git ignore all .DS_Store files

Question

I have untracked files:

src/main/.DS_Store
src/main/java/.DS_Store
src/main/java/com/.DS_Store

I would like to git ignore all of those.DS_Store files. I tried putting **/.DS_Store in .gitignore , but no effect. Why? How to ignore them?

Answer 1

A plain .DS_Store on a single row should do it.

I have that row, and others, in my ~/.gitignore_global which makes it unnecessary to add that line to every git repository everywhere.

You can setup a global gitignore file with this configuration in your ~/.gitconfig:

[core]
        excludesfile = ~/.gitignore_global

and then keep on filling it up with more artifacts present on your system (IMO putting .DS_Store in the .gitignore of a project that is used by more developers than only those using Mac is a bit spammy, you can end up with a lot of different file patterns there.)

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edit after comment:

This is what happens for me:

$ git status
On branch master
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
    .DS_Store
    asdf2/.DS_Store

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
$ echo .DS_Store > .gitignore
$ git status
On branch master
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
    .gitignore

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Answer 2

It might be caused by "!"directives in the .gitignore file.

If your project is a gradle project, gradle default .gitignore contains the lines

!**/src/main/**
!**/src/test/**

which keeps (because of the ! ) everything in src/main . If you have a complex project, with multiple .gitignore , the innermost .gitignore takes precedence. Thus, my main project had a .DS_Store line in its root .gitignore , but it was overridden by the (inner) gradle projects standard .gitignore .

Hence the solution: put the line .DS_Store somewhere after the

!**/src/main/**
!**/src/test/**

lines of your project (or alternatively, in a .gitignore in src , but this might be less practical.

With:

!**/src/main/**
!**/src/test/**
.DS_Store

everything should be fine.