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.

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.*

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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

Answer 6

Used for my Visual Studio projects

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

You can expand more file types from there.

Answer 7

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

Answer 8

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 ##.

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

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).

Answer 12

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.

Answer 13

Gotta add Resharper to the mix if you use one.

another one to look out for is Ankh*.*

Answer 14

Don't forget NCrunch temporary files:

*.crunchsolution.* *.crunchproject.*

Answer 15

And core dumps (cygwin, linux)

*.stackdump core.*

Answer 16

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

Answer 17

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