directory that contains `.gitattributes` is from the path in
question, the lower its precedence).
+If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign
+attributes to files that are particular to one user's workflow), then
+attributes should be placed in the `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file.
+Attributes which should be version-controlled and distributed to other
+repositories (i.e., attributes of interest to all users) should go into
+`.gitattributes` files.
+
Sometimes you would need to override an setting of an attribute
for a path to `unspecified` state. This can be done by listing
the name of the attribute prefixed with an exclamation point `!`.
These attributes affect how the contents stored in the
repository are copied to the working tree files when commands
-such as `git checkout` and `git merge` run. They also affect how
+such as 'git-checkout' and 'git-merge' run. They also affect how
git stores the contents you prepare in the working tree in the
-repository upon `git add` and `git commit`.
+repository upon 'git-add' and 'git-commit'.
`crlf`
^^^^^^
converted to LF upon checkin, but there is no conversion done
upon checkout.
+If `core.safecrlf` is set to "true" or "warn", git verifies if
+the conversion is reversible for the current setting of
+`core.autocrlf`. For "true", git rejects irreversible
+conversions; for "warn", git only prints a warning but accepts
+an irreversible conversion. The safety triggers to prevent such
+a conversion done to the files in the work tree, but there are a
+few exceptions. Even though...
+
+- 'git-add' itself does not touch the files in the work tree, the
+ next checkout would, so the safety triggers;
+
+- 'git-apply' to update a text file with a patch does touch the files
+ in the work tree, but the operation is about text files and CRLF
+ conversion is about fixing the line ending inconsistencies, so the
+ safety does not trigger;
+
+- 'git-diff' itself does not touch the files in the work tree, it is
+ often run to inspect the changes you intend to next 'git-add'. To
+ catch potential problems early, safety triggers.
+
`ident`
^^^^^^^
`filter`
^^^^^^^^
-A `filter` attribute can be set to a string value. This names
+A `filter` attribute can be set to a string value that names a
filter driver specified in the configuration.
-A filter driver consists of `clean` command and `smudge`
+A filter driver consists of a `clean` command and a `smudge`
command, either of which can be left unspecified. Upon
-checkout, when `smudge` command is specified, the command is fed
-the blob object from its standard input, and its standard output
-is used to update the worktree file. Similarly, `clean` command
-is used to convert the contents of worktree file upon checkin.
+checkout, when the `smudge` command is specified, the command is
+fed the blob object from its standard input, and its standard
+output is used to update the worktree file. Similarly, the
+`clean` command is used to convert the contents of worktree file
+upon checkin.
-Missing filter driver definition in the config is not an error
+A missing filter driver definition in the config is not an error
but makes the filter a no-op passthru.
The content filtering is done to massage the content into a
shape that is more convenient for the platform, filesystem, and
-the user to use. The keyword here is "more convenient" and not
+the user to use. The key phrase here is "more convenient" and not
"turning something unusable into usable". In other words, the
intent is that if someone unsets the filter driver definition,
or does not have the appropriate filter program, the project
Generating diff text
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-The attribute `diff` affects if `git diff` generates textual
+The attribute `diff` affects if 'git-diff' generates textual
patch for the path or just says `Binary files differ`. It also
can affect what line is shown on the hunk header `@@ -k,l +n,m @@`
line.
attribute set to `jcdiff`, it calls the command you specified
with the above configuration, i.e. `j-c-diff`, with 7
parameters, just like `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` program is called.
-See gitlink:git[7] for details.
+See linkgit:git[1] for details.
Defining a custom hunk-header
The text is called 'hunk header', and by default a line that
begins with an alphabet, an underscore or a dollar sign is used,
-which matches what GNU `diff -p` output uses. This default
+which matches what GNU 'diff -p' output uses. This default
selection however is not suited for some contents, and you can
use customized pattern to make a selection.
Set::
Built-in 3-way merge driver is used to merge the
- contents in a way similar to `merge` command of `RCS`
+ contents in a way similar to 'merge' command of `RCS`
suite. This is suitable for ordinary text files.
Unset::
requested with "binary".
+Built-in merge drivers
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+There are a few built-in low-level merge drivers defined that
+can be asked for via the `merge` attribute.
+
+text::
+
+ Usual 3-way file level merge for text files. Conflicted
+ regions are marked with conflict markers `<<<<<<<`,
+ `=======` and `>>>>>>>`. The version from your branch
+ appears before the `=======` marker, and the version
+ from the merged branch appears after the `=======`
+ marker.
+
+binary::
+
+ Keep the version from your branch in the work tree, but
+ leave the path in the conflicted state for the user to
+ sort out.
+
+union::
+
+ Run 3-way file level merge for text files, but take
+ lines from both versions, instead of leaving conflict
+ markers. This tends to leave the added lines in the
+ resulting file in random order and the user should
+ verify the result. Do not use this if you do not
+ understand the implications.
+
+
Defining a custom merge driver
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-The definition of a merge driver is done in `gitconfig` not
-`gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this manual page is a
-wrong place to talk about it. However...
+The definition of a merge driver is done in the `.git/config`
+file, not in the `gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this
+manual page is a wrong place to talk about it. However...
To define a custom merge driver `filfre`, add a section to your
`$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this:
internal merge and the final merge.
+Checking whitespace errors
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+`whitespace`
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The `core.whitespace` configuration variable allows you to define what
+'diff' and 'apply' should consider whitespace errors for all paths in
+the project (See linkgit:git-config[1]). This attribute gives you finer
+control per path.
+
+Set::
+
+ Notice all types of potential whitespace errors known to git.
+
+Unset::
+
+ Do not notice anything as error.
+
+Unspecified::
+
+ Use the value of `core.whitespace` configuration variable to
+ decide what to notice as error.
+
+String::
+
+ Specify a comma separate list of common whitespace problems to
+ notice in the same format as `core.whitespace` configuration
+ variable.
+
+
+Creating an archive
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+`export-ignore`
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Files and directories with the attribute `export-ignore` won't be added to
+archive files.
+
+`export-subst`
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If the attribute `export-subst` is set for a file then git will expand
+several placeholders when adding this file to an archive. The
+expansion depends on the availability of a commit ID, i.e., if
+linkgit:git-archive[1] has been given a tree instead of a commit or a
+tag then no replacement will be done. The placeholders are the same
+as those for the option `--pretty=format:` of linkgit:git-log[1],
+except that they need to be wrapped like this: `$Format:PLACEHOLDERS$`
+in the file. E.g. the string `$Format:%H$` will be replaced by the
+commit hash.
+
+
EXAMPLE
-------
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Creating an archive
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-`export-subst`
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-If the attribute `export-subst` is set for a file then git will expand
-several placeholders when adding this file to an archive. The
-expansion depends on the availability of a commit ID, i.e. if
-gitlink:git-archive[1] has been given a tree instead of a commit or a
-tag then no replacement will be done. The placeholders are the same
-as those for the option `--pretty=format:` of gitlink:git-log[1],
-except that they need to be wrapped like this: `$Format:PLACEHOLDERS$`
-in the file. E.g. the string `$Format:%H$` will be replaced by the
-commit hash.
-
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite