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NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

git send-email [<options>] <file|directory>…​
git send-email [<options>] <format-patch options>
git send-email --dump-aliases

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, as well as options understood by git-format-patch[1].

The header of the email is configurable via 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.

This option may be specified multiple times.

--cc=<address>,…​

Specify a starting "Cc:" value for each email. Default is the value of sendemail.cc.

This option may be specified multiple times.

--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".

--reply-to=<address>

Specify the address where replies from recipients should go to. Use this if replies to messages should go to another address than what is specified with the --from parameter.

--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.

This option may be specified multiple times.

--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.

--transfer-encoding=(7bit|8bit|quoted-printable|base64|auto)

Specify the transfer encoding to be used to send the message over SMTP. 7bit will fail upon encountering a non-ASCII message. quoted-printable can be useful when the repository contains files that contain carriage returns, but makes the raw patch email file (as saved from a MUA) much harder to inspect manually. base64 is even more fool proof, but also even more opaque. auto will use 8bit when possible, and quoted-printable otherwise.

Default is the value of the sendemail.transferEncoding configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to auto.

--xmailer
--no-xmailer

Add (or prevent adding) the "X-Mailer:" header. By default, the header is added, but it can be turned off by setting the sendemail.xmailer configuration variable to false.

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.

--sendmail-cmd=<command>

Specify a command to run to send the email. The command should be sendmail-like; specifically, it must support the -i option. The command will be executed in the shell if necessary. Default is the value of sendemail.sendmailcmd. If unspecified, and if --smtp-server is also unspecified, git-send-email will search for sendmail in /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and $PATH.

--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-auth=<mechanisms>

Whitespace-separated list of allowed SMTP-AUTH mechanisms. This setting forces using only the listed mechanisms. Example:

$ git send-email --smtp-auth="PLAIN LOGIN GSSAPI" ...

If at least one of the specified mechanisms matches the ones advertised by the SMTP server and if it is supported by the utilized SASL library, the mechanism is used for authentication. If neither sendemail.smtpAuth nor --smtp-auth is specified, all mechanisms supported by the SASL library can be used. The special value none maybe specified to completely disable authentication independently of --smtp-user

--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.

--no-smtp-auth

Disable SMTP authentication. Short hand for --smtp-auth=none

--smtp-server=<host>

If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g. smtp.example.com or a raw IP address). If unspecified, and if --sendmail-cmd is also unspecified, the default is to search for sendmail in /usr/sbin, /usr/lib and $PATH if such a program is available, falling back to localhost otherwise.

For backward compatibility, this option can also specify a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must support the -i option. This method does not support passing arguments or using plain command names. For those use cases, consider using --sendmail-cmd instead.

--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-ssl-cert-path

Path to a store of trusted CA certificates for SMTP SSL/TLS certificate validation (either a directory that has been processed by c_rehash, or a single file containing one or more PEM format certificates concatenated together: see verify(1) -CAfile and -CApath for more information on these). Set it to an empty string to disable certificate verification. Defaults to the value of the sendemail.smtpsslcertpath configuration variable, if set, or the backing SSL library’s compiled-in default otherwise (which should be the best choice on most platforms).

--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.

--batch-size=<num>

Some email servers (e.g. smtp.163.com) limit the number emails to be sent per session (connection) and this will lead to a failure when sending many messages. With this option, send-email will disconnect after sending $<num> messages and wait for a few seconds (see --relogin-delay) and reconnect, to work around such a limit. You may want to use some form of credential helper to avoid having to retype your password every time this happens. Defaults to the sendemail.smtpBatchSize configuration variable.

--relogin-delay=<int>

Waiting $<int> seconds before reconnecting to SMTP server. Used together with --batch-size option. Defaults to the sendemail.smtpReloginDelay configuration variable.

Automating

--no-[to|cc|bcc]

Clears any list of "To:", "Cc:", "Bcc:" addresses previously set via config.

--no-identity

Clears the previously read value of sendemail.identity set via config, if any.

--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 the Signed-off-by trailer 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.

--[no-]cc-cover

If this is set, emails found in Cc: headers in the first patch of the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the cc list for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.cccover configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-cc-cover.

--[no-]to-cover

If this is set, emails found in To: headers in the first patch of the series (typically the cover letter) are added to the to list for each email set. Default is the value of sendemail.tocover configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --no-to-cover.

--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 the Signed-off-by trailers except for self (use self for that).

  • misc-by will avoid including anyone mentioned in Acked-by, Reviewed-by, Tested-by and other "-by" lines in the patch body, except Signed-off-by (use sob for that).

  • cccmd will avoid running the --cc-cmd.

  • body is equivalent to sob + bodycc + misc-by.

  • 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:

  • Invoke the sendemail-validate hook if present (see githooks[5]).

  • Warn of patches that contain lines longer than 998 characters unless a suitable transfer encoding (auto, base64, or quoted-printable) is used; this is due to SMTP limits as described by http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5322.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.

Information

--dump-aliases

Instead of the normal operation, dump the shorthand alias names from the configured alias file(s), one per line in alphabetical order. Note, this only includes the alias name and not its expanded email addresses. See sendemail.aliasesfile for more information about aliases.

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, or sendmail.

What an alias file in each format looks like can be found in the documentation of the email program of the same name. The differences and limitations from the standard formats are described below:

sendmail

  • Quoted aliases and quoted addresses are not supported: lines that contain a " symbol are ignored.

  • Redirection to a file (/path/name) or pipe (|command) is not supported.

  • File inclusion (:include: /path/name) is not supported.

  • Warnings are printed on the standard error output for any explicitly unsupported constructs, and any other lines that are not recognized by the parser.

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.

EXAMPLES

Use gmail as the smtp server

To use git send-email to send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, edit ~/.gitconfig to specify your account settings:

[sendemail]
	smtpEncryption = tls
	smtpServer = smtp.gmail.com
	smtpUser = yourname@gmail.com
	smtpServerPort = 587

If you have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account, you will need to generate an app-specific password for use with git send-email. Visit https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords to create it.

If you do not have multi-factor authentication set up on your Gmail account, you will need to allow less secure app access. Visit https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps to enable it.

Once your commits are ready to be sent to the mailing list, run the following commands:

$ git format-patch --cover-letter -M origin/master -o outgoing/
$ edit outgoing/0000-*
$ git send-email outgoing/*

The first time you run it, you will be prompted for your credentials. Enter the app-specific or your regular password as appropriate. If you have credential helper configured (see git-credential[1]), the password will be saved in the credential store so you won’t have to type it the next time.

Note: the following core Perl modules that may be installed with your distribution of Perl are required: MIME::Base64, MIME::QuotedPrint, Net::Domain and Net::SMTP. These additional Perl modules are also required: Authen::SASL and Mail::Address.

SEE ALSO

git-format-patch[1], git-imap-send[1], mbox(5)

GIT

Part of the git[1] suite

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