Merge branch 'maint-1.6.1' into maint

* maint-1.6.1:
  Documentation: clarify .gitattributes search
  git-checkout.txt: clarify that <branch> applies when no path is given.
  git-checkout.txt: fix incorrect statement about HEAD and index

Documentation/git-checkout.txt

@@ -127,9 +127,13 @@ the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
 <new_branch>::
 	Name for the new branch.
 
+<tree-ish>::
+	Tree to checkout from (when paths are given). If not specified,
+	the index will be used.
+
 <branch>::
-	Branch to checkout; may be any object ID that resolves to a
+	Branch to checkout (when no paths are given); may be any object
-	commit.  Defaults to HEAD.
+	ID that resolves to a commit.  Defaults to HEAD.
 +
 When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object),
 your HEAD becomes 'detached'.
@@ -191,8 +195,8 @@ $ git checkout hello.c            <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> switch branch
-<2> take out a file out of other commit
+<2> take a file out of another commit
-<3> restore hello.c from HEAD of current branch
+<3> restore hello.c from the index
 +
 If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
 step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.

Documentation/gitattributes.txt

@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ same as in `.gitignore` files; see linkgit:gitignore[5].
 When deciding what attributes are assigned to a path, git
 consults `$GIT_DIR/info/attributes` file (which has the highest
 precedence), `.gitattributes` file in the same directory as the
-path in question, and its parent directories (the further the
+path in question, and its parent directories up to the toplevel of the
-directory that contains `.gitattributes` is from the path in
+work tree (the further the directory that contains `.gitattributes`
-question, the lower its precedence).
+is from the path in question, the lower its precedence).
 
 If you wish to affect only a single repository (i.e., to assign
 attributes to files that are particular to one user's workflow), then

Documentation/gitignore.txt

@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
 
  * Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
    as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
-   higher level files (up to the root) being overridden by those in
+   higher level files (up to the toplevel of the work tree) being overridden
-   lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
+   by those in lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
    These patterns match relative to the location of the
    `.gitignore` file.  A project normally includes such
    `.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for