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2025-01-21doc: use .adoc extension for AsciiDoc filesbrian m. carlson1-542/+0
We presently use the ".txt" extension for our AsciiDoc files. While not wrong, most editors do not associate this extension with AsciiDoc, meaning that contributors don't get automatic editor functionality that could be useful, such as syntax highlighting and prose linting. It is much more common to use the ".adoc" extension for AsciiDoc files, since this helps editors automatically detect files and also allows various forges to provide rich (HTML-like) rendering. Let's do that here, renaming all of the files and updating the includes where relevant. Adjust the various build scripts and makefiles to use the new extension as well. Note that this should not result in any user-visible changes to the documentation. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2024-07-09gitfaq: add entry about syncing working treesbrian m. carlson1-0/+52
Users very commonly want to sync their working tree with uncommitted changes across machines, often to carry across in-progress work or stashes. Despite this not being a recommended approach, users want to do it and are not dissuaded by suggestions not to, so let's recommend a sensible technique. The technique that many users are using is their preferred cloud syncing service, which is a bad idea. Users have reported problems where they end up with duplicate files that won't go away (with names like "file.c 2"), broken references, oddly named references that have date stamps appended to them, missing objects, and general corruption and data loss. That's because almost all of these tools sync file by file, which is a great technique if your project is a single word processing document or spreadsheet, but is utterly abysmal for Git repositories because they don't necessarily snapshot the entire repository correctly. They also tend to sync the files immediately instead of when the repository is quiescent, so writing multiple files, as occurs during a commit or a gc, can confuse the tools and lead to corruption. We know that the old standby, rsync, is up to the task, provided that the repository is quiescent, so let's suggest that and dissuade people from using cloud syncing tools. Let's tell people about common things they should be aware of before doing this and that this is still potentially risky. Additionally, let's tell people that Git's security model does not permit sharing working trees across users in case they planned to do that. While we'd still prefer users didn't try to do this, hopefully this will lead them in a safer direction. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2024-07-09gitfaq: give advice on using eol attribute in gitattributesbrian m. carlson1-4/+17
In the FAQ, we tell people how to use the text attribute, but we fail to explain what to do with the eol attribute. As we ourselves have noticed, most shell implementations do not care for carriage returns, and as such, people will practically always want them to use LF endings. Similar things can be said for batch files on Windows, except with CRLF endings. Since these are common things to have in a repository, let's help users make a good decision by recommending that they use the gitattributes file to correctly check out the endings. In addition, let's correct the cross-reference to this question, which originally referred to "the following entry", even though a new entry has been inserted in between. The cross-reference notation should prevent this from occurring and provide a link in formats, such as HTML, which support that. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2024-07-09gitfaq: add documentation on proxiesbrian m. carlson1-0/+36
Many corporate environments and local systems have proxies in use. Note the situations in which proxies can be used and how to configure them. At the same time, note what standards a proxy must follow to work with Git. Explicitly call out certain classes that are known to routinely have problems reported various places online, including in the Git for Windows issue tracker and on Stack Overflow, and recommend against the use of such software, noting that they are associated with myriad security problems (including, for example, breaking sandboxing and image integrity[0], and, for TLS middleboxes, the use of insecure protocols and ciphers and lack of certificate verification[1]). Don't mention the specific nature of these security problems in the FAQ entry because they are extremely numerous and varied and we wish to keep the FAQ entry relatively brief. [0] https://issues.chromium.org/issues/40285192 [1] https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~mbailey/publications/ndss17_interception.pdf Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2021-08-05Update docs for change of default merge backendElijah Newren1-1/+1
Make it clear that `ort` is the default merge strategy now rather than `recursive`, including moving `ort` to the front of the list of merge strategies. Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-09-20docs: explain how to deal with files that are always modifiedbrian m. carlson1-0/+33
Users frequently have problems where two filenames differ only in case, causing one of those files to show up consistently as being modified. Let's add a FAQ entry that explains how to deal with that. In addition, let's explain another common case where files are consistently modified, which is when files using a smudge or clean filter have not been run through that filter. Explain the way to fix this as well. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-09-20docs: explain why reverts are not always applied on mergebrian m. carlson1-0/+21
A common scenario is for a user to apply a change to one branch and cherry-pick it into another, then later revert it in the first branch. This results in the change being present when the two branches are merged, which is confusing to many users. We already have documentation for how this works in `git merge`, but it is clear from the frequency with which this is asked that it's hard to grasp. We also don't explain to users that they are better off doing a rebase in this case, which will do what they intended. Let's add an entry to the FAQ telling users what's happening and advising them to use rebase here. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-09-20docs: explain why squash merges are broken with long-running branchesbrian m. carlson1-0/+32
In many projects, squash merges are commonly used, primarily to keep a tidy history in the face of developers who do not use logically independent, bisectable commits. As common as this is, this tends to cause significant problems when squash merges are used to merge long-running branches due to the lack of any new merge bases. Even very experienced developers may make this mistake, so let's add a FAQ entry explaining why this is problematic and explaining that regular merge commits should be used to merge two long-running branches. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-05-26Merge branch 'ss/faq-ignore'Junio C Hamano1-1/+1
Doc markup fix. * ss/faq-ignore: gitfaq: avoid validation error with older asciidoc
2020-05-25gitfaq: avoid validation error with older asciidocTodd Zullinger1-1/+1
When building with asciidoc-8.4.5 (as found on CentOS/Red Hat 6), the period in the "[[files-in-.gitignore-are-tracked]]" anchor is not properly parsed as a section: WARNING: gitfaq.txt: line 245: missing [[files-in-.gitignore-are-tracked]] section The resulting XML file fails to validate with xmlto: xmlto: /git/Documentation/gitfaq.xml does not validate (status 3) xmlto: Fix document syntax or use --skip-validation option /git/Documentation/gitfaq.xml:3: element refentry: validity error : Element refentry content does not follow the DTD, expecting (beginpage? , indexterm* , refentryinfo? , refmeta? , (remark | link | olink | ulink)* , refnamediv+ , refsynopsisdiv? , (refsect1+ | refsection+)), got (refmeta refnamediv refsynopsisdiv refsect1 refsect1 refsect1 refsect1 variablelist refsect1 refsect1 ) Document /git/Documentation/gitfaq.xml does not validate Let's avoid breaking users of platforms which ship an old version of asciidoc, since the cost to do so is quite low. Reported-by: Son Luong Ngoc <sluongng@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Todd Zullinger <tmz@pobox.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-05-13Merge branch 'ss/faq-fetch-pull'Junio C Hamano1-0/+8
Random bits of FAQ. * ss/faq-fetch-pull: gitfaq: fetching and pulling a repository
2020-05-06gitfaq: fetching and pulling a repositoryShourya Shukla1-0/+8
Add an issue in 'Common Issues' section which addresses the confusion between performing a 'fetch' and a 'pull'. Helped-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Shourya Shukla <shouryashukla.oo@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-05-06gitfaq: files in .gitignore are trackedShourya Shukla1-0/+10
Add issue in 'Common Issues' section which addresses the problem of Git tracking files/paths mentioned in '.gitignore'. Signed-off-by: Shourya Shukla <shouryashukla.oo@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-03-30docs: add a FAQbrian m. carlson1-0/+337
Git is an enormously flexible and powerful piece of software. However, it can be intimidating for many users and there are a set of common questions that users often ask. While we already have some new user documentation, it's worth adding a FAQ to address common questions that users often have. Even though some of this is addressed elsewhere in the documentation, experience has shown that it is difficult for users to find, so a centralized location is helpful. Add such a FAQ and fill it with some common questions and answers. While there are few entries now, we can expand it in the future to cover more things as we find new questions that users have. Let's also add section markers so that people answering questions can directly link users to the proper answer. The FAQ also addresses common configuration questions that apply not only to Git as an independent piece of software but also the ecosystem of CI tools and hosting providers that people use, since these are the source of common questions. An attempt has been made to avoid mentioning any particular provider or tool, but to nevertheless cover common configurations that apply to a wide variety of such tools. Note that the long lines for certain questions are required, since Asciidoctor does not permit broken lines there. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>