Problem

In cases of config dirs, I want to add a sample config file to git but ignore non-sample files that is actually used in local. For example,

\- src/
  - config/
    - config.sample.json
    - using\_config.json

I am using using_config.json but do not want this to be added to git. On the other hand I do want config.sample.json to be added and tracked by git.
Of course, this can be done by adding .gitignore under src/config but if I have multiple config dirs across my project, it is cumbersome to add .gitignore to every config file.

Solution

Controlling gitignore in all config dirs can be done by the .gitignore file in project root.

\*\*/config/\*
!\*\*/config/\*.sample.json

adding these two lines to the root .gitignore will track only *.sample.json pattern files in config dirs and ignore all others.

Note, if **/config was used instead of **/config/*, then the gitginore will not behave as I intended. The trailing /* is significant.