git - using gitignore to ignore (but not delete) files

Question

I have a tmp directory in my git repo I'd like to still exist, but be ignored. I added it to .gitignore, but git status still tells me about changes to files in that directory. I tried git rm -r --cached, but that removes it from the remote repo. How can I stop tracking changes to this directory, but still allow it to exist? I also need to do this for 1 file, but changes to that also show up in git status after .gitignoreing them. What should I do?

Answer 1

Instead of .gitignore, you can update local git repository by running following command:

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>

In this case a file is being tracked in the origin repo. You can modify it in your local repo and git will never mark it as changed. Read more at:

• http://blog.pagebakers.nl/2009/01/29/git-ignoring-changes-in-tracked-files/ - was reported dead at some time (sorry, not mine)
• http://archive.robwilkerson.org/2010/03/02/git-tip-ignore-changes-to-tracked-files/ - another one covering the same topic