Okay, I feel like I'm on the verge of understanding, but it keeps eluding me, because you keep answering the question I actually asked, rather than the one I should have asked... let me try again, and bear with me if it seems like I'm repeating the same question over and over, because I don't understand which "irrelevant" differences matter and which don't. (You've been amazingly patient so far actually. Thank you for that.) (Incidentally, you've successfully convinced me that attributes are a far better way to deal with this. I still feel that the behavior should be documented though.) Setup: Suppose there exists a repo where sample.txt has CRLF line endings. Meanwhile, my git config has autocrlf as "input". Now, I clone the repo. I edit sample.txt, and then commit. Assuming the repo has no .gitattributes, is it possible to predict what line endings sample.txt will end up with in my repo? Or does it depend on more information than what I've just written? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This message, and any attachments, is for the intended recipient(s) only, may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or proprietary and subject to important terms and conditions available at http://www.bankofamerica.com/emaildisclaimer. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message.