How to Send Git Patches by Email (Simple Guide)

This is a simple and correct guide for setting up git send-email and sending patches over email.

1. Why Send Patches by Email?

It's fast, lightweight, and works everywhere.
It leaves a good record (every patch = an email = permanent).
Some projects prefer email over pull requests.

2. Tools You Need

git
git send-email
An SMTP server (your email provider) to send emails

Distro	Install Command
Ubuntu/Debian	`sudo apt install git-email`
Fedora	`sudo dnf install git-email`
Arch Linux	Already included with `git`

3. Set Up Your Git Identity

Set your username and email:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

4. Set Up SMTP for Sending Emails

Configure SMTP settings so Git can send the patches.

git config --global sendemail.smtpServer smtp.yourprovider.com
git config --global sendemail.smtpUser [email protected]
git config --global sendemail.smtpServerPort 587
git config --global sendemail.smtpEncryption tls

Notes:

Gmail SMTP: smtp.gmail.com
Outlook SMTP: smtp.office365.com
ProtonMail (Bridge): 127.0.0.1

If you skip smtpPass, Git will ask for your password when sending.

5. Create a Patch

After committing changes, create a patch file:

git format-patch -1 HEAD

This generates a patch file like 0001-some-change.patch.

If you have multiple commits you want to send:

git format-patch -N HEAD

where N is the number of commits you want.

Example: to create patches for the last 3 commits:

git format-patch -3 HEAD

6. Find Maintainers (Optional)

If you need to send patches to the right people, you can use a script (if available in the project) like:

./scripts/get_maintainer.pl 0001-some-change.patch

(This is optional; depends on the project.)

7. Send the Patch

Send the patch using email:

git send-email --to [email protected] 0001-some-change.patch

If you're sending multiple patches, you can send them all at once:

git send-email --to [email protected] 000*.patch

You can CC others using --cc.

8. Add a Cover Letter (Optional but Nice)

If you're sending multiple patches, it's good practice to send a short "cover letter" email explaining what the patch series does.

Create the patches with:

git format-patch -N --cover-letter HEAD

This will create a 0000-cover-letter.patch you can edit before sending.

Then send all patches including the cover letter:

git send-email --to [email protected] 000*.patch

9. Test Sending First

Always dry-run first to check if everything works:

git send-email --dry-run --to [email protected] 0001-some-change.patch

10. Bonus: Password Handling

If you don't want to store your SMTP password:

git config --global sendemail.smtppass dummy

Git will then ask for your password each time you send.

11. Good Email Habits When Sending Patches

Always set a good subject line for your patches (explain the change briefly).
Write a good commit message (title + body).
CC relevant maintainers or mailing lists if needed.
Reply to feedback and be polite.
If you resend patches (v2, v3, etc.), mention version in the subject line.

Example subject for v2:

12. How to Send v2, v3 (Updated Versions)

If you get feedback and need to send a corrected patch:

Make the fixes.
Create a new patch (using git format-patch).
Add version info manually in subject line or with options like:

git format-patch -v2 -1 HEAD

Send again using git send-email.

Important: When sending v2, v3, etc., reply in the same email thread if possible. Use --in-reply-to option with the Message-ID of the previous email.

Example:

git send-email --in-reply-to="[email protected]" 0001-new-fix.patch

13. Quick Summary Diagram

[git config user.email] --> sets your From: address
[git config sendemail.smtpServer] --> sets SMTP settings
[git format-patch] --> creates patch files
[git send-email] --> sends patch files over SMTP

References

Git Send-Email Documentation

harilvfs/git-patch.md

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