This article was originally published on Nano Code Wiki

You can choose to use git send-email to send email patches to the community. The concrete steps are below.

Installing Git Email

  1. Ubuntu does not install the full Git package by default, so after installing Git (Ulan already has Git installed), you still need to install git-email:
1sudo apt update
2sudo apt install git-email

If the installation fails, for example if you encounter the following problem: Git installation failure screenshot

You can manually add Git’s official PPA and install again:

1sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
2sudo apt update
3sudo apt install git-email

Configuring Git Email

  1. First we need to prepare an email account. I use a yeah.net mailbox, but qq/foxmail mailboxes, NetEase Mail, Tencent Enterprise Mail, and others also work.

PS: In a domestic environment, I do not recommend using a Google mailbox because it requires a VPN.

  1. You need to enable the mailbox’s SMTP service; you can search for a tutorial online. Notes:

    • Some mail providers issue a separate password for third-party clients; save it first because you will need it later;
    • Check which SMTP encryption protocol the mailbox supports: stl or ssl, or both. You will need this later during configuration.

  2. Configure git email to bind your own mailbox. I recommend using the command line rather than editing .gitconfig directly, to avoid configuration mistakes:

1git config --global sendemail.smtpEncryption <ssl or stl>
2git config --global sendemail.smtpServer <your smtp address>
3git config --global sendemail.smtpServerPort 587
4git config --global sendemail.smtpUser <your email>
5git config --global sendemail.smtpPass = <your pass or smtp pass>

The parts inside <> should be filled in with your actual mailbox information.

After the configuration is complete, you can check it with cat ~/.gitconfig:

1[sendemail]
2        smtpEncryption = <ssl or stl>
3        smtpServer = <your smtp address>
4        smtpServerPort = 587
5        smtpUser = <your email>
6        smtpPass = *****

Editing Patches and Sending Them

  1. Common patch generation command:
1git format-patch HEAD~<number> --subject-prefix="your prefix" --thread --cover-letter -s
  • --subject-prefix= lets you insert a unified prefix into the patch subject, usually PATCH, RFC, or a combination;
  • --cover-letter generates a cover file numbered 0, which you can edit to add patch notes;
  • -s adds your email signature to the patch
  1. Send the email to the mailing list

Using QEMU as an example, you can run ./script/get_maintainer.pl <patch-file> to obtain the recipients and CC list. The command for sending the patch by email is:

1git send-email \
2--to=<email> \
3--cc=<email> \
4<your-patch>

After the email is sent successfully, the terminal will print:

Result: 250

PS: You can send it to your own mailbox first to verify that sending works. Some open-source community mailing lists require review the first time you send to them, so if you do not see your email in the list right away, please wait patiently.

  1. Replying to email

You can refer to this article: Using mailing lists correctly to participate in open-source collaboration.