Re: git-am applies commit message diffs

From: Florian Weimer <fweimer@redhat.com>
Date: Feb 6, 2026, 09:48 UTC
Message-ID: <lhujywqtd76.fsf@oldenburg.str.redhat.com>
In-Reply-To: <20260206092423.GB2761602@coredump.intra.peff.net>

* Jeff King:

Show 13 quoted lines

> On Fri, Feb 06, 2026 at 09:59:31AM +0100, Florian Weimer wrote:
>
>> Isn't the format-patch output already unambiguous because the sequence
>> of diffs is preceeded by the non-diff statistics section, and only then
>> the commit message follows?  It's just not possible to process this
>> correctly in one pass because only at the end of the input, you know
>> that you have just seen the to-be-applied diffs.
>
> That diffstat is optional, and not parsed by the receiving format-patch
> at all. Keep in mind that in the world for which it was originally
> designed, people were not necessarily using Git to generate their
> emails. They could be patches emailed by random folks using "diff"
> themselves.

Is the git am format that flexible in practice? I often have trouble applying patches with git am that were created with git format-patch and have to resort to plain old patch instead. As a user, I definitely get the impression that it's not a type of tool that gets a patch out of an email message, no matter what the cost.

Thanks, Florian