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Is this a problem though? I can see the upsides of ignoring the files in the shared gitignore. Are we trying to save space??

dahart 4y ago
Yes it is a problem when a project involves more than a few people. If there are really common ignores that multiple people use, it’s fine to share those. But one-off folder & file ignores should not be dumped into the shared space. It has nothing to do with disk space, and everything to do with clean semantic project organization. Shared ignores should be primarily a declaration of temporary files & folders that the project produces during build/run/etc. - things that everyone will need. Adding personal folder ignores to the shared .gitignore can not only be confusing about what intermediate artifacts are expected, it can cause problems or conflicts for other people. A small dumb example is if someone tries to make a new shared folder and someone else already shared an ignore. I’ve seen it happen, and it’s not a big deal, but caused temporary confusion. You can cause issues with git history and pulls and bisects when there’s churn with the ignores.
- mirceal 4y ago
  Back on earth, a few lines in an ignore file would not make anyone blink. I guess you're a purist and everything about your software shines! Perfection.
  - dahart 4y ago
    > Back on earth, a few lines in an ignore file would not make anyone blink. I guess you're a purist and everything about your software shines! Perfection. I didn’t downvote you, and I don’t understand your sarcasm toward me when I’m trying to explain the practical answer to the question you asked. This isn’t just a few lines on a large project, and it’s not even about the extra lines at all. The issue is that personal preferences don’t belong in a shared file, and their presence can cause real and actual problems in a large project, problems I’ve witnessed and experienced first hand. One single bad line in .gitignore can cause trouble for everyone on the team when they need to checkout different branches. If you have 50 or 100 people adding their own ignores, they can and do easily conflict with each other. The shared .gitignore just isn’t the spot to list your personal folders, which is why git designed other places for you to put those.

dahart 4y ago

Yes it is a problem when a project involves more than a few people. If there are really common ignores that multiple people use, it’s fine to share those. But one-off folder & file ignores should not be dumped into the shared space. It has nothing to do with disk space, and everything to do with clean semantic project organization. Shared ignores should be primarily a declaration of temporary files & folders that the project produces during build/run/etc. - things that everyone will need. Adding personal folder ignores to the shared .gitignore can not only be confusing about what intermediate artifacts are expected, it can cause problems or conflicts for other people. A small dumb example is if someone tries to make a new shared folder and someone else already shared an ignore. I’ve seen it happen, and it’s not a big deal, but caused temporary confusion. You can cause issues with git history and pulls and bisects when there’s churn with the ignores.

mirceal 4y ago
Back on earth, a few lines in an ignore file would not make anyone blink. I guess you're a purist and everything about your software shines! Perfection.
- dahart 4y ago
  > Back on earth, a few lines in an ignore file would not make anyone blink. I guess you're a purist and everything about your software shines! Perfection. I didn’t downvote you, and I don’t understand your sarcasm toward me when I’m trying to explain the practical answer to the question you asked. This isn’t just a few lines on a large project, and it’s not even about the extra lines at all. The issue is that personal preferences don’t belong in a shared file, and their presence can cause real and actual problems in a large project, problems I’ve witnessed and experienced first hand. One single bad line in .gitignore can cause trouble for everyone on the team when they need to checkout different branches. If you have 50 or 100 people adding their own ignores, they can and do easily conflict with each other. The shared .gitignore just isn’t the spot to list your personal folders, which is why git designed other places for you to put those.