]>
Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
88e7fdf2 JH |
1 | gitattributes(5) |
2 | ================ | |
3 | ||
4 | NAME | |
5 | ---- | |
1b81d8cb | 6 | gitattributes - Defining attributes per path |
88e7fdf2 JH |
7 | |
8 | SYNOPSIS | |
9 | -------- | |
e5b5c1d2 | 10 | $GIT_DIR/info/attributes, .gitattributes |
88e7fdf2 JH |
11 | |
12 | ||
13 | DESCRIPTION | |
14 | ----------- | |
15 | ||
16 | A `gitattributes` file is a simple text file that gives | |
17 | `attributes` to pathnames. | |
18 | ||
19 | Each line in `gitattributes` file is of form: | |
20 | ||
3f74c8e8 | 21 | pattern attr1 attr2 ... |
88e7fdf2 | 22 | |
3f74c8e8 | 23 | That is, a pattern followed by an attributes list, |
860a74d9 NTND |
24 | separated by whitespaces. Leading and trailing whitespaces are |
25 | ignored. Lines that begin with '#' are ignored. Patterns | |
26 | that begin with a double quote are quoted in C style. | |
27 | When the pattern matches the path in question, the attributes | |
28 | listed on the line are given to the path. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
29 | |
30 | Each attribute can be in one of these states for a given path: | |
31 | ||
32 | Set:: | |
33 | ||
34 | The path has the attribute with special value "true"; | |
35 | this is specified by listing only the name of the | |
36 | attribute in the attribute list. | |
37 | ||
38 | Unset:: | |
39 | ||
40 | The path has the attribute with special value "false"; | |
41 | this is specified by listing the name of the attribute | |
42 | prefixed with a dash `-` in the attribute list. | |
43 | ||
44 | Set to a value:: | |
45 | ||
46 | The path has the attribute with specified string value; | |
47 | this is specified by listing the name of the attribute | |
48 | followed by an equal sign `=` and its value in the | |
49 | attribute list. | |
50 | ||
51 | Unspecified:: | |
52 | ||
3f74c8e8 | 53 | No pattern matches the path, and nothing says if |
b9d14ffb JH |
54 | the path has or does not have the attribute, the |
55 | attribute for the path is said to be Unspecified. | |
88e7fdf2 | 56 | |
3f74c8e8 | 57 | When more than one pattern matches the path, a later line |
b9d14ffb | 58 | overrides an earlier line. This overriding is done per |
b635ed97 JK |
59 | attribute. |
60 | ||
61 | The rules by which the pattern matches paths are the same as in | |
62 | `.gitignore` files (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), with a few exceptions: | |
63 | ||
64 | - negative patterns are forbidden | |
65 | ||
66 | - patterns that match a directory do not recursively match paths | |
67 | inside that directory (so using the trailing-slash `path/` syntax is | |
68 | pointless in an attributes file; use `path/**` instead) | |
88e7fdf2 | 69 | |
2de9b711 | 70 | When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, Git |
88e7fdf2 JH |
71 | consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest |
72 | precedence), `.gitattributes` file in the same directory as the | |
20ff3ec2 JM |
73 | path in question, and its parent directories up to the toplevel of the |
74 | work tree (the further the directory that contains `.gitattributes` | |
6df42ab9 PO |
75 | is from the path in question, the lower its precedence). Finally |
76 | global and system-wide files are considered (they have the lowest | |
77 | precedence). | |
88e7fdf2 | 78 | |
40701adb NTND |
79 | When the `.gitattributes` file is missing from the work tree, the |
80 | path in the index is used as a fall-back. During checkout process, | |
81 | `.gitattributes` in the index is used and then the file in the | |
82 | working tree is used as a fall-back. | |
83 | ||
90b22907 | 84 | If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign |
6df42ab9 PO |
85 | attributes to files that are particular to |
86 | one user's workflow for that repository), then | |
90b22907 JK |
87 | attributes should be placed in the `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file. |
88 | Attributes which should be version-controlled and distributed to other | |
89 | repositories (i.e., attributes of interest to all users) should go into | |
6df42ab9 PO |
90 | `.gitattributes` files. Attributes that should affect all repositories |
91 | for a single user should be placed in a file specified by the | |
da0005b8 | 92 | `core.attributesFile` configuration option (see linkgit:git-config[1]). |
684e40f6 HKNN |
93 | Its default value is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/attributes. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME |
94 | is either not set or empty, $HOME/.config/git/attributes is used instead. | |
6df42ab9 PO |
95 | Attributes for all users on a system should be placed in the |
96 | `$(prefix)/etc/gitattributes` file. | |
90b22907 | 97 | |
faa4e8ce | 98 | Sometimes you would need to override a setting of an attribute |
0922570c | 99 | for a path to `Unspecified` state. This can be done by listing |
88e7fdf2 JH |
100 | the name of the attribute prefixed with an exclamation point `!`. |
101 | ||
102 | ||
103 | EFFECTS | |
104 | ------- | |
105 | ||
2de9b711 | 106 | Certain operations by Git can be influenced by assigning |
ae7aa499 JH |
107 | particular attributes to a path. Currently, the following |
108 | operations are attributes-aware. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
109 | |
110 | Checking-out and checking-in | |
111 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
112 | ||
3fed15f5 | 113 | These attributes affect how the contents stored in the |
88e7fdf2 | 114 | repository are copied to the working tree files when commands |
0b444cdb | 115 | such as 'git checkout' and 'git merge' run. They also affect how |
2de9b711 | 116 | Git stores the contents you prepare in the working tree in the |
0b444cdb | 117 | repository upon 'git add' and 'git commit'. |
88e7fdf2 | 118 | |
5ec3e670 | 119 | `text` |
3fed15f5 JH |
120 | ^^^^^^ |
121 | ||
fd6cce9e EB |
122 | This attribute enables and controls end-of-line normalization. When a |
123 | text file is normalized, its line endings are converted to LF in the | |
124 | repository. To control what line ending style is used in the working | |
125 | directory, use the `eol` attribute for a single file and the | |
942e7747 | 126 | `core.eol` configuration variable for all text files. |
65237284 | 127 | Note that `core.autocrlf` overrides `core.eol` |
3fed15f5 | 128 | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
129 | Set:: |
130 | ||
5ec3e670 | 131 | Setting the `text` attribute on a path enables end-of-line |
fd6cce9e EB |
132 | normalization and marks the path as a text file. End-of-line |
133 | conversion takes place without guessing the content type. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
134 | |
135 | Unset:: | |
136 | ||
2de9b711 | 137 | Unsetting the `text` attribute on a path tells Git not to |
bbb896d8 | 138 | attempt any end-of-line conversion upon checkin or checkout. |
88e7fdf2 | 139 | |
fd6cce9e | 140 | Set to string value "auto":: |
88e7fdf2 | 141 | |
5ec3e670 | 142 | When `text` is set to "auto", the path is marked for automatic |
65237284 TB |
143 | end-of-line conversion. If Git decides that the content is |
144 | text, its line endings are converted to LF on checkin. | |
2e3a16b2 | 145 | When the file has been committed with CRLF, no conversion is done. |
88e7fdf2 | 146 | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
147 | Unspecified:: |
148 | ||
2de9b711 | 149 | If the `text` attribute is unspecified, Git uses the |
942e7747 EB |
150 | `core.autocrlf` configuration variable to determine if the |
151 | file should be converted. | |
88e7fdf2 | 152 | |
2de9b711 | 153 | Any other value causes Git to act as if `text` has been left |
fd6cce9e | 154 | unspecified. |
88e7fdf2 | 155 | |
fd6cce9e EB |
156 | `eol` |
157 | ^^^^^ | |
88e7fdf2 | 158 | |
fd6cce9e | 159 | This attribute sets a specific line-ending style to be used in the |
65237284 | 160 | working directory. It enables end-of-line conversion without any |
3bc4b8f7 BB |
161 | content checks, effectively setting the `text` attribute. Note that |
162 | setting this attribute on paths which are in the index with CRLF line | |
163 | endings may make the paths to be considered dirty. Adding the path to | |
164 | the index again will normalize the line endings in the index. | |
88e7fdf2 | 165 | |
fd6cce9e | 166 | Set to string value "crlf":: |
88e7fdf2 | 167 | |
2de9b711 | 168 | This setting forces Git to normalize line endings for this |
942e7747 EB |
169 | file on checkin and convert them to CRLF when the file is |
170 | checked out. | |
fd6cce9e EB |
171 | |
172 | Set to string value "lf":: | |
173 | ||
2de9b711 | 174 | This setting forces Git to normalize line endings to LF on |
fd6cce9e | 175 | checkin and prevents conversion to CRLF when the file is |
942e7747 | 176 | checked out. |
5ec3e670 EB |
177 | |
178 | Backwards compatibility with `crlf` attribute | |
179 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
180 | ||
181 | For backwards compatibility, the `crlf` attribute is interpreted as | |
182 | follows: | |
183 | ||
184 | ------------------------ | |
185 | crlf text | |
186 | -crlf -text | |
187 | crlf=input eol=lf | |
188 | ------------------------ | |
fd6cce9e EB |
189 | |
190 | End-of-line conversion | |
191 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
192 | ||
2de9b711 | 193 | While Git normally leaves file contents alone, it can be configured to |
fd6cce9e EB |
194 | normalize line endings to LF in the repository and, optionally, to |
195 | convert them to CRLF when files are checked out. | |
196 | ||
fd6cce9e EB |
197 | If you simply want to have CRLF line endings in your working directory |
198 | regardless of the repository you are working with, you can set the | |
65237284 | 199 | config variable "core.autocrlf" without using any attributes. |
fd6cce9e EB |
200 | |
201 | ------------------------ | |
202 | [core] | |
203 | autocrlf = true | |
204 | ------------------------ | |
205 | ||
e28eae31 | 206 | This does not force normalization of text files, but does ensure |
fd6cce9e EB |
207 | that text files that you introduce to the repository have their line |
208 | endings normalized to LF when they are added, and that files that are | |
942e7747 | 209 | already normalized in the repository stay normalized. |
fd6cce9e | 210 | |
e28eae31 TB |
211 | If you want to ensure that text files that any contributor introduces to |
212 | the repository have their line endings normalized, you can set the | |
213 | `text` attribute to "auto" for _all_ files. | |
88e7fdf2 | 214 | |
fd6cce9e | 215 | ------------------------ |
5ec3e670 | 216 | * text=auto |
fd6cce9e EB |
217 | ------------------------ |
218 | ||
e28eae31 TB |
219 | The attributes allow a fine-grained control, how the line endings |
220 | are converted. | |
221 | Here is an example that will make Git normalize .txt, .vcproj and .sh | |
222 | files, ensure that .vcproj files have CRLF and .sh files have LF in | |
223 | the working directory, and prevent .jpg files from being normalized | |
224 | regardless of their content. | |
225 | ||
226 | ------------------------ | |
227 | * text=auto | |
228 | *.txt text | |
229 | *.vcproj text eol=crlf | |
230 | *.sh text eol=lf | |
231 | *.jpg -text | |
232 | ------------------------ | |
233 | ||
234 | NOTE: When `text=auto` conversion is enabled in a cross-platform | |
235 | project using push and pull to a central repository the text files | |
236 | containing CRLFs should be normalized. | |
fd6cce9e | 237 | |
e28eae31 | 238 | From a clean working directory: |
fd6cce9e EB |
239 | |
240 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
e28eae31 | 241 | $ echo "* text=auto" >.gitattributes |
9472935d | 242 | $ git add --renormalize . |
fd6cce9e | 243 | $ git status # Show files that will be normalized |
fd6cce9e EB |
244 | $ git commit -m "Introduce end-of-line normalization" |
245 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
246 | ||
247 | If any files that should not be normalized show up in 'git status', | |
5ec3e670 | 248 | unset their `text` attribute before running 'git add -u'. |
fd6cce9e EB |
249 | |
250 | ------------------------ | |
5ec3e670 | 251 | manual.pdf -text |
fd6cce9e | 252 | ------------------------ |
88e7fdf2 | 253 | |
2de9b711 | 254 | Conversely, text files that Git does not detect can have normalization |
fd6cce9e | 255 | enabled manually. |
88e7fdf2 | 256 | |
fd6cce9e | 257 | ------------------------ |
5ec3e670 | 258 | weirdchars.txt text |
fd6cce9e | 259 | ------------------------ |
88e7fdf2 | 260 | |
2de9b711 | 261 | If `core.safecrlf` is set to "true" or "warn", Git verifies if |
21e5ad50 | 262 | the conversion is reversible for the current setting of |
2de9b711 TA |
263 | `core.autocrlf`. For "true", Git rejects irreversible |
264 | conversions; for "warn", Git only prints a warning but accepts | |
21e5ad50 SP |
265 | an irreversible conversion. The safety triggers to prevent such |
266 | a conversion done to the files in the work tree, but there are a | |
267 | few exceptions. Even though... | |
268 | ||
0b444cdb | 269 | - 'git add' itself does not touch the files in the work tree, the |
21e5ad50 SP |
270 | next checkout would, so the safety triggers; |
271 | ||
0b444cdb | 272 | - 'git apply' to update a text file with a patch does touch the files |
21e5ad50 SP |
273 | in the work tree, but the operation is about text files and CRLF |
274 | conversion is about fixing the line ending inconsistencies, so the | |
275 | safety does not trigger; | |
276 | ||
0b444cdb TR |
277 | - 'git diff' itself does not touch the files in the work tree, it is |
278 | often run to inspect the changes you intend to next 'git add'. To | |
21e5ad50 SP |
279 | catch potential problems early, safety triggers. |
280 | ||
88e7fdf2 | 281 | |
107642fe LS |
282 | `working-tree-encoding` |
283 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
284 | ||
285 | Git recognizes files encoded in ASCII or one of its supersets (e.g. | |
286 | UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, ...) as text files. Files encoded in certain other | |
287 | encodings (e.g. UTF-16) are interpreted as binary and consequently | |
288 | built-in Git text processing tools (e.g. 'git diff') as well as most Git | |
289 | web front ends do not visualize the contents of these files by default. | |
290 | ||
291 | In these cases you can tell Git the encoding of a file in the working | |
292 | directory with the `working-tree-encoding` attribute. If a file with this | |
293 | attribute is added to Git, then Git reencodes the content from the | |
294 | specified encoding to UTF-8. Finally, Git stores the UTF-8 encoded | |
295 | content in its internal data structure (called "the index"). On checkout | |
296 | the content is reencoded back to the specified encoding. | |
297 | ||
298 | Please note that using the `working-tree-encoding` attribute may have a | |
299 | number of pitfalls: | |
300 | ||
301 | - Alternative Git implementations (e.g. JGit or libgit2) and older Git | |
302 | versions (as of March 2018) do not support the `working-tree-encoding` | |
303 | attribute. If you decide to use the `working-tree-encoding` attribute | |
304 | in your repository, then it is strongly recommended to ensure that all | |
305 | clients working with the repository support it. | |
306 | ||
307 | For example, Microsoft Visual Studio resources files (`*.rc`) or | |
308 | PowerShell script files (`*.ps1`) are sometimes encoded in UTF-16. | |
309 | If you declare `*.ps1` as files as UTF-16 and you add `foo.ps1` with | |
310 | a `working-tree-encoding` enabled Git client, then `foo.ps1` will be | |
311 | stored as UTF-8 internally. A client without `working-tree-encoding` | |
312 | support will checkout `foo.ps1` as UTF-8 encoded file. This will | |
313 | typically cause trouble for the users of this file. | |
314 | ||
315 | If a Git client, that does not support the `working-tree-encoding` | |
316 | attribute, adds a new file `bar.ps1`, then `bar.ps1` will be | |
317 | stored "as-is" internally (in this example probably as UTF-16). | |
318 | A client with `working-tree-encoding` support will interpret the | |
319 | internal contents as UTF-8 and try to convert it to UTF-16 on checkout. | |
320 | That operation will fail and cause an error. | |
321 | ||
e92d6225 LS |
322 | - Reencoding content to non-UTF encodings can cause errors as the |
323 | conversion might not be UTF-8 round trip safe. If you suspect your | |
324 | encoding to not be round trip safe, then add it to | |
325 | `core.checkRoundtripEncoding` to make Git check the round trip | |
326 | encoding (see linkgit:git-config[1]). SHIFT-JIS (Japanese character | |
327 | set) is known to have round trip issues with UTF-8 and is checked by | |
328 | default. | |
329 | ||
107642fe LS |
330 | - Reencoding content requires resources that might slow down certain |
331 | Git operations (e.g 'git checkout' or 'git add'). | |
332 | ||
333 | Use the `working-tree-encoding` attribute only if you cannot store a file | |
334 | in UTF-8 encoding and if you want Git to be able to process the content | |
335 | as text. | |
336 | ||
337 | As an example, use the following attributes if your '*.ps1' files are | |
338 | UTF-16 encoded with byte order mark (BOM) and you want Git to perform | |
339 | automatic line ending conversion based on your platform. | |
340 | ||
341 | ------------------------ | |
342 | *.ps1 text working-tree-encoding=UTF-16 | |
343 | ------------------------ | |
344 | ||
345 | Use the following attributes if your '*.ps1' files are UTF-16 little | |
346 | endian encoded without BOM and you want Git to use Windows line endings | |
347 | in the working directory. Please note, it is highly recommended to | |
348 | explicitly define the line endings with `eol` if the `working-tree-encoding` | |
349 | attribute is used to avoid ambiguity. | |
350 | ||
351 | ------------------------ | |
352 | *.ps1 text working-tree-encoding=UTF-16LE eol=CRLF | |
353 | ------------------------ | |
354 | ||
355 | You can get a list of all available encodings on your platform with the | |
356 | following command: | |
357 | ||
358 | ------------------------ | |
359 | iconv --list | |
360 | ------------------------ | |
361 | ||
362 | If you do not know the encoding of a file, then you can use the `file` | |
363 | command to guess the encoding: | |
364 | ||
365 | ------------------------ | |
366 | file foo.ps1 | |
367 | ------------------------ | |
368 | ||
369 | ||
3fed15f5 JH |
370 | `ident` |
371 | ^^^^^^^ | |
372 | ||
2de9b711 | 373 | When the attribute `ident` is set for a path, Git replaces |
2c850f12 | 374 | `$Id$` in the blob object with `$Id:`, followed by the |
3fed15f5 JH |
375 | 40-character hexadecimal blob object name, followed by a dollar |
376 | sign `$` upon checkout. Any byte sequence that begins with | |
af9b54bb AP |
377 | `$Id:` and ends with `$` in the worktree file is replaced |
378 | with `$Id$` upon check-in. | |
3fed15f5 JH |
379 | |
380 | ||
aa4ed402 JH |
381 | `filter` |
382 | ^^^^^^^^ | |
383 | ||
c05ef938 | 384 | A `filter` attribute can be set to a string value that names a |
aa4ed402 JH |
385 | filter driver specified in the configuration. |
386 | ||
c05ef938 | 387 | A filter driver consists of a `clean` command and a `smudge` |
aa4ed402 | 388 | command, either of which can be left unspecified. Upon |
c05ef938 WC |
389 | checkout, when the `smudge` command is specified, the command is |
390 | fed the blob object from its standard input, and its standard | |
391 | output is used to update the worktree file. Similarly, the | |
392 | `clean` command is used to convert the contents of worktree file | |
edcc8581 LS |
393 | upon checkin. By default these commands process only a single |
394 | blob and terminate. If a long running `process` filter is used | |
395 | in place of `clean` and/or `smudge` filters, then Git can process | |
396 | all blobs with a single filter command invocation for the entire | |
397 | life of a single Git command, for example `git add --all`. If a | |
398 | long running `process` filter is configured then it always takes | |
399 | precedence over a configured single blob filter. See section | |
400 | below for the description of the protocol used to communicate with | |
401 | a `process` filter. | |
aa4ed402 | 402 | |
36daaaca JB |
403 | One use of the content filtering is to massage the content into a shape |
404 | that is more convenient for the platform, filesystem, and the user to use. | |
405 | For this mode of operation, the key phrase here is "more convenient" and | |
406 | not "turning something unusable into usable". In other words, the intent | |
407 | is that if someone unsets the filter driver definition, or does not have | |
408 | the appropriate filter program, the project should still be usable. | |
409 | ||
410 | Another use of the content filtering is to store the content that cannot | |
411 | be directly used in the repository (e.g. a UUID that refers to the true | |
2de9b711 | 412 | content stored outside Git, or an encrypted content) and turn it into a |
36daaaca JB |
413 | usable form upon checkout (e.g. download the external content, or decrypt |
414 | the encrypted content). | |
415 | ||
416 | These two filters behave differently, and by default, a filter is taken as | |
417 | the former, massaging the contents into more convenient shape. A missing | |
418 | filter driver definition in the config, or a filter driver that exits with | |
419 | a non-zero status, is not an error but makes the filter a no-op passthru. | |
420 | ||
421 | You can declare that a filter turns a content that by itself is unusable | |
422 | into a usable content by setting the filter.<driver>.required configuration | |
423 | variable to `true`. | |
aa4ed402 | 424 | |
9472935d TB |
425 | Note: Whenever the clean filter is changed, the repo should be renormalized: |
426 | $ git add --renormalize . | |
427 | ||
d79f5d17 NS |
428 | For example, in .gitattributes, you would assign the `filter` |
429 | attribute for paths. | |
430 | ||
431 | ------------------------ | |
432 | *.c filter=indent | |
433 | ------------------------ | |
434 | ||
435 | Then you would define a "filter.indent.clean" and "filter.indent.smudge" | |
436 | configuration in your .git/config to specify a pair of commands to | |
437 | modify the contents of C programs when the source files are checked | |
438 | in ("clean" is run) and checked out (no change is made because the | |
439 | command is "cat"). | |
440 | ||
441 | ------------------------ | |
442 | [filter "indent"] | |
443 | clean = indent | |
444 | smudge = cat | |
445 | ------------------------ | |
446 | ||
f217f0e8 EB |
447 | For best results, `clean` should not alter its output further if it is |
448 | run twice ("clean->clean" should be equivalent to "clean"), and | |
449 | multiple `smudge` commands should not alter `clean`'s output | |
450 | ("smudge->smudge->clean" should be equivalent to "clean"). See the | |
451 | section on merging below. | |
452 | ||
453 | The "indent" filter is well-behaved in this regard: it will not modify | |
454 | input that is already correctly indented. In this case, the lack of a | |
455 | smudge filter means that the clean filter _must_ accept its own output | |
456 | without modifying it. | |
457 | ||
36daaaca JB |
458 | If a filter _must_ succeed in order to make the stored contents usable, |
459 | you can declare that the filter is `required`, in the configuration: | |
460 | ||
461 | ------------------------ | |
462 | [filter "crypt"] | |
463 | clean = openssl enc ... | |
464 | smudge = openssl enc -d ... | |
465 | required | |
466 | ------------------------ | |
467 | ||
a2b665de PW |
468 | Sequence "%f" on the filter command line is replaced with the name of |
469 | the file the filter is working on. A filter might use this in keyword | |
470 | substitution. For example: | |
471 | ||
472 | ------------------------ | |
473 | [filter "p4"] | |
474 | clean = git-p4-filter --clean %f | |
475 | smudge = git-p4-filter --smudge %f | |
476 | ------------------------ | |
477 | ||
52db4b04 JH |
478 | Note that "%f" is the name of the path that is being worked on. Depending |
479 | on the version that is being filtered, the corresponding file on disk may | |
480 | not exist, or may have different contents. So, smudge and clean commands | |
481 | should not try to access the file on disk, but only act as filters on the | |
482 | content provided to them on standard input. | |
aa4ed402 | 483 | |
edcc8581 LS |
484 | Long Running Filter Process |
485 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
486 | ||
487 | If the filter command (a string value) is defined via | |
488 | `filter.<driver>.process` then Git can process all blobs with a | |
489 | single filter invocation for the entire life of a single Git | |
addad105 JT |
490 | command. This is achieved by using the long-running process protocol |
491 | (described in technical/long-running-process-protocol.txt). | |
492 | ||
493 | When Git encounters the first file that needs to be cleaned or smudged, | |
494 | it starts the filter and performs the handshake. In the handshake, the | |
495 | welcome message sent by Git is "git-filter-client", only version 2 is | |
496 | suppported, and the supported capabilities are "clean", "smudge", and | |
497 | "delay". | |
edcc8581 LS |
498 | |
499 | Afterwards Git sends a list of "key=value" pairs terminated with | |
500 | a flush packet. The list will contain at least the filter command | |
501 | (based on the supported capabilities) and the pathname of the file | |
502 | to filter relative to the repository root. Right after the flush packet | |
503 | Git sends the content split in zero or more pkt-line packets and a | |
504 | flush packet to terminate content. Please note, that the filter | |
505 | must not send any response before it received the content and the | |
c6b0831c LS |
506 | final flush packet. Also note that the "value" of a "key=value" pair |
507 | can contain the "=" character whereas the key would never contain | |
508 | that character. | |
edcc8581 LS |
509 | ------------------------ |
510 | packet: git> command=smudge | |
511 | packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat | |
512 | packet: git> 0000 | |
513 | packet: git> CONTENT | |
514 | packet: git> 0000 | |
515 | ------------------------ | |
516 | ||
517 | The filter is expected to respond with a list of "key=value" pairs | |
518 | terminated with a flush packet. If the filter does not experience | |
519 | problems then the list must contain a "success" status. Right after | |
520 | these packets the filter is expected to send the content in zero | |
521 | or more pkt-line packets and a flush packet at the end. Finally, a | |
522 | second list of "key=value" pairs terminated with a flush packet | |
523 | is expected. The filter can change the status in the second list | |
524 | or keep the status as is with an empty list. Please note that the | |
525 | empty list must be terminated with a flush packet regardless. | |
526 | ||
527 | ------------------------ | |
528 | packet: git< status=success | |
529 | packet: git< 0000 | |
530 | packet: git< SMUDGED_CONTENT | |
531 | packet: git< 0000 | |
532 | packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged! | |
533 | ------------------------ | |
534 | ||
535 | If the result content is empty then the filter is expected to respond | |
536 | with a "success" status and a flush packet to signal the empty content. | |
537 | ------------------------ | |
538 | packet: git< status=success | |
539 | packet: git< 0000 | |
540 | packet: git< 0000 # empty content! | |
541 | packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged! | |
542 | ------------------------ | |
543 | ||
544 | In case the filter cannot or does not want to process the content, | |
545 | it is expected to respond with an "error" status. | |
546 | ------------------------ | |
547 | packet: git< status=error | |
548 | packet: git< 0000 | |
549 | ------------------------ | |
550 | ||
551 | If the filter experiences an error during processing, then it can | |
552 | send the status "error" after the content was (partially or | |
553 | completely) sent. | |
554 | ------------------------ | |
555 | packet: git< status=success | |
556 | packet: git< 0000 | |
557 | packet: git< HALF_WRITTEN_ERRONEOUS_CONTENT | |
558 | packet: git< 0000 | |
559 | packet: git< status=error | |
560 | packet: git< 0000 | |
561 | ------------------------ | |
562 | ||
563 | In case the filter cannot or does not want to process the content | |
564 | as well as any future content for the lifetime of the Git process, | |
565 | then it is expected to respond with an "abort" status at any point | |
566 | in the protocol. | |
567 | ------------------------ | |
568 | packet: git< status=abort | |
569 | packet: git< 0000 | |
570 | ------------------------ | |
571 | ||
572 | Git neither stops nor restarts the filter process in case the | |
573 | "error"/"abort" status is set. However, Git sets its exit code | |
574 | according to the `filter.<driver>.required` flag, mimicking the | |
575 | behavior of the `filter.<driver>.clean` / `filter.<driver>.smudge` | |
576 | mechanism. | |
577 | ||
578 | If the filter dies during the communication or does not adhere to | |
579 | the protocol then Git will stop the filter process and restart it | |
580 | with the next file that needs to be processed. Depending on the | |
581 | `filter.<driver>.required` flag Git will interpret that as error. | |
582 | ||
2841e8f8 LS |
583 | Delay |
584 | ^^^^^ | |
585 | ||
586 | If the filter supports the "delay" capability, then Git can send the | |
587 | flag "can-delay" after the filter command and pathname. This flag | |
588 | denotes that the filter can delay filtering the current blob (e.g. to | |
589 | compensate network latencies) by responding with no content but with | |
590 | the status "delayed" and a flush packet. | |
591 | ------------------------ | |
592 | packet: git> command=smudge | |
593 | packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat | |
594 | packet: git> can-delay=1 | |
595 | packet: git> 0000 | |
596 | packet: git> CONTENT | |
597 | packet: git> 0000 | |
598 | packet: git< status=delayed | |
599 | packet: git< 0000 | |
600 | ------------------------ | |
601 | ||
602 | If the filter supports the "delay" capability then it must support the | |
603 | "list_available_blobs" command. If Git sends this command, then the | |
604 | filter is expected to return a list of pathnames representing blobs | |
605 | that have been delayed earlier and are now available. | |
606 | The list must be terminated with a flush packet followed | |
607 | by a "success" status that is also terminated with a flush packet. If | |
608 | no blobs for the delayed paths are available, yet, then the filter is | |
609 | expected to block the response until at least one blob becomes | |
610 | available. The filter can tell Git that it has no more delayed blobs | |
611 | by sending an empty list. As soon as the filter responds with an empty | |
612 | list, Git stops asking. All blobs that Git has not received at this | |
613 | point are considered missing and will result in an error. | |
614 | ||
615 | ------------------------ | |
616 | packet: git> command=list_available_blobs | |
617 | packet: git> 0000 | |
618 | packet: git< pathname=path/testfile.dat | |
619 | packet: git< pathname=path/otherfile.dat | |
620 | packet: git< 0000 | |
621 | packet: git< status=success | |
622 | packet: git< 0000 | |
623 | ------------------------ | |
624 | ||
625 | After Git received the pathnames, it will request the corresponding | |
626 | blobs again. These requests contain a pathname and an empty content | |
627 | section. The filter is expected to respond with the smudged content | |
628 | in the usual way as explained above. | |
629 | ------------------------ | |
630 | packet: git> command=smudge | |
631 | packet: git> pathname=path/testfile.dat | |
632 | packet: git> 0000 | |
633 | packet: git> 0000 # empty content! | |
634 | packet: git< status=success | |
635 | packet: git< 0000 | |
636 | packet: git< SMUDGED_CONTENT | |
637 | packet: git< 0000 | |
638 | packet: git< 0000 # empty list, keep "status=success" unchanged! | |
639 | ------------------------ | |
640 | ||
641 | Example | |
642 | ^^^^^^^ | |
643 | ||
0f71fa27 LS |
644 | A long running filter demo implementation can be found in |
645 | `contrib/long-running-filter/example.pl` located in the Git | |
646 | core repository. If you develop your own long running filter | |
edcc8581 LS |
647 | process then the `GIT_TRACE_PACKET` environment variables can be |
648 | very helpful for debugging (see linkgit:git[1]). | |
649 | ||
650 | Please note that you cannot use an existing `filter.<driver>.clean` | |
651 | or `filter.<driver>.smudge` command with `filter.<driver>.process` | |
652 | because the former two use a different inter process communication | |
653 | protocol than the latter one. | |
654 | ||
655 | ||
aa4ed402 JH |
656 | Interaction between checkin/checkout attributes |
657 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
658 | ||
659 | In the check-in codepath, the worktree file is first converted | |
660 | with `filter` driver (if specified and corresponding driver | |
661 | defined), then the result is processed with `ident` (if | |
5ec3e670 | 662 | specified), and then finally with `text` (again, if specified |
aa4ed402 JH |
663 | and applicable). |
664 | ||
665 | In the check-out codepath, the blob content is first converted | |
5ec3e670 | 666 | with `text`, and then `ident` and fed to `filter`. |
aa4ed402 JH |
667 | |
668 | ||
f217f0e8 EB |
669 | Merging branches with differing checkin/checkout attributes |
670 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
671 | ||
672 | If you have added attributes to a file that cause the canonical | |
673 | repository format for that file to change, such as adding a | |
674 | clean/smudge filter or text/eol/ident attributes, merging anything | |
675 | where the attribute is not in place would normally cause merge | |
676 | conflicts. | |
677 | ||
2de9b711 | 678 | To prevent these unnecessary merge conflicts, Git can be told to run a |
f217f0e8 EB |
679 | virtual check-out and check-in of all three stages of a file when |
680 | resolving a three-way merge by setting the `merge.renormalize` | |
681 | configuration variable. This prevents changes caused by check-in | |
682 | conversion from causing spurious merge conflicts when a converted file | |
683 | is merged with an unconverted file. | |
684 | ||
685 | As long as a "smudge->clean" results in the same output as a "clean" | |
686 | even on files that are already smudged, this strategy will | |
687 | automatically resolve all filter-related conflicts. Filters that do | |
688 | not act in this way may cause additional merge conflicts that must be | |
689 | resolved manually. | |
690 | ||
691 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
692 | Generating diff text |
693 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
694 | ||
4f73e240 JN |
695 | `diff` |
696 | ^^^^^^ | |
697 | ||
2de9b711 TA |
698 | The attribute `diff` affects how Git generates diffs for particular |
699 | files. It can tell Git whether to generate a textual patch for the path | |
678852d9 | 700 | or to treat the path as a binary file. It can also affect what line is |
2de9b711 TA |
701 | shown on the hunk header `@@ -k,l +n,m @@` line, tell Git to use an |
702 | external command to generate the diff, or ask Git to convert binary | |
678852d9 | 703 | files to a text format before generating the diff. |
88e7fdf2 JH |
704 | |
705 | Set:: | |
706 | ||
707 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is set is treated | |
708 | as text, even when they contain byte values that | |
709 | normally never appear in text files, such as NUL. | |
710 | ||
711 | Unset:: | |
712 | ||
713 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is unset will | |
678852d9 JK |
714 | generate `Binary files differ` (or a binary patch, if |
715 | binary patches are enabled). | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
716 | |
717 | Unspecified:: | |
718 | ||
719 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is unspecified | |
720 | first gets its contents inspected, and if it looks like | |
6bf3b813 NTND |
721 | text and is smaller than core.bigFileThreshold, it is treated |
722 | as text. Otherwise it would generate `Binary files differ`. | |
88e7fdf2 | 723 | |
2cc3167c JH |
724 | String:: |
725 | ||
678852d9 JK |
726 | Diff is shown using the specified diff driver. Each driver may |
727 | specify one or more options, as described in the following | |
728 | section. The options for the diff driver "foo" are defined | |
729 | by the configuration variables in the "diff.foo" section of the | |
2de9b711 | 730 | Git config file. |
2cc3167c JH |
731 | |
732 | ||
678852d9 JK |
733 | Defining an external diff driver |
734 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
2cc3167c JH |
735 | |
736 | The definition of a diff driver is done in `gitconfig`, not | |
737 | `gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this manual page is a | |
738 | wrong place to talk about it. However... | |
739 | ||
678852d9 | 740 | To define an external diff driver `jcdiff`, add a section to your |
2cc3167c JH |
741 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: |
742 | ||
743 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
744 | [diff "jcdiff"] | |
745 | command = j-c-diff | |
746 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
747 | ||
2de9b711 | 748 | When Git needs to show you a diff for the path with `diff` |
2cc3167c JH |
749 | attribute set to `jcdiff`, it calls the command you specified |
750 | with the above configuration, i.e. `j-c-diff`, with 7 | |
751 | parameters, just like `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` program is called. | |
9e1f0a85 | 752 | See linkgit:git[1] for details. |
88e7fdf2 JH |
753 | |
754 | ||
ae7aa499 JH |
755 | Defining a custom hunk-header |
756 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
757 | ||
c882c01e | 758 | Each group of changes (called a "hunk") in the textual diff output |
ae7aa499 JH |
759 | is prefixed with a line of the form: |
760 | ||
761 | @@ -k,l +n,m @@ TEXT | |
762 | ||
c882c01e GD |
763 | This is called a 'hunk header'. The "TEXT" portion is by default a line |
764 | that begins with an alphabet, an underscore or a dollar sign; this | |
765 | matches what GNU 'diff -p' output uses. This default selection however | |
766 | is not suited for some contents, and you can use a customized pattern | |
767 | to make a selection. | |
ae7aa499 | 768 | |
c882c01e | 769 | First, in .gitattributes, you would assign the `diff` attribute |
ae7aa499 JH |
770 | for paths. |
771 | ||
772 | ------------------------ | |
773 | *.tex diff=tex | |
774 | ------------------------ | |
775 | ||
edb7e82f | 776 | Then, you would define a "diff.tex.xfuncname" configuration to |
ae7aa499 | 777 | specify a regular expression that matches a line that you would |
c4c86d23 JK |
778 | want to appear as the hunk header "TEXT". Add a section to your |
779 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: | |
ae7aa499 JH |
780 | |
781 | ------------------------ | |
782 | [diff "tex"] | |
45d9414f | 783 | xfuncname = "^(\\\\(sub)*section\\{.*)$" |
ae7aa499 JH |
784 | ------------------------ |
785 | ||
786 | Note. A single level of backslashes are eaten by the | |
787 | configuration file parser, so you would need to double the | |
788 | backslashes; the pattern above picks a line that begins with a | |
02783075 | 789 | backslash, and zero or more occurrences of `sub` followed by |
ae7aa499 JH |
790 | `section` followed by open brace, to the end of line. |
791 | ||
792 | There are a few built-in patterns to make this easier, and `tex` | |
793 | is one of them, so you do not have to write the above in your | |
794 | configuration file (you still need to enable this with the | |
d08ed6d6 GH |
795 | attribute mechanism, via `.gitattributes`). The following built in |
796 | patterns are available: | |
797 | ||
e90d065e AJ |
798 | - `ada` suitable for source code in the Ada language. |
799 | ||
23b5beb2 GH |
800 | - `bibtex` suitable for files with BibTeX coded references. |
801 | ||
80c49c3d TR |
802 | - `cpp` suitable for source code in the C and C++ languages. |
803 | ||
b221207d PO |
804 | - `csharp` suitable for source code in the C# language. |
805 | ||
0719f3ee WD |
806 | - `css` suitable for cascading style sheets. |
807 | ||
909a5494 BC |
808 | - `fortran` suitable for source code in the Fortran language. |
809 | ||
69f9c87d ZB |
810 | - `fountain` suitable for Fountain documents. |
811 | ||
1dbf0c0a AG |
812 | - `golang` suitable for source code in the Go language. |
813 | ||
af9ce1ff AE |
814 | - `html` suitable for HTML/XHTML documents. |
815 | ||
b66e00f1 | 816 | - `java` suitable for source code in the Java language. |
d08ed6d6 | 817 | |
53b10a14 GH |
818 | - `matlab` suitable for source code in the MATLAB language. |
819 | ||
5d1e958e JS |
820 | - `objc` suitable for source code in the Objective-C language. |
821 | ||
d08ed6d6 GH |
822 | - `pascal` suitable for source code in the Pascal/Delphi language. |
823 | ||
71a5d4bc JN |
824 | - `perl` suitable for source code in the Perl language. |
825 | ||
af9ce1ff AE |
826 | - `php` suitable for source code in the PHP language. |
827 | ||
7c17205b KS |
828 | - `python` suitable for source code in the Python language. |
829 | ||
d08ed6d6 GH |
830 | - `ruby` suitable for source code in the Ruby language. |
831 | ||
832 | - `tex` suitable for source code for LaTeX documents. | |
ae7aa499 JH |
833 | |
834 | ||
80c49c3d TR |
835 | Customizing word diff |
836 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
837 | ||
882749a0 | 838 | You can customize the rules that `git diff --word-diff` uses to |
80c49c3d | 839 | split words in a line, by specifying an appropriate regular expression |
ae3b970a | 840 | in the "diff.*.wordRegex" configuration variable. For example, in TeX |
80c49c3d TR |
841 | a backslash followed by a sequence of letters forms a command, but |
842 | several such commands can be run together without intervening | |
c4c86d23 JK |
843 | whitespace. To separate them, use a regular expression in your |
844 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: | |
80c49c3d TR |
845 | |
846 | ------------------------ | |
847 | [diff "tex"] | |
ae3b970a | 848 | wordRegex = "\\\\[a-zA-Z]+|[{}]|\\\\.|[^\\{}[:space:]]+" |
80c49c3d TR |
849 | ------------------------ |
850 | ||
851 | A built-in pattern is provided for all languages listed in the | |
852 | previous section. | |
853 | ||
854 | ||
678852d9 JK |
855 | Performing text diffs of binary files |
856 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
857 | ||
858 | Sometimes it is desirable to see the diff of a text-converted | |
859 | version of some binary files. For example, a word processor | |
860 | document can be converted to an ASCII text representation, and | |
861 | the diff of the text shown. Even though this conversion loses | |
862 | some information, the resulting diff is useful for human | |
863 | viewing (but cannot be applied directly). | |
864 | ||
865 | The `textconv` config option is used to define a program for | |
866 | performing such a conversion. The program should take a single | |
867 | argument, the name of a file to convert, and produce the | |
868 | resulting text on stdout. | |
869 | ||
870 | For example, to show the diff of the exif information of a | |
871 | file instead of the binary information (assuming you have the | |
c4c86d23 JK |
872 | exif tool installed), add the following section to your |
873 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file): | |
678852d9 JK |
874 | |
875 | ------------------------ | |
876 | [diff "jpg"] | |
877 | textconv = exif | |
878 | ------------------------ | |
879 | ||
880 | NOTE: The text conversion is generally a one-way conversion; | |
881 | in this example, we lose the actual image contents and focus | |
882 | just on the text data. This means that diffs generated by | |
883 | textconv are _not_ suitable for applying. For this reason, | |
884 | only `git diff` and the `git log` family of commands (i.e., | |
885 | log, whatchanged, show) will perform text conversion. `git | |
886 | format-patch` will never generate this output. If you want to | |
887 | send somebody a text-converted diff of a binary file (e.g., | |
888 | because it quickly conveys the changes you have made), you | |
889 | should generate it separately and send it as a comment _in | |
890 | addition to_ the usual binary diff that you might send. | |
891 | ||
d9bae1a1 | 892 | Because text conversion can be slow, especially when doing a |
2de9b711 | 893 | large number of them with `git log -p`, Git provides a mechanism |
d9bae1a1 JK |
894 | to cache the output and use it in future diffs. To enable |
895 | caching, set the "cachetextconv" variable in your diff driver's | |
896 | config. For example: | |
897 | ||
898 | ------------------------ | |
899 | [diff "jpg"] | |
900 | textconv = exif | |
901 | cachetextconv = true | |
902 | ------------------------ | |
903 | ||
904 | This will cache the result of running "exif" on each blob | |
905 | indefinitely. If you change the textconv config variable for a | |
2de9b711 | 906 | diff driver, Git will automatically invalidate the cache entries |
d9bae1a1 JK |
907 | and re-run the textconv filter. If you want to invalidate the |
908 | cache manually (e.g., because your version of "exif" was updated | |
909 | and now produces better output), you can remove the cache | |
910 | manually with `git update-ref -d refs/notes/textconv/jpg` (where | |
911 | "jpg" is the name of the diff driver, as in the example above). | |
678852d9 | 912 | |
55601c6a JK |
913 | Choosing textconv versus external diff |
914 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
915 | ||
916 | If you want to show differences between binary or specially-formatted | |
917 | blobs in your repository, you can choose to use either an external diff | |
918 | command, or to use textconv to convert them to a diff-able text format. | |
919 | Which method you choose depends on your exact situation. | |
920 | ||
921 | The advantage of using an external diff command is flexibility. You are | |
922 | not bound to find line-oriented changes, nor is it necessary for the | |
923 | output to resemble unified diff. You are free to locate and report | |
924 | changes in the most appropriate way for your data format. | |
925 | ||
926 | A textconv, by comparison, is much more limiting. You provide a | |
2de9b711 | 927 | transformation of the data into a line-oriented text format, and Git |
55601c6a JK |
928 | uses its regular diff tools to generate the output. There are several |
929 | advantages to choosing this method: | |
930 | ||
931 | 1. Ease of use. It is often much simpler to write a binary to text | |
932 | transformation than it is to perform your own diff. In many cases, | |
933 | existing programs can be used as textconv filters (e.g., exif, | |
934 | odt2txt). | |
935 | ||
936 | 2. Git diff features. By performing only the transformation step | |
2de9b711 | 937 | yourself, you can still utilize many of Git's diff features, |
55601c6a JK |
938 | including colorization, word-diff, and combined diffs for merges. |
939 | ||
940 | 3. Caching. Textconv caching can speed up repeated diffs, such as those | |
941 | you might trigger by running `git log -p`. | |
942 | ||
943 | ||
ab435611 JK |
944 | Marking files as binary |
945 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
946 | ||
947 | Git usually guesses correctly whether a blob contains text or binary | |
948 | data by examining the beginning of the contents. However, sometimes you | |
949 | may want to override its decision, either because a blob contains binary | |
950 | data later in the file, or because the content, while technically | |
951 | composed of text characters, is opaque to a human reader. For example, | |
f745acb0 | 952 | many postscript files contain only ASCII characters, but produce noisy |
ab435611 JK |
953 | and meaningless diffs. |
954 | ||
955 | The simplest way to mark a file as binary is to unset the diff | |
956 | attribute in the `.gitattributes` file: | |
957 | ||
958 | ------------------------ | |
959 | *.ps -diff | |
960 | ------------------------ | |
961 | ||
2de9b711 | 962 | This will cause Git to generate `Binary files differ` (or a binary |
ab435611 JK |
963 | patch, if binary patches are enabled) instead of a regular diff. |
964 | ||
965 | However, one may also want to specify other diff driver attributes. For | |
966 | example, you might want to use `textconv` to convert postscript files to | |
f745acb0 | 967 | an ASCII representation for human viewing, but otherwise treat them as |
ab435611 JK |
968 | binary files. You cannot specify both `-diff` and `diff=ps` attributes. |
969 | The solution is to use the `diff.*.binary` config option: | |
970 | ||
971 | ------------------------ | |
972 | [diff "ps"] | |
973 | textconv = ps2ascii | |
974 | binary = true | |
975 | ------------------------ | |
976 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
977 | Performing a three-way merge |
978 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
979 | ||
4f73e240 JN |
980 | `merge` |
981 | ^^^^^^^ | |
982 | ||
b547ce0b | 983 | The attribute `merge` affects how three versions of a file are |
88e7fdf2 | 984 | merged when a file-level merge is necessary during `git merge`, |
57f6ec02 | 985 | and other commands such as `git revert` and `git cherry-pick`. |
88e7fdf2 JH |
986 | |
987 | Set:: | |
988 | ||
989 | Built-in 3-way merge driver is used to merge the | |
2fd02c92 | 990 | contents in a way similar to 'merge' command of `RCS` |
88e7fdf2 JH |
991 | suite. This is suitable for ordinary text files. |
992 | ||
993 | Unset:: | |
994 | ||
995 | Take the version from the current branch as the | |
996 | tentative merge result, and declare that the merge has | |
b547ce0b | 997 | conflicts. This is suitable for binary files that do |
88e7fdf2 JH |
998 | not have a well-defined merge semantics. |
999 | ||
1000 | Unspecified:: | |
1001 | ||
1002 | By default, this uses the same built-in 3-way merge | |
b547ce0b AS |
1003 | driver as is the case when the `merge` attribute is set. |
1004 | However, the `merge.default` configuration variable can name | |
1005 | different merge driver to be used with paths for which the | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1006 | `merge` attribute is unspecified. |
1007 | ||
2cc3167c | 1008 | String:: |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1009 | |
1010 | 3-way merge is performed using the specified custom | |
1011 | merge driver. The built-in 3-way merge driver can be | |
1012 | explicitly specified by asking for "text" driver; the | |
1013 | built-in "take the current branch" driver can be | |
b9d14ffb | 1014 | requested with "binary". |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1015 | |
1016 | ||
0e545f75 JH |
1017 | Built-in merge drivers |
1018 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1019 | ||
1020 | There are a few built-in low-level merge drivers defined that | |
1021 | can be asked for via the `merge` attribute. | |
1022 | ||
1023 | text:: | |
1024 | ||
1025 | Usual 3-way file level merge for text files. Conflicted | |
1026 | regions are marked with conflict markers `<<<<<<<`, | |
1027 | `=======` and `>>>>>>>`. The version from your branch | |
1028 | appears before the `=======` marker, and the version | |
1029 | from the merged branch appears after the `=======` | |
1030 | marker. | |
1031 | ||
1032 | binary:: | |
1033 | ||
1034 | Keep the version from your branch in the work tree, but | |
1035 | leave the path in the conflicted state for the user to | |
1036 | sort out. | |
1037 | ||
1038 | union:: | |
1039 | ||
1040 | Run 3-way file level merge for text files, but take | |
1041 | lines from both versions, instead of leaving conflict | |
1042 | markers. This tends to leave the added lines in the | |
1043 | resulting file in random order and the user should | |
1044 | verify the result. Do not use this if you do not | |
1045 | understand the implications. | |
1046 | ||
1047 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
1048 | Defining a custom merge driver |
1049 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1050 | ||
0e545f75 JH |
1051 | The definition of a merge driver is done in the `.git/config` |
1052 | file, not in the `gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this | |
1053 | manual page is a wrong place to talk about it. However... | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1054 | |
1055 | To define a custom merge driver `filfre`, add a section to your | |
1056 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: | |
1057 | ||
1058 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1059 | [merge "filfre"] | |
1060 | name = feel-free merge driver | |
ef45bb1f | 1061 | driver = filfre %O %A %B %L %P |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1062 | recursive = binary |
1063 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1064 | ||
1065 | The `merge.*.name` variable gives the driver a human-readable | |
1066 | name. | |
1067 | ||
1068 | The `merge.*.driver` variable's value is used to construct a | |
1069 | command to run to merge ancestor's version (`%O`), current | |
1070 | version (`%A`) and the other branches' version (`%B`). These | |
1071 | three tokens are replaced with the names of temporary files that | |
1072 | hold the contents of these versions when the command line is | |
16758621 BW |
1073 | built. Additionally, %L will be replaced with the conflict marker |
1074 | size (see below). | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1075 | |
1076 | The merge driver is expected to leave the result of the merge in | |
1077 | the file named with `%A` by overwriting it, and exit with zero | |
1078 | status if it managed to merge them cleanly, or non-zero if there | |
1079 | were conflicts. | |
1080 | ||
1081 | The `merge.*.recursive` variable specifies what other merge | |
1082 | driver to use when the merge driver is called for an internal | |
1083 | merge between common ancestors, when there are more than one. | |
1084 | When left unspecified, the driver itself is used for both | |
1085 | internal merge and the final merge. | |
1086 | ||
ef45bb1f JH |
1087 | The merge driver can learn the pathname in which the merged result |
1088 | will be stored via placeholder `%P`. | |
1089 | ||
88e7fdf2 | 1090 | |
4c734803 JH |
1091 | `conflict-marker-size` |
1092 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1093 | ||
1094 | This attribute controls the length of conflict markers left in | |
1095 | the work tree file during a conflicted merge. Only setting to | |
1096 | the value to a positive integer has any meaningful effect. | |
1097 | ||
1098 | For example, this line in `.gitattributes` can be used to tell the merge | |
1099 | machinery to leave much longer (instead of the usual 7-character-long) | |
1100 | conflict markers when merging the file `Documentation/git-merge.txt` | |
1101 | results in a conflict. | |
1102 | ||
1103 | ------------------------ | |
1104 | Documentation/git-merge.txt conflict-marker-size=32 | |
1105 | ------------------------ | |
1106 | ||
1107 | ||
cf1b7869 JH |
1108 | Checking whitespace errors |
1109 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1110 | ||
1111 | `whitespace` | |
1112 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1113 | ||
1114 | The `core.whitespace` configuration variable allows you to define what | |
2fd02c92 | 1115 | 'diff' and 'apply' should consider whitespace errors for all paths in |
5162e697 | 1116 | the project (See linkgit:git-config[1]). This attribute gives you finer |
cf1b7869 JH |
1117 | control per path. |
1118 | ||
1119 | Set:: | |
1120 | ||
2de9b711 | 1121 | Notice all types of potential whitespace errors known to Git. |
f4b05a49 JS |
1122 | The tab width is taken from the value of the `core.whitespace` |
1123 | configuration variable. | |
cf1b7869 JH |
1124 | |
1125 | Unset:: | |
1126 | ||
1127 | Do not notice anything as error. | |
1128 | ||
1129 | Unspecified:: | |
1130 | ||
f4b05a49 | 1131 | Use the value of the `core.whitespace` configuration variable to |
cf1b7869 JH |
1132 | decide what to notice as error. |
1133 | ||
1134 | String:: | |
1135 | ||
1136 | Specify a comma separate list of common whitespace problems to | |
f4b05a49 | 1137 | notice in the same format as the `core.whitespace` configuration |
cf1b7869 JH |
1138 | variable. |
1139 | ||
1140 | ||
8a33dd8b JH |
1141 | Creating an archive |
1142 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1143 | ||
08b51f51 JH |
1144 | `export-ignore` |
1145 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1146 | ||
1147 | Files and directories with the attribute `export-ignore` won't be added to | |
1148 | archive files. | |
1149 | ||
8a33dd8b JH |
1150 | `export-subst` |
1151 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1152 | ||
2de9b711 | 1153 | If the attribute `export-subst` is set for a file then Git will expand |
8a33dd8b | 1154 | several placeholders when adding this file to an archive. The |
08b51f51 | 1155 | expansion depends on the availability of a commit ID, i.e., if |
8a33dd8b JH |
1156 | linkgit:git-archive[1] has been given a tree instead of a commit or a |
1157 | tag then no replacement will be done. The placeholders are the same | |
1158 | as those for the option `--pretty=format:` of linkgit:git-log[1], | |
1159 | except that they need to be wrapped like this: `$Format:PLACEHOLDERS$` | |
1160 | in the file. E.g. the string `$Format:%H$` will be replaced by the | |
1161 | commit hash. | |
1162 | ||
1163 | ||
975457f1 NG |
1164 | Packing objects |
1165 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1166 | ||
1167 | `delta` | |
1168 | ^^^^^^^ | |
1169 | ||
1170 | Delta compression will not be attempted for blobs for paths with the | |
1171 | attribute `delta` set to false. | |
1172 | ||
1173 | ||
a2df1fb2 AG |
1174 | Viewing files in GUI tools |
1175 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1176 | ||
1177 | `encoding` | |
1178 | ^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1179 | ||
1180 | The value of this attribute specifies the character encoding that should | |
1181 | be used by GUI tools (e.g. linkgit:gitk[1] and linkgit:git-gui[1]) to | |
1182 | display the contents of the relevant file. Note that due to performance | |
1183 | considerations linkgit:gitk[1] does not use this attribute unless you | |
1184 | manually enable per-file encodings in its options. | |
1185 | ||
1186 | If this attribute is not set or has an invalid value, the value of the | |
1187 | `gui.encoding` configuration variable is used instead | |
1188 | (See linkgit:git-config[1]). | |
1189 | ||
1190 | ||
0922570c | 1191 | USING MACRO ATTRIBUTES |
bbb896d8 JH |
1192 | ---------------------- |
1193 | ||
1194 | You do not want any end-of-line conversions applied to, nor textual diffs | |
1195 | produced for, any binary file you track. You would need to specify e.g. | |
1196 | ||
1197 | ------------ | |
5ec3e670 | 1198 | *.jpg -text -diff |
bbb896d8 JH |
1199 | ------------ |
1200 | ||
1201 | but that may become cumbersome, when you have many attributes. Using | |
0922570c | 1202 | macro attributes, you can define an attribute that, when set, also |
98e84066 | 1203 | sets or unsets a number of other attributes at the same time. The |
0922570c | 1204 | system knows a built-in macro attribute, `binary`: |
bbb896d8 JH |
1205 | |
1206 | ------------ | |
1207 | *.jpg binary | |
1208 | ------------ | |
1209 | ||
98e84066 | 1210 | Setting the "binary" attribute also unsets the "text" and "diff" |
0922570c | 1211 | attributes as above. Note that macro attributes can only be "Set", |
98e84066 MH |
1212 | though setting one might have the effect of setting or unsetting other |
1213 | attributes or even returning other attributes to the "Unspecified" | |
1214 | state. | |
bbb896d8 JH |
1215 | |
1216 | ||
0922570c | 1217 | DEFINING MACRO ATTRIBUTES |
bbb896d8 JH |
1218 | ------------------------- |
1219 | ||
e78e6967 MH |
1220 | Custom macro attributes can be defined only in top-level gitattributes |
1221 | files (`$GIT_DIR/info/attributes`, the `.gitattributes` file at the | |
1222 | top level of the working tree, or the global or system-wide | |
1223 | gitattributes files), not in `.gitattributes` files in working tree | |
1224 | subdirectories. The built-in macro attribute "binary" is equivalent | |
1225 | to: | |
bbb896d8 JH |
1226 | |
1227 | ------------ | |
155a4b71 | 1228 | [attr]binary -diff -merge -text |
bbb896d8 JH |
1229 | ------------ |
1230 | ||
1231 | ||
76a8788c NTND |
1232 | EXAMPLES |
1233 | -------- | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1234 | |
1235 | If you have these three `gitattributes` file: | |
1236 | ||
1237 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1238 | (in $GIT_DIR/info/attributes) | |
1239 | ||
1240 | a* foo !bar -baz | |
1241 | ||
1242 | (in .gitattributes) | |
1243 | abc foo bar baz | |
1244 | ||
1245 | (in t/.gitattributes) | |
1246 | ab* merge=filfre | |
1247 | abc -foo -bar | |
1248 | *.c frotz | |
1249 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1250 | ||
1251 | the attributes given to path `t/abc` are computed as follows: | |
1252 | ||
1253 | 1. By examining `t/.gitattributes` (which is in the same | |
2de9b711 | 1254 | directory as the path in question), Git finds that the first |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1255 | line matches. `merge` attribute is set. It also finds that |
1256 | the second line matches, and attributes `foo` and `bar` | |
1257 | are unset. | |
1258 | ||
1259 | 2. Then it examines `.gitattributes` (which is in the parent | |
1260 | directory), and finds that the first line matches, but | |
1261 | `t/.gitattributes` file already decided how `merge`, `foo` | |
1262 | and `bar` attributes should be given to this path, so it | |
1263 | leaves `foo` and `bar` unset. Attribute `baz` is set. | |
1264 | ||
5c759f96 | 1265 | 3. Finally it examines `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes`. This file |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1266 | is used to override the in-tree settings. The first line is |
1267 | a match, and `foo` is set, `bar` is reverted to unspecified | |
1268 | state, and `baz` is unset. | |
1269 | ||
02783075 | 1270 | As the result, the attributes assignment to `t/abc` becomes: |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1271 | |
1272 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1273 | foo set to true | |
1274 | bar unspecified | |
1275 | baz set to false | |
1276 | merge set to string value "filfre" | |
1277 | frotz unspecified | |
1278 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1279 | ||
1280 | ||
cde15181 MH |
1281 | SEE ALSO |
1282 | -------- | |
1283 | linkgit:git-check-attr[1]. | |
8460b2fc | 1284 | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
1285 | GIT |
1286 | --- | |
9e1f0a85 | 1287 | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |