I just asked on Super User:
Are .gitignore files from directories above the repository's or from home directory (~/.gitignore) loaded in any versions of Git?
~/.gitignore is mentioned by some advisory web postings despite not working in the version of Git on my system, and my system manual is unclear about how far up Git will walk looking for a .gitignore, although only mentions $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/ignore as a home directory global gitignore file location.
My problem stems from, to manage my home directory dotfiles i have presently chosen to use Git with a custom GIT_DIR environment variable setting, which does fine with not having Git default to that repository in any subdirectories of my ~.
But, as .gitignore is hardcoded and can't be selected by an environment variable (which i would like to be like "${GIT_DIR%/}ignore"), being afraid that on some of my systems ~/.gitignore could end up applying either globally or in repositories in the subdirectories of ~, i resorted to adding the below snippet to my ${GIT_DIR}/info/exclude and then staging the ${GIT_DIR}/info/exclude file into the repository, keeping all my gitignore entries that are to apply to my dotfiles management repository in there (and in .gitignore files in dotfiles-only subdirectories). What i don't like about it is that it's pretty dirty and it might cause minor problems sometimes.
The snippet mentioned above, with .gd being my $GIT_DIR:
/.gd/**
!/.gd/info/
!/.gd/info/exclude
Top comments (6)
git looks for a
.gitignorefile in your current local clone (the dir with .git dir) but you can DRY your gitignore for all your projects by maintaining a global gitignore in a ~/.gitignore for example and you tell git where it is with acore.excludesfilesection declaration.example:
git config --global core.excludesfile.. should tell you if you have it(if any) If not, you can declare the file where your global user gitignore file is with:
git config --global core.excludesfile "$HOME"/.gitignoreExamine your global git config with
git config --global --listor brute force just open your $HOME/.gitconfig fileOnce you set up a global .gitignore excludesfile you will not need to keep pasting the same .gitingnore in each repo you work in, thus you have sensible defaults and DRY in play. All the best
so
~/.gitignoreas a custom filename to be mentioned in~/.gitconfigundercore.excludesfileis an alternative to~/.config/git/ignore, but can we say that we are sure no outdated version of Git ever had~/.gitignorehardcoded, and no outdated version of Git walked further up than$GIT_WORK_TREElooking for.gitignore?git does not walk UP anywhere, if I can say that. It only acts on the current directory where
.gitlives; but it also uses the global file (user space, the global in this context means You, the user, not everyone on the machine) located at~/.gitconfig, which governs how git behaves for You, the user (global may be confusing to people) in all the repos you work on that machine (repo, meaning a working dir with .git dir)The declaration
core.exludesfileasks you to point to a file that holds theglobal(to you) ignore patterns you want to apply to all REPOS you have in your workspace. (git-scm.com/docs/gitignore)Where the ignore file is located is irrelevant, but by some sensible default I would suggest
~/.gitingnore, yet it can be~/gitlistaignorancjaor~/whatever-blabla-git... - and no,gitnever hardcodes the~/.gitignorename (only local .git/gitignore) . It does respect theGIT_DIR/.gitignorebecause it treats it as aWORKSPACElocal ignore patterns (in addition to what's in global excludesfile)Git does not walk up to any dirs up to find stuff (unlike NPM if you ever worked with it). It only looks at your local WORKING DIR (local gitconfig), the global (user space) declarations in
~/.gitignoreand the system (indeed global to all users) file. Hope this makes sense.Hello,
Normally, you have to declare your global ignore file in your
~/.gitconfig, like here. Than, the ignored files in your global ignore file will be ignore everywhere by git.Generally, the global ignore file is use to ignore stuff like your IDE files / project fodlers, if you want to ignore some files in your home config, maybe you should create a
.gitignorefile in your home coonfig repository.I hope it'll help you ! :)
Based on a quick test on macOS, it appears that git only goes up the parent directory if there is a .git folder (a git repo).
I created a ~/.gitignore file with node_modules.
Then I created a project ~/Projects/scratch/testignore and added a folder node_modules. I tried
git statusand got the error: fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .gitWhen I ran
git initthengit statusit showed node_modules as untracked. Once I added a .gitignore file, node_modules was ignored.So basically, you shouldn't have any issues with your ~/.gitignore file interfering with subdirectories as long as there is an intervening folder without a .git repo, like ~/Projects.
the problem is that it is only a test on the newest version. and i work on systems that are not only old debian but also not maintained by me — university systems. so i would have to test on each of these. i need an answer from someone familiar with git changelog in this aspect. there must have been some versions that did
~/.gitignore, there is so much advisory posting mentioning itthanks for effort