13 files changed, 99 insertions, 53 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.5.2.1.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.5.2.1.txt
index ebf20e22a7..d41984df0b 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.5.2.1.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.5.2.1.txt
@@ -45,9 +45,3 @@ Fixes since v1.5.2
   - git-fastimport --import-marks was broken; fixed.
 
   - A lot of documentation updates, clarifications and fixes.
-
---
-exec >/var/tmp/1
-O=v1.5.2-65-g996e2d6
-echo O=`git describe refs/heads/maint`
-git shortlog --no-merges $O..refs/heads/maint
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.0.2.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.0.2.txt
index e1e24b3295..7d8fb85e1b 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.0.2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.0.2.txt
@@ -79,9 +79,3 @@ Fixes since v1.6.0.1
   packfile.
 
 Also contains many documentation updates.
-
---
-exec >/var/tmp/1
-O=v1.6.0.1-78-g3632cfc
-echo O=$(git describe maint)
-git shortlog --no-merges $O..maint
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.3.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.3.txt
index 6f0bde156a..cd08d8174e 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.3.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.3.txt
@@ -26,7 +26,3 @@ Fixes since v1.6.1.2
 * RPM binary package installed the html manpages in a wrong place.
 
 Also includes minor documentation fixes and updates.
-
-
---
-git shortlog --no-merges v1.6.1.2-33-gc789350..
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.4.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.4.txt
index 0ce6316d75..ccbad794c0 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.4.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.4.txt
@@ -39,6 +39,3 @@ Fixes since v1.6.1.3
   This fix was first merged to 1.6.2.3.
 
 Also includes minor documentation fixes and updates.
-
---
-git shortlog --no-merges v1.6.1.3..
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.txt
index adb7ccab0a..7b152a6fdc 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.6.1.txt
@@ -278,9 +278,3 @@ release, unless otherwise noted.
 
 * "gitweb" did not mark non-ASCII characters imported from external HTML fragments
   correctly.
-
---
-exec >/var/tmp/1
-O=v1.6.1-rc3-74-gf66bc5f
-echo O=$(git describe master)
-git shortlog --no-merges $O..master ^maint
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.3.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.3.txt
index 8d4f879458..ecda427a35 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.3.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.3.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@ Git 1.7.12.3 Release Notes
 Fixes since v1.7.12.2
 ---------------------
 
+ * "git am" mishandled a patch attached as application/octet-stream
+   (e.g. not text/*); Content-Transfer-Encoding (e.g. base64) was not
+   honored correctly.
+
+ * It was unclear in the documentation for "git blame" that it is
+   unnecessary for users to use the "--follow" option.
+
+ * A repository created with "git clone --single" had its fetch
+   refspecs set up just like a clone without "--single", leading the
+   subsequent "git fetch" to slurp all the other branches, defeating
+   the whole point of specifying "only this branch".
+
  * "git fetch" over http had an old workaround for an unlikely server
    misconfiguration; it turns out that this hurts debuggability of the
    configuration in general, and has been reverted.
@@ -12,6 +24,10 @@ Fixes since v1.7.12.2
    is much less common, and did not advertise the more common "gzip" on
    its Accept-Encoding header.
 
+ * "git receive-pack" (the counterpart to "git push") did not give
+   progress output while processing objects it received to the puser
+   when run over the smart-http protocol.
+
  * "git status" honored the ignore=dirty settings in .gitmodules but
    "git commit" didn't.
 
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.4.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.4.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c6da3cc939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.12.4.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+Git 1.7.12.4 Release Notes
+==========================
+
+Fixes since v1.7.12.3
+---------------------
+
+ * "git fetch" over the dumb-http revision walker could segfault when
+   curl's multi interface was used.
+
+ * It was possible to give specific paths for "asciidoc" and other
+   tools in the documentation toolchain, but not for "xmlto".
+
+ * "gitweb" did not give the correct committer timezone in its feed
+   output due to a typo.
+
+ * The "-Xours" (and similarly -Xtheirs) backend option to "git
+   merge -s recursive" was ignored for binary files.  Now it is
+   honored.
+
+ * The "binary" synthetic attribute made "diff" to treat the path as
+   binary, but not "merge".
+
+Also contains many documentation updates.
diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.0.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.0.txt
index 2528bc379a..43883c14f0 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.0.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.0.txt
@@ -4,16 +4,18 @@ Git v1.8.0 Release Notes
 Backward compatibility notes
 ----------------------------
 
-In the next major release, we will change the behavior of the "git
-push" command.  When "git push [$there]" does not say what to push, we
-have used the traditional "matching" semantics so far (all your branches were
-sent to the remote as long as there already are branches of the same
-name over there).  We will now use the "simple" semantics, that pushes the
-current branch to the branch with the same name only when the current
+In the next major release (not *this* one), we will change the
+behavior of the "git push" command.
+
+When "git push [$there]" does not say what to push, we have used the
+traditional "matching" semantics so far (all your branches were sent
+to the remote as long as there already are branches of the same name
+over there).  We will use the "simple" semantics that pushes the
+current branch to the branch with the same name, only when the current
 branch is set to integrate with that remote branch.  There is a user
 preference configuration variable "push.default" to change this, and
 "git push" will warn about the upcoming change until you set this
-variable.
+variable in this release.
 
 "git branch --set-upstream" is deprecated and may be removed in a
 relatively distant future.  "git branch [-u|--set-upstream-to]" has
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ UI, Workflows & Features
 
  * When "git am" sanitizes the "Subject:" line, we strip the prefix from
    "Re: subject" and also from a less common "re: subject", but left
-   the even less common "RE: subject" intact. We strip that now, too.
+   the even less common "RE: subject" intact.  Now we strip that too.
 
  * It was tempting to say "git branch --set-upstream origin/master",
    but that tells Git to arrange the local branch "origin/master" to
@@ -62,6 +64,8 @@ UI, Workflows & Features
  * "git grep" learned to use a non-standard pattern type by default if
    a configuration variable tells it to.
 
+ * Accumulated updates to "git gui" has been merged.
+
  * "git log -g" learned the "--grep-reflog=<pattern>" option to limit
    its output to commits with a reflog message that matches the given
    pattern.
@@ -73,9 +77,6 @@ UI, Workflows & Features
    with the mergetool.$name.cmd configuration variable even for built-in
    mergetool backends.
 
- * The "-Xours" backend option to "git merge -s recursive" now takes
-   effect even on binary files.
-
  * "git rebase -i" learned the "--edit-todo" option to open an editor
    to edit the instruction sheet.
 
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ Foreign Interface
    encountering a conflict during "p4 submit".
 
 
-Performance, Internal Implementation, etc. (please report possible regressions)
+Performance, Internal Implementation, etc.
 
  * Git ships with a fall-back regexp implementation for platforms with
    buggy regexp library, but it was easy for people to keep using their
@@ -153,10 +154,9 @@ to them for details).
  * When "git am" is fed an input that has multiple "Content-type: ..."
    header, it did not grok charset= attribute correctly.
 
- * A patch attached as application/octet-stream (e.g. not text/*) were
-   mishandled, not correctly honoring Content-Transfer-Encoding
-   (e.g. base64).
-   (merge 9d55b2e lt/mailinfo-handle-attachment-more-sanely later to maint).
+ * "git am" mishandled a patch attached as application/octet-stream
+   (e.g. not text/*); Content-Transfer-Encoding (e.g. base64) was not
+   honored correctly.
 
  * "git blame MAKEFILE" run in a history that has "Makefile" but not
    "MAKEFILE" should say "No such file MAKEFILE in HEAD", but got
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ to them for details).
 
  * It was unclear in the documentation for "git blame" that it is
    unnecessary for users to use the "--follow" option.
-   (merge e5dce96 jc/blame-follows-renames later to maint).
 
  * Output from "git branch -v" contains "(no branch)" that could be
    localized, but the code to align it along with the names of
@@ -184,7 +183,6 @@ to them for details).
    refspecs set up just like a clone without "--single", leading the
    subsequent "git fetch" to slurp all the other branches, defeating
    the whole point of specifying "only this branch".
-   (merge 31b808a rt/maint-clone-single later to maint).
 
  * Documentation talked about "first line of commit log" when it meant
    the title of the commit.  The description was clarified by defining
@@ -208,12 +206,13 @@ to them for details).
  * "git fetch" over http had an old workaround for an unlikely server
    misconfiguration; it turns out that this hurts debuggability of the
    configuration in general, and has been reverted.
-   (merge 6ac964a sp/maint-http-info-refs-no-retry later to maint).
 
  * "git fetch" over http advertised that it supports "deflate", which
    is much less common, and did not advertise the more common "gzip" on
    its Accept-Encoding header.
-   (merge aa90b96 sp/maint-http-enable-gzip later to maint).
+
+ * "git fetch" over the dumb-http revision walker could segfault when
+   curl's multi interface was used.
 
  * "git gc --auto" notified the user that auto-packing has triggered
     even under the "--quiet" option.
@@ -227,13 +226,15 @@ to them for details).
    --author or --committer, it showed commits that mention either A or
    B (or both) instead.
 
+ * The "-Xours" backend option to "git merge -s recursive" was ignored
+   for binary files.
+
  * "git p4", when "--use-client-spec" and "--detect-branches" are used
    together, misdetected branches.
 
  * "git receive-pack" (the counterpart to "git push") did not give
    progress output while processing objects it received to the puser
    when run over the smart-http protocol.
-   (merge 74eb32d jk/receive-pack-unpack-error-to-pusher later to maint).
 
  * When you misspell the command name you give to the "exec" action in
    the "git rebase -i" instruction sheet you were told that 'rebase' is not a
@@ -258,8 +259,9 @@ to them for details).
  * "git submodule frotz" was not diagnosed as "frotz" being an unknown
    subcommand to "git submodule"; the user instead got a complaint
    that "git submodule status" was run with an unknown path "frotz".
-   (merge af9c9f9 rr/maint-submodule-unknown-cmd later to maint).
 
  * "git status" honored the ignore=dirty settings in .gitmodules but
    "git commit" didn't.
-   (merge 8f6811e os/commit-submodule-ignore later to maint).
+
+ * "gitweb" did not give the correct committer timezone in its feed
+   output due to a typo.
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index 48bd04e22d..4a89a12513 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -43,9 +43,16 @@ unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master'
 branch of the `git.git` repository.
 Documentation for older releases are available here:
 
-* link:v1.7.12.2/git.html[documentation for release 1.7.12.2]
+* link:v1.8.0/git.html[documentation for release 1.8.0]
 
 * release notes for
+  link:RelNotes/1.8.0.txt[1.8.0],
+
+* link:v1.7.12.4/git.html[documentation for release 1.7.12.4]
+
+* release notes for
+  link:RelNotes/1.7.12.4.txt[1.7.12.4],
+  link:RelNotes/1.7.12.3.txt[1.7.12.3],
   link:RelNotes/1.7.12.2.txt[1.7.12.2],
   link:RelNotes/1.7.12.1.txt[1.7.12.1],
   link:RelNotes/1.7.12.txt[1.7.12].
diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index 99ed04d7ab..ba02d4de59 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ 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
diff --git a/Documentation/gitcli.txt b/Documentation/gitcli.txt
index f6ba90c2da..3bc1500eda 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitcli.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitcli.txt
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ ENHANCED OPTION PARSER
 From the git 1.5.4 series and further, many git commands (not all of them at the
 time of the writing though) come with an enhanced option parser.
 
-Here is an exhaustive list of the facilities provided by this option parser.
+Here is a list of the facilities provided by this option parser.
 
 
 Magic Options
@@ -137,6 +137,16 @@ options. This means that you can for example use `git rm -rf` or
 `git clean -fdx`.
 
 
+Abbreviating long options
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Commands that support the enhanced option parser accepts unique
+prefix of a long option as if it is fully spelled out, but use this
+with a caution.  For example, `git commit --amen` behaves as if you
+typed `git commit --amend`, but that is true only until a later version
+of Git introduces another option that shares the same prefix,
+e.g `git commit --amenity" option.
+
+
 Separating argument from the option
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 You can write the mandatory option parameter to an option as a separate
diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index 96639e02bd..1b82fe1969 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -74,11 +74,15 @@ PATTERN FORMAT
    for readability.
 
  - A line starting with # serves as a comment.
+   Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first hash for patterns
+   that begin with a hash.
 
- - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
+ - An optional prefix "`!`" which negates the pattern; any
    matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
    included again.  If a negated pattern matches, this will
    override lower precedence patterns sources.
+   Put a backslash ("`\`") in front of the first "`!`" for patterns
+   that begin with a literal "`!`", for example, "`\!important!.txt`".
 
  - If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the
    purpose of the following description, but it would only find
diff --git a/Documentation/urls.txt b/Documentation/urls.txt
index 289019478d..1d15ee7e52 100644
--- a/Documentation/urls.txt
+++ b/Documentation/urls.txt
@@ -6,8 +6,12 @@ address of the remote server, and the path to the repository.
 Depending on the transport protocol, some of this information may be
 absent.
 
-Git natively supports ssh, git, http, https, ftp, ftps, and rsync
-protocols. The following syntaxes may be used with them:
+Git supports ssh, git, http, and https protocols (in addition, ftp,
+and ftps can be used for fetching and rsync can be used for fetching
+and pushing, but these are inefficient and deprecated; do not use
+them).
+
+The following syntaxes may be used with them:
 
 - ssh://{startsb}user@{endsb}host.xz{startsb}:port{endsb}/path/to/repo.git/
 - git://host.xz{startsb}:port{endsb}/path/to/repo.git/