Hello, everyone. In software development and operations, we often encounter a situation where different environment configuration files exist for development, testing, and production environments. If, by mistake, we commit the configuration file used during development to the project repository, it can cause serious trouble. It could lead to difficulties for other developers, and in the worst-case scenario, it can disrupt the configurations in the testing and production environments, resulting in a complete breakdown of our online product. At such times, the consequences could be so severe that we might not be able to afford the losses even by selling everything we have.

So, how can we avoid causing such situations? This is where the .gitignore file comes into play. In IntelliJ IDEA, we can easily and quickly create a .gitignore file and add the files that need to be ignored and not committed to the repository.

The version of IntelliJ IDEA I am using for this operation is 2022.2.3 (Community Edition).

Quickly Creating .gitignore File and Adding Ignored Files for Exclusion from Commits in IntelliJ IDEA

1.Identify the files to be excluded from commits. (Here, I will use the .idea folder, which is automatically generated by IDEA when creating a project, as an example.)

2.Hover over the file and right-click the mouse, then choose “Git” → “Add to .ignore” → “Add to .ignore.”

3.If you haven’t created a .gitignore file yet, IntelliJ IDEA will prompt a window asking if you want to create a new .gitignore file. Here, click on “Create.”

4.After the .gitignore file is created, IntelliJ IDEA will prompt another window asking if you want to add this file directly to the Git repository. Here, choose “Add.” This way, when other developers or new colleagues clone this project, the files specified in the .gitignore will be automatically excluded. This effectively improves the security of our repository and reduces the chances of manual errors by other colleagues.

5.After completing the above steps, you will notice that the files to be ignored for commits have turned brown.

6.At this point, if we try to commit these browned-out files, we will find that we cannot commit or add them anymore.

7.Finally, don’t forget to commit the .gitignore file to the Git repository and push it to the GitHub repository. This will ensure that the project repository is protected by the .gitignore file in any development environment.

Note: The .gitignore file only affects files that have not been committed to the Git repository yet. If a file has already been committed, the .gitignore settings will not take effect. Therefore, it is best to plan and specify the files to be ignored from the beginning when setting up the project. This way, it can help to avoid unnecessary troubles in the future.

Link: Official .gitignore Documentation by Git