Best general SVN Ignore Pattern?

Question

What is the best (or as good as possible) general SVN ignore pattern to use?

There are a number of different IDE, editor, compiler, plug-in, platform, etc. specific files and some file types that "overlap" (i.e. desirable for some types projects and not for others).

There are however, a large number of file types that you just never want included in source control automatically regardless the specifics of your development environment.

The answer to this question would serve as a good starting point for any project - only requiring them to add the few environment specific items they need. It could be adapted for other Version Control Systems (VCS) as well.

Hello Zach, I've been reading this post of yours: http://www.zachburlingame.com/2011/03/installing-mercurial-and-hosting-repositories-with-centos/ and I have a couple of questions..Is there a way to reach you with this? Thanks for your time...P.S: Couldn't find any other way to reach you except through this comment here, sorry for the annoyance — Brams, Jul 09 '14 at 08:56

score 196 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 19 '12 at 21:46

196

I'll add my own two cents to this question:

I use the following SVN ignore pattern with TortoiseSVN and Subversion CLI for native C++, C#/VB.NET, and PERL projects on both Windows and Linux platforms. It works well for me!

Formatted for copy and paste:

*.o *.lo *.la #*# .*.rej *.rej .*~ *~ .#* .DS_Store thumbs.db Thumbs.db *.bak *.class *.exe *.dll *.mine *.obj *.ncb *.lib *.log *.idb *.pdb *.ilk *.msi* .res *.pch *.suo *.exp *.*~ *.~* ~*.* cvs CVS .CVS .cvs release Release debug Debug ignore Ignore bin Bin obj Obj *.csproj.user *.user *.generated.cs

Formatted for readability:

*.o *.lo *.la #*# .*.rej *.rej
.*~ *~ .#* .DS_Store thumbs.db 
Thumbs.db *.bak *.class *.exe *.dll
*.mine *.obj *.ncb *.lib *.log 
*.idb *.pdb *.ilk *.msi* .res *.pch *.suo 
*.exp *.*~ *.~* ~*.* cvs  CVS .CVS .cvs  
release Release debug Debug
ignore Ignore bin Bin obj  Obj
*.csproj.user *.user
*.generated.cs

edited Aug 19 '12 at 21:46

Leniel Maccaferri

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answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:01

Zach Burlingame

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@blorgbeard - I'm rolling back your formatting changes because I believe it's preferrable to have it all on one line for copy/paste into the SVN configuration file (which doesn't accept multi-line input). – Zach Burlingame Jul 12 '09 at 16:25
3

Also, if you do WPF *.g.vb *.g.cs *.baml *.GenerateResource.Cache *.cache – Bob King Jul 17 '09 at 17:15
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is *.dll required as it may be case when the reference assemblies needs to be commited also in repository? – Jaroslav Urban Apr 08 '10 at 09:43
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@Xabatcha - You can always explicitly include a file of any extension (or folder) regardless of whether it is listed in the global ignore pattern or not. Generally you do not want *.dll being tracked by SVN however you can always explicitly add any necessary ones (which I often do in the case of third-party assemblies). – Zach Burlingame Apr 08 '10 at 20:03
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If you're using ReSharper the add that too – autonomatt May 11 '10 at 16:16
Add *.xap for Silverlight projects. – Matt Casto Aug 05 '10 at 12:42
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If you're using NuGet you should add _packages_ and allow nuget to download missing packages during build – jitidea May 23 '13 at 07:04
Hi, on windows 7, where to put this? – Krunal May 08 '14 at 11:16
New versions of VS create crazy .ipch files and folders. Your answer is in the top of the list. Please add this file/folder to the ignore list – cha Jan 27 '16 at 01:30
Incidentally the command to set this on the current dir (instead of in configuration) from svn 1.8 on is: svn propset svn:global-ignores "bin obj" . – markmnl May 12 '16 at 01:19

score 45 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 05 '13 at 13:37

Based on Burly's ignore pattern, I have added ReSharper to the ignore list

Formatted for copy and paste:

*.o *.lo .la ## .*.rej .rej .~ ~ .# .DS_Store thumbs.db Thumbs.db *.bak *.class *.exe *.dll *.mine *.obj *.ncb *.lib *.log *.idb *.pdb *.ilk .msi .res *.pch *.suo *.exp ~. cvs CVS .CVS .cvs release Release debug Debug ignore Ignore bin Bin obj Obj *.csproj.user *.user _ReSharper.* *.resharper.user

Formatted for readability:

*.o *.lo .la ## .*.rej .rej .~ ~ .# .DS_Store thumbs.db Thumbs.db *.bak
*.class *.exe *.dll *.mine *.obj *.ncb *.lib *.log *.idb *.pdb *.ilk .msi .res *.pch *.suo *.exp ~. cvs
CVS .CVS .cvs release Release debug
Debug ignore Ignore bin Bin obj Obj
*.csproj.user *.user _ReSharper.* *.resharper.user

Note that Dve's comment has been incorporated into the pattern above. You don't need to add it again. — Hydrargyrum, Dec 11 '12 at 06:05

score 36 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 26 '15 at 16:08

My ignore pattern for Visual Studio:

*/bin */obj */Release */Debug *.suo *.err *.log *.obj *.bin *.dll *.exe *.LOG *.user *.pdb [tT]emp [tT]empPE Ankh.Load thumbs.db *.resharper *.vspscc *.vsssccc *.scc */_ReSharper* */_ReSharper.* bin obj *.resharperoptions *.db *.bak *_ReSharper* *.snk logs output TestResults *.crunchsolution.* *.crunchproject.*

Formatted for readability

*/bin */obj */Release */Debug *.suo *.err *.log *.obj *.bin *.dll *.exe 
*.LOG *.user *.pdb [tT]emp [tT]empPE Ankh.Load thumbs.db *.resharper 
*.vspscc *.vsssccc *.scc */_ReSharper* */_ReSharper.* bin obj 
*.resharperoptions *.db *.bak *_ReSharper* *.snk logs output TestResults 
*.crunchsolution.* *.crunchproject.*

score 16 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:05

16

Every time I come across a file I generally do not want in the repository, I update the pattern. I believe there is no "best" pattern - it always depends on the language and environment you develop in.

Moreover, you're not very likely to think of all the possible "ignorable" filetypes - you'll always encounter a filetype you simply forgot to include. Thats why updating the pattern as you go works the best.

answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:05

petr k.

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I agree there is no "best" pattern in the absolute sense, which i why I added the (or as good as possible). You are correct, you won't enumerate all of them and it does depend on the lang & env, which I also stated. However, there are a large number you _can_ knock out right off the bat. – Zach Burlingame Sep 17 '08 at 17:10
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Also while adding them as you go works alright for single developer environments, when you have multiple developers on a project, having a common project ignore pattern is desirable. You want to have to update it as infrequently as possible, so you want to knock out as many as possible up front – Zach Burlingame Sep 17 '08 at 17:10
Of course, the usual pattern of *.bin *.bak *.pdb *.suo etc etc must be set up front, I agree. But once you set the ignore properties on a repository folder, they do effectively become shared - although I am aware this is not exactly what you meant. – petr k. Sep 17 '08 at 17:21

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:02

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Windows users might want to throw in desktop.ini and thumbs.db.

answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:02

harpo

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score 5 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 01 '11 at 18:37

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Used for my Visual Studio projects

*/bin */obj *.user *.suo

You can expand more file types from there.

edited Aug 01 '11 at 18:37

Daniel A. White

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answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:01

icelava

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I saw a similar list earlier today -- what's the difference between */bin and just bin? Assuming you want to ignore the whole folder. – harpo Sep 17 '08 at 17:03
Read section 5.13. Ignoring Files And Directories of the TortoiseSVN help file. – icelava Sep 18 '08 at 14:31
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http://tortoisesvn.net/docs/release/TortoiseSVN_en/tsvn-dug-ignore.html There it says that you shouldn't include a / or \, and that including them is a legacy of earlier versions – Simon D Jul 09 '09 at 15:33
@Simon, isn't it saying (in the "No Paths in Global Ignore List" inset) that paths are okay in `svn:ignore`, but not in the global ignore list? – Matthew Flaschen Oct 12 '11 at 17:19

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:04

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Visual Studio (VC++) users definitely need to exclude the .ncb files

answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:04

Rob Walker

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 09 '08 at 09:20

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Since you may be using third party libs and dll's as part of the project(s) then I don't see the wisdom in blocking *.lib and *.dll from the repository. These are the things that are meant to be stored in the repository.

answered Oct 09 '08 at 09:20

graham.reeds

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When using third party libs, dlls, exes, etc. just explicitly add them. If you want to a do an entire 3rd party tree, just temporarily disable the ignore pattern. You don't want these types being picked up implicitly during day-to-day development however, hence their inclusion in the pattern. – Zach Burlingame Oct 09 '08 at 15:18

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 01 '11 at 17:54

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Visual Studio 2010 users should add ipch (a folder which contains C++ precompiled headers) and *.sdf (huge files used by intellisense for any kind of project).

answered Aug 01 '11 at 17:54

Dalmas

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:06

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Mac users probably want to throw in .DS_Store. In addition, if there are dev's using Emacs or Vim, you probably want to add ~~ and ##.

answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:06

Jim Deville

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:08

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For Eclipse, I use:

bin
.*

.* gets all the project configuration. You almost never want to check in a 'hidden' directory or file, but if it comes up, you can still svn add it.

answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:08

noah

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obj is also necessary, as well as *.user files – javierlinked Feb 01 '12 at 14:24

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 16 '13 at 09:14

0

And core dumps (cygwin, linux)

*.stackdump core.*

answered Jul 16 '13 at 09:14

Holger Bille

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jun 21 '10 at 05:42

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Gotta add Resharper to the mix if you use one.

another one to look out for is Ankh*.*

answered Jun 21 '10 at 05:42

Hammad Rajjoub

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Yeah, I left out most of the tool specific flags except for Visual Studio. Hopefully others continue to add answers with explicit file pattern lists for their various tools! – Zach Burlingame Jun 22 '10 at 12:36

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Sep 13 '16 at 08:59

gitignore.io provides configurable patterns for git. They provide a readable list, which you need to reformat for SVN.

For instance, requesting MicrosoftOffice and Windows returns

# Created by https://www.gitignore.io/api/microsoftoffice,windows

### MicrosoftOffice ###
*.tmp

# Word temporary
~$*.doc*

# Excel temporary
~$*.xls*

# Excel Backup File
*.xlk

# PowerPoint temporary
~$*.ppt*

# Visio autosave temporary files
*.~vsdx


### Windows ###
# Windows image file caches
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db

# Folder config file
Desktop.ini

# Recycle Bin used on file shares
$RECYCLE.BIN/

# Windows Installer files
*.cab
*.msi
*.msm
*.msp

# Windows shortcuts
*.lnk

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 13 '16 at 09:07

gitignore.io provides configurable patterns for git. They provide a readable list, which you need to reformat for SVN.

For instance, requesting MicrosoftOffice and Windows returns

# Created by https://www.gitignore.io/api/microsoftoffice,windows

### MicrosoftOffice ###
*.tmp

# Word temporary
~$*.doc*

# Excel temporary
~$*.xls*

# Excel Backup File
*.xlk

# PowerPoint temporary
~$*.ppt*

# Visio autosave temporary files
*.~vsdx


### Windows ###
# Windows image file caches
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db

# Folder config file
Desktop.ini

# Recycle Bin used on file shares
$RECYCLE.BIN/

# Windows Installer files
*.cab
*.msi
*.msm
*.msp

# Windows shortcuts
*.lnk

It seems that it can be directly used as svn:global-ignore

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 14 '11 at 08:15

0

Don't forget NCrunch temporary files:

*.crunchsolution.* *.crunchproject.*

answered Oct 14 '11 at 08:15

Richard Dingwall

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score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 17:07

The pattern depends on which operating system you're using.

On Linux, you'll want to block **.o*, **.so*, **.a*, and **.la* to begin with. You may also want to block **~* (backup file from editing) and #*# (emacs backup from a crash).

On Windows, you'll want **.obj*, **.lib*, and **.dll* at the very least.

Any other files you need to block depend on your IDE, editor, and compiler.

Best general SVN Ignore Pattern?

17 Answers17

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