# 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. 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 linkgit:git-format-patch[1] can be passed to git send-email.

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 linkgit: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 linkgit: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.

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

  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. Default is the value of the sendemail.transferEncoding configuration value; if that is unspecified, git will use 8bit and not add a Content-Transfer-Encoding header.

--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.

--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-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.

### 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.

--[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 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:

  - 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.

--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, 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.

## EXAMPLE

### 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

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/*

Note: the following perl modules are required Net::SMTP::SSL, MIME::Base64 and Authen::SASL

## SEE ALSO

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

## GIT

Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite