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88e7fdf2 JH |
1 | gitattributes(5) |
2 | ================ | |
3 | ||
4 | NAME | |
5 | ---- | |
6 | gitattributes - defining attributes per path | |
7 | ||
8 | SYNOPSIS | |
9 | -------- | |
2d76548b | 10 | $GIT_DIR/info/attributes, gitattributes |
88e7fdf2 JH |
11 | |
12 | ||
13 | DESCRIPTION | |
14 | ----------- | |
15 | ||
16 | A `gitattributes` file is a simple text file that gives | |
17 | `attributes` to pathnames. | |
18 | ||
19 | Each line in `gitattributes` file is of form: | |
20 | ||
21 | glob attr1 attr2 ... | |
22 | ||
23 | That is, a glob pattern followed by an attributes list, | |
24 | separated by whitespaces. When the glob pattern matches the | |
25 | path in question, the attributes listed on the line are given to | |
26 | the path. | |
27 | ||
28 | Each attribute can be in one of these states for a given path: | |
29 | ||
30 | Set:: | |
31 | ||
32 | The path has the attribute with special value "true"; | |
33 | this is specified by listing only the name of the | |
34 | attribute in the attribute list. | |
35 | ||
36 | Unset:: | |
37 | ||
38 | The path has the attribute with special value "false"; | |
39 | this is specified by listing the name of the attribute | |
40 | prefixed with a dash `-` in the attribute list. | |
41 | ||
42 | Set to a value:: | |
43 | ||
44 | The path has the attribute with specified string value; | |
45 | this is specified by listing the name of the attribute | |
46 | followed by an equal sign `=` and its value in the | |
47 | attribute list. | |
48 | ||
49 | Unspecified:: | |
50 | ||
51 | No glob pattern matches the path, and nothing says if | |
b9d14ffb JH |
52 | the path has or does not have the attribute, the |
53 | attribute for the path is said to be Unspecified. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
54 | |
55 | When more than one glob pattern matches the path, a later line | |
b9d14ffb JH |
56 | overrides an earlier line. This overriding is done per |
57 | attribute. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
58 | |
59 | When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, git | |
60 | consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest | |
61 | precedence), `.gitattributes` file in the same directory as the | |
62 | path in question, and its parent directories (the further the | |
63 | directory that contains `.gitattributes` is from the path in | |
64 | question, the lower its precedence). | |
65 | ||
90b22907 JK |
66 | If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign |
67 | attributes to files that are particular to one user's workflow), then | |
68 | attributes should be placed in the `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file. | |
69 | Attributes which should be version-controlled and distributed to other | |
70 | repositories (i.e., attributes of interest to all users) should go into | |
71 | `.gitattributes` files. | |
72 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
73 | Sometimes you would need to override an setting of an attribute |
74 | for a path to `unspecified` state. This can be done by listing | |
75 | the name of the attribute prefixed with an exclamation point `!`. | |
76 | ||
77 | ||
78 | EFFECTS | |
79 | ------- | |
80 | ||
81 | Certain operations by git can be influenced by assigning | |
ae7aa499 JH |
82 | particular attributes to a path. Currently, the following |
83 | operations are attributes-aware. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
84 | |
85 | Checking-out and checking-in | |
86 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
87 | ||
3fed15f5 | 88 | These attributes affect how the contents stored in the |
88e7fdf2 | 89 | repository are copied to the working tree files when commands |
3fed15f5 | 90 | such as `git checkout` and `git merge` run. They also affect how |
88e7fdf2 JH |
91 | git stores the contents you prepare in the working tree in the |
92 | repository upon `git add` and `git commit`. | |
93 | ||
3fed15f5 JH |
94 | `crlf` |
95 | ^^^^^^ | |
96 | ||
97 | This attribute controls the line-ending convention. | |
98 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
99 | Set:: |
100 | ||
101 | Setting the `crlf` attribute on a path is meant to mark | |
102 | the path as a "text" file. 'core.autocrlf' conversion | |
103 | takes place without guessing the content type by | |
104 | inspection. | |
105 | ||
106 | Unset:: | |
107 | ||
108 | Unsetting the `crlf` attribute on a path is meant to | |
109 | mark the path as a "binary" file. The path never goes | |
110 | through line endings conversion upon checkin/checkout. | |
111 | ||
112 | Unspecified:: | |
113 | ||
114 | Unspecified `crlf` attribute tells git to apply the | |
115 | `core.autocrlf` conversion when the file content looks | |
116 | like text. | |
117 | ||
118 | Set to string value "input":: | |
119 | ||
120 | This is similar to setting the attribute to `true`, but | |
121 | also forces git to act as if `core.autocrlf` is set to | |
122 | `input` for the path. | |
123 | ||
124 | Any other value set to `crlf` attribute is ignored and git acts | |
125 | as if the attribute is left unspecified. | |
126 | ||
127 | ||
128 | The `core.autocrlf` conversion | |
129 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
130 | ||
131 | If the configuration variable `core.autocrlf` is false, no | |
132 | conversion is done. | |
133 | ||
134 | When `core.autocrlf` is true, it means that the platform wants | |
135 | CRLF line endings for files in the working tree, and you want to | |
136 | convert them back to the normal LF line endings when checking | |
137 | in to the repository. | |
138 | ||
139 | When `core.autocrlf` is set to "input", line endings are | |
140 | converted to LF upon checkin, but there is no conversion done | |
141 | upon checkout. | |
142 | ||
21e5ad50 SP |
143 | If `core.safecrlf` is set to "true" or "warn", git verifies if |
144 | the conversion is reversible for the current setting of | |
145 | `core.autocrlf`. For "true", git rejects irreversible | |
146 | conversions; for "warn", git only prints a warning but accepts | |
147 | an irreversible conversion. The safety triggers to prevent such | |
148 | a conversion done to the files in the work tree, but there are a | |
149 | few exceptions. Even though... | |
150 | ||
151 | - "git add" itself does not touch the files in the work tree, the | |
152 | next checkout would, so the safety triggers; | |
153 | ||
154 | - "git apply" to update a text file with a patch does touch the files | |
155 | in the work tree, but the operation is about text files and CRLF | |
156 | conversion is about fixing the line ending inconsistencies, so the | |
157 | safety does not trigger; | |
158 | ||
159 | - "git diff" itself does not touch the files in the work tree, it is | |
160 | often run to inspect the changes you intend to next "git add". To | |
161 | catch potential problems early, safety triggers. | |
162 | ||
88e7fdf2 | 163 | |
3fed15f5 JH |
164 | `ident` |
165 | ^^^^^^^ | |
166 | ||
167 | When the attribute `ident` is set to a path, git replaces | |
af9b54bb | 168 | `$Id$` in the blob object with `$Id:`, followed by |
3fed15f5 JH |
169 | 40-character hexadecimal blob object name, followed by a dollar |
170 | sign `$` upon checkout. Any byte sequence that begins with | |
af9b54bb AP |
171 | `$Id:` and ends with `$` in the worktree file is replaced |
172 | with `$Id$` upon check-in. | |
3fed15f5 JH |
173 | |
174 | ||
aa4ed402 JH |
175 | `filter` |
176 | ^^^^^^^^ | |
177 | ||
c05ef938 | 178 | A `filter` attribute can be set to a string value that names a |
aa4ed402 JH |
179 | filter driver specified in the configuration. |
180 | ||
c05ef938 | 181 | A filter driver consists of a `clean` command and a `smudge` |
aa4ed402 | 182 | command, either of which can be left unspecified. Upon |
c05ef938 WC |
183 | checkout, when the `smudge` command is specified, the command is |
184 | fed the blob object from its standard input, and its standard | |
185 | output is used to update the worktree file. Similarly, the | |
186 | `clean` command is used to convert the contents of worktree file | |
187 | upon checkin. | |
aa4ed402 | 188 | |
c05ef938 | 189 | A missing filter driver definition in the config is not an error |
aa4ed402 JH |
190 | but makes the filter a no-op passthru. |
191 | ||
192 | The content filtering is done to massage the content into a | |
193 | shape that is more convenient for the platform, filesystem, and | |
c05ef938 | 194 | the user to use. The key phrase here is "more convenient" and not |
4d84aff3 JS |
195 | "turning something unusable into usable". In other words, the |
196 | intent is that if someone unsets the filter driver definition, | |
197 | or does not have the appropriate filter program, the project | |
198 | should still be usable. | |
aa4ed402 JH |
199 | |
200 | ||
201 | Interaction between checkin/checkout attributes | |
202 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
203 | ||
204 | In the check-in codepath, the worktree file is first converted | |
205 | with `filter` driver (if specified and corresponding driver | |
206 | defined), then the result is processed with `ident` (if | |
207 | specified), and then finally with `crlf` (again, if specified | |
208 | and applicable). | |
209 | ||
210 | In the check-out codepath, the blob content is first converted | |
211 | with `crlf`, and then `ident` and fed to `filter`. | |
212 | ||
213 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
214 | Generating diff text |
215 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
216 | ||
217 | The attribute `diff` affects if `git diff` generates textual | |
ae7aa499 JH |
218 | patch for the path or just says `Binary files differ`. It also |
219 | can affect what line is shown on the hunk header `@@ -k,l +n,m @@` | |
220 | line. | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
221 | |
222 | Set:: | |
223 | ||
224 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is set is treated | |
225 | as text, even when they contain byte values that | |
226 | normally never appear in text files, such as NUL. | |
227 | ||
228 | Unset:: | |
229 | ||
230 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is unset will | |
231 | generate `Binary files differ`. | |
232 | ||
233 | Unspecified:: | |
234 | ||
235 | A path to which the `diff` attribute is unspecified | |
236 | first gets its contents inspected, and if it looks like | |
237 | text, it is treated as text. Otherwise it would | |
238 | generate `Binary files differ`. | |
239 | ||
2cc3167c JH |
240 | String:: |
241 | ||
242 | Diff is shown using the specified custom diff driver. | |
243 | The driver program is given its input using the same | |
244 | calling convention as used for GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF | |
ae7aa499 JH |
245 | program. This name is also used for custom hunk header |
246 | selection. | |
2cc3167c JH |
247 | |
248 | ||
249 | Defining a custom diff driver | |
250 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
251 | ||
252 | The definition of a diff driver is done in `gitconfig`, not | |
253 | `gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this manual page is a | |
254 | wrong place to talk about it. However... | |
255 | ||
256 | To define a custom diff driver `jcdiff`, add a section to your | |
257 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: | |
258 | ||
259 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
260 | [diff "jcdiff"] | |
261 | command = j-c-diff | |
262 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
263 | ||
264 | When git needs to show you a diff for the path with `diff` | |
265 | attribute set to `jcdiff`, it calls the command you specified | |
266 | with the above configuration, i.e. `j-c-diff`, with 7 | |
267 | parameters, just like `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` program is called. | |
5162e697 | 268 | See linkgit:git[7] for details. |
88e7fdf2 JH |
269 | |
270 | ||
ae7aa499 JH |
271 | Defining a custom hunk-header |
272 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
273 | ||
274 | Each group of changes (called "hunk") in the textual diff output | |
275 | is prefixed with a line of the form: | |
276 | ||
277 | @@ -k,l +n,m @@ TEXT | |
278 | ||
279 | The text is called 'hunk header', and by default a line that | |
280 | begins with an alphabet, an underscore or a dollar sign is used, | |
281 | which matches what GNU `diff -p` output uses. This default | |
282 | selection however is not suited for some contents, and you can | |
283 | use customized pattern to make a selection. | |
284 | ||
285 | First in .gitattributes, you would assign the `diff` attribute | |
286 | for paths. | |
287 | ||
288 | ------------------------ | |
289 | *.tex diff=tex | |
290 | ------------------------ | |
291 | ||
292 | Then, you would define "diff.tex.funcname" configuration to | |
293 | specify a regular expression that matches a line that you would | |
294 | want to appear as the hunk header, like this: | |
295 | ||
296 | ------------------------ | |
297 | [diff "tex"] | |
298 | funcname = "^\\(\\\\\\(sub\\)*section{.*\\)$" | |
299 | ------------------------ | |
300 | ||
301 | Note. A single level of backslashes are eaten by the | |
302 | configuration file parser, so you would need to double the | |
303 | backslashes; the pattern above picks a line that begins with a | |
02783075 | 304 | backslash, and zero or more occurrences of `sub` followed by |
ae7aa499 JH |
305 | `section` followed by open brace, to the end of line. |
306 | ||
307 | There are a few built-in patterns to make this easier, and `tex` | |
308 | is one of them, so you do not have to write the above in your | |
309 | configuration file (you still need to enable this with the | |
310 | attribute mechanism, via `.gitattributes`). Another built-in | |
311 | pattern is defined for `java` that defines a pattern suitable | |
312 | for program text in Java language. | |
313 | ||
314 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
315 | Performing a three-way merge |
316 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
317 | ||
318 | The attribute `merge` affects how three versions of a file is | |
319 | merged when a file-level merge is necessary during `git merge`, | |
320 | and other programs such as `git revert` and `git cherry-pick`. | |
321 | ||
322 | Set:: | |
323 | ||
324 | Built-in 3-way merge driver is used to merge the | |
325 | contents in a way similar to `merge` command of `RCS` | |
326 | suite. This is suitable for ordinary text files. | |
327 | ||
328 | Unset:: | |
329 | ||
330 | Take the version from the current branch as the | |
331 | tentative merge result, and declare that the merge has | |
332 | conflicts. This is suitable for binary files that does | |
333 | not have a well-defined merge semantics. | |
334 | ||
335 | Unspecified:: | |
336 | ||
337 | By default, this uses the same built-in 3-way merge | |
338 | driver as is the case the `merge` attribute is set. | |
339 | However, `merge.default` configuration variable can name | |
340 | different merge driver to be used for paths to which the | |
341 | `merge` attribute is unspecified. | |
342 | ||
2cc3167c | 343 | String:: |
88e7fdf2 JH |
344 | |
345 | 3-way merge is performed using the specified custom | |
346 | merge driver. The built-in 3-way merge driver can be | |
347 | explicitly specified by asking for "text" driver; the | |
348 | built-in "take the current branch" driver can be | |
b9d14ffb | 349 | requested with "binary". |
88e7fdf2 JH |
350 | |
351 | ||
0e545f75 JH |
352 | Built-in merge drivers |
353 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
354 | ||
355 | There are a few built-in low-level merge drivers defined that | |
356 | can be asked for via the `merge` attribute. | |
357 | ||
358 | text:: | |
359 | ||
360 | Usual 3-way file level merge for text files. Conflicted | |
361 | regions are marked with conflict markers `<<<<<<<`, | |
362 | `=======` and `>>>>>>>`. The version from your branch | |
363 | appears before the `=======` marker, and the version | |
364 | from the merged branch appears after the `=======` | |
365 | marker. | |
366 | ||
367 | binary:: | |
368 | ||
369 | Keep the version from your branch in the work tree, but | |
370 | leave the path in the conflicted state for the user to | |
371 | sort out. | |
372 | ||
373 | union:: | |
374 | ||
375 | Run 3-way file level merge for text files, but take | |
376 | lines from both versions, instead of leaving conflict | |
377 | markers. This tends to leave the added lines in the | |
378 | resulting file in random order and the user should | |
379 | verify the result. Do not use this if you do not | |
380 | understand the implications. | |
381 | ||
382 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
383 | Defining a custom merge driver |
384 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
385 | ||
0e545f75 JH |
386 | The definition of a merge driver is done in the `.git/config` |
387 | file, not in the `gitattributes` file, so strictly speaking this | |
388 | manual page is a wrong place to talk about it. However... | |
88e7fdf2 JH |
389 | |
390 | To define a custom merge driver `filfre`, add a section to your | |
391 | `$GIT_DIR/config` file (or `$HOME/.gitconfig` file) like this: | |
392 | ||
393 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
394 | [merge "filfre"] | |
395 | name = feel-free merge driver | |
396 | driver = filfre %O %A %B | |
397 | recursive = binary | |
398 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
399 | ||
400 | The `merge.*.name` variable gives the driver a human-readable | |
401 | name. | |
402 | ||
403 | The `merge.*.driver` variable's value is used to construct a | |
404 | command to run to merge ancestor's version (`%O`), current | |
405 | version (`%A`) and the other branches' version (`%B`). These | |
406 | three tokens are replaced with the names of temporary files that | |
407 | hold the contents of these versions when the command line is | |
408 | built. | |
409 | ||
410 | The merge driver is expected to leave the result of the merge in | |
411 | the file named with `%A` by overwriting it, and exit with zero | |
412 | status if it managed to merge them cleanly, or non-zero if there | |
413 | were conflicts. | |
414 | ||
415 | The `merge.*.recursive` variable specifies what other merge | |
416 | driver to use when the merge driver is called for an internal | |
417 | merge between common ancestors, when there are more than one. | |
418 | When left unspecified, the driver itself is used for both | |
419 | internal merge and the final merge. | |
420 | ||
421 | ||
cf1b7869 JH |
422 | Checking whitespace errors |
423 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
424 | ||
425 | `whitespace` | |
426 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
427 | ||
428 | The `core.whitespace` configuration variable allows you to define what | |
429 | `diff` and `apply` should consider whitespace errors for all paths in | |
5162e697 | 430 | the project (See linkgit:git-config[1]). This attribute gives you finer |
cf1b7869 JH |
431 | control per path. |
432 | ||
433 | Set:: | |
434 | ||
435 | Notice all types of potential whitespace errors known to git. | |
436 | ||
437 | Unset:: | |
438 | ||
439 | Do not notice anything as error. | |
440 | ||
441 | Unspecified:: | |
442 | ||
443 | Use the value of `core.whitespace` configuration variable to | |
444 | decide what to notice as error. | |
445 | ||
446 | String:: | |
447 | ||
448 | Specify a comma separate list of common whitespace problems to | |
449 | notice in the same format as `core.whitespace` configuration | |
450 | variable. | |
451 | ||
452 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
453 | EXAMPLE |
454 | ------- | |
455 | ||
456 | If you have these three `gitattributes` file: | |
457 | ||
458 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
459 | (in $GIT_DIR/info/attributes) | |
460 | ||
461 | a* foo !bar -baz | |
462 | ||
463 | (in .gitattributes) | |
464 | abc foo bar baz | |
465 | ||
466 | (in t/.gitattributes) | |
467 | ab* merge=filfre | |
468 | abc -foo -bar | |
469 | *.c frotz | |
470 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
471 | ||
472 | the attributes given to path `t/abc` are computed as follows: | |
473 | ||
474 | 1. By examining `t/.gitattributes` (which is in the same | |
02783075 | 475 | directory as the path in question), git finds that the first |
88e7fdf2 JH |
476 | line matches. `merge` attribute is set. It also finds that |
477 | the second line matches, and attributes `foo` and `bar` | |
478 | are unset. | |
479 | ||
480 | 2. Then it examines `.gitattributes` (which is in the parent | |
481 | directory), and finds that the first line matches, but | |
482 | `t/.gitattributes` file already decided how `merge`, `foo` | |
483 | and `bar` attributes should be given to this path, so it | |
484 | leaves `foo` and `bar` unset. Attribute `baz` is set. | |
485 | ||
5c759f96 | 486 | 3. Finally it examines `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes`. This file |
88e7fdf2 JH |
487 | is used to override the in-tree settings. The first line is |
488 | a match, and `foo` is set, `bar` is reverted to unspecified | |
489 | state, and `baz` is unset. | |
490 | ||
02783075 | 491 | As the result, the attributes assignment to `t/abc` becomes: |
88e7fdf2 JH |
492 | |
493 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
494 | foo set to true | |
495 | bar unspecified | |
496 | baz set to false | |
497 | merge set to string value "filfre" | |
498 | frotz unspecified | |
499 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
500 | ||
501 | ||
8460b2fc RS |
502 | Creating an archive |
503 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
504 | ||
38c9c9b7 RS |
505 | `export-subst` |
506 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
8460b2fc | 507 | |
38c9c9b7 | 508 | If the attribute `export-subst` is set for a file then git will expand |
8460b2fc RS |
509 | several placeholders when adding this file to an archive. The |
510 | expansion depends on the availability of a commit ID, i.e. if | |
5162e697 | 511 | linkgit:git-archive[1] has been given a tree instead of a commit or a |
8460b2fc | 512 | tag then no replacement will be done. The placeholders are the same |
5162e697 | 513 | as those for the option `--pretty=format:` of linkgit:git-log[1], |
df4a394f RS |
514 | except that they need to be wrapped like this: `$Format:PLACEHOLDERS$` |
515 | in the file. E.g. the string `$Format:%H$` will be replaced by the | |
516 | commit hash. | |
8460b2fc RS |
517 | |
518 | ||
88e7fdf2 JH |
519 | GIT |
520 | --- | |
5162e697 | 521 | Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite |