Push git commits & tags simultaneously

Question

git push --tags is a separate operation to git push since pushing tags should be a conscious choice to avoid accidentally pushing the wrong one. That's fine. But how do I push them both simultaneously / atomically? (git push && git push --tags is not perfectly atomic.)

Answer 1

Update August 2020

As mentioned originally in this answer by SoBeRich, and in my own answer, as of git 2.4.x

git push --atomic origin <branch name> <tag>

(Note: this actually work with HTTPS only with Git 2.24)

Update May 2015

As of git 2.4.1, you can do

git config --global push.followTags true

If set to true enable --follow-tags option by default.
You may override this configuration at time of push by specifying --no-follow-tags.

As noted in this thread by Matt Rogers answering Wes Hurd:

--follow-tags only pushes annotated tags.

git tag -a -m "I'm an annotation" <tagname>

That would be pushed (as opposed to git tag <tagname>, a lightweight tag, which would not be pushed, as I mentioned here)

Update April 2013

Since git 1.8.3 (April 22d, 2013), you no longer have to do 2 commands to push branches, and then to push tags:

The new "--follow-tags" option tells "git push" to push relevant annotated tags when pushing branches out.

You can now try, when pushing new commits:

git push --follow-tags

That won't push all the local tags though, only the one referenced by commits which are pushed with the git push.

Git 2.4.1+ (Q2 2015) will introduce the option push.followTags: see "How to make “git push” include tags within a branch?".

Original answer, September 2010

The nuclear option would be git push --mirror, which will push all refs under refs/.

You can also push just one tag with your current branch commit:

git push origin : v1.0.0 

You can combine the --tags option with a refspec like:

git push origin --tags :

(since --tags means: All refs under refs/tags are pushed, in addition to refspecs explicitly listed on the command line)

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You also have this entry "Pushing branches and tags with a single "git push" invocation"

A handy tip was just posted to the Git mailing list by Zoltán Füzesi:

I use .git/config to solve this:

[remote "origin"]
    url = ...
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
    push = +refs/heads/*
    push = +refs/tags/*

With these lines added git push origin will upload all your branches and tags. If you want to upload only some of them, you can enumerate them.

Haven't tried it myself yet, but it looks like it might be useful until some other way of pushing branches and tags at the same time is added to git push.
On the other hand, I don't mind typing:

$ git push && git push --tags

Beware, as commented by Aseem Kishore

push = +refs/heads/* will force-pushes all your branches.

This bit me just now, so FYI.

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René Scheibe adds this interesting comment:

The --follow-tags parameter is misleading as only tags under .git/refs/tags are considered.
If git gc is run, tags are moved from .git/refs/tags to .git/packed-refs. Afterwards git push --follow-tags ... does not work as expected anymore.

Answer 2

Since Git 2.4:

git push --atomic origin <branch name> <tag>

Answer 3

Let's say you have created a new repo on github. So the first step would be to clone the repo:git clone {Your Repo URL}

You do your work, add some files, code etc., then push your changes with:

git add .
git commit -m "first commit"
git push

Now our changes are in main branch. Let's create a tag:

git tag v1.0.0                    # creates tag locally     
git push origin v1.0.0            # pushes tag to remote

If you want to delete the tag:

git tag --delete v1.0.0           # deletes tag locally    
git push --delete origin v1.0.0   # deletes remote tag

Answer 4

Just tested on git 2.31.0: git push <refspec> --tags. This has the advantage that it pushes ALL tags, not just annotated tags like --follow-tags.

Answer 5

To avoid triggering two CI builds for the same commit on Gitlab:

git push -o ci.skip && git push --tags

As suggested by @user1160006 here.

Answer 6

Git GUI has a PUSH button - pardon the pun, and the dialog box it opens has a checkbox for tags.

I pushed a branch from the command line, without tags, and then tried again pushing the branch using the --follow-tags option descibed above. The option is described as following annotated tags. My tags were simple tags.

I'd fixed something, tagged the commit with the fix in, (so colleagues can cherry pick the fix,) then changed the software version number and tagged the release I created (so colleagues can clone that release).

Git returned saying everything was up-to-date. It did not send the tags! Perhaps because the tags weren't annotated. Perhaps because there was nothing new on the branch.

When I did a similar push with Git GUI, the tags were sent.

For the time being, I am going to be pushing my changes to my remotes with Git GUI and not with the command line and --follow-tags.