git-tag(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | CONFIGURATION | DISCUSSION | DATE FORMATS | FILES | NOTES | SEE ALSO | GIT | COLOPHON

GIT-TAG(1)                     Git Manual                     GIT-TAG(1)

NAME         top

       git-tag - Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with
       GPG

SYNOPSIS         top

       git tag [-a | -s | -u <key-id>] [-f] [-m <msg> | -F <file>] [-e]
               [(--trailer <token>[(=|:)<value>])...]
               <tagname> [<commit> | <object>]
       git tag -d <tagname>...
       git tag [-n[<num>]] -l [--contains <commit>] [--no-contains <commit>]
               [--points-at <object>] [--column[=<options>] | --no-column]
               [--create-reflog] [--sort=<key>] [--format=<format>]
               [--merged <commit>] [--no-merged <commit>] [<pattern>...]
       git tag -v [--format=<format>] <tagname>...

DESCRIPTION         top

       Add a tag reference in refs/tags/, unless -d/-l/-v is given to
       delete, list or verify tags.

       Unless -f is given, the named tag must not yet exist.

       If one of -a, -s, or -u <key-id> is passed, the command creates a
       tag object, and requires a tag message. Unless -m <msg> or -F
       <file> is given, an editor is started for the user to type in the
       tag message.

       If -m <msg> or -F <file> or --trailer <token>[=<value>] is given
       and -a, -s, and -u <key-id> are absent, -a is implied.

       Otherwise, a tag reference that points directly at the given
       object (i.e., a lightweight tag) is created.

       A GnuPG signed tag object will be created when -s or -u <key-id>
       is used. When -u <key-id> is not used, the committer identity for
       the current user is used to find the GnuPG key for signing. The
       configuration variable gpg.program is used to specify custom
       GnuPG binary.

       Tag objects (created with -a, -s, or -u) are called "annotated"
       tags; they contain a creation date, the tagger name and e-mail, a
       tagging message, and an optional GnuPG signature. Whereas a
       "lightweight" tag is simply a name for an object (usually a
       commit object).

       Annotated tags are meant for release while lightweight tags are
       meant for private or temporary object labels. For this reason,
       some git commands for naming objects (like git describe) will
       ignore lightweight tags by default.

OPTIONS         top

       -a, --annotate
           Make an unsigned, annotated tag object

       -s, --sign
           Make a GPG-signed tag, using the default e-mail address’s
           key. The default behavior of tag GPG-signing is controlled by
           tag.gpgSign configuration variable if it exists, or disabled
           otherwise. See git-config(1).

       --no-sign
           Override tag.gpgSign configuration variable that is set to
           force each and every tag to be signed.

       -u <key-id>, --local-user=<key-id>
           Make a GPG-signed tag, using the given key.

       -f, --force
           Replace an existing tag with the given name (instead of
           failing)

       -d, --delete
           Delete existing tags with the given names.

       -v, --verify
           Verify the GPG signature of the given tag names.

       -n<num>
           <num> specifies how many lines from the annotation, if any,
           are printed when using -l. Implies --list.

           The default is not to print any annotation lines. If no
           number is given to -n, only the first line is printed. If the
           tag is not annotated, the commit message is displayed
           instead.

       -l, --list
           List tags. With optional <pattern>..., e.g.  git tag --list
           'v-*', list only the tags that match the pattern(s).

           Running "git tag" without arguments also lists all tags. The
           pattern is a shell wildcard (i.e., matched using fnmatch(3)).
           Multiple patterns may be given; if any of them matches, the
           tag is shown.

           This option is implicitly supplied if any other list-like
           option such as --contains is provided. See the documentation
           for each of those options for details.

       --sort=<key>
           Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending
           order of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option
           multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the
           primary key. Also supports "version:refname" or "v:refname"
           (tag names are treated as versions). The "version:refname"
           sort order can also be affected by the "versionsort.suffix"
           configuration variable. The keys supported are the same as
           those in git for-each-ref. Sort order defaults to the value
           configured for the tag.sort variable if it exists, or
           lexicographic order otherwise. See git-config(1).

       --color[=<when>]
           Respect any colors specified in the --format option. The
           <when> field must be one of always, never, or auto (if <when>
           is absent, behave as if always was given).

       -i, --ignore-case
           Sorting and filtering tags are case insensitive.

       --omit-empty
           Do not print a newline after formatted refs where the format
           expands to the empty string.

       --column[=<options>], --no-column
           Display tag listing in columns. See configuration variable
           column.tag for option syntax.  --column and --no-column
           without options are equivalent to always and never
           respectively.

           This option is only applicable when listing tags without
           annotation lines.

       --contains [<commit>]
           Only list tags which contain the specified commit (HEAD if
           not specified). Implies --list.

       --no-contains [<commit>]
           Only list tags which don’t contain the specified commit (HEAD
           if not specified). Implies --list.

       --merged [<commit>]
           Only list tags whose commits are reachable from the specified
           commit (HEAD if not specified).

       --no-merged [<commit>]
           Only list tags whose commits are not reachable from the
           specified commit (HEAD if not specified).

       --points-at <object>
           Only list tags of the given object (HEAD if not specified).
           Implies --list.

       -m <msg>, --message=<msg>
           Use the given tag message (instead of prompting). If multiple
           -m options are given, their values are concatenated as
           separate paragraphs. Implies -a if none of -a, -s, or -u
           <key-id> is given.

       -F <file>, --file=<file>
           Take the tag message from the given file. Use - to read the
           message from the standard input. Implies -a if none of -a,
           -s, or -u <key-id> is given.

       --trailer <token>[(=|:)<value>]
           Specify a (<token>, <value>) pair that should be applied as a
           trailer. (e.g.  git tag --trailer "Custom-Key: value" will
           add a "Custom-Key" trailer to the tag message.) The trailer.*
           configuration variables (git-interpret-trailers(1)) can be
           used to define if a duplicated trailer is omitted, where in
           the run of trailers each trailer would appear, and other
           details. The trailers can be extracted in git tag --list,
           using --format="%(trailers)" placeholder.

       -e, --edit
           The message taken from file with -F and command line with -m
           are usually used as the tag message unmodified. This option
           lets you further edit the message taken from these sources.

       --cleanup=<mode>
           This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up. The
           <mode> can be one of verbatim, whitespace and strip. The
           strip mode is default. The verbatim mode does not change
           message at all, whitespace removes just leading/trailing
           whitespace lines and strip removes both whitespace and
           commentary.

       --create-reflog
           Create a reflog for the tag. To globally enable reflogs for
           tags, see core.logAllRefUpdates in git-config(1). The negated
           form --no-create-reflog only overrides an earlier
           --create-reflog, but currently does not negate the setting of
           core.logAllRefUpdates.

       --format=<format>
           A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a tag ref being
           shown and the object it points at. The format is the same as
           that of git-for-each-ref(1). When unspecified, defaults to
           %(refname:strip=2).

       <tagname>
           The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe. The new
           tag name must pass all checks defined by
           git-check-ref-format(1). Some of these checks may restrict
           the characters allowed in a tag name.

       <commit>, <object>
           The object that the new tag will refer to, usually a commit.
           Defaults to HEAD.

CONFIGURATION         top

       By default, git tag in sign-with-default mode (-s) will use your
       committer identity (of the form Your Name <your@email.address>)
       to find a key. If you want to use a different default key, you
       can specify it in the repository configuration as follows:

           [user]
               signingKey = <gpg-key-id>

       pager.tag is only respected when listing tags, i.e., when -l is
       used or implied. The default is to use a pager. See
       git-config(1).

DISCUSSION         top

   On Re-tagging
       What should you do when you tag a wrong commit and you would want
       to re-tag?

       If you never pushed anything out, just re-tag it. Use "-f" to
       replace the old one. And you’re done.

       But if you have pushed things out (or others could just read your
       repository directly), then others will have already seen the old
       tag. In that case you can do one of two things:

        1. The sane thing. Just admit you screwed up, and use a
           different name. Others have already seen one tag-name, and if
           you keep the same name, you may be in the situation that two
           people both have "version X", but they actually have
           different "X"'s. So just call it "X.1" and be done with it.

        2. The insane thing. You really want to call the new version "X"
           too, even though others have already seen the old one. So
           just use git tag -f again, as if you hadn’t already published
           the old one.

       However, Git does not (and it should not) change tags behind
       users back. So if somebody already got the old tag, doing a git
       pull on your tree shouldn’t just make them overwrite the old one.

       If somebody got a release tag from you, you cannot just change
       the tag for them by updating your own one. This is a big security
       issue, in that people MUST be able to trust their tag-names. If
       you really want to do the insane thing, you need to just fess up
       to it, and tell people that you messed up. You can do that by
       making a very public announcement saying:

           Ok, I messed up, and I pushed out an earlier version tagged as X. I
           then fixed something, and retagged the *fixed* tree as X again.

           If you got the wrong tag, and want the new one, please delete
           the old one and fetch the new one by doing:

                   git tag -d X
                   git fetch origin tag X

           to get my updated tag.

           You can test which tag you have by doing

                   git rev-parse X

           which should return 0123456789abcdef.. if you have the new version.

           Sorry for the inconvenience.

       Does this seem a bit complicated? It should be. There is no way
       that it would be correct to just "fix" it automatically. People
       need to know that their tags might have been changed.

   On Automatic following
       If you are following somebody else’s tree, you are most likely
       using remote-tracking branches (eg. refs/remotes/origin/master).
       You usually want the tags from the other end.

       On the other hand, if you are fetching because you would want a
       one-shot merge from somebody else, you typically do not want to
       get tags from there. This happens more often for people near the
       toplevel but not limited to them. Mere mortals when pulling from
       each other do not necessarily want to automatically get private
       anchor point tags from the other person.

       Often, "please pull" messages on the mailing list just provide
       two pieces of information: a repo URL and a branch name; this is
       designed to be easily cut&pasted at the end of a git fetch
       command line:

           Linus, please pull from

                   git://git..../proj.git master

           to get the following updates...

       becomes:

           $ git pull git://git..../proj.git master

       In such a case, you do not want to automatically follow the other
       person’s tags.

       One important aspect of Git is its distributed nature, which
       largely means there is no inherent "upstream" or "downstream" in
       the system. On the face of it, the above example might seem to
       indicate that the tag namespace is owned by the upper echelon of
       people and that tags only flow downwards, but that is not the
       case. It only shows that the usage pattern determines who are
       interested in whose tags.

       A one-shot pull is a sign that a commit history is now crossing
       the boundary between one circle of people (e.g. "people who are
       primarily interested in the networking part of the kernel") who
       may have their own set of tags (e.g. "this is the third release
       candidate from the networking group to be proposed for general
       consumption with 2.6.21 release") to another circle of people
       (e.g. "people who integrate various subsystem improvements"). The
       latter are usually not interested in the detailed tags used
       internally in the former group (that is what "internal" means).
       That is why it is desirable not to follow tags automatically in
       this case.

       It may well be that among networking people, they may want to
       exchange the tags internal to their group, but in that workflow
       they are most likely tracking each other’s progress by having
       remote-tracking branches. Again, the heuristic to automatically
       follow such tags is a good thing.

   On Backdating Tags
       If you have imported some changes from another VCS and would like
       to add tags for major releases of your work, it is useful to be
       able to specify the date to embed inside of the tag object; such
       data in the tag object affects, for example, the ordering of tags
       in the gitweb interface.

       To set the date used in future tag objects, set the environment
       variable GIT_COMMITTER_DATE (see the later discussion of possible
       values; the most common form is "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM").

       For example:

           $ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2006-10-02 10:31" git tag -s v1.0.1

DATE FORMATS         top

       The GIT_AUTHOR_DATE and GIT_COMMITTER_DATE environment variables
       support the following date formats:

       Git internal format
           It is <unix-timestamp> <time-zone-offset>, where
           <unix-timestamp> is the number of seconds since the UNIX
           epoch.  <time-zone-offset> is a positive or negative offset
           from UTC. For example CET (which is 1 hour ahead of UTC) is
           +0100.

       RFC 2822
           The standard date format as described by RFC 2822, for
           example Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:13:13 +0200.

       ISO 8601
           Time and date specified by the ISO 8601 standard, for example
           2005-04-07T22:13:13. The parser accepts a space instead of
           the T character as well. Fractional parts of a second will be
           ignored, for example 2005-04-07T22:13:13.019 will be treated
           as 2005-04-07T22:13:13.

               Note
               In addition, the date part is accepted in the following
               formats: YYYY.MM.DD, MM/DD/YYYY and DD.MM.YYYY.

FILES         top

       $GIT_DIR/TAG_EDITMSG
           This file contains the message of an in-progress annotated
           tag. If git tag exits due to an error before creating an
           annotated tag then the tag message that has been provided by
           the user in an editor session will be available in this file,
           but may be overwritten by the next invocation of git tag.

NOTES         top

       When combining multiple --contains and --no-contains filters,
       only references that contain at least one of the --contains
       commits and contain none of the --no-contains commits are shown.

       When combining multiple --merged and --no-merged filters, only
       references that are reachable from at least one of the --merged
       commits and from none of the --no-merged commits are shown.

SEE ALSO         top

       git-check-ref-format(1). git-config(1).

GIT         top

       Part of the git(1) suite

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
       system) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this manual
       page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩.  This page was obtained
       from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2024-06-14.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2024-06-12.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

Git 2.45.2.492.gd63586         2024-06-12                     GIT-TAG(1)

Pages that refer to this page: git(1)git-config(1)git-describe(1)git-merge(1)git-replace(1)git-var(1)giteveryday(7)gittutorial-2(7)gittutorial(7)