DESCRIPTION¶
Takes the patches given on the command line and emails them out.
Patches can be specified as files, directories (which will send all files in
the directory), or directly as a revision list. In the last case, any format
accepted by git-format-patch(1) can be passed to git send-email.
The header of the email is configurable by command line options.
If not specified on the command line, the user will be prompted with a
ReadLine enabled interface to provide the necessary information.
There are two formats accepted for patch files:
1.mbox format files
This is what git-format-patch(1) generates. Most headers
and MIME formatting are ignored.
2.The original format used by Greg
Kroah-Hartman’s
send_lots_of_email.pl script
This format expects the first line of the file to contain the
"Cc:" value and the "Subject:" of the message as the
second line.
OPTIONS¶
Composing¶
--annotate
Review and edit each patch you’re about to send.
Default is the value of sendemail.annotate. See the CONFIGURATION
section for sendemail.multiedit.
--bcc=<address>
Specify a "Bcc:" value for each email. Default
is the value of
sendemail.bcc.
The --bcc option must be repeated for each user you want on the
bcc list.
--cc=<address>
Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email.
Default is the value of
sendemail.cc.
The --cc option must be repeated for each user you want on the cc
list.
--compose
Invoke a text editor (see GIT_EDITOR in
git-var(1)) to edit an introductory message for the patch series.
When --compose is used, git send-email will use the From,
Subject, and In-Reply-To headers specified in the message. If the body of
the message (what you type after the headers and a blank line) only contains
blank (or Git: prefixed) lines the summary won’t be sent, but From,
Subject, and In-Reply-To headers will be used unless they are removed.
Missing From or In-Reply-To headers will be prompted for.
See the CONFIGURATION section for sendemail.multiedit.
--from=<address>
Specify the sender of the emails. If not specified on the
command line, the value of the sendemail.from configuration option is
used. If neither the command line option nor sendemail.from are set,
then the user will be prompted for the value. The default for the prompt will
be the value of GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT, or GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT if that is not set,
as returned by "git var -l".
--in-reply-to=<identifier>
Make the first mail (or all the mails with --no-thread)
appear as a reply to the given Message-Id, which avoids breaking threads to
provide a new patch series. The second and subsequent emails will be sent as
replies according to the --[no]-chain-reply-to setting.
So for example when --thread and --no-chain-reply-to are
specified, the second and subsequent patches will be replies to the first
one like in the illustration below where [PATCH v2 0/3] is in reply to
[PATCH 0/2]:
[PATCH 0/2] Here is what I did...
[PATCH 1/2] Clean up and tests
[PATCH 2/2] Implementation
[PATCH v2 0/3] Here is a reroll
[PATCH v2 1/3] Clean up
[PATCH v2 2/3] New tests
[PATCH v2 3/3] Implementation
Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose is not set,
this will be prompted for.
--subject=<string>
Specify the initial subject of the email thread. Only
necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose is not set, this will be
prompted for.
--to=<address>
Specify the primary recipient of the emails generated.
Generally, this will be the upstream maintainer of the project involved.
Default is the value of the
sendemail.to configuration value; if that
is unspecified, and --to-cmd is not specified, this will be prompted for.
The --to option must be repeated for each user you want on the to
list.
--8bit-encoding=<encoding>
When encountering a non-ASCII message or subject that
does not declare its encoding, add headers/quoting to indicate it is encoded
in <encoding>. Default is the value of the
sendemail.assume8bitEncoding; if that is unspecified, this will be
prompted for if any non-ASCII files are encountered.
Note that no attempts whatsoever are made to validate the
encoding.
--compose-encoding=<encoding>
Specify encoding of compose message. Default is the value
of the sendemail.composeencoding; if that is unspecified, UTF-8 is
assumed.
Sending¶
--envelope-sender=<address>
Specify the envelope sender used to send the emails. This
is useful if your default address is not the address that is subscribed to a
list. In order to use the From address, set the value to
"auto". If you use the sendmail binary, you must have suitable
privileges for the -f parameter. Default is the value of the
sendemail.envelopesender configuration variable; if that is
unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
--smtp-encryption=<encryption>
Specify the encryption to use, either ssl or
tls. Any other value reverts to plain SMTP. Default is the value of
sendemail.smtpencryption.
--smtp-domain=<FQDN>
Specifies the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used in
the HELO/EHLO command to the SMTP server. Some servers require the FQDN to
match your IP address. If not set, git send-email attempts to determine your
FQDN automatically. Default is the value of sendemail.smtpdomain.
--smtp-pass[=<password>]
Password for SMTP-AUTH. The argument is optional: If no
argument is specified, then the empty string is used as the password. Default
is the value of
sendemail.smtppass, however
--smtp-pass always
overrides this value.
Furthermore, passwords need not be specified in configuration
files or on the command line. If a username has been specified (with
--smtp-user or a sendemail.smtpuser), but no password has been
specified (with --smtp-pass or sendemail.smtppass), then a
password is obtained using git-credential.
--smtp-server=<host>
If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
smtp.example.com or a raw IP address). Alternatively it can specify a full
pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must support the -i
option. Default value can be specified by the sendemail.smtpserver
configuration option; the built-in default is /usr/sbin/sendmail or
/usr/lib/sendmail if such program is available, or localhost otherwise.
--smtp-server-port=<port>
Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP
servers typically listen to smtp port 25, but may also listen to submission
port 587, or the common SSL smtp port 465); symbolic port names (e.g.
"submission" instead of 587) are also accepted. The port can also be
set with the sendemail.smtpserverport configuration variable.
--smtp-server-option=<option>
If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server option to use.
Default value can be specified by the
sendemail.smtpserveroption
configuration option.
The --smtp-server-option option must be repeated for each option
you want to pass to the server. Likewise, different lines in the
configuration files must be used for each option.
--smtp-ssl
Legacy alias for --smtp-encryption ssl.
--smtp-user=<user>
Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of
sendemail.smtpuser; if a username is not specified (with
--smtp-user or sendemail.smtpuser), then authentication is not
attempted.
--smtp-debug=0|1
Enable (1) or disable (0) debug output. If enabled, SMTP
commands and replies will be printed. Useful to debug TLS connection and
authentication problems.
Automating¶
--to-cmd=<command>
Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
should generate patch file specific "To:" entries. Output of this
command must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
sendemail.tocmd configuration value.
--cc-cmd=<command>
Specify a command to execute once per patch file which
should generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries. Output of this
command must be single email address per line. Default is the value of
sendemail.cccmd configuration value.
--[no-]chain-reply-to
If this is set, each email will be sent as a reply to the
previous email sent. If disabled with "--no-chain-reply-to", all
emails after the first will be sent as replies to the first email sent. When
using this, it is recommended that the first file given be an overview of the
entire patch series. Disabled by default, but the
sendemail.chainreplyto configuration variable can be used to enable
it.
--identity=<identity>
A configuration identity. When given, causes values in
the sendemail.<identity> subsection to take precedence over
values in the sendemail section. The default identity is the value of
sendemail.identity.
--[no-]signed-off-by-cc
If this is set, add emails found in Signed-off-by: or Cc:
lines to the cc list. Default is the value of sendemail.signedoffbycc
configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to
--signed-off-by-cc.
--suppress-cc=<category>
Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress
the auto-cc of:
•author will avoid including the patch
author
•self will avoid including the sender
•cc will avoid including anyone mentioned
in Cc lines in the patch header except for self (use self for
that).
•bodycc will avoid including anyone
mentioned in Cc lines in the patch body (commit message) except for self (use
self for that).
•sob will avoid including anyone mentioned
in Signed-off-by lines except for self (use self for that).
•cccmd will avoid running the
--cc-cmd.
•body is equivalent to sob +
bodycc
•all will suppress all auto cc
values.
Default is the value of sendemail.suppresscc configuration
value; if that is unspecified, default to self if --suppress-from is
specified, as well as body if --no-signed-off-cc is specified.
--[no-]suppress-from
If this is set, do not add the From: address to the cc:
list. Default is the value of sendemail.suppressfrom configuration
value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-suppress-from.
--[no-]thread
If this is set, the In-Reply-To and References headers
will be added to each email sent. Whether each mail refers to the previous
email (deep threading per
git format-patch wording) or to the first
email (shallow threading) is governed by "--[no-]chain-reply-to".
If disabled with "--no-thread", those headers will not
be added (unless specified with --in-reply-to). Default is the value of the
sendemail.thread configuration value; if that is unspecified, default
to --thread.
It is up to the user to ensure that no In-Reply-To header already
exists when git send-email is asked to add it (especially note that
git format-patch can be configured to do the threading itself).
Failure to do so may not produce the expected result in the
recipient’s MUA.
Administering¶
--confirm=<mode>
Confirm just before sending:
•always will always confirm before
sending
•never will never confirm before
sending
•cc will confirm before sending when
send-email has automatically added addresses from the patch to the Cc
list
•compose will confirm before sending the
first message when using --compose.
•auto is equivalent to cc +
compose
Default is the value of sendemail.confirm configuration
value; if that is unspecified, default to auto unless any of the
suppress options have been specified, in which case default to
compose.
--dry-run
Do everything except actually send the emails.
--[no-]format-patch
When an argument may be understood either as a reference
or as a file name, choose to understand it as a format-patch argument
(--format-patch) or as a file name (--no-format-patch). By
default, when such a conflict occurs, git send-email will fail.
--quiet
Make git-send-email less verbose. One line per email
should be all that is output.
--[no-]validate
Perform sanity checks on patches. Currently, validation
means the following:
Default is the value of sendemail.validate; if this is not
set, default to --validate.
--force
Send emails even if safety checks would prevent it.
CONFIGURATION¶
sendemail.aliasesfile
To avoid typing long email addresses, point this to one
or more email aliases files. You must also supply
sendemail.aliasfiletype.
sendemail.aliasfiletype
Format of the file(s) specified in sendemail.aliasesfile.
Must be one of mutt, mailrc, pine, elm, or
gnus.
sendemail.multiedit
If true (default), a single editor instance will be
spawned to edit files you have to edit (patches when --annotate is
used, and the summary when --compose is used). If false, files will be
edited one after the other, spawning a new editor each time.
sendemail.confirm
Sets the default for whether to confirm before sending.
Must be one of always, never, cc, compose, or
auto. See --confirm in the previous section for the meaning of
these values.