Best general SVN Ignore Pattern?

Svn Language Agnostic Version Control Development Environment Environment

Svn Problem Overview

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.

Svn Solutions

Solution 1 - Svn

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

Solution 2 - Svn

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

Solution 3 - Svn

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.

Solution 4 - Svn

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.

Solution 5 - Svn

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

Solution 6 - Svn

Used for my Visual Studio projects

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

You can expand more file types from there.

Solution 7 - Svn

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

Solution 8 - Svn

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 ##.

Solution 9 - Svn

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.

Solution 10 - Svn

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.

Solution 11 - Svn

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).

Solution 12 - Svn

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.

Solution 13 - Svn

Gotta add Resharper to the mix if you use one.

another one to look out for is Ankh*.*

Solution 14 - Svn

Don't forget NCrunch temporary files:

*.crunchsolution.* *.crunchproject.*

Solution 15 - Svn

And core dumps (cygwin, linux)

*.stackdump core.*

Solution 16 - Svn

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

Solution 17 - Svn