End of Line Conversion
======================

EOL conversion is provided as a content filter where Bazaar internally
stores a canonical format but outputs a convenience format. See
``bzr help content-filters`` for general information about using these.

Note: Content filtering is only supported in recently added formats,
e.g. 1.14. Be sure that both the repository *and* the branch are
in a recent format. (Just setting the format on the repository
is not enough.) If content filtering does not appear to be working, use
'bzr info -v' to confirm that the branch is using "Working tree format 5"
or later.

EOL conversion needs to be enabled for selected file patterns using
rules. See ``bzr help rules`` for general information on defining rules.
Currently, rules are only supported in $BZR_HOME/.bazaar/rules (or
%BZR_HOME%/bazaar/2.0/rules on Windows). Branch specific rules will be
supported in a future verison of Bazaar.

To configure which files to filter, set ``eol`` to one of the values below.
(If a value is not set, ``exact`` is the default.)

 ========== ===================================== ======================
 Value      Checkout end-of-lines as              Commit end-of-lines as
 ========== ===================================== ======================
 ``native`` ``crlf`` on Windows, ``lf`` otherwise ``lf``
 ---------- ------------------------------------- ----------------------
 ``lf``     ``lf``                                ``lf``
 ---------- ------------------------------------- ----------------------
 ``crlf``   ``crlf``                              ``lf``
 ---------- ------------------------------------- ----------------------
 ``exact``  No conversion                         Exactly as in file
 ========== ===================================== ======================

Note: For safety reasons, no conversion is applied to any file where a null
byte is detected in the file.

For users working on a cross-platform project, here is a suggested rule
to use as a starting point::

  [name *]
  eol = native

If you have binary files that do not contain a null byte though, be
sure to add ``eol = exact`` rules for those as well. You can do this
by giving more explicit patterns earlier in the rules file. For example::

  [name *.png]
  eol = exact

  [name *]
  eol = native

If your working tree is on a network drive shared by users on different
operating systems, you typically want to force certain conventions for
certain files. In that way, if a file is created with the wrong line
endings or line endings get mixed during editing, it gets committed
correctly and gets checked out correctly. For example::

  [name *.bat]
  eol = crlf

  [name *.sh]
  eol = lf

  [name *]
  eol = native

If you take the care to create files with their required endings, you can
achieve *almost* the same thing by using ``eol = exact``. It is slightly
safer to use ``lf`` and ``crlf`` though because edits accidentally
introducing mixed line endings will be corrected during commit for files
with those settings.

If you have sample test data that deliberately has text files with mixed
newline conventions, you can ask for those to be left alone like this::

  [name test_data/]
  eol = exact

  [name *]
  eol = native

Note that ``exact`` does not imply the file is binary but it does mean
that no conversion of end-of-lines will be done. (Bazaar currently relies
of content analysis to detect binary files for commands like ``diff``.
In the future, a ``binary = true`` rule may be added but it is not
supported yet.)

If you have an existing repository with text files already stored using
Windows newline conventions (``crlf``), then you may want to keep using that
convention in the repository. Forcing certain files to this convention
may also help users who do not have rules configured. To do this, set
``eol`` to one of the values below.

 ============================ ======================== ======================
 Value                        Checkout end-of-lines as Commit end-of-lines as
 ============================ ======================== ======================
 ``native-with-crlf-in-repo`` ``crlf`` on Windows,     ``crlf``
                              ``lf`` otherwise
 ---------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------
 ``lf-with-crlf-in-repo``     ``lf``                   ``crlf``
 ---------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------
 ``crlf-with-crlf-in-repo``   ``crlf``                 ``crlf``
 ============================ ======================== ======================

For users working on an existing project that uses Windows newline
conventions in their Bazaar repository, this rule is suggested as a
starting point::

  [name *]
  eol = native-with-crlf-in-repo

For new projects, it is recommended that end-of-lines be stored as ``lf``
and that users stick to the basic settings, i.e. ``native``, ``lf``,
``crlf`` and ``exact``.

Note: Bazaar's EOL conversion will convert the content of files but
never reject files because a given line ending or mixed line endings
are found. A precommit hook should be used if you wish to validate
(and not just convert) content before committing.