[PATCH v4] format-patch: fix From header in cover letter
- From
Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space>
- Date
- Feb 17, 2026, 23:25 UTC
- Message-ID
- <20260217232519.24898-1-mroik@delayed.space>
- In-Reply-To
- <20260217220515.14127-1-mroik@delayed.space>
"git format-patch" takes "--from=<user ident>" command line option and uses the given ident for patch e-mails, but this is not applied to the cover letter, the option is ignored and the committer ident of the current user is used. This has been the case ever since "--from" has been introduced as it has never been used in make_cover_letter().
Teach the make_cover_letter() function to honor the option, instead of always using the current committer identity. Change variable name from "committer" to "from" to better reflect the purpose of the variable.
Signed-off-by: Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space> --- Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc | 11 ++++++----- builtin/log.c | 6 +++--- t/t4014-format-patch.sh | 8 ++++++++ 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc b/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc index 9a7807ca71..6ac453958c 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc +++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc @@ -282,11 +282,12 @@ e.g., `--rfc='-(WIP)'` results in "PATCH (WIP)". --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. + Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each email. In case of a + 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, or if the option is not passed at all, use the ident of + the current committer. + 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 diff --git a/builtin/log.c b/builtin/log.c index d43ca693bf..42648dda54 100644 --- a/builtin/log.c +++ b/builtin/log.c @@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@ static void make_cover_letter(struct rev_info *rev, int use_separate_file, int quiet, const struct format_config *cfg) { - const char *committer; + const char *from; struct shortlog log; struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT; int i; @@ -1345,7 +1345,7 @@ static void make_cover_letter(struct rev_info *rev, int use_separate_file, if (!cmit_fmt_is_mail(rev->commit_format)) die(_("cover letter needs email format")); - committer = git_committer_info(0); + from = cfg->from ? cfg->from : git_committer_info(0); if (use_separate_file && open_next_file(NULL, rev->numbered_files ? NULL : "cover-letter", rev, quiet)) @@ -1368,7 +1368,7 @@ static void make_cover_letter(struct rev_info *rev, int use_separate_file, pp.date_mode.type = DATE_RFC2822; pp.rev = rev; pp.encode_email_headers = rev->encode_email_headers; - pp_user_info(&pp, NULL, &sb, committer, encoding); + pp_user_info(&pp, NULL, &sb, from, encoding); prepare_cover_text(&pp, description_file, branch_name, &sb, encoding, need_8bit_cte, cfg); fprintf(rev->diffopt.file, "%s\n", sb.buf); diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh index 21d6d0cd9e..2135b65cee 100755 --- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh +++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh @@ -1472,6 +1472,14 @@ test_expect_success '--from uses committer ident' ' test_cmp expect patch.head ' +test_expect_success '--from applies to cover letter' ' + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches" && + git format-patch -1 --cover-letter --from="Foo Bar <author@example.com>" -o patches && + echo "From: Foo Bar <author@example.com>" >expect && + grep "^From:" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >patch.head && + test_cmp expect patch.head +' + test_expect_success '--from omits redundant in-body header' ' git format-patch -1 --stdout --from="A U Thor <author@example.com>" >patch && cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
-- 2.53.0