Merge pull request godotengine#10857 from jaydensipe/add-git-lfs-section

Add Git LFS section

Author: skyace65

tutorials/best_practices/version_control_systems.rst

@@ -82,3 +82,98 @@ It is better to set this option as:
 Creating version control metadata using the project manager or editor will
 automatically enforce LF line endings using the ``.gitattributes`` file.
 In this case, you don't need to change your Git configuration.
+
+Git LFS
+-------
+
+Git LFS (Large File Storage) is a Git extension that allows you to manage large
+files in your repository. It replaces large files with text pointers inside Git,
+while storing the file contents on a remote server. This is useful for
+managing large assets, such as textures, audio files, and 3D models, without
+bloating your Git repository.  
+
+.. note::
+
+    When using Git LFS you will want to ensure it is setup before you commit any files to your repository. 
+    If you have already committed files to your repository, you will need to
+    remove them from the repository and re-add them after setting up Git LFS.
+
+    It is possible to use ``git lfs migrate`` to convert existing files in your repository, but this is more in-depth and
+    requires a good understanding of Git.
+
+    A common approach is setting up a new repository with Git LFS (and a proper ``.gitattributes``), then
+    copying the files from the old repository to the new one. This way, you
+    can ensure that all files are tracked by LFS from the start.
+
+To use Git LFS with Godot, you need to install the Git LFS extension and
+configure it to track the file types you want to manage. You can do this by
+running the following command in your terminal:
+::
+
+    git lfs install
+    
+This will create a ``.gitattributes`` file in your repository that tells Git to
+use LFS for the specified file types. You can add more file types by modifying
+the ``.gitattributes`` file. For example, to track all GLB files, you can do this by
+running the following command in your terminal:
+::
+    
+    git lfs track "*.glb"
+
+When you add or modify files that are tracked by LFS, Git will automatically
+store them in LFS instead of the regular Git history. You can push and pull
+LFS files just like regular Git files, but keep in mind that LFS files are
+stored separately from the rest of your Git history. This means that you may
+need to install Git LFS on any machine that you clone the repository to in
+order to access the LFS files.
+
+Below is an example ``.gitattributes`` file that you can use as a starting point for Git LFS. 
+These file types were chosen because they are commonly used, but you can modify the list to include any binary types you may have in your project.
+
+.. code-block:: gitignore
+
+    # Normalize EOL for all files that Git considers text files.
+    * text=auto eol=lf
+
+    # Git LFS Tracking (Assets)
+
+    # 3D Models
+    *.fbx filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.gltf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.glb filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.blend filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.obj filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+
+    # Images
+    *.png filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.svg filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.jpg filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.jpeg filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.gif filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.tga filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.webp filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.exr filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.hdr filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.dds filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+
+    # Audio
+    *.mp3 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.wav filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.ogg filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+
+    # Font & Icon
+    *.ttf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.otf filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.ico filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+
+    # Godot LFS Specific
+    *.scn filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.res filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.material filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.anim filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.mesh filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+    *.lmbake filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
+
+For more information on Git LFS, check the official documentation:
+https://git-lfs.github.com/ and https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-large-files.
+