X-Git-Url: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?p=dgit.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=dgit.7;h=70165a1b69d0d9f745ae6e2f2a92135f985a8870;hp=635dc132e8ab67d7c30b154127fae82093309e93;hb=8b34c8e50e236ea9340693c9a425cc2cb2f957ad;hpb=192d476b8cc487acacd80ec3794f82732f93f346

diff --git a/dgit.7 b/dgit.7
index 635dc132..70165a1b 100644
--- a/dgit.7
+++ b/dgit.7
@@ -201,6 +201,43 @@ or previous non-Dgit uploads
 Distros which do not maintain a set of dgit history git repositories
 can still be used in a read-only mode with dgit.  Currently Ubuntu
 is configured this way.
+.SH GITATTRIBUTES
+git has features which can automatically transform files
+as they are being copied between the working tree
+and the git history.
+The attributes can be specified in the source tree itself,
+in
+.BR .gitattributes .
+See \fBgitattributes\fP(5).
+
+These transformations are context-sensitive
+and not, in general, reversible,
+so dgit operates on the principle that
+the dgit git history contains the actual contents of the package.
+(When dgit is manipulating a .dsc,
+it does so in a private area,
+where the transforming gitattributes are defused,
+to achieve this.)
+
+If transforming gitattributes are used,
+they can cause trouble,
+because the working tree files can differ from
+the git revision history
+(and therefore from the source packages).
+dgit warns if it finds a .gitattributes file
+(in a package being fetched or imported),
+unless the transforming gitattributes have been defused.
+
+dgit clone
+and dgit setup-new-tree
+disable transforming gitattributes
+by default,
+by creating a suitable .git/info/attributes.
+See
+.B dgit setup-new-tree
+and
+.B dgit setup-gitattributes
+in dgit(1).
 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
 source format of the package.  You can just make changes as you like