Start new projects with a seed .gitignore and .gitattributes file

[dicksonlaw583]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

Following the 2023.1 update, .resource_order and .old files began appearing in projects, which should not be checked into source control by default. If someone sets up Git but isn't aware of this change (especially if they are using a source control tutorial), they may accidentally add these files to their repository, resulting in constant "file modified" issues and merge conflicts from regular use.

Also, historically GM projects on GitHub had been mistakenly identified as about 20%+ YACC because of the .yy files (example). That false detection can be turned off by adding a .gitattributes file, but there has been little community awareness of the issue.

GM projects should be source-control-friendly by default, but these issues get in the way of that.

Describe the solution you'd like

I would like new projects to be created with a default .gitignore and .gitattributes file that covers current use cases.

.gitignore:

# Windows

# Windows thumbnail cache files
Thumbs.db
Thumbs.db:encryptable
ehthumbs.db
ehthumbs_vista.db

# Dump file
*.stackdump

# Folder config file
[Dd]esktop.ini

# Recycle Bin used on file shares
$RECYCLE.BIN/

# Windows Installer files
*.cab
*.msi
*.msix
*.msm
*.msp

# Windows shortcuts
*.lnk

# Mac

## General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

## Icon must end with two \r
Icon

## Thumbnails
._*

## Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

## Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

# GameMaker temporary files
*.resource_order
*.old

.gitattributes:

# Ignore .yy files for language statistics 
*.yy linguist-generated=true

Describe alternatives you've considered

I have been gradually adding these to my existing projects as I migrate them to the 2023 format, but going forward, I would like to see new projects start with them.

Additional context

No response

[metacrab]

I'd like to add a +1 to this. I just wasted half an hour researching whether I can safely add .resource_order to the gitignore before I found this thread, seems like it should be default (anyone who has used GameMaker with Git runs into these messy merge issues)

[CalumLaverock]

A preference has been added into Plugin -> Source Control (Git) -> Add skeleton .git defaults which, when checked, will automatically add default .gitignore and .gitattributes files as described in the issue here (as well as in #4820) into the project folder when the project is created.

[Emc1923]

Reopening as the Mac IDE does not generate the files on new projects. Windows and Ubuntu look fine.

[CalumLaverock]

This seems to be more due to mac very thoroughly hiding files beginning with a dot, these can be shown by doing cmd+shift+dot but the files do seem to actually be there on mac as well.

[Emc1923]

Verified done as per comment. Thanks!

[YYBartT]

Moving this ticket back to "Done" since documentation still needs to be added.

[YYBartT]

The contents of the default .gitignore and .gitattributes files have been documented on the manual's Project Format page. The new preferences have been added to the Plugin Preferences page and the screenshot has been updated.

[mgeddesGM]

verified as of IDE v2024.400.0.550 Runtime v2024.400.0.567