The Many Flavors of Ignore Files
Summary
The Many Flavors of Ignore Files analyzes how ignore files like .gitignore work across tools, detailing anchored vs unanchored patterns, four pattern layers, wildcards, doublestar, negation, and common edge cases. It compares gitignore behavior to other ignore formats (Dockerignore, npmignore, Mercurial hgignore) and argues for a formal specification and shared testing to reduce cross-tool glitches in build and deployment workflows.