diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 5a2440c1..194213dd 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,28 +1,33 @@
 # The default behavior, which overrides 'core.autocrlf', is to use Git's
 # built-in heuristics to determine whether a particular file is text or binary.
 # Text files are automatically normalized to the user's platforms.
-* text=auto
+# 15 years ago this was probably OK, but today it is a bad idea.
+* text=auto eol=lf
 
-# Explicitly declare text files that should always be normalized and converted
-# to native line endings.
-.asf.yaml text
-.gitattributes text
-.gitignore text
-git.properties text
-.travis.yml text
-LICENSE text
-NOTICE text
-*.html text
-*.java text
-*.md text
-*.properties text
-*.sh text
-*.xml text
-*.yml text
-*.yaml text
+# Explicitly declare text files that should always be LF
+.asf.yaml text eol=lf
+.gitattributes text eol=lf
+.gitignore text eol=lf
+git.properties text eol=lf
+.travis.yml text eol=lf
+LICENSE text eol=lf
+NOTICE text eol=lf
+*.html text eol=lf
+*.java text eol=lf
+*.md text eol=lf
+*.properties text eol=lf
+*.sh text eol=lf
+*.xml text eol=lf
+*.yml text eol=lf
+*.yaml text eol=lf
 *.txt text eol=lf
+GettysburgAddress.txt text eol=lf
+
 
 # Declare files that will always have CRLF line endings on checkout.
+# Windows batch scripts strictly require CRLF
+*.bat text eol=crlf
+*.cmd text eol=crlf
 
 # Explicitly denote all files that are truly binary and should not be modified.
 *.jpg binary
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f382225c..936642f1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -187,7 +187,12 @@ under the License.
 
     <!-- other -->
     <nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version>1.7.0</nexus-staging-maven-plugin.version>
-
+    
+    <!-- fallback properties in case of a build from the distributed source: -->
+    <git.branch>source-release-no-git</git.branch>
+    <git.commit.id>unknown</git.commit.id>
+    <git.commit.time>unknown</git.commit.time>
+    <git.commit.user.email>unknown</git.commit.user.email>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
@@ -546,6 +551,7 @@ under the License.
             <dotGitDirectory>${maven.multiModuleProjectDirectory}/.git</dotGitDirectory>
             <generateGitPropertiesFile>false</generateGitPropertiesFile>
             <skipPoms>false</skipPoms>
+            <failOnNoGitDirectory>false</failOnNoGitDirectory>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>