53 -s, --sign
55 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address’s key. The
56 default behavior of tag GPG-signing is controlled by tag.gpgSign
57 configuration variable if it exists, or disabled otherwise. See
58 git-config(1).
59 --no-sign
61 Override tag.gpgSign configuration variable that is set to force
62 each and every tag to be signed.
63 -u <keyid>, --local-user=<keyid>
65 Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.
66 -f, --force
68 Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of failing)
69 -d, --delete
71 Delete existing tags with the given names.
72 -v, --verify
74 Verify the GPG signature of the given tag names.
75 -n<num>
77 <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any, are
78 printed when using -l. Implies --list.
79 The default is not to print any annotation lines. If no number is
81 given to -n, only the first line is printed. If the tag is not
82 annotated, the commit message is displayed instead.
83 -l, --list
85 List tags. With optional <pattern>..., e.g. git tag --list 'v-*',
86 list only the tags that match the pattern(s).
87 Running "git tag" without arguments also lists all tags. The
89 pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched using fnmatch(3)).
90 Multiple patterns may be given; if any of them matches, the tag is
91 shown.
92 This option is implicitly supplied if any other list-like option
94 such as --contains is provided. See the documentation for each of
95 those options for details.
96 --sort=<key>
98 Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending order
99 of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option multiple times,
100 in which case the last key becomes the primary key. Also supports
101 "version:refname" or "v:refname" (tag names are treated as
102 versions). The "version:refname" sort order can also be affected by
103 the "versionsort.suffix" configuration variable. The keys supported
104 are the same as those in git for-each-ref. Sort order defaults to
105 the value configured for the tag.sort variable if it exists, or
106 lexicographic order otherwise. See git-config(1).
107 --color[=<when>]
109 Respect any colors specified in the --format option. The <when>
110 field must be one of always, never, or auto (if <when> is absent,
111 behave as if always was given).
112 -i, --ignore-case
114 Sorting and filtering tags are case insensitive.
115 --column[=<options>], --no-column
117 Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
118 column.tag for option syntax. --column and --no-column without
119 options are equivalent to always and never respectively.
120 This option is only applicable when listing tags without annotation
122 lines.
123 --contains [<commit>]
125 Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
126 specified). Implies --list.
127 --no-contains [<commit>]
129 Only list tags which don’t contain the specified commit (HEAD if
130 not specified). Implies --list.
131 --merged [<commit>]
133 Only list tags whose commits are reachable from the specified
134 commit (HEAD if not specified).
135 --no-merged [<commit>]
137 Only list tags whose commits are not reachable from the specified
138 commit (HEAD if not specified).
139 --points-at <object>
141 Only list tags of the given object (HEAD if not specified). Implies
142 --list.
143 -m <msg>, --message=<msg>
145 Use the given tag message (instead of prompting). If multiple -m
146 options are given, their values are concatenated as separate
147 paragraphs. Implies -a if none of -a, -s, or -u <keyid> is given.
148 -F <file>, --file=<file>
150 Take the tag message from the given file. Use - to read the message
151 from the standard input. Implies -a if none of -a, -s, or -u
152 <keyid> is given.
153 -e, --edit
155 The message taken from file with -F and command line with -m are
156 usually used as the tag message unmodified. This option lets you
157 further edit the message taken from these sources.
158 --cleanup=<mode>
160 This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up. The <mode> can
161 be one of verbatim, whitespace and strip. The strip mode is
162 default. The verbatim mode does not change message at all,
163 whitespace removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and strip
164 removes both whitespace and commentary.
165 --create-reflog
167 Create a reflog for the tag. To globally enable reflogs for tags,
168 see core.logAllRefUpdates in git-config(1). The negated form
169 --no-create-reflog only overrides an earlier --create-reflog, but
170 currently does not negate the setting of core.logAllRefUpdates.
171 --format=<format>
173 A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a tag ref being shown
174 and the object it points at. The format is the same as that of git-
175 for-each-ref(1). When unspecified, defaults to %(refname:strip=2).
176 <tagname>
178 The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe. The new tag
179 name must pass all checks defined by git-check-ref-format(1). Some
180 of these checks may restrict the characters allowed in a tag name.
181 <commit>, <object>
183 The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
184 Defaults to HEAD.
185
187 By default, git tag in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
188 committer identity (of the form Your Name <your@email.address>) to find
189 a key. If you want to use a different default key, you can specify it
190 in the repository configuration as follows:
191 [user]
193 signingKey = <gpg-keyid>
194 pager.tag is only respected when listing tags, i.e., when -l is used or
196 implied. The default is to use a pager. See git-config(1).
197
199 On Re-tagging
200 What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would want to
201 re-tag?
202 If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to replace
204 the old one. And you’re done.
205 But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read your
207 repository directly), then others will have already seen the old tag.
208 In that case you can do one of two things:
209 1. The sane thing. Just admit you screwed up, and use a different
211 name. Others have already seen one tag-name, and if you keep the
212 same name, you may be in the situation that two people both have
213 "version X", but they actually have different "X"'s. So just call
214 it "X.1" and be done with it.
215 2. The insane thing. You really want to call the new version "X" too,
217 even though others have already seen the old one. So just use git
218 tag -f again, as if you hadn’t already published the old one.
219 However, Git does not (and it should not) change tags behind users
221 back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a git pull on your
222 tree shouldn’t just make them overwrite the old one.
223 If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change the tag
225 for them by updating your own one. This is a big security issue, in
226 that people MUST be able to trust their tag-names. If you really want
227 to do the insane thing, you need to just fess up to it, and tell people
228 that you messed up. You can do that by making a very public
229 announcement saying:
230 Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
232 then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.
233 If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
235 the old one and fetch the new one by doing:
236 git tag -d X
238 git fetch origin tag X
239 to get my updated tag.
241 You can test which tag you have by doing
243 git rev-parse X
245 which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.
247 Sorry for the inconvenience.
249 Does this seem a bit complicated? It should be. There is no way that it
251 would be correct to just "fix" it automatically. People need to know
252 that their tags might have been changed.
253 On Automatic following
255 If you are following somebody else’s tree, you are most likely using
256 remote-tracking branches (eg. refs/remotes/origin/master). You usually
257 want the tags from the other end.
258 On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
260 one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to get
261 tags from there. This happens more often for people near the toplevel
262 but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling from each other do
263 not necessarily want to automatically get private anchor point tags
264 from the other person.
265 Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide two
267 pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this is designed
268 to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a git fetch command line:
269 Linus, please pull from
271 git://git..../proj.git master
273 to get the following updates...
275 becomes:
277 $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master
279 In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
281 person’s tags.
282 One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which largely
284 means there is no inherent "upstream" or "downstream" in the system. On
285 the face of it, the above example might seem to indicate that the tag
286 namespace is owned by the upper echelon of people and that tags only
287 flow downwards, but that is not the case. It only shows that the usage
288 pattern determines who are interested in whose tags.
289 A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing the
291 boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are primarily
292 interested in the networking part of the kernel") who may have their
293 own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release candidate from the
294 networking group to be proposed for general consumption with 2.6.21
295 release") to another circle of people (e.g. "people who integrate
296 various subsystem improvements"). The latter are usually not interested
297 in the detailed tags used internally in the former group (that is what
298 "internal" means). That is why it is desirable not to follow tags
299 automatically in this case.
300 It may well be that among networking people, they may want to exchange
302 the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow they are most
303 likely tracking each other’s progress by having remote-tracking
304 branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically follow such tags is a
305 good thing.
306 On Backdating Tags
308 If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like to
309 add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be able to
310 specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such data in the
311 tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags in the gitweb
312 interface.
313 To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
315 variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
316 values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").
317 For example:
319 $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1
321
323 The GIT_AUTHOR_DATE and GIT_COMMITTER_DATE environment variables
324 support the following date formats:
325 Git internal format
327 It is <unix-timestamp> <time-zone-offset>, where <unix-timestamp>
328 is the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch. <time-zone-offset>
329 is a positive or negative offset from UTC. For example CET (which
330 is 1 hour ahead of UTC) is +0100.
331 RFC 2822
333 The standard email format as described by RFC 2822, for example
334 Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:13:13 +0200.
335 ISO 8601
337 Time and date specified by the ISO 8601 standard, for example
338 2005-04-07T22:13:13. The parser accepts a space instead of the T
339 character as well. Fractional parts of a second will be ignored,
340 for example 2005-04-07T22:13:13.019 will be treated as
341 2005-04-07T22:13:13.
342 Note
344 In addition, the date part is accepted in the following
345 formats: YYYY.MM.DD, MM/DD/YYYY and DD.MM.YYYY.
346
348 When combining multiple --contains and --no-contains filters, only
349 references that contain at least one of the --contains commits and
350 contain none of the --no-contains commits are shown.
351 When combining multiple --merged and --no-merged filters, only
353 references that are reachable from at least one of the --merged commits
354 and from none of the --no-merged commits are shown.
355
357 git-check-ref-format(1). git-config(1).
358
360 Part of the git(1) suite
361Git 2.36.1 2022-05-05 GIT-TAG(1)