From b635ed97a06e10e6b562d8a4356444ac8e31dce8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jeff King Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2018 00:14:54 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] doc/gitattributes: mention non-recursive behavior The gitattributes documentation claims that the pattern rules are largely the same as for gitignore. However, the rules for recursion are different. In an ideal world, we would make them the same (if for nothing else than consistency and simplicity), but that would create backwards compatibility issues. For some discussion, see this thread: https://public-inbox.org/git/slrnkldd3g.1l4.jan@majutsushi.net/ But let's at least document the differences instead of actively misleading the user by claiming that they're the same. Signed-off-by: Jeff King Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- Documentation/gitattributes.txt | 13 ++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt index 30687de81a..a2a025400b 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt @@ -56,9 +56,16 @@ Unspecified:: When more than one pattern matches the path, a later line overrides an earlier line. This overriding is done per -attribute. The rules how the pattern matches paths are the -same as in `.gitignore` files; see linkgit:gitignore[5]. -Unlike `.gitignore`, negative patterns are forbidden. +attribute. + +The rules by which the pattern matches paths are the same as in +`.gitignore` files (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), with a few exceptions: + + - negative patterns are forbidden + + - patterns that match a directory do not recursively match paths + inside that directory (so using the trailing-slash `path/` syntax is + pointless in an attributes file; use `path/**` instead) When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, Git consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest -- 2.11.4.GIT