diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d4c4f686c635
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+*~
+*.o
+*.a
+*.pyc
+*.swp
+*.pyo
+*.so
+*.pyd
+.gdb_history
+dist
+/build
+/dist
+/doc/build
+/doc/cdoc/build
+.\#*
+*.log
+*.egg-info
+/numpy/core/__svn_version__.py
+/doc/numpy.scipy.org/_build