overrides an earlier line. This overriding is done per
attribute. The rules how the pattern matches paths are the
same as in `.gitignore` files; see linkgit:gitignore[5].
+Unlike `.gitignore`, negative patterns are forbidden.
When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, git
consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest
global and system-wide files are considered (they have the lowest
precedence).
+When the `.gitattributes` file is missing from the work tree, the
+path in the index is used as a fall-back. During checkout process,
+`.gitattributes` in the index is used and then the file in the
+working tree is used as a fall-back.
+
If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign
attributes to files that are particular to
one user's workflow for that repository), then