global and system-wide files are considered (they have the lowest
precedence).
+When the `.gitattributes` file is missing from the work tree, the
+path in the index is used as a fall-back. During checkout process,
+`.gitattributes` in the index is used and then the file in the
+working tree is used as a fall-back.
+
If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign
attributes to files that are particular to
one user's workflow for that repository), then