thodg/libgit2

diff --git a/docs/win32-longpaths.md b/docs/win32-longpaths.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a18152f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/win32-longpaths.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+core.longpaths support
+======================
+
+Historically, Windows has limited absolute path lengths to `MAX_PATH`
+(260) characters.
+
+Unfortunately, 260 characters is a punishing small maximum.  This is
+especially true for developers where dependencies may have dependencies
+in a folder, each dependency themselves having dependencies in a
+sub-folder, ad (seemingly) infinitum.
+
+So although the Windows APIs _by default_ honor this 260 character
+maximum, you can get around this by using separate APIs.  Git honors a
+`core.longpaths` configuration option that allows some paths on Windows
+to exceed these 260 character limits.
+
+And because they've gone and done it, that means that libgit2 has to
+honor this value, too.
+
+Since `core.longpaths` is a _configuration option_ that means that we
+need to be able to resolve a configuration - including in _the repository
+itself_ in order to know whether long paths should be supported.
+
+Therefore, in libgit2, `core.longpaths` affects paths in working
+directories _only_.  Paths to the repository, and to items inside the
+`.git` folder, must be no longer than 260 characters.
+
+This definition is required to avoid a paradoxical setting: if you
+had a repository in a folder that was 280 characters long, how would
+you know whether `core.longpaths` support should be enabled?  Even if
+`core.longpaths` was set to true in a system configuration file, the
+repository itself may set `core.longpaths` to false in _its_ configuration
+file, which you could only read if `core.longpaths` were set to true.
+
+Thus, `core.longpaths` must _only_ apply to working directory items,
+and cannot apply to the `.git` folder or its contents.