GITMAILMAP(5) Git Manual GITMAILMAP(5)
NAME
gitmailmap - Map author/committer names and/or E-Mail addresses
SYNOPSIS
$GIT_WORK_TREE/.mailmap
DESCRIPTION
If the file .mailmap exists at the toplevel of the repository, or at the
location pointed to by the mailmap.file or mailmap.blob configuration
options (see git-config(1)), it is used to map author and committer
names and email addresses to canonical real names and email addresses.
SYNTAX
The # character begins a comment to the end of line, blank lines are
ignored.
In the simple form, each line in the file consists of the canonical real
name of an author, whitespace, and an email address used in the commit
(enclosed by < and >) to map to the name. For example:
Proper Name <commit@email.xx>
The more complex forms are:
<proper@email.xx> <commit@email.xx>
which allows mailmap to replace only the email part of a commit, and:
Proper Name <proper@email.xx> <commit@email.xx>
which allows mailmap to replace both the name and the email of a commit
matching the specified commit email address, and:
Proper Name <proper@email.xx> Commit Name <commit@email.xx>
which allows mailmap to replace both the name and the email of a commit
matching both the specified commit name and email address.
Both E-Mails and names are matched case-insensitively. For example this
would also match the Commit Name <commit@email.xx> above:
Proper Name <proper@email.xx> CoMmIt NaMe <CoMmIt@EmAiL.xX>
NOTES
Git does not follow symbolic links when accessing a .mailmap file in the
working tree. This keeps behavior consistent when the file is accessed
from the index or a tree versus from the filesystem.
EXAMPLES
Your history contains commits by two authors, Jane and Joe, whose names
appear in the repository under several forms:
Joe Developer <joe@example.com>
Joe R. Developer <joe@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@laptop.(none)>
Jane D. <jane@desktop.(none)>
Now suppose that Joe wants his middle name initial used, and Jane
prefers her family name fully spelled out. A .mailmap file to correct
the names would look like:
Joe R. Developer <joe@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@desktop.(none)>
Note that there’s no need to map the name for <jane@laptop.(none)> to
only correct the names. However, leaving the obviously broken
<jane@laptop.(none)> and <jane@desktop.(none)> E-Mails as-is is usually
not what you want. A .mailmap file which also corrects those is:
Joe R. Developer <joe@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com> <jane@laptop.(none)>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com> <jane@desktop.(none)>
Finally, let’s say that Joe and Jane shared an E-Mail address, but not a
name, e.g. by having these two commits in the history generated by a bug
reporting system. I.e. names appearing in history as:
Joe <bugs@example.com>
Jane <bugs@example.com>
A full .mailmap file which also handles those cases (an addition of two
lines to the above example) would be:
Joe R. Developer <joe@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com> <jane@laptop.(none)>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com> <jane@desktop.(none)>
Joe R. Developer <joe@example.com> Joe <bugs@example.com>
Jane Doe <jane@example.com> Jane <bugs@example.com>
SEE ALSO
git-check-mailmap(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.47.3 07/30/2025 GITMAILMAP(5)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:51:37 CET 2025.