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
@@ -282,11 +282,12 @@ e.g., `--rfc='-(WIP)'` results in "PATCH (WIP)".
282
283
--from::
284
--from=<ident>::
285
- Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each commit email. If the
286
- author ident of the commit is not textually identical to the
287
- provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the body of the
288
- message with the original author. If no `ident` is given, use
289
- the committer ident.
285
+ Use `ident` in the `From:` header of each email. In case of a
286
+ commit email, if the author ident of the commit is not textually
287
+ identical to the provided `ident`, place a `From:` header in the
288
+ body of the message with the original author. If no `ident` is
289
+ given, or if the option is not passed at all, use the ident of
290
+ the current committer.
291
+
292
Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the
293
emails and want to identify yourself as the sender, but retain the
builtin/log.c
+3
-3
@@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@ static void make_cover_letter(struct rev_info *rev, int use_separate_file,
1332
int quiet,
1333
const struct format_config *cfg)
1334
{
1335
- const char *committer;
1335
+ const char *from;
1336
struct shortlog log;
1337
struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
1338
int i;
@@ -1345,7 +1345,7 @@ static void make_cover_letter(struct rev_info *rev, int use_separate_file,
1345
if (!cmit_fmt_is_mail(rev->commit_format))
1346
die(_("cover letter needs email format"));
1347
1348
- committer = git_committer_info(0);
1348
+ from = cfg->from ? cfg->from : git_committer_info(0);
1349
1350
if (use_separate_file &&
1351
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,
1368
pp.date_mode.type = DATE_RFC2822;
1369
pp.rev = rev;
1370
pp.encode_email_headers = rev->encode_email_headers;
1371
- pp_user_info(&pp, NULL, &sb, committer, encoding);
1371
+ pp_user_info(&pp, NULL, &sb, from, encoding);
1372
prepare_cover_text(&pp, description_file, branch_name, &sb,
1373
encoding, need_8bit_cte, cfg);
1374
fprintf(rev->diffopt.file, "%s\n", sb.buf);
t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+8
@@ -1472,6 +1472,14 @@ test_expect_success '--from uses committer ident' '
1472
test_cmp expect patch.head
1473
'
1474
1475
+test_expect_success '--from applies to cover letter' '
1476
+ test_when_finished "rm -rf patches" &&
1477
+ git format-patch -1 --cover-letter --from="Foo Bar <author@example.com>" -o patches &&
1478
+ echo "From: Foo Bar <author@example.com>" >expect &&
1479
+ grep "^From:" patches/0000-cover-letter.patch >patch.head &&
1480
+ test_cmp expect patch.head
1481
+'
1482
+
1483
test_expect_success '--from omits redundant in-body header' '
1484
git format-patch -1 --stdout --from="A U Thor <author@example.com>" >patch &&
1485
cat >expect <<-\EOF &&