[FIXED] How to ignore IDE settings on Git?

Issue

I have below Git information and I would like to ignore settings of my IDE (Eclipse).

modified:   myproject/.classpath
modified:   myproject/.project
modified:   myproject/.settings/com.google.gdt.eclipse.core.prefs
modified:   myproject/.settings/org.eclipse.core.resources.prefs
modified:   myproject/.settings/org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs
modified:   myproject/.settings/org.eclipse.wst.common.component
modified:   myproject/.settings/org.eclipse.wst.common.project.facet.core.xml
modified:   myproject/.settings/org.eclipse.wst.validation.prefs

I tried the below statements in my .gitignore file, but it doesn't work for these settings:

.project
.classpath
.settings
*.project
*.classpath
*.settings
/.project
/.classpath
/.settings
.project/
.classpath/
.settings/
*.project/
*.classpath/
*.settings/

I am using Mac OS X and I also added global gitignore file with these settings git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore', but I'm still getting the above Git update messages when I check with git status. What am I wrong?

Solution

If those elements were already committed, you need to remove them first:

git rm --cached .project
git rm --cached .classpath
git rm --cached -r .settings

The --cached option allows them to stay in the working tree, while being recorded for deletion.
Once deleted, they will be ignored.

Once committed, the next changes will be ignored.

A simple .gitignore in myproject/ folder is enough:

.project
.classpath
.settings/

Note the / for .setting folder: that will ignore everything in it.

Answered By - VonC
Answer Checked By - Cary Denson (JavaFixing Admin)