diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7e95d3c2b..7d21798c9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ npm-debug.log
 
 # coverage
 coverage
+package-lock.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
index 47ad11fd6..4ab091cce 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
+'use strict'
+
 const chalk = require('chalk')
 const checkpoint = require('../checkpoint')
 const conventionalRecommendedBump = require('conventional-recommended-bump')
 const figures = require('figures')
 const fs = require('fs')
+const DotGitignore = require('dotgitignore')
 const path = require('path')
 const runLifecycleScript = require('../run-lifecycle-script')
 const semver = require('semver')
@@ -134,12 +137,14 @@ function bumpVersion (releaseAs, callback) {
  * @return {string}
  */
 function updateConfigs (args, newVersion) {
+  const dotgit = DotGitignore()
   configsToUpdate[path.resolve(process.cwd(), './package.json')] = false
   configsToUpdate[path.resolve(process.cwd(), './package-lock.json')] = false
   configsToUpdate[path.resolve(process.cwd(), './npm-shrinkwrap.json')] = false
   configsToUpdate[path.resolve(process.cwd(), './bower.json')] = false
   Object.keys(configsToUpdate).forEach(function (configPath) {
     try {
+      if (dotgit.ignore(configPath)) return
       var stat = fs.lstatSync(configPath)
       if (stat.isFile()) {
         var config = require(configPath)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index eecc1d30c..128ac8932 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
     "chalk": "^1.1.3",
     "conventional-changelog": "^1.1.0",
     "conventional-recommended-bump": "^1.0.0",
+    "dotgitignore": "^1.0.3",
     "figures": "^1.5.0",
     "fs-access": "^1.0.0",
     "semver": "^5.1.0",
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index b18cf7150..a2e045017 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -590,6 +590,32 @@ describe('cli', function () {
     var pkgJson = fs.readFileSync('package.json', 'utf-8')
     pkgJson.should.equal(['{', '  "version": "1.1.0"', '}', ''].join('\n'))
   })
+
+  it('exits with error code if "scripts" is not an object', () => {
+    writePackageJson('1.0.0', {
+      'standard-version': {
+        scripts: 'echo hello'
+      }
+    })
+
+    commit('feat: first commit')
+    var result = execCli()
+    result.code.should.equal(1)
+    result.stderr.should.match(/scripts must be an object/)
+  })
+
+  it('exits with error code if "skip" is not an object', () => {
+    writePackageJson('1.0.0', {
+      'standard-version': {
+        skip: true
+      }
+    })
+
+    commit('feat: first commit')
+    var result = execCli()
+    result.code.should.equal(1)
+    result.stderr.should.match(/skip must be an object/)
+  })
 })
 
 describe('standard-version', function () {
@@ -672,15 +698,14 @@ describe('standard-version', function () {
       writeBowerJson('1.0.0')
     })
 
-    it('bumps version # in bower.json', function (done) {
+    it('bumps version # in bower.json', function () {
       commit('feat: first commit')
       shell.exec('git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "my awesome first release"')
       commit('feat: new feature!')
-      require('./index')({silent: true})
+      return require('./index')({silent: true})
         .then(() => {
           JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('bower.json', 'utf-8')).version.should.equal('1.1.0')
           getPackageVersion().should.equal('1.1.0')
-          return done()
         })
     })
   })
@@ -706,17 +731,17 @@ describe('standard-version', function () {
   describe('package-lock.json support', function () {
     beforeEach(function () {
       writePackageLockJson('1.0.0')
+      fs.writeFileSync('.gitignore', '', 'utf-8')
     })
 
-    it('bumps version # in package-lock.json', function (done) {
+    it('bumps version # in package-lock.json', function () {
       commit('feat: first commit')
       shell.exec('git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "my awesome first release"')
       commit('feat: new feature!')
-      require('./index')({silent: true})
+      return require('./index')({silent: true})
         .then(() => {
           JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('package-lock.json', 'utf-8')).version.should.equal('1.1.0')
           getPackageVersion().should.equal('1.1.0')
-          return done()
         })
     })
   })
@@ -765,4 +790,23 @@ describe('standard-version', function () {
         })
     })
   })
+
+  describe('.gitignore', () => {
+    beforeEach(function () {
+      writeBowerJson('1.0.0')
+    })
+
+    it('does not update files present in .gitignore', () => {
+      fs.writeFileSync('.gitignore', 'bower.json', 'utf-8')
+
+      commit('feat: first commit')
+      shell.exec('git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "my awesome first release"')
+      commit('feat: new feature!')
+      return require('./index')({silent: true})
+        .then(() => {
+          JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('bower.json', 'utf-8')).version.should.equal('1.0.0')
+          getPackageVersion().should.equal('1.1.0')
+        })
+    })
+  })
 })