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:
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 `!`.