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-git-format-patch(1)
-===================
-
-NAME
-----
-git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission
-
-
-SYNOPSIS
---------
-[verse]
-'git format-patch' [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout]
- [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]]
- [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach]
- [-s | --signoff]
- [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature]
- [--signature-file=<file>]
- [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
- [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
- [--in-reply-to=<message-id>] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
- [--ignore-if-in-upstream] [--always]
- [--cover-from-description=<mode>]
- [--rfc[=<rfc>]] [--subject-prefix=<subject-prefix>]
- [(--reroll-count|-v) <n>]
- [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
- [--[no-]cover-letter] [--quiet]
- [--[no-]encode-email-headers]
- [--no-notes | --notes[=<ref>]]
- [--interdiff=<previous>]
- [--range-diff=<previous> [--creation-factor=<percent>]]
- [--filename-max-length=<n>]
- [--progress]
- [<common-diff-options>]
- [ <since> | <revision-range> ]
-
-DESCRIPTION
------------
-
-Prepare each non-merge commit with its "patch" in
-one "message" per commit, formatted to resemble a UNIX mailbox.
-The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
-for use with 'git am'.
-
-A "message" generated by the command consists of three parts:
-
-* A brief metadata header that begins with `From <commit>`
- with a fixed `Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001` datestamp to help programs
- like "file(1)" to recognize that the file is an output from this
- command, fields that record the author identity, the author date,
- and the title of the change (taken from the first paragraph of the
- commit log message).
-
-* The second and subsequent paragraphs of the commit log message.
-
-* The "patch", which is the "diff -p --stat" output (see
- linkgit:git-diff[1]) between the commit and its parent.
-
-The log message and the patch are separated by a line with a
-three-dash line.
-
-There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
-
-1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
- to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
- that leads to the <since> to be output.
-
-2. Generic <revision-range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
- REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]) means the
- commits in the specified range.
-
-The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To
-apply the second rule, i.e., format everything since the beginning of
-history up until <commit>, use the `--root` option: `git format-patch
---root <commit>`. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you
-can do this with `git format-patch -1 <commit>`.
-
-By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
-first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
-the filename. With the `--numbered-files` option, the output file names
-will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit appended.
-The names of the output files are printed to standard
-output, unless the `--stdout` option is specified.
-
-If `-o` is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise
-they are created in the current working directory. The default path
-can be set with the `format.outputDirectory` configuration option.
-The `-o` option takes precedence over `format.outputDirectory`.
-To store patches in the current working directory even when
-`format.outputDirectory` points elsewhere, use `-o .`. All directory
-components will be created.
-
-By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] " followed by
-the concatenation of lines from the commit message up to the first blank
-line (see the DISCUSSION section of linkgit:git-commit[1]).
-
-When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be
-"[PATCH n/m] ". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use `-n`.
-To omit patch numbers from the subject, use `-N`.
-
-If given `--thread`, `git-format-patch` will generate `In-Reply-To` and
-`References` headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
-as replies to the first mail; this also generates a `Message-ID` header to
-reference.
-
-OPTIONS
--------
-:git-format-patch: 1
-include::diff-options.txt[]
-
--<n>::
- Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.
-
--o <dir>::
---output-directory <dir>::
- Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the
- current working directory.
-
--n::
---numbered::
- Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
-
--N::
---no-numbered::
- Name output in '[PATCH]' format.
-
---start-number <n>::
- Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.
-
---numbered-files::
- Output file names will be a simple number sequence
- without the default first line of the commit appended.
-
--k::
---keep-subject::
- Do not strip/add '[PATCH]' from the first line of the
- commit log message.
-
--s::
---signoff::
- Add a `Signed-off-by` trailer to the commit message, using
- the committer identity of yourself.
- See the signoff option in linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
-
---stdout::
- Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format,
- instead of creating a file for each one.
-
---attach[=<boundary>]::
- Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
- which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
- second part, with `Content-Disposition: attachment`.
-
---no-attach::
- Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the
- configuration setting.
-
---inline[=<boundary>]::
- Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of
- which is the commit message and the patch itself in the
- second part, with `Content-Disposition: inline`.
-
---thread[=<style>]::
---no-thread::
- Controls addition of `In-Reply-To` and `References` headers to
- make the second and subsequent mails appear as replies to the
- first. Also controls generation of the `Message-ID` header to
- reference.
-+
-The optional <style> argument can be either `shallow` or `deep`.
-'shallow' threading makes every mail a reply to the head of the
-series, where the head is chosen from the cover letter, the
-`--in-reply-to`, and the first patch mail, in this order. 'deep'
-threading makes every mail a reply to the previous one.
-+
-The default is `--no-thread`, unless the `format.thread` configuration
-is set. `--thread` without an argument is equivalent to `--thread=shallow`.
-+
-Beware that the default for 'git send-email' is to thread emails
-itself. If you want `git format-patch` to take care of threading, you
-will want to ensure that threading is disabled for `git send-email`.
-
---in-reply-to=<message-id>::
- 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.
-
---ignore-if-in-upstream::
- Do not include a patch that matches a commit in
- <until>..<since>. This will examine all patches reachable
- from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the
- patches being generated, and any patch that matches is
- ignored.
-
---always::
- Include patches for commits that do not introduce any change,
- which are omitted by default.
-
---cover-from-description=<mode>::
- Controls which parts of the cover letter will be automatically
- populated using the branch's description.
-+
-If `<mode>` is `message` or `default`, the cover letter subject will be
-populated with placeholder text. The body of the cover letter will be
-populated with the branch's description. This is the default mode when
-no configuration nor command line option is specified.
-+
-If `<mode>` is `subject`, the first paragraph of the branch description will
-populate the cover letter subject. The remainder of the description will
-populate the body of the cover letter.
-+
-If `<mode>` is `auto`, if the first paragraph of the branch description
-is greater than 100 bytes, then the mode will be `message`, otherwise
-`subject` will be used.
-+
-If `<mode>` is `none`, both the cover letter subject and body will be
-populated with placeholder text.
-
---description-file=<file>::
- Use the contents of <file> instead of the branch's description
- for generating the cover letter.
-
---subject-prefix=<subject-prefix>::
- Instead of the standard '[PATCH]' prefix in the subject
- line, instead use '[<subject-prefix>]'. This can be used
- to name a patch series, and can be combined with the
- `--numbered` option.
-+
-The configuration variable `format.subjectPrefix` may also be used
-to configure a subject prefix to apply to a given repository for
-all patches. This is often useful on mailing lists which receive
-patches for several repositories and can be used to disambiguate
-the patches (with a value of e.g. "PATCH my-project").
-
---filename-max-length=<n>::
- Instead of the standard 64 bytes, chomp the generated output
- filenames at around '<n>' bytes (too short a value will be
- silently raised to a reasonable length). Defaults to the
- value of the `format.filenameMaxLength` configuration
- variable, or 64 if unconfigured.
-
---rfc[=<rfc>]::
- Prepends the string _<rfc>_ (defaults to "RFC") to
- the subject prefix. As the subject prefix defaults to
- "PATCH", you'll get "RFC PATCH" by default.
-+
-RFC means "Request For Comments"; use this when sending
-an experimental patch for discussion rather than application.
-"--rfc=WIP" may also be a useful way to indicate that a patch
-is not complete yet ("WIP" stands for "Work In Progress").
-+
-If the convention of the receiving community for a particular extra
-string is to have it _after_ the subject prefix, the string _<rfc>_
-can be prefixed with a dash ("`-`") to signal that the rest of
-the _<rfc>_ string should be appended to the subject prefix instead,
-e.g., `--rfc='-(WIP)'` results in "PATCH (WIP)".
-
--v <n>::
---reroll-count=<n>::
- Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The
- output filenames have `v<n>` prepended to them, and the
- subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
- `--subject-prefix` option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.
- `--reroll-count=4` may produce `v4-0001-add-makefile.patch`
- file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
- `<n>` does not have to be an integer (e.g. "--reroll-count=4.4",
- or "--reroll-count=4rev2" are allowed), but the downside of
- using such a reroll-count is that the range-diff/interdiff
- with the previous version does not state exactly which
- version the new iteration is compared against.
-
---to=<email>::
- Add a `To:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
- to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
- The negated form `--no-to` discards all `To:` headers added so
- far (from config or command line).
-
---cc=<email>::
- Add a `Cc:` header to the email headers. This is in addition
- to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
- The negated form `--no-cc` discards all `Cc:` headers added so
- far (from config or command line).
-
---from::
---from=<ident>::
- Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each commit email. If the
- author ident of the commit is not textually identical to the
- provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the body of the
- message with the original author. If no `ident` is given, use
- the committer ident.
-+
-Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the
-emails and want to identify yourself as the sender, but retain the
-original author (and `git am` will correctly pick up the in-body
-header). Note also that `git send-email` already handles this
-transformation for you, and this option should not be used if you are
-feeding the result to `git send-email`.
-
---[no-]force-in-body-from::
- With the e-mail sender specified via the `--from` option, by
- default, an in-body "From:" to identify the real author of
- the commit is added at the top of the commit log message if
- the sender is different from the author. With this option,
- the in-body "From:" is added even when the sender and the
- author have the same name and address, which may help if the
- mailing list software mangles the sender's identity.
- Defaults to the value of the `format.forceInBodyFrom`
- configuration variable.
-
---add-header=<header>::
- Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition
- to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
- For example, `--add-header="Organization: git-foo"`.
- The negated form `--no-add-header` discards *all* (`To:`,
- `Cc:`, and custom) headers added so far from config or command
- line.
-
---[no-]cover-letter::
- In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
- containing the branch description, shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
- fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
-
---encode-email-headers::
---no-encode-email-headers::
- Encode email headers that have non-ASCII characters with
- "Q-encoding" (described in RFC 2047), instead of outputting the
- headers verbatim. Defaults to the value of the
- `format.encodeEmailHeaders` configuration variable.
-
---interdiff=<previous>::
- As a reviewer aid, insert an interdiff into the cover letter,
- or as commentary of the lone patch of a 1-patch series, showing
- the differences between the previous version of the patch series and
- the series currently being formatted. `previous` is a single revision
- naming the tip of the previous series which shares a common base with
- the series being formatted (for example `git format-patch
- --cover-letter --interdiff=feature/v1 -3 feature/v2`).
-
---range-diff=<previous>::
- As a reviewer aid, insert a range-diff (see linkgit:git-range-diff[1])
- into the cover letter, or as commentary of the lone patch of a
- 1-patch series, showing the differences between the previous
- version of the patch series and the series currently being formatted.
- `previous` can be a single revision naming the tip of the previous
- series if it shares a common base with the series being formatted (for
- example `git format-patch --cover-letter --range-diff=feature/v1 -3
- feature/v2`), or a revision range if the two versions of the series are
- disjoint (for example `git format-patch --cover-letter
- --range-diff=feature/v1~3..feature/v1 -3 feature/v2`).
-+
-Note that diff options passed to the command affect how the primary
-product of `format-patch` is generated, and they are not passed to
-the underlying `range-diff` machinery used to generate the cover-letter
-material (this may change in the future).
-
---creation-factor=<percent>::
- Used with `--range-diff`, tweak the heuristic which matches up commits
- between the previous and current series of patches by adjusting the
- creation/deletion cost fudge factor. See linkgit:git-range-diff[1])
- for details.
-+
-Defaults to 999 (the linkgit:git-range-diff[1] uses 60), as the use
-case is to show comparison with an older iteration of the same
-topic and the tool should find more correspondence between the two
-sets of patches.
-
---notes[=<ref>]::
---no-notes::
- Append the notes (see linkgit:git-notes[1]) for the commit
- after the three-dash line.
-+
-The expected use case of this is to write supporting explanation for
-the commit that does not belong to the commit log message proper,
-and include it with the patch submission. While one can simply write
-these explanations after `format-patch` has run but before sending,
-keeping them as Git notes allows them to be maintained between versions
-of the patch series (but see the discussion of the `notes.rewrite`
-configuration options in linkgit:git-notes[1] to use this workflow).
-+
-The default is `--no-notes`, unless the `format.notes` configuration is
-set.
-
---[no-]signature=<signature>::
- Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature
- is separated from the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the
- signature option is omitted the signature defaults to the Git version
- number.
-
---signature-file=<file>::
- Works just like --signature except the signature is read from a file.
-
---suffix=.<sfx>::
- Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
- filenames, use specified suffix. A common alternative is
- `--suffix=.txt`. Leaving this empty will remove the `.patch`
- suffix.
-+
-Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example,
-you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
-
--q::
---quiet::
- Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.
-
---no-binary::
- Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead
- display a notice that those files changed. Patches generated
- using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
- still useful for code review.
-
---zero-commit::
- Output an all-zero hash in each patch's From header instead
- of the hash of the commit.
-
---[no-]base[=<commit>]::
- Record the base tree information to identify the state the
- patch series applies to. See the BASE TREE INFORMATION section
- below for details. If <commit> is "auto", a base commit is
- automatically chosen. The `--no-base` option overrides a
- `format.useAutoBase` configuration.
-
---root::
- Treat the revision argument as a <revision-range>, even if it
- is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a
- <since>). Note that root commits included in the specified
- range are always formatted as creation patches, independently
- of this flag.
-
---progress::
- Show progress reports on stderr as patches are generated.
-
-CONFIGURATION
--------------
-You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message,
-defaults for the subject prefix and file suffix, number patches when
-outputting more than one patch, add "To:" or "Cc:" headers, configure
-attachments, change the patch output directory, and sign off patches
-with configuration variables.
-
-------------
-[format]
- headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
- subjectPrefix = CHANGE
- suffix = .txt
- numbered = auto
- to = <email>
- cc = <email>
- attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
- signOff = true
- outputDirectory = <directory>
- coverLetter = auto
- coverFromDescription = auto
-------------
-
-
-DISCUSSION
-----------
-
-The patch produced by 'git format-patch' is in UNIX mailbox format,
-with a fixed "magic" time stamp to indicate that the file is output
-from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like so:
-
-------------
-From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
-Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
-Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
- =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
-MIME-Version: 1.0
-Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
-Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
-
-arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
-(See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)
-
-Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
-...
-------------
-
-Typically it will be placed in a MUA's drafts folder, edited to add
-timely commentary that should not go in the changelog after the three
-dashes, and then sent as a message whose body, in our example, starts
-with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
-can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with
-linkgit:git-am[1].
-
-When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by
-'git format-patch' can be tweaked to take advantage of the 'git am
---scissors' feature. After your response to the discussion comes a
-line that consists solely of "`-- >8 --`" (scissors and perforation),
-followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:
-
-------------
-...
-> So we should do such-and-such.
-
-Makes sense to me. How about this patch?
-
--- >8 --
-Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet
-
-arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
-...
-------------
-
-When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own
-patch, so in addition to the "`From $SHA1 $magic_timestamp`" marker you
-should omit `From:` and `Date:` lines from the patch file. The patch
-title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the
-patch is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep
-the Subject: line, like the example above.
-
-Checking for patch corruption
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are
-two common types of corruption:
-
-* Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.
-
-* Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the
- beginning.
-
-One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:
-
-* Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except
- with To: and Cc: lines that do not contain the list and
- maintainer address.
-
-* Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch,
- say.
-
-* Apply it:
-
- $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
- $ git switch test-apply
- $ git restore --source=HEAD --staged --worktree :/
- $ git am a.patch
-
-If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
-
-* The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but
- does not have much to do with your MUA. You might want to rebase
- the patch with linkgit:git-rebase[1] before regenerating it in
- this case.
-
-* The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that
- the patch does not apply. Look in the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and
- see what 'patch' file contains and check for the common
- corruption patterns mentioned above.
-
-* While at it, check the 'info' and 'final-commit' files as well.
- If what is in 'final-commit' is not exactly what you would want to
- see in the commit log message, it is very likely that the
- receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying
- your patch. Things like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the
- patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
- the end of the commit message.
-
-MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS
-------------------
-Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
-various mailers.
-
-GMail
-~~~~~
-GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
-interface, so it will mangle any emails that you send. You can however
-use "git send-email" and send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, or
-use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and forward
-the emails through that.
-
-For hints on using 'git send-email' to send your patches through the
-GMail SMTP server, see the EXAMPLE section of linkgit:git-send-email[1].
-
-For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE
-section of linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
-
-Thunderbird
-~~~~~~~~~~~
-By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
-them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
-resulting email unusable by Git.
-
-There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps,
-configure Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use
-an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
-
-Approach #1 (add-on)
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
-https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/
-It adds a menu entry "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer's "Options" menu
-that you can tick off. Now you can compose the message as you otherwise do
-(cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc), but you have to
-insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.
-
-Approach #2 (configuration)
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-Three steps:
-
-1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
- Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
- uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
-
-2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
-+
-In Thunderbird 2:
-Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
-+
-In Thunderbird 3:
-Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
-"mail.wrap_long_lines".
-Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`. Also, search for
-"mailnews.wraplength" and set the value to 0.
-
-3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
- Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
- "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
- Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
-
-After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
-otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
-and the patches will not be mangled.
-
-Approach #3 (external editor)
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
-AboutConfig from https://mjg.github.io/AboutConfig/ and
-External Editor from https://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
-
-1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
-
-2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
- uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
- "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
- send the patch.
-
-3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
- window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
- following to the indicated values:
-+
-----------
- mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed => false
- mailnews.wraplength => 0
-----------
-
-4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
-
-5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
- the editor normally.
-
-Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
-about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
-
-----------
- mail.html_compose => false
- mail.identity.default.compose_html => false
- mail.identity.id?.compose_html => false
-----------
-
-There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
-you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
-steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
-
-KMail
-~~~~~
-This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.
-
-1. Prepare the patch as a text file.
-
-2. Click on New Mail.
-
-3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that
- "Word wrap" is not set.
-
-4. Use Message -> Insert file... and insert the patch.
-
-5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the
- message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
-
-BASE TREE INFORMATION
----------------------
-
-The base tree information block is used for maintainers or third party
-testers to know the exact state the patch series applies to. It consists
-of the 'base commit', which is a well-known commit that is part of the
-stable part of the project history everybody else works off of, and zero
-or more 'prerequisite patches', which are well-known patches in flight
-that is not yet part of the 'base commit' that need to be applied on top
-of 'base commit' in topological order before the patches can be applied.
-
-The 'base commit' is shown as "base-commit: " followed by the 40-hex of
-the commit object name. A 'prerequisite patch' is shown as
-"prerequisite-patch-id: " followed by the 40-hex 'patch id', which can
-be obtained by passing the patch through the `git patch-id --stable`
-command.
-
-Imagine that on top of the public commit P, you applied well-known
-patches X, Y and Z from somebody else, and then built your three-patch
-series A, B, C, the history would be like:
-
-................................................
----P---X---Y---Z---A---B---C
-................................................
-
-With `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` (or variants thereof, e.g. with
-`--cover-letter` or using `Z..C` instead of `-3 C` to specify the
-range), the base tree information block is shown at the end of the
-first message the command outputs (either the first patch, or the
-cover letter), like this:
-
-------------
-base-commit: P
-prerequisite-patch-id: X
-prerequisite-patch-id: Y
-prerequisite-patch-id: Z
-------------
-
-For non-linear topology, such as
-
-................................................
----P---X---A---M---C
- \ /
- Y---Z---B
-................................................
-
-You can also use `git format-patch --base=P -3 C` to generate patches
-for A, B and C, and the identifiers for P, X, Y, Z are appended at the
-end of the first message.
-
-If set `--base=auto` in cmdline, it will automatically compute
-the base commit as the merge base of tip commit of the remote-tracking
-branch and revision-range specified in cmdline.
-For a local branch, you need to make it to track a remote branch by `git branch
---set-upstream-to` before using this option.
-
-EXAMPLES
---------
-
-* Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
- the current branch using 'git am' to cherry-pick them:
-+
-------------
-$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
-------------
-
-* Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
- origin branch:
-+
-------------
-$ git format-patch origin
-------------
-+
-For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
-
-* Extract all commits that lead to 'origin' since the inception of the
- project:
-+
-------------
-$ git format-patch --root origin
-------------
-
-* The same as the previous one:
-+
-------------
-$ git format-patch -M -B origin
-------------
-+
-Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites
-intelligently to produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces
-the amount of text output, and generally makes it easier to review.
-Note that non-Git "patch" programs won't understand renaming patches, so
-use it only when you know the recipient uses Git to apply your patch.
-
-* Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them
- as e-mailable patches:
-+
-------------
-$ git format-patch -3
-------------
-
-CAVEATS
--------
-
-Note that `format-patch` will omit merge commits from the output, even
-if they are part of the requested range. A simple "patch" does not
-include enough information for the receiving end to reproduce the same
-merge commit.
-
-SEE ALSO
---------
-linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1]
-
-GIT
----
-Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite