format-patch: fix From header in cover letter
"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" was introduced in a9080475 (teach format-patch to place other authors into in-body "From", 2013-07-03). 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> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Mirko Faina committed
Feb 18, 2026 at 00:25 UTC
a8e89346a7731cb3104010f322c65e2a0c922618
3 files changed
+17
-8
Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc
+6
-5
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
builtin/log.c
+3
-3
index 5c9a8ef363..c1cd3999a7 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);
t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+8
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 &&