How to Send Email using 'git send-email' via Gmail?

Last Updated : 12 Jul, 2024

Email communication is a crucial aspect of collaborative software development. Whether you're sharing patches, discussing issues, or coordinating with your team, knowing how to send emails directly from your Git repository can be highly efficient. In this article, we will guide you through the process of configuring and using git send-email with Gmail, making it easy to share patches and updates.

What is Git Send-Email?

git send-email is a Git command that allows you to send a series of patches via email directly from your Git repository. This tool is handy in environments where email is the primary method of patch submission and code review, such as in many open-source projects.

What is a patch?

A patch is a small file that indicates the changes made in a repository. It's generally used when someone from outside your team has read-only access but has a good code change available. He then creates a patch and sends it to you.

Note: This tutorial is based on Ubuntu and expect you already have git installed in your system, if not you can check this tutorial on how to install git.

Step-by-Step Guide to Send Email

Step 1: Install Required Packages

First, you need to ensure that you have the necessary packages installed. On Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, you can install the git-email package using:

sudo apt-get install git-email

Step 2: Configure Git Send-Email with Gmail

To configure git send-email to use Gmail, you need to set up your Git configuration with your Gmail account details. You can do this by running the following commands:

git config --global --edit

Step 3: Update the configuration file with the following details:

...
...
[sendemail]
    smtpserver = smtp.googlemail.com
    smtpencryption = tls
    smtpserverport = 587
    smtpuser = [email protected]

Note: Don't forget to change [email protected] with your actual email address.

And after editing the file same the file and quit the editor.

Step 4: Now this is one of the most import step as in this step we will be creating a .patch file. In order to create a patch you have to modify or make some changes to the repository that you want to contribute to and after making those changes, simple save those files and type this commands to create a patch.

git add .
git commit -m "your message"
git format-patch [email protected] HEAD~..HEAD

Note: The HEAD~ option tells git to create the patch of the latest commit only but if you want to create a patch of your last two commits then simply change HEAD~ to HEAD~2.

As you can see after successfully running those commands, a patch file is generated, and we will send this file using git send-email.

Step 5: Sending Emails with Git Send-Email

Once we have the .patch file we can send this patch file to the person maintaining the repository or the one to whom the message is intended to be sent. To do this run the following command:

git send-email *.patch [email protected] [email protected]

Note: Don't forget to update the --to option and the --cc option with actual email addresses.

Once you run this command, git will ask for your Gmail password so Enter your password and you will get a success message once a message is successfully sent.

That's it. Now wait for it to get reviewed and once reviewed and found valid your contribution will be successful.

Conclusion

Configuring git send-email with Gmail allows you to seamlessly send patches and updates directly from your Git repository, enhancing your workflow and collaboration. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can set up and start using this powerful feature with ease.

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