diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
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+# The compendia in packs/ are LevelDB databases, and they are BINARY.
+#
+# Without this, a checkout on Windows (core.autocrlf=true, which is the Git for
+# Windows default) rewrites packs/*/CURRENT from "MANIFEST-000002\n" to
+# "MANIFEST-000002\r\n". LevelDB then tries to open a manifest whose filename
+# ends in a carriage return, fails with "The filename, directory name, or volume
+# label syntax is incorrect", and Foundry runs RepairDB across all eighteen packs
+# on first launch. The packs are broken from the moment they are cloned and the
+# only visible symptom is a pile of lost/ directories in git status.
+#
+# Linux and macOS checkouts are unaffected, which is why this went unnoticed.
+packs/** -text -diff
+
+# Generated art is binary too; same reasoning, less catastrophic.
+*.webp -text -diff