Re: [PATCH 9/9] docs: document symlink restrictions for dot-files

> 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.

> diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt
> @@ -1247,6 +1247,13 @@ to:
> +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.

> diff --git a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
> @@ -98,6 +98,14 @@ submodule.<name>.shallow::
> +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.