How do I configure git to ignore some files locally?

Question

Can I ignore files locally without polluting the global git config for everyone else? I have untracked files that are spam in my git status but I don't want to commit git config changes for every single little random untracked file I have in my local branches.

Solution 1

From the relevant Git documentation:

Patterns which are specific to a particular repository but which do not need to be shared with other related repositories (e.g., auxiliary files that live inside the repository but are specific to one user's workflow) should go into the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.

The .git/info/exclude file has the same format as any .gitignore file. Another option is to set core.excludesFile to the name of a file containing global patterns.

Note, if you already have unstaged changes you must run the following after editing your ignore-patterns:

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file-list>

Note on $GIT_DIR: This is a notation used all over the git manual simply to indicate the path to the git repository. If the environment variable is set, then it will override the location of whichever repo you're in, which probably isn't what you want.

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Edit: Another way is to use:

git update-index --skip-worktree <file-list>

Reverse it by:

git update-index --no-skip-worktree <file-list>

Solution 2

Update: Consider using git update-index --skip-worktree [<file>...] instead, thanks @danShumway! See Borealid's explanation on the difference of the two options.

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Old answer:

If you need to ignore local changes to tracked files (we have that with local modifications to config files), use git update-index --assume-unchanged [<file>...].

Solution 3

Add the following lines to the [alias] section of your .gitconfig file

ignore = update-index --assume-unchanged
unignore = update-index --no-assume-unchanged
ignored = !git ls-files -v | grep "^[[:lower:]]"

Now you can use git ignore my_file to ignore changes to the local file, and git unignore my_file to stop ignoring the changes. git ignored lists the ignored files.

This answer was gleaned from http://gitready.com/intermediate/2009/02/18/temporarily-ignoring-files.html.

Solution 4

You have several options:

• Leave a dirty (or uncommitted) .gitignore file in your working dir (or apply it automatically using topgit or some other such patch tool).
• Put the excludes in your $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file, if this is specific to one tree.
• Run git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore and add patterns to your ~/.gitignore. This option applies if you want to ignore certain patterns across all trees. I use this for .pyc and .pyo files, for example.

Also, make sure you are using patterns and not explicitly enumerating files, when applicable.

Solution 5

I think you are looking for:

git update-index --skip-worktree FILENAME

which ignore changes made local

Here's http://devblog.avdi.org/2011/05/20/keep-local-modifications-in-git-tracked-files/ more explanation about these solution!

to undo use:

git update-index --no-skip-worktree FILENAME

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