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+gitignore(5)
+============
+
+NAME
+----
+gitignore - Specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+$GIT_DIR/info/exclude, .gitignore
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
+git should ignore.
+Files already tracked by git are not affected; see the NOTES
+below for details.
+
+Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a pattern.
+When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
+`gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
+order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
+precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
+
+ * Patterns read from the command line for those commands that support
+ them.
+
+ * Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
+ as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
+ higher level files (up to the toplevel of the work tree) being overridden
+ by those in lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
+ These patterns match relative to the location of the
+ `.gitignore` file. A project normally includes such
+ `.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for
+ files generated as part of the project build.
+
+ * Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
+
+ * Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
+ variable 'core.excludesfile'.
+
+Which file to place a pattern in depends on how the pattern is meant to
+be used. Patterns which should be version-controlled and distributed to
+other repositories via clone (i.e., files that all developers will want
+to ignore) should go into a `.gitignore` file. 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. Patterns which a user wants git to
+ignore in all situations (e.g., backup or temporary files generated by
+the user's editor of choice) generally go into a file specified by
+`core.excludesfile` in the user's `~/.gitconfig`.
+
+The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
+'git ls-files' and 'git read-tree', read
+`gitignore` patterns specified by command-line options, or from
+files specified by command-line options. Higher-level git
+tools, such as 'git status' and 'git add',
+use patterns from the sources specified above.
+
+PATTERN FORMAT
+--------------
+
+ - A blank line matches no files, so it can serve as a separator
+ for readability.
+
+ - A line starting with # serves as a comment.
+
+ - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
+ matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
+ included again. If a negated pattern matches, this will
+ override lower precedence patterns sources.
+
+ - If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the
+ purpose of the following description, but it would only find
+ a match with a directory. In other words, `foo/` will match a
+ directory `foo` and paths underneath it, but will not match a
+ regular file or a symbolic link `foo` (this is consistent
+ with the way how pathspec works in general in git).
+
+ - If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
+ a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
+ pathname relative to the location of the `.gitignore` file
+ (relative to the toplevel of the work tree if not from a
+ `.gitignore` file).
+
+ - Otherwise, git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable
+ for consumption by fnmatch(3) with the FNM_PATHNAME flag:
+ wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname.
+ For example, "Documentation/{asterisk}.html" matches
+ "Documentation/git.html" but not "Documentation/ppc/ppc.html"
+ or "tools/perf/Documentation/perf.html".
+
+ - A leading slash matches the beginning of the pathname.
+ For example, "/{asterisk}.c" matches "cat-file.c" but not
+ "mozilla-sha1/sha1.c".
+
+NOTES
+-----
+
+The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files
+not tracked by git remain untracked.
+
+To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked,
+use 'git update-index {litdd}assume-unchanged'.
+
+To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use
+'git rm --cached'.
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+ $ git status
+ [...]
+ # Untracked files:
+ [...]
+ # Documentation/foo.html
+ # Documentation/gitignore.html
+ # file.o
+ # lib.a
+ # src/internal.o
+ [...]
+ $ cat .git/info/exclude
+ # ignore objects and archives, anywhere in the tree.
+ *.[oa]
+ $ cat Documentation/.gitignore
+ # ignore generated html files,
+ *.html
+ # except foo.html which is maintained by hand
+ !foo.html
+ $ git status
+ [...]
+ # Untracked files:
+ [...]
+ # Documentation/foo.html
+ [...]
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Another example:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+ $ cat .gitignore
+ vmlinux*
+ $ ls arch/foo/kernel/vm*
+ arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+ $ echo '!/vmlinux*' >arch/foo/kernel/.gitignore
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The second .gitignore prevents git from ignoring
+`arch/foo/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S`.
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-rm[1], linkgit:git-update-index[1],
+linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5]
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite