CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitintellij-ideagitignore
Ronan Venkat
Ronan Venkat

Reputation: 355

Where should .gitignore file be located in IntelliJ?

When initializing Git in IntelliJ, a .gitignore file is created in the .idea folder. However, many of the suggestions I have seen about the .gitignore file say to ignore the .idea folder. Wouldn't this ignore the .gitignore file itself, or not be possible? Where should the .gitignore file be located?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3468

Answers (1)

Code-Apprentice
Code-Apprentice

Reputation: 83527

Where should the .gitignore file be located?

.gitignore is a file used by git to specify which files should be ignored when making commits. It has nothing to do with IntelliJ. You can have as many or as few of these files as you wish. For more details about this file, see the official documentation.

The .gitignore file that IntelliJ IDEA generates under the .idea folder is specific to that folder and its subfolders. Git allows this so you can specify what to ignore under a specific folder and JetBrains leverages that feature.

However, many of the suggestions I have seen about the .gitignore file say to ignore the .idea folder.

In many projects, it is common practice to ignore files for a specific IDE or environment. This is especially true in projects that are developed by a team where each member of the team uses a different editor.

On the other hand, if everyone on the team uses the same editor, then it can be helpful to include some of these files in the git repository. This allows the team to share configuration.

If you are the only person on the project, then it makes even more sense to commit files in the .idea folder. Then when you get a new computer, you can clone your repo to the new machine and have most of the editor configuration ready to go.

In the end, whether or not you commit the .idea folder is entirely up to you. You may want to read JetBrains suggestions to make an informed decision.

Upvotes: 6

Related Questions