git-send-email(1)

# git-send-email(1) Manual Page

## NAME

git-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.

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.

## OPTIONS

### Composing

--bcc

  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

  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.

--annotate

  Review each patch you're about to send in an editor. The setting sendemail.multiedit defines if this will spawn one editor per patch or one for all of them at once.

--compose

  Use $GIT_EDITOR, core.editor, $VISUAL, or $EDITOR to edit an introductory message for the patch series.

  When --compose is used, git send-email gets less interactive will use the values of the headers you set there. If the body of the email (what you type after the headers and a blank line) only contains blank (or GIT: prefixed) lines, the summary won't be sent, but git-send-email will still use the Headers values if you don't removed them.

  If it wasn't able to see a header in the summary it will ask you about it interactively after quitting your editor.

--from

  Specify the sender of the emails. This will default to the value GIT_COMMITTER_IDENT, as returned by "git var -l". The user will still be prompted to confirm this entry.

--in-reply-to

  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 (the default) Only necessary if --compose is also set. If --compose is not set, this will be prompted for.

--subject

  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

  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, this will be prompted for.

  The --to option must be repeated for each user you want on the to list.

### Sending

--envelope-sender

  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. 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

  Specify the encryption to use, either ssl or tls. Any other value reverts to plain SMTP. Default is the value of sendemail.smtpencryption.

--smtp-pass

  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

  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

  Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP servers typically listen to smtp port 25 and ssmtp port 465). This can be set with sendemail.smtpserverport.

--smtp-ssl

  Legacy alias for --smtp-encryption ssl.

--smtp-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.

### Automating

--cc-cmd

  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. Default is the value of the sendemail.chainreplyto configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --chain-reply-to.

--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

  Specify an additional category of recipients to suppress the auto-cc of. self will avoid including the sender, author will avoid including the patch author, cc will avoid including anyone mentioned in Cc lines in the patch, sob will avoid including anyone mentioned in Signed-off-by lines, and cccmd will avoid running the --cc-cmd. 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 sob 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 header will be set on each email sent. If disabled with "--no-thread", no emails will have the In-Reply-To header set. Default is the value of the sendemail.thread configuration value; if that is unspecified, default to --thread.

### Administering

--dry-run

  Do everything except actually send the emails.

--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:

  - Warn of patches that contain lines longer than 998 characters; this is due to SMTP limits as described by http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt.

  Default is the value of sendemail.validate; if this is not set, default to --validate.

--[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.

## 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, 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.

## Author

Written by Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.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