underlap

You can avoid checking in certain files in a git project directory by using a .gitignore file.

Then there are files which you don't want to check in on any project directory, such as editor/IDE configuration files. Instead of “polluting” .gitinore files with such entries, it's better to set up a global .gitignore file:

$ touch ~/.gitignore
$ git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore

Here's the contents of mine:

*~
.DS_Store
.idea
*.iml
\#*#
*.hsp
*.sav
*.scpt
/scratch/
.vscode/
coverage.out
.Guardfile
.config.ru

(You can see some of my history there: macOS, IntelliJ, VS Code, Go, etc.)

But notice this entry:

/scratch/

This means that any directory in the project named scratch will be ignored, along with its contents.

Having such a git scratch directory turns out to be really handy:

• The files are visible to your editor/IDE.
• It's easier to remember where you put such files compared to storing them outside the project directory.
• You can even nest directories in the scratch directory.
• If you finish with the project and delete the project directory, the files are cleaned up too.

A recent example is from a Rust project:

$ cargo expand > scratch/generated.rs

This puts the generated code in a file which my editor will recognise as Rust code, and will display with syntax highlighting. I definitely didn't want to check that file in!

Other files which are suitable for the scratch directory are:

• Hacky tests or fixtures I'm too embarrassed to check in.
• Dependencies I don't control, but which I need to modify, e.g. for debugging.
• TODO lists and other rough notes.
• Output files from static analysis or code coverage.
• Old versions of code files from the project which I want to refer to quickly.
• Old project executables for comparing with the current behaviour.
• Downloaded PDF manuals relating to the project.

I'm sure you'll find many other uses for git scratch directories.

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