The documentation for the eol attribute states that it is "effectively
setting the text attribute". However, this implies that it forces the
text attribute to always be set, which has not been the case since
6523728499 ("convert: unify the "auto" handling of CRLF", 2016-06-28).
Let's avoid confusing users (and the present author when trying to
describe Git's behavior to others) by clearly documenting in which
cases the "eol" attribute has effect.
Specifically, the attribute always has an effect unless the file is
explicitly set as -text, or the file is set as text=auto and the file is
detected as binary or has CRLF endings. It used to be the case that
text=auto did cause automatic conversion of files with CRLF endings, but
that is no longer the case, so let's document that fact as well.
Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/gitattributes.txt | 12 +++++++-----
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
index 83fd4e19a4..a71dad2674 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
@@ -160,11 +160,13 @@ unspecified.
^^^^^
This attribute sets a specific line-ending style to be used in the
-working directory. It enables end-of-line conversion without any
-content checks, effectively setting the `text` attribute. Note that
-setting this attribute on paths which are in the index with CRLF line
-endings may make the paths to be considered dirty. Adding the path to
-the index again will normalize the line endings in the index.
+working directory. This attribute has effect only if the `text`
+attribute is set or unspecified, or if it is set to `auto`, the file is
+detected as text, and it is stored with LF endings in the index. Note
+that setting this attribute on paths which are in the index with CRLF
+line endings may make the paths to be considered dirty unless
+`text=auto` is set. Adding the path to the index again will normalize
+the line endings in the index.
Set to string value "crlf"::
