[llvm-dev] Git autocrlf for Windows - why does the Getting Started guide say to use false?

[James Henderson via llvm-dev]

Hi all,

TL;DR - should we recommend core.autocrlf=input instead of
core.autocrlf=false on Windows?

I recently switched from doing pre-commit builds and tests from my Ubuntu
VM, to my Windows machine where I do all my development. I was aware that
line endings is an issue, so made sure to set core.autocrlf=false as
directed in the Getting Started guide (see
https://llvm.org/docs/GettingStarted.html#getting-the-source-code-and-building-llvm
and https://llvm.org/docs/GettingStarted.html#checkout-llvm-from-git which
explicitly say to use "false"). This seemed a little odd to me, as that
would mean that if I made any edits, I could potentially end up with
Windows line endings, by my understanding, but I assumed that I had
misunderstood something, so just went along with it.

However, at some point in one of my commits (at least I assume it was one
of mine, since I was working on the file), I somehow managed to change an
existing file to using Windows line endings, which someone else fixed for
me (see commit aca3e70d2bc0dd89b7d486c2a8eac70d8a89e790).

Having double-checked against my settings on my downstream clone, I noticed
that I had core.autocrlf set to input there, and as far as I know, I've
never had any line-ending problems with working with LLVM in that repo. My
understanding is "input" should avoid problems such as mine, i.e. by
ensuring the checked-in files have LF line endings, whilst everybody,
regardless of system will get native line endings in their actual clones. I
am aware that there are some files that deliberately use Windows line
endings - I'm guessing that these are not widespread and that they don't
need regularly modifying, so presumably those users who need to edit those
files can change their setting as needed.

I'm happy to update the docs, but I want to make sure that any update I
make is correct!

James
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