"man gitattributes" doesn't explain comma-separated attribute values

>   more nitpicking, but i'm working my way through the intricacies of
> attributes and putting together some (allegedly) simple examples for a
> class i'm giving on monday, and i noted a couple possible shortcomings
> in "man gitattributes".
>
>   as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
> in the git source code itself, which opens with:
>
>   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
>   *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
>   *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
>   ... snip ...
>
> first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
> the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values. maybe i
> missed it or maybe it's supposed to be intuitively obvious, but
> there's nothing i can see that mentions the possibility.
>
>   related to that is that there is no explanation as to how to
> interpret:
>
>   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
>
> does the "!" apply to "indent" or to the entire list? the man page
> doesn't say.
>
>   just being pedantic again.
>
> rday

>
> On Sat, Mar 16 2019, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>
> >   more nitpicking, but i'm working my way through the intricacies of
> > attributes and putting together some (allegedly) simple examples for a
> > class i'm giving on monday, and i noted a couple possible shortcomings
> > in "man gitattributes".
> >
> >   as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
> > in the git source code itself, which opens with:
> >
> >   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
> >   *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
> >   *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
> >   ... snip ...
> >
> > first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
> > the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values. maybe i
> > missed it or maybe it's supposed to be intuitively obvious, but
> > there's nothing i can see that mentions the possibility.
> >
> >   related to that is that there is no explanation as to how to
> > interpret:
> >
> >   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
> >
> > does the "!" apply to "indent" or to the entire list? the man page
> > doesn't say.
> >
> >   just being pedantic again.
> >
> > rday
>
> It's documented in gitglossary, search for "attr". That's not an excuse
> or a statement that that doesn't suck, just a pointer for anyone
> interested in fixing the docs.

>   as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
> in the git source code itself, which opens with:
> 
>   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
>   *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
>   *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
>   ... snip ...
> 
> first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
> the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values.

> Am 16.03.19 um 13:22 schrieb Robert P. J. Day:
> >   as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
> > in the git source code itself, which opens with:
> >
> >   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
> >   *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
> >   *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
> >   ... snip ...
> >
> > first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
> > the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values.
>
> This comma-separated list is not a property of attributes in
> general, but a property of the whitespace attribute in particular.
> See core.whitespace in git-config(1) and "Checking whitespace
> errors" in gitattributes(5).

> On Sat, 16 Mar 2019, Johannes Sixt wrote:
> 
>> Am 16.03.19 um 13:22 schrieb Robert P. J. Day:
>>>   as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
>>> in the git source code itself, which opens with:
>>>
>>>   * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
>>>   *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
>>>   *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
>>>   ... snip ...
>>>
>>> first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
>>> the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values.
>>
>> This comma-separated list is not a property of attributes in
>> general, but a property of the whitespace attribute in particular.
>> See core.whitespace in git-config(1) and "Checking whitespace
>> errors" in gitattributes(5).
> 
>   ah, i was digging through the code trying to figure out where the
> whole CSV thing was explained -- it's massively helpful to understand
> that that property is specific to whitespace. that does not appear to
> be clarified anywhere.

> Am 16.03.19 um 23:09 schrieb Robert P. J. Day:
>> On Sat, 16 Mar 2019, Johannes Sixt wrote:
>>
>>> Am 16.03.19 um 13:22 schrieb Robert P. J. Day:
>>>>    as a working example, i looked at the top-level .gitattributes file
>>>> in the git source code itself, which opens with:
>>>>
>>>>    * whitespace=!indent,trail,space
>>>>    *.[ch] whitespace=indent,trail,space diff=cpp
>>>>    *.sh whitespace=indent,trail,space eol=lf
>>>>    ... snip ...
>>>>
>>>> first observation is that i see nothing in the man page that explains
>>>> the notion of a comma-separated list of attribute values.
>>> This comma-separated list is not a property of attributes in
>>> general, but a property of the whitespace attribute in particular.
>>> See core.whitespace in git-config(1) and "Checking whitespace
>>> errors" in gitattributes(5).
>>    ah, i was digging through the code trying to figure out where the
>> whole CSV thing was explained -- it's massively helpful to understand
>> that that property is specific to whitespace. that does not appear to
>> be clarified anywhere.
> But it is. The very first paragraph of gitattributes(5) states that
> attributes are whitespace separated. From this, conclude that the
> comma-separated list must pertain to the whitespace attribute.

>   Now
> follow the documentation of that, and you end up at core.whitespace in
> git-config(1). There you have it as the very first phrase.
>
> -- Hannes