pattern attr1 attr2 ...
That is, a pattern followed by an attributes list,
-separated by whitespaces. When the pattern matches the
-path in question, the attributes listed on the line are given to
-the path.
+separated by whitespaces. Leading and trailing whitespaces are
+ignored. Lines that begin with '#' are ignored. Patterns
+that begin with a double quote are quoted in C style.
+When the pattern matches the path in question, the attributes
+listed on the line are given to the path.
Each attribute can be in one of these states for a given path:
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
+When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, Git
consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest
precedence), `.gitattributes` file in the same directory as the
path in question, and its parent directories up to the toplevel of the
repositories (i.e., attributes of interest to all users) should go into
`.gitattributes` files. Attributes that should affect all repositories
for a single user should be placed in a file specified by the
-`core.attributesfile` configuration option (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
+`core.attributesFile` configuration option (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
Its default value is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/attributes. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
is either not set or empty, $HOME/.config/git/attributes is used instead.
Attributes for all users on a system should be placed in the
`$(prefix)/etc/gitattributes` file.
-Sometimes you would need to override an setting of an attribute
+Sometimes you would need to override a 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 `!`.
EFFECTS
-------
-Certain operations by git can be influenced by assigning
+Certain operations by Git can be influenced by assigning
particular attributes to a path. Currently, the following
operations are attributes-aware.
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
-git stores the contents you prepare in the working tree in the
+Git stores the contents you prepare in the working tree in the
repository upon 'git add' and 'git commit'.
`text`
repository. To control what line ending style is used in the working
directory, use the `eol` attribute for a single file and the
`core.eol` configuration variable for all text files.
+Note that `core.autocrlf` overrides `core.eol`
Set::
Unset::
- Unsetting the `text` attribute on a path tells git not to
+ Unsetting the `text` attribute on a path tells Git not to
attempt any end-of-line conversion upon checkin or checkout.
Set to string value "auto"::
When `text` is set to "auto", the path is marked for automatic
- end-of-line normalization. If git decides that the content is
- text, its line endings are normalized to LF on checkin.
+ end-of-line conversion. If Git decides that the content is
+ text, its line endings are converted to LF on checkin.
+ When the file has been committed with CRLF, no conversion is done.
Unspecified::
- If the `text` attribute is unspecified, git uses the
+ If the `text` attribute is unspecified, Git uses the
`core.autocrlf` configuration variable to determine if the
file should be converted.
-Any other value causes git to act as if `text` has been left
+Any other value causes Git to act as if `text` has been left
unspecified.
`eol`
^^^^^
This attribute sets a specific line-ending style to be used in the
-working directory. It enables end-of-line normalization without any
+working directory. It enables end-of-line conversion without any
content checks, effectively setting the `text` attribute.
Set to string value "crlf"::
- This setting forces git to normalize line endings for this
+ This setting forces Git to normalize line endings for this
file on checkin and convert them to CRLF when the file is
checked out.
Set to string value "lf"::
- This setting forces git to normalize line endings to LF on
+ This setting forces Git to normalize line endings to LF on
checkin and prevents conversion to CRLF when the file is
checked out.
End-of-line conversion
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-While git normally leaves file contents alone, it can be configured to
+While Git normally leaves file contents alone, it can be configured to
normalize line endings to LF in the repository and, optionally, to
convert them to CRLF when files are checked out.
-Here is an example that will make git normalize .txt, .vcproj and .sh
-files, ensure that .vcproj files have CRLF and .sh files have LF in
-the working directory, and prevent .jpg files from being normalized
-regardless of their content.
-
-------------------------
-*.txt text
-*.vcproj eol=crlf
-*.sh eol=lf
-*.jpg -text
-------------------------
-
-Other source code management systems normalize all text files in their
-repositories, and there are two ways to enable similar automatic
-normalization in git.
-
If you simply want to have CRLF line endings in your working directory
regardless of the repository you are working with, you can set the
-config variable "core.autocrlf" without changing any attributes.
+config variable "core.autocrlf" without using any attributes.
------------------------
[core]
autocrlf = true
------------------------
-This does not force normalization of all text files, but does ensure
+This does not force normalization of text files, but does ensure
that text files that you introduce to the repository have their line
endings normalized to LF when they are added, and that files that are
already normalized in the repository stay normalized.
-If you want to interoperate with a source code management system that
-enforces end-of-line normalization, or you simply want all text files
-in your repository to be normalized, you should instead set the `text`
-attribute to "auto" for _all_ files.
+If you want to ensure that text files that any contributor introduces to
+the repository have their line endings normalized, you can set the
+`text` attribute to "auto" for _all_ files.
------------------------
* text=auto
------------------------
-This ensures that all files that git considers to be text will have
-normalized (LF) line endings in the repository. The `core.eol`
-configuration variable controls which line endings git will use for
-normalized files in your working directory; the default is to use the
-native line ending for your platform, or CRLF if `core.autocrlf` is
-set.
+The attributes allow a fine-grained control, how the line endings
+are converted.
+Here is an example that will make Git normalize .txt, .vcproj and .sh
+files, ensure that .vcproj files have CRLF and .sh files have LF in
+the working directory, and prevent .jpg files from being normalized
+regardless of their content.
+
+------------------------
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.vcproj text eol=crlf
+*.sh text eol=lf
+*.jpg -text
+------------------------
+
+NOTE: When `text=auto` conversion is enabled in a cross-platform
+project using push and pull to a central repository the text files
+containing CRLFs should be normalized.
-NOTE: When `text=auto` normalization is enabled in an existing
-repository, any text files containing CRLFs should be normalized. If
-they are not they will be normalized the next time someone tries to
-change them, causing unfortunate misattribution. From a clean working
-directory:
+From a clean working directory:
-------------------------------------------------
-$ echo "* text=auto" >>.gitattributes
-$ rm .git/index # Remove the index to force git to
+$ echo "* text=auto" >.gitattributes
+$ rm .git/index # Remove the index to force Git to
$ git reset # re-scan the working directory
$ git status # Show files that will be normalized
$ git add -u
manual.pdf -text
------------------------
-Conversely, text files that git does not detect can have normalization
+Conversely, text files that Git does not detect can have normalization
enabled manually.
------------------------
weirdchars.txt text
------------------------
-If `core.safecrlf` is set to "true" or "warn", git verifies if
+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
+`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...
`ident`
^^^^^^^
-When the attribute `ident` is set for a path, git replaces
+When the attribute `ident` is set for a path, Git replaces
`$Id$` in the blob object with `$Id:`, followed by the
40-character hexadecimal blob object name, followed by a dollar
sign `$` upon checkout. Any byte sequence that begins with
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.
+upon checkin. By default these commands process only a single
+blob and terminate. If a long running `process` filter is used
+in place of `clean` and/or `smudge` filters, then Git can process
+all blobs with a single filter command invocation for the entire
+life of a single Git command, for example `git add --all`. If a
+long running `process` filter is configured then it always takes
+precedence over a configured single blob filter. See section
+below for the description of the protocol used to communicate with
+a `process` filter.
One use of the content filtering is to massage the content into a shape
that is more convenient for the platform, filesystem, and the user to use.
Another use of the content filtering is to store the content that cannot
be directly used in the repository (e.g. a UUID that refers to the true
-content stored outside git, or an encrypted content) and turn it into a
+content stored outside Git, or an encrypted content) and turn it into a
usable form upon checkout (e.g. download the external content, or decrypt
the encrypted content).
smudge = git-p4-filter --smudge %f
------------------------
+Note that "%f" is the name of the path that is being worked on. Depending
+on the version that is being filtered, the corresponding file on disk may
+not exist, or may have different contents. So, smudge and clean commands
+should not try to access the file on disk, but only act as filters on the
+content provided to them on standard input.
+
+Long Running Filter Process
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If the filter command (a string value) is defined via
+`filter.<driver>.process` then Git can process all blobs with a
+single filter invocation for the entire life of a single Git
+command. This is achieved by using a packet format (pkt-line,
+see technical/protocol-common.txt) based protocol over standard
+input and standard output as follows. All packets, except for the
+"*CONTENT" packets and the "0000" flush packet, are considered
+text and therefore are terminated by a LF.
+
+Git starts the filter when it encounters the first file
+that needs to be cleaned or smudged. After the filter started
+Git sends a welcome message ("git-filter-client"), a list of supported
+protocol version numbers, and a flush packet. Git expects to read a welcome
+response message ("git-filter-server"), exactly one protocol version number
+from the previously sent list, and a flush packet. All further
+communication will be based on the selected version. The remaining
+protocol description below documents "version=2". Please note that
+"version=42" in the example below does not exist and is only there
+to illustrate how the protocol would look like with more than one
+version.
+
+After the version negotiation Git sends a list of all capabilities that
+it supports and a flush packet. Git expects to read a list of desired
+capabilities, which must be a subset of the supported capabilities list,
+and a flush packet as response:
+------------------------
+packet: git> git-filter-client
+packet: git> version=2
+packet: git> version=42
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git< git-filter-server
+packet: git< version=2
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git> capability=clean
+packet: git> capability=smudge
+packet: git> capability=not-yet-invented
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git< capability=clean
+packet: git< capability=smudge
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+Supported filter capabilities in version 2 are "clean" and
+"smudge".
+
+Afterwards Git sends a list of "key=value" pairs terminated with
+a flush packet. The list will contain at least the filter command
+(based on the supported capabilities) and the pathname of the file
+to filter relative to the repository root. Right after the flush packet
+Git sends the content split in zero or more pkt-line packets and a
+flush packet to terminate content. Please note, that the filter
+must not send any response before it received the content and the
+final flush packet. Also note that the "value" of a "key=value" pair
+can contain the "=" character whereas the key would never contain
+that character.
+------------------------
+packet: git> command=smudge
+packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git> CONTENT
+packet: git> 0000
+------------------------
+
+The filter is expected to respond with a list of "key=value" pairs
+terminated with a flush packet. If the filter does not experience
+problems then the list must contain a "success" status. Right after
+these packets the filter is expected to send the content in zero
+or more pkt-line packets and a flush packet at the end. Finally, a
+second list of "key=value" pairs terminated with a flush packet
+is expected. The filter can change the status in the second list
+or keep the status as is with an empty list. Please note that the
+empty list must be terminated with a flush packet regardless.
+
+------------------------
+packet: git< status=success
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< SMUDGED_CONTENT
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged!
+------------------------
+
+If the result content is empty then the filter is expected to respond
+with a "success" status and a flush packet to signal the empty content.
+------------------------
+packet: git< status=success
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< 0000 # empty content!
+packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged!
+------------------------
+
+In case the filter cannot or does not want to process the content,
+it is expected to respond with an "error" status.
+------------------------
+packet: git< status=error
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+
+If the filter experiences an error during processing, then it can
+send the status "error" after the content was (partially or
+completely) sent.
+------------------------
+packet: git< status=success
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< HALF_WRITTEN_ERRONEOUS_CONTENT
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< status=error
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+
+In case the filter cannot or does not want to process the content
+as well as any future content for the lifetime of the Git process,
+then it is expected to respond with an "abort" status at any point
+in the protocol.
+------------------------
+packet: git< status=abort
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+
+Git neither stops nor restarts the filter process in case the
+"error"/"abort" status is set. However, Git sets its exit code
+according to the `filter.<driver>.required` flag, mimicking the
+behavior of the `filter.<driver>.clean` / `filter.<driver>.smudge`
+mechanism.
+
+If the filter dies during the communication or does not adhere to
+the protocol then Git will stop the filter process and restart it
+with the next file that needs to be processed. Depending on the
+`filter.<driver>.required` flag Git will interpret that as error.
+
+After the filter has processed a blob it is expected to wait for
+the next "key=value" list containing a command. Git will close
+the command pipe on exit. The filter is expected to detect EOF
+and exit gracefully on its own. Git will wait until the filter
+process has stopped.
+
+A long running filter demo implementation can be found in
+`contrib/long-running-filter/example.pl` located in the Git
+core repository. If you develop your own long running filter
+process then the `GIT_TRACE_PACKET` environment variables can be
+very helpful for debugging (see linkgit:git[1]).
+
+Please note that you cannot use an existing `filter.<driver>.clean`
+or `filter.<driver>.smudge` command with `filter.<driver>.process`
+because the former two use a different inter process communication
+protocol than the latter one.
+
Interaction between checkin/checkout attributes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
where the attribute is not in place would normally cause merge
conflicts.
-To prevent these unnecessary merge conflicts, git can be told to run a
+To prevent these unnecessary merge conflicts, Git can be told to run a
virtual check-out and check-in of all three stages of a file when
resolving a three-way merge by setting the `merge.renormalize`
configuration variable. This prevents changes caused by check-in
`diff`
^^^^^^
-The attribute `diff` affects how 'git' generates diffs for particular
-files. It can tell git whether to generate a textual patch for the path
+The attribute `diff` affects how Git generates diffs for particular
+files. It can tell Git whether to generate a textual patch for the path
or to treat the path as a binary file. It can also affect what line is
-shown on the hunk header `@@ -k,l +n,m @@` line, tell git to use an
-external command to generate the diff, or ask git to convert binary
+shown on the hunk header `@@ -k,l +n,m @@` line, tell Git to use an
+external command to generate the diff, or ask Git to convert binary
files to a text format before generating the diff.
Set::
A path to which the `diff` attribute is unspecified
first gets its contents inspected, and if it looks like
- text, it is treated as text. Otherwise it would
- generate `Binary files differ`.
+ text and is smaller than core.bigFileThreshold, it is treated
+ as text. Otherwise it would generate `Binary files differ`.
String::
specify one or more options, as described in the following
section. The options for the diff driver "foo" are defined
by the configuration variables in the "diff.foo" section of the
- git config file.
+ Git config file.
Defining an external diff driver
command = j-c-diff
----------------------------------------------------------------
-When git needs to show you a diff for the path with `diff`
+When Git needs to show you a diff for the path with `diff`
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.
- `csharp` suitable for source code in the C# language.
+- `css` suitable for cascading style sheets.
+
- `fortran` suitable for source code in the Fortran language.
+- `fountain` suitable for Fountain documents.
+
- `html` suitable for HTML/XHTML documents.
- `java` suitable for source code in the Java language.
addition to_ the usual binary diff that you might send.
Because text conversion can be slow, especially when doing a
-large number of them with `git log -p`, git provides a mechanism
+large number of them with `git log -p`, Git provides a mechanism
to cache the output and use it in future diffs. To enable
caching, set the "cachetextconv" variable in your diff driver's
config. For example:
This will cache the result of running "exif" on each blob
indefinitely. If you change the textconv config variable for a
-diff driver, git will automatically invalidate the cache entries
+diff driver, Git will automatically invalidate the cache entries
and re-run the textconv filter. If you want to invalidate the
cache manually (e.g., because your version of "exif" was updated
and now produces better output), you can remove the cache
changes in the most appropriate way for your data format.
A textconv, by comparison, is much more limiting. You provide a
-transformation of the data into a line-oriented text format, and git
+transformation of the data into a line-oriented text format, and Git
uses its regular diff tools to generate the output. There are several
advantages to choosing this method:
odt2txt).
2. Git diff features. By performing only the transformation step
- yourself, you can still utilize many of git's diff features,
+ yourself, you can still utilize many of Git's diff features,
including colorization, word-diff, and combined diffs for merges.
3. Caching. Textconv caching can speed up repeated diffs, such as those
may want to override its decision, either because a blob contains binary
data later in the file, or because the content, while technically
composed of text characters, is opaque to a human reader. For example,
-many postscript files contain only ascii characters, but produce noisy
+many postscript files contain only ASCII characters, but produce noisy
and meaningless diffs.
The simplest way to mark a file as binary is to unset the diff
*.ps -diff
------------------------
-This will cause git to generate `Binary files differ` (or a binary
+This will cause Git to generate `Binary files differ` (or a binary
patch, if binary patches are enabled) instead of a regular diff.
However, one may also want to specify other diff driver attributes. For
example, you might want to use `textconv` to convert postscript files to
-an ascii representation for human viewing, but otherwise treat them as
+an ASCII representation for human viewing, but otherwise treat them as
binary files. You cannot specify both `-diff` and `diff=ps` attributes.
The solution is to use the `diff.*.binary` config option:
----------------------------------------------------------------
[merge "filfre"]
name = feel-free merge driver
- driver = filfre %O %A %B
+ driver = filfre %O %A %B %L %P
recursive = binary
----------------------------------------------------------------
When left unspecified, the driver itself is used for both
internal merge and the final merge.
+The merge driver can learn the pathname in which the merged result
+will be stored via placeholder `%P`.
+
`conflict-marker-size`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Set::
- Notice all types of potential whitespace errors known to git.
+ Notice all types of potential whitespace errors known to Git.
The tab width is taken from the value of the `core.whitespace`
configuration variable.
`export-subst`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-If the attribute `export-subst` is set for a file then git will expand
+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
DEFINING MACRO ATTRIBUTES
-------------------------
-Custom macro attributes can be defined only in the `.gitattributes`
-file at the toplevel (i.e. not in any subdirectory). The built-in
-macro attribute "binary" is equivalent to:
+Custom macro attributes can be defined only in top-level gitattributes
+files (`$GIT_DIR/info/attributes`, the `.gitattributes` file at the
+top level of the working tree, or the global or system-wide
+gitattributes files), not in `.gitattributes` files in working tree
+subdirectories. The built-in macro attribute "binary" is equivalent
+to:
------------
[attr]binary -diff -merge -text
the attributes given to path `t/abc` are computed as follows:
1. By examining `t/.gitattributes` (which is in the same
- directory as the path in question), git finds that the first
+ directory as the path in question), Git finds that the first
line matches. `merge` attribute is set. It also finds that
the second line matches, and attributes `foo` and `bar`
are unset.