How do you squash commits into one patch with git format-patch?

Question

I\'ve got eight commits on a branch that I\'d like to email to some people who aren\'t git enlightened, yet. So far, everything I do either gives me 8 patch files, or start

Answer 1

As you already know, a git format-patch -8 HEAD will give you eight patches.

If you want your 8 commits appear as one, and do not mind rewriting the history of your branch (o-o-X-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H), you could :

git rebase -i
// squash A, B, C, D, E ,F, G into H

or, and it would be a better solution, replay all your 8 commits from X (the commit before your 8 commits) on a new branch

git branch delivery X
git checkout delivery
git merge --squash master
git format-patch HEAD

That way, you only have one commit on the "delivery" branch, and it represent all your last 8 commits