1) Git ignore is not a global (to the repository) file, either. Both SVN and Git have per-user (not per-repository) settings, and they have very similar functi

1) Git ignore is not a global (to the repository) file, either. Both SVN and Git have per-user (not per-repository) settings, and they have very similar functions. .gitignore is only global by common practice, according to http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitignore.html#_description http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitignore.ht... you can use: ...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. A global .gitignore feature in the toplevel of the work tree is just one way of using the .gitignore feature. 2) If character count is important, svn ps -R -F i . is only 16 characters long, and does the same thing (if you name your file 'i', since we're golfing here). I readily admit that this is INFINITELY longer than the Git version.