diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a0a624af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# merger hooks, run tools/hooks/install.bat or install.sh to set up
+*.dmm merge=dmm
+*.dmi merge=dmi
+
+# force changelog merging to use union
+html/changelog.html merge=union
+
+# force all files to be LF 
+* text=auto