From: Mroik <mroik@delayed.space>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space>,
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>,
Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>, Jeff King <peff@peff.net>,
"D . Ben Knoble" <ben.knoble@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH] format-patch: fix From header in cover letter
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 23:04:39 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260217220515.14127-1-mroik@delayed.space> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260216152730.37478-1-mroik@delayed.space>
From: Mirko Faina <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.
Teach the make_cover_letter() function to honor the option, instead of
always using the current committer identity.
Signed-off-by: Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space>
---
Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc | 10 +++++-----
builtin/log.c | 6 +++---
t/t4014-format-patch.sh | 8 ++++++++
3 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc b/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc
index 9a7807ca71..05c4192dbc 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.adoc
@@ -282,11 +282,11 @@ 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, use the committer ident.
+
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
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-02-17 22:06 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 17+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-02-14 5:49 [PATCH] format-patch: fix from header in cover letter Mirko Faina
2026-02-16 11:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-02-16 15:27 ` [PATCH v2] format-patch: fix From " Mirko Faina
2026-02-17 6:22 ` Patrick Steinhardt
2026-02-17 6:34 ` Jeff King
2026-02-17 13:21 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-02-19 11:29 ` Jeff King
2026-02-19 12:03 ` Mirko Faina
2026-02-19 13:43 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-02-17 15:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-02-19 11:43 ` Jeff King
2026-02-20 18:11 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-02-17 22:04 ` Mroik [this message]
2026-02-17 22:13 ` [PATCH] " Mirko Faina
2026-02-17 22:43 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-02-17 22:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-02-17 23:25 ` [PATCH v4] " Mirko Faina
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