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 `!`.
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.
+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
and exit gracefully on its own. Git will wait until the filter
process has stopped.
-If you develop your own long running filter
+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]).