X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-format-patch.txt;h=c9857a2d62e55edaf7e71c1a89ae09c8ae2423d2;hb=beb474379315654566e78eea8a0e39c66ebcbb8a;hp=6cbcf937bcd3128b27fbce673d8500590a3f66ce;hpb=a6954452ecf757523b31d6eaaf7e00c7a2d91e46;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
index 6cbcf937b..c9857a2d6 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
@@ -16,21 +16,35 @@ SYNOPSIS
                    [--in-reply-to=Message-Id] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
                    [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
                    [--subject-prefix=Subject-Prefix]
-                   <since>[..<until>]
+		   [ <since> | <revision range> ]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 
-Prepare each commit between <since> and <until> with its patch in
+Prepare each commit with its patch in
 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
-If ..<until> is not specified, the head of the current working
-tree is implied.  For a more complete list of ways to spell
-<since> and <until>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in
-gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
-
 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
 for use with gitlink:git-am[1].
 
+There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
+
+1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading
+   to the tip of the current branch that are not in the history
+   that leads to the <since> to be output.
+
+2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING
+   REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]) means the
+   commits in the specified range.
+
+A single commit, when interpreted as a <revision range>
+expression, means "everything that leads to that commit", but
+if you write 'git format-patch <commit>', the previous rule
+applies to that command line and you do not get "everything
+since the beginning of the time".  If you want to format
+everything since project inception to one commit, say "git
+format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the
+latter case.
+
 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
 the filename. With the --numbered-files option, the output file names
@@ -118,7 +132,7 @@ include::diff-options.txt[]
 
 --suffix=.<sfx>::
 	Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
-	filenames, use specifed suffix.  A common alternative is
+	filenames, use specified suffix.  A common alternative is
 	`--suffix=.txt`.
 +
 Note that you would need to include the leading dot `.` if you
@@ -153,6 +167,10 @@ git-format-patch origin::
 	not in the origin branch.  For each commit a separate file
 	is created in the current directory.
 
+git-format-patch \--root origin::
+	Extract all commits which that leads to 'origin' since the
+	inception of the project.
+
 git-format-patch -M -B origin::
 	The same as the previous one.  Additionally, it detects
 	and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to