We stopped allowing symlinks for .gitmodules files in 10ecfa7649 (verify_path: disallow symlinks in .gitmodules, 2018-05-04), and we stopped following symlinks for .gitattributes, .gitignore, and .mailmap in the commits from 204333b015 (Merge branch 'jk/open-dotgitx-with-nofollow', 2021-03-22). The reasons are discussed in detail there, but we never adjusted the documentation to let users know. This hasn't been a big deal since the point is that such setups were mildly broken and thought to be unusual anyway. But it certainly doesn't hurt to be clear and explicit about it. Suggested-by: Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.email> Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@xxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/gitattributes.txt | 7 +++++++ Documentation/gitignore.txt | 5 +++++ Documentation/gitmailmap.txt | 7 +++++++ Documentation/gitmodules.txt | 8 ++++++++ 4 files changed, 27 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt index cfcfa800c2..dfda94d996 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt @@ -1247,6 +1247,13 @@ to: [attr]binary -diff -merge -text ------------ +NOTES +----- + +Note that Git does not follow symbolic links when accessing a +`.gitattributes` file in the working tree. This keeps behavior +consistent when the file is accessed from the index or a tree versus +from the filesystem. EXAMPLES -------- diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt index 5751603b13..4b6fd8d2cd 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt @@ -149,6 +149,11 @@ not tracked by Git remain untracked. To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use 'git rm --cached'. +Note that Git does not follow symbolic links when accessing a +`.gitignore` file in the working tree. This keeps behavior consistent +when the file is accessed from the index or a tree versus from the +filesystem. + EXAMPLES -------- diff --git a/Documentation/gitmailmap.txt b/Documentation/gitmailmap.txt index 3fb39f801f..eb65eeb37f 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitmailmap.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitmailmap.txt @@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ this would also match the 'Commit Name <commit@email.xx>' above: Proper Name <proper@xxxxxxxx> CoMmIt NaMe <CoMmIt@xxxxxxxx> -- +NOTES +----- + +Note that Git does not follow symbolic links when accessing a `.mailmap` +file in the working tree. This keeps behavior consistent when the file +is accessed from the index or a tree versus from the filesystem. + EXAMPLES -------- diff --git a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt index 8e333dde1b..ca1c42b405 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt @@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ submodule.<name>.shallow:: shallow clone (with a history depth of 1) unless the user explicitly asks for a non-shallow clone. +NOTES +----- + +Note that Git does not allow the `.gitmodules` file within a working +tree to be a symbolic link, and will refuse to check out such a tree +entry. This keeps behavior consistent when the file is accessed from the +index or a tree versus from the filesystem, and helps Git reliably +enforce security checks of the file contents. EXAMPLES -------- -- 2.31.1.875.g5dccece0aa
