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-rw-r--r--Documentation/gitattributes.txt515
1 files changed, 407 insertions, 108 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index 7e7e12168e..4c68bc19d5 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ Each line in `gitattributes` file is of form:
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:
@@ -56,8 +58,9 @@ When more than one pattern matches the path, a later line
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
+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
@@ -66,6 +69,11 @@ is from the path in question, the lower its precedence). Finally
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
@@ -74,19 +82,21 @@ Attributes which should be version-controlled and distributed to other
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
-for a path to `unspecified` state. This can be done by listing
+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.
@@ -96,7 +106,7 @@ Checking-out and checking-in
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`
@@ -107,6 +117,7 @@ text file is normalized, its line endings are converted to LF in the
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::
@@ -116,40 +127,44 @@ 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
-content checks, effectively setting the `text` attribute.
+working directory. It enables end-of-line conversion without any
+content checks, effectively setting the `text` attribute. Note that
+setting this attribute on paths which are in the index with CRLF line
+endings may make the paths to be considered dirty. Adding the path to
+the index again will normalize the line endings in the index.
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.
@@ -168,69 +183,58 @@ crlf=input eol=lf
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
-$ git reset # re-scan the working directory
+$ echo "* text=auto" >.gitattributes
+$ git read-tree --empty # Clean index, force re-scan of working directory
+$ git add .
$ git status # Show files that will be normalized
-$ git add -u
-$ git add .gitattributes
$ git commit -m "Introduce end-of-line normalization"
-------------------------------------------------
@@ -241,17 +245,17 @@ unset their `text` attribute before running '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...
@@ -272,7 +276,7 @@ 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
@@ -292,18 +296,37 @@ 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.
-
-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 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
-should still be usable.
+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.
+For this mode of operation, 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 should still be usable.
+
+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
+usable form upon checkout (e.g. download the external content, or decrypt
+the encrypted content).
+
+These two filters behave differently, and by default, a filter is taken as
+the former, massaging the contents into more convenient shape. A missing
+filter driver definition in the config, or a filter driver that exits with
+a non-zero status, is not an error but makes the filter a no-op passthru.
+
+You can declare that a filter turns a content that by itself is unusable
+into a usable content by setting the filter.<driver>.required configuration
+variable to `true`.
For example, in .gitattributes, you would assign the `filter`
attribute for paths.
@@ -335,6 +358,16 @@ input that is already correctly indented. In this case, the lack of a
smudge filter means that the clean filter _must_ accept its own output
without modifying it.
+If a filter _must_ succeed in order to make the stored contents usable,
+you can declare that the filter is `required`, in the configuration:
+
+------------------------
+[filter "crypt"]
+ clean = openssl enc ...
+ smudge = openssl enc -d ...
+ required
+------------------------
+
Sequence "%f" on the filter command line is replaced with the name of
the file the filter is working on. A filter might use this in keyword
substitution. For example:
@@ -345,6 +378,221 @@ substitution. For example:
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", "smudge",
+and "delay".
+
+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 command it is expected to wait for
+a "key=value" list containing the next 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.
+
+Delay
+^^^^^
+
+If the filter supports the "delay" capability, then Git can send the
+flag "can-delay" after the filter command and pathname. This flag
+denotes that the filter can delay filtering the current blob (e.g. to
+compensate network latencies) by responding with no content but with
+the status "delayed" and a flush packet.
+------------------------
+packet: git> command=smudge
+packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat
+packet: git> can-delay=1
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git> CONTENT
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git< status=delayed
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+
+If the filter supports the "delay" capability then it must support the
+"list_available_blobs" command. If Git sends this command, then the
+filter is expected to return a list of pathnames representing blobs
+that have been delayed earlier and are now available.
+The list must be terminated with a flush packet followed
+by a "success" status that is also terminated with a flush packet. If
+no blobs for the delayed paths are available, yet, then the filter is
+expected to block the response until at least one blob becomes
+available. The filter can tell Git that it has no more delayed blobs
+by sending an empty list. As soon as the filter responds with an empty
+list, Git stops asking. All blobs that Git has not received at this
+point are considered missing and will result in an error.
+
+------------------------
+packet: git> command=list_available_blobs
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git< pathname=path/testfile.dat
+packet: git< pathname=path/otherfile.dat
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< status=success
+packet: git< 0000
+------------------------
+
+After Git received the pathnames, it will request the corresponding
+blobs again. These requests contain a pathname and an empty content
+section. The filter is expected to respond with the smudged content
+in the usual way as explained above.
+------------------------
+packet: git> command=smudge
+packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat
+packet: git> 0000
+packet: git> 0000 # empty content!
+packet: git< status=success
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< SMUDGED_CONTENT
+packet: git< 0000
+packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged!
+------------------------
+
+Example
+^^^^^^^
+
+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
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -368,7 +616,7 @@ clean/smudge filter or text/eol/ident attributes, merging anything
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
@@ -388,11 +636,11 @@ Generating diff text
`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::
@@ -411,8 +659,8 @@ Unspecified::
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::
@@ -420,7 +668,7 @@ 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
@@ -438,7 +686,7 @@ To define an external diff driver `jcdiff`, add a section to your
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.
@@ -488,18 +736,26 @@ configuration file (you still need to enable this with the
attribute mechanism, via `.gitattributes`). The following built in
patterns are available:
+- `ada` suitable for source code in the Ada language.
+
- `bibtex` suitable for files with BibTeX coded references.
- `cpp` suitable for source code in the C and C++ languages.
- `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.
+- `matlab` suitable for source code in the MATLAB language.
+
- `objc` suitable for source code in the Objective-C language.
- `pascal` suitable for source code in the Pascal/Delphi language.
@@ -573,7 +829,7 @@ should generate it separately and send it as a comment _in
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:
@@ -586,13 +842,44 @@ 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
manually with `git update-ref -d refs/notes/textconv/jpg` (where
"jpg" is the name of the diff driver, as in the example above).
+Choosing textconv versus external diff
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If you want to show differences between binary or specially-formatted
+blobs in your repository, you can choose to use either an external diff
+command, or to use textconv to convert them to a diff-able text format.
+Which method you choose depends on your exact situation.
+
+The advantage of using an external diff command is flexibility. You are
+not bound to find line-oriented changes, nor is it necessary for the
+output to resemble unified diff. You are free to locate and report
+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
+uses its regular diff tools to generate the output. There are several
+advantages to choosing this method:
+
+1. Ease of use. It is often much simpler to write a binary to text
+ transformation than it is to perform your own diff. In many cases,
+ existing programs can be used as textconv filters (e.g., exif,
+ odt2txt).
+
+2. Git diff features. By performing only the transformation step
+ 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
+ you might trigger by running `git log -p`.
+
+
Marking files as binary
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -601,7 +888,7 @@ data by examining the beginning of the contents. However, sometimes you
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
@@ -611,12 +898,12 @@ attribute in the `.gitattributes` file:
*.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:
@@ -632,7 +919,7 @@ Performing a three-way merge
`merge`
^^^^^^^
-The attribute `merge` affects how three versions of a file is
+The attribute `merge` affects how three versions of a file are
merged when a file-level merge is necessary during `git merge`,
and other commands such as `git revert` and `git cherry-pick`.
@@ -646,15 +933,15 @@ Unset::
Take the version from the current branch as the
tentative merge result, and declare that the merge has
- conflicts. This is suitable for binary files that does
+ conflicts. This is suitable for binary files that do
not have a well-defined merge semantics.
Unspecified::
By default, this uses the same built-in 3-way merge
- driver as is the case the `merge` attribute is set.
- However, `merge.default` configuration variable can name
- different merge driver to be used for paths to which the
+ driver as is the case when the `merge` attribute is set.
+ However, the `merge.default` configuration variable can name
+ different merge driver to be used with paths for which the
`merge` attribute is unspecified.
String::
@@ -710,7 +997,7 @@ To define a custom merge driver `filfre`, add a section to your
----------------------------------------------------------------
[merge "filfre"]
name = feel-free merge driver
- driver = filfre %O %A %B
+ driver = filfre %O %A %B %L %P
recursive = binary
----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -736,6 +1023,9 @@ merge between common ancestors, when there are more than one.
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`
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -767,7 +1057,7 @@ control per path.
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.
@@ -799,7 +1089,7 @@ archive files.
`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
@@ -837,7 +1127,7 @@ If this attribute is not set or has an invalid value, the value of the
(See linkgit:git-config[1]).
-USING ATTRIBUTE MACROS
+USING MACRO ATTRIBUTES
----------------------
You do not want any end-of-line conversions applied to, nor textual diffs
@@ -848,27 +1138,33 @@ produced for, any binary file you track. You would need to specify e.g.
------------
but that may become cumbersome, when you have many attributes. Using
-attribute macros, you can specify groups of attributes set or unset at
-the same time. The system knows a built-in attribute macro, `binary`:
+macro attributes, you can define an attribute that, when set, also
+sets or unsets a number of other attributes at the same time. The
+system knows a built-in macro attribute, `binary`:
------------
*.jpg binary
------------
-which is equivalent to the above. Note that the attribute macros can only
-be "Set" (see the above example that sets "binary" macro as if it were an
-ordinary attribute --- setting it in turn unsets "text" and "diff").
+Setting the "binary" attribute also unsets the "text" and "diff"
+attributes as above. Note that macro attributes can only be "Set",
+though setting one might have the effect of setting or unsetting other
+attributes or even returning other attributes to the "Unspecified"
+state.
-DEFINING ATTRIBUTE MACROS
+DEFINING MACRO ATTRIBUTES
-------------------------
-Custom attribute macros can be defined only in the `.gitattributes` file
-at the toplevel (i.e. not in any subdirectory). The built-in attribute
-macro "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 -text
+[attr]binary -diff -merge -text
------------
@@ -894,7 +1190,7 @@ abc -foo -bar
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.
@@ -921,6 +1217,9 @@ frotz unspecified
----------------------------------------------------------------
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-check-attr[1].
GIT
---