Re: [PATCH v7 4/5] format-patch: add commitListFormat config
- From
- Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
- Date
- Mar 10, 2026, 14:34 UTC
- Message-ID
- <6b160915-1cdf-48b5-abe4-3efd0771598e@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <c522f47e5b574c0c889c40284c71c36158b6bb6e.1772839973.git.mroik@delayed.space>
On 06/03/2026 23:34, Mirko Faina wrote:
Show 13 quoted lines
> Using "--cover-letter" we can tell format-patch to generate a cover > letter, in this cover letter there's a list of commits included in the > patch series and the format is specified by the "--cover-letter-format" > option. Would be useful if this format could be configured from the > config file instead of always needing to pass it from the command line. > > Teach format-patch how to read the format spec for the cover letter from > the config files. The variable it should look for is called > format.commitListFormat. > > Possible values: > - commitListFormat is set but no string is passed: it will default to > "[%(count)/%(total)] %s"
It is unusual for an empty config value to mean something different from it not being set. The reason for this is that it allows
git -c config.key some-command
to act as though config.key was not set.
Perhaps we should use the value "default" to generate a default format. It would be nice to support a default format on the commandline as well.
> - if a string is passed: will use it as a format spec. Note that this > is either "shortlog" or a format spec prefixed by "log:" > e.g."log:%s (%an)"
Having the config value behave like --cover-letter-format=<value> is sensible
> - if commitListFormat is not set: it will default to the shortlog > format.
makes sense
Thanks
Phillip
Show 40 quoted lines
> Signed-off-by: Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space>
> ---
> builtin/log.c | 21 ++++++++++++++++
> t/t4014-format-patch.sh | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 2 files changed, 74 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/builtin/log.c b/builtin/log.c
> index 95e5d9755f..5fec0ddaf9 100644
> --- a/builtin/log.c
> +++ b/builtin/log.c
> @@ -886,6 +886,7 @@ struct format_config {
> char *signature;
> char *signature_file;
> enum cover_setting config_cover_letter;
> + char *fmt_cover_letter_commit_list;
> char *config_output_directory;
> enum cover_from_description cover_from_description_mode;
> int show_notes;
> @@ -930,6 +931,7 @@ static void format_config_release(struct format_config *cfg)
> string_list_clear(&cfg->extra_cc, 0);
> strbuf_release(&cfg->sprefix);
> free(cfg->fmt_patch_suffix);
> + free(cfg->fmt_cover_letter_commit_list);
> }
>
> static enum cover_from_description parse_cover_from_description(const char *arg)
> @@ -1052,6 +1054,19 @@ static int git_format_config(const char *var, const char *value,
> cfg->config_cover_letter = git_config_bool(var, value) ? COVER_ON : COVER_OFF;
> return 0;
> }
> + if (!strcmp(var, "format.commitlistformat")) {
> + struct strbuf tmp = STRBUF_INIT;
> + strbuf_init(&tmp, 0);
> + if (value)
> + strbuf_addstr(&tmp, value);
> + else
> + strbuf_addstr(&tmp, "log:[%(count)/%(total)] %s");
> +
> + FREE_AND_NULL(cfg->fmt_cover_letter_commit_list);
> + git_config_string(&cfg->fmt_cover_letter_commit_list, var, tmp.buf);Show 83 quoted lines
> + strbuf_release(&tmp);
> + return 0;
> + }
> if (!strcmp(var, "format.outputdirectory")) {
> FREE_AND_NULL(cfg->config_output_directory);
> return git_config_string(&cfg->config_output_directory, var, value);
> @@ -2329,6 +2344,12 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc,
> goto done;
> total = list.nr;
>
> + if (!cover_letter_fmt) {
> + cover_letter_fmt = cfg.fmt_cover_letter_commit_list;
> + if (!cover_letter_fmt)
> + cover_letter_fmt = "shortlog";
> + }
> +
> if (cover_letter == -1) {
> if (cfg.config_cover_letter == COVER_AUTO)
> cover_letter = (total > 1);
> diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
> index 458da80721..4891389a53 100755
> --- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
> +++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
> @@ -428,6 +428,59 @@ test_expect_success 'cover letter no format' '
> test_line_count = 1 result
> '
>
> +test_expect_success 'cover letter config with count, subject and author' '
> + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches result" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.coverletter" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.commitlistformat" &&
> + git config set format.coverletter true &&
> + git config set format.commitlistformat "log:[%(count)/%(total)] %s (%an)" &&
> + git format-patch -o patches HEAD~2 &&
> + grep -E "^[[[:digit:]]+/[[:digit:]]+] .* \(A U Thor\)" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >result &&
> + test_line_count = 2 result
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'cover letter config with count and author' '
> + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches result" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.coverletter" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.commitlistformat" &&
> + git config set format.coverletter true &&
> + git config set format.commitlistformat "log:[%(count)/%(total)] (%an)" &&
> + git format-patch -o patches HEAD~2 &&
> + grep -E "^[[[:digit:]]+/[[:digit:]]+] \(A U Thor\)" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >result &&
> + test_line_count = 2 result
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'cover letter config commitlistformat set but no format' '
> + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches result" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.coverletter" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.commitlistformat" &&
> + git config set format.coverletter true &&
> + printf "\tcommitlistformat" >> .git/config &&
> + git format-patch -o patches HEAD~2 &&
> + grep -E "^[[[:digit:]]+/[[:digit:]]+] .*" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >result &&
> + test_line_count = 2 result
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'cover letter config commitlistformat set to shortlog' '
> + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches result" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.coverletter" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.commitlistformat" &&
> + git config set format.coverletter true &&
> + git config set format.commitlistformat shortlog &&
> + git format-patch -o patches HEAD~2 &&
> + grep -E "^A U Thor \([[:digit:]]+\)" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >result &&
> + test_line_count = 1 result
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'cover letter config commitlistformat not set' '
> + test_when_finished "rm -rf patches result" &&
> + test_when_finished "git config unset format.coverletter" &&
> + git config set format.coverletter true &&
> + git format-patch -o patches HEAD~2 &&
> + grep -E "^A U Thor \([[:digit:]]+\)" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >result &&
> + test_line_count = 1 result
> +'
> +
> test_expect_success 'reroll count' '
> rm -fr patches &&
> git format-patch -o patches --cover-letter --reroll-count 4 main..side >list &&