It seems like a lot of people out there are using git to follow the bitcoin SVN repo, and some are having trouble with line endings.
Here is the method of creating a local git repository, containing nothing but satoshi's upstream SVN commits:
$ git svn clone --stdlayout https://bitcoin.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/bitcoin
When satoshi updates his SVN, here is the method for updating your local repository:
$ git svn fetch && git pull . refs/remotes/trunk
It is advisable to maintain a vanilla repository or branch, and do your work in a separate repo, such as
$ git clone bitcoin bitcoin.jg-hacks
or create a side branch,
$ cd bitcoin
$ git checkout -b jg-hacks master