More Recipes - Git Recipes - page 526

* eol=lf

windows/* eol=crlf

mixed/* -text

Finally commit all files using the $ git snapshot Initial commit com-
mand.
The repository now contains the very accurate rules that define the line endings con-
version. Now, if anyone clones the repository, then, no matter what his or her settings
are, the cloned repository will contain exactly the same line endings that we used with-
in $ print commands. To verify this set the core.autocrlf to true with:

$ git config --global core.autocrlf true

And then clone the repository:

$ cd ..
$ git clone 13-07 13-07-verification
$ cd 13-07-verification

The command:

$ hexdump -c linux/abcd.txt

prints the contents of the file with LF line endings. This proves that even though
core.autocrlf was set to true no conversion was performed.

How It Works

The rule * eol=lf forces git to always checkout all files using LF line endings.
Thus, by default, all the files will use LF encoding. Files stored under the linux/ dir-
ectory in particular. The second rule, which is windows/* eol=crlf , defines an
exception to the first rule. When checking out files stored under the windows/ direct-
ory, CRLF will be used. The last rule, mixed/* -text , turns off all the conversions
of line endings for all files stored under the mixed/ directory.
The configuration written in the .gitattributes file overrides settings defined
with the $ git config command. Therefore, no matter what your settings are, the
working directory of the project will always stick to the predefined assumptions: