CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitmakefile
Travis G.
Travis G.

Reputation: 218

Git: Using a Makefile in untracked build directory

I'm writing a C++ application that has source files in a source directory, within which there is a build directory. The build directory contains the Makefile, so when I build the program I do so from the build directory.

I want git to ignore the build directory because it doesn't contain source files. However, I do want git to track the Makefile. What's the best practice for tracking the Makefile but ignoring the other build files? Should I be using another directory structure?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 510

Answers (2)

Johan Lundberg
Johan Lundberg

Reputation: 27028

Ignore rules are just for file git does not already know about, and you can also git add any file by specifying it's name.

So, just git add the Makefile, and add an ignore rule to ignore build/

You could place a .gitignore file in build/ with pattern *

Upvotes: 3

8bittree
8bittree

Reputation: 1799

You can tell git to not ignore certain files in .gitignore by prepending ! to a pattern. So you could put a .gitignore file in your build directory with content like this:

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
# Except this file and the Makefile
!.gitignore
!Makefile

To give credit where I think credit is due, this is probably where I first learned about these exceptions.

Upvotes: 6

Related Questions