GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)NAMEgit-send-email - Send a collection of patches as emails
SYNOPSIS
git send-email [options] <file|directory|rev-list options>...
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 Read-
Line 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. 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.
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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, Sub-
ject, 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 com-
mand 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>
Specify the contents of the first In-Reply-To header. Subsequent
emails will refer to the previous email instead of this if
--chain-reply-to is set. 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. Gener-
ally, this will be the upstream maintainer of the project
involved. Default is the value of the sendemail.to configuration
value; if that is unspecified, this will be prompted for.
The --to option must be repeated for each user you want on the
to list.
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--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 sende-
mail.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 encod-
ing.
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 sub-
scribed 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 sende-
mail.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
the user is prompted for a password while the input is masked
for privacy.
--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
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specify a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the
program must support the -i option. Default value can be speci-
fied 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 submis-
sion 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 configu-
ration variable.
--smtp-ssl
Legacy alias for --smtp-encryption ssl.
--smtp-user=<user>
Username for SMTP-AUTH. Default is the value of sendemail.smt-
puser; if a username is not specified (with --smtp-user or
sendemail.smtpuser), then authentication is not attempted.
Automating
--cc-cmd=<command>
Specify a command to execute once per patch file which should
generate patch file specific "Cc:" entries. Output of this com-
mand 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 previ-
ous 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 vari-
able 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
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GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)
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:
o author will avoid including the patch author
o self will avoid including the sender
o cc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the
patch header except for self (use self for that).
o bodycc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in
the patch body (commit message) except for self (use self for
that).
o sob will avoid including anyone mentioned in Signed-off-by
lines except for self (use self for that).
o cccmd will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
o body is equivalent to sob + bodycc
o all will suppress all auto cc values.
Default is the value of sendemail.suppresscc configuration
value; if that is unspecified, default to self if --sup-
press-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 previ-
ous 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 unspeci-
fied, default to --thread.
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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 (espe-
cially 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:
o always will always confirm before sending
o never will never confirm before sending
o cc will confirm before sending when send-email has automati-
cally added addresses from the patch to the Cc list
o compose will confirm before sending the first message when
using --compose.
o 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 sup-
press options have been specified, in which case default to com-
pose.
--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:
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GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)
o Warn of patches that contain lines longer than 998 charac-
ters; this is due to SMTP limits as described by
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt:
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt.
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.aliasfile-
type.
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.
USE GMAIL AS THE SMTP SERVER
Add the following section to the config file:
[sendemail]
smtpencryption = tls
smtpserver = smtp.gmail.com
smtpuser = yourname@gmail.com
smtpserverport = 587
Note: the following perl modules are required Net::SMTP::SSL,
MIME::Base64 and Authen::SASL
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GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)GIT-SEND-EMAIL(1)AUTHOR
Written by Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.com: mailto:ryan@michon-
line.com>
git-send-email is originally based upon send_lots_of_email.pl by Greg
Kroah-Hartman.
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation by Ryan Anderson
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
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