(stow.info)Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files

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4.3 Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files
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The reader may note that this format is very similar to existing ignore
list file formats, such as those for `cvs', `git', `rsync' etc., and
wonder if another set of ignore lists is justified.  However there are
good reasons why Stow does not simply check for the presence of say,
`.cvsignore', and use that if it exists.  Firstly, there is no
guarantee that a stow package would contain any version control
meta-data, or permit introducing this if it didn't already exist.

   Secondly even if it did, version control system ignore lists
generally reflect _build-time_ ignores rather than _install-time_, and
there may be some intermediate or temporary files on those ignore lists
generated during development or at build-time which it would be
inappropriate to stow, even though many files generated at build-time
(binaries, libraries, documentation etc.) certainly do need to be
stowed.  Similarly, if a file is _not_ in the version control system's
ignore list, there is no way of knowing whether the file is intended
for end use, let alone whether the version control system is tracking
it or not.

   Therefore it seems clear that ignore lists provided by version
control systems do not provide sufficient information for Stow to
determine which files and directories to stow, and so it makes sense
for Stow to support independent ignore lists.