Ideally one would create a new gitignored file to configure an application to fit his local development environment but when you do have to revert to modifying a committed configuration file, at least there is “git assume unchanged” to avoid committing your changes in these files accidentally.

Assume Unchanged

# Git assume a file
git update-index --assume-unchanged fileName

# And unassume with
git update-index --no-assume-unchanged fileName

Aliases

But who can remember that…
Some handy git aliases without update-index nightmarish syntax to be put in your ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
    # Usage: git assume fileName
    assume = update-index --assume-unchanged

    # Usage: git noassume fileName
    noassume = update-index --no-assume-unchanged

    # Another alias because I cannot remember un/no either
    unassume = !git noassume

    # List all currently git assumed files
    assumed = "!git ls-files -v | grep ^h | cut -c 3-"

Or create the aliases from the CLI:

git config --global alias.assume "update-index --assume-unchanged"
git config --global alias.noassume "update-index --no-assume-unchanged"
git config --global alias.unassume "update-index --no-assume-unchanged"
git config --global alias.assumed "!git ls-files -v | grep ^h | cut -c 3-"

One of our other projects Git-NumberedAdd allows you to execute these commands with fabricated indexes instead of filenames.

Skip Worktree

I’ve always used assume unchanged but apparently --skip-worktree would be a superior solution for changes in configuration files because it retains the S flag (as seen with git ls-files -v) when pulling upstream changes. I’ll find out as upstream changes are a real pain with assumed unchanged.

git update-index --skip-worktree fileName
git update-index --no-skip-worktree fileName

Aliases

[alias]
    hide = update-index --skip-worktree
    unhide = update-index --no-skip-worktree
    hidden = "!git ls-files -v | grep ^S | cut -c 3-"