There are certain files created by particular editors, IDEs, operating systems, etc., that do not belong in a repository. But adding system-specific files to the repo's .gitignore
is considered a poor practice. This file should only exclude files and directories that are a part of the package that should not be versioned (such as the node_modules
directory) as well as files that are generated (and regenerated) as artifacts of a build process.
All other files should be in your own global gitignore file:
- Create a file called
.gitignore
in your home directory and add any filepath patterns you want to ignore. - Tell git where your global gitignore file is.
Note: The specific name and path you choose aren't important as long as you configure git to find it, as shown below. You could substitute
.config/git/ignore
for.gitignore
in your home directory, if you prefer.