You can also sort of invert this, but you have to do it on a case by case basis.

Let's say you have a directory like attic; you can put inside a `attic/.gitignore`:

  /**

& then that directory (and anything in it) is ignored, including the ignore file itself.

I usually name my version of this directory the single character U+1F4A9, which HN refuses to permit me to put in a comment ;)