Let the user set a default VCS ignore file with cargo init/new

[ValentinColin]

Problem

I like the idea of having a git file in my new projects, however the one currently produced by cargo is severely lacking in customization.

Proposed Solution

Solution 1

I propose to add these options in the config.toml of cargo:

[cargo-new]
vcs-ignore-file = "path/to/default/.<vcs>ignore" # default: "" to let cargo write it himself (as it's now)

And cargo have only to copy/paste the file

Solution 2

To go further!
Having one default directory create by the user himself

[cargo-new]
template-folder = "path/to/template/folder/" # default: "" to let cargo write it by himself (as it's now)

Solution 3

To go even further!
We could create a set of default directories that we could choose with an option.
With a .cargo/templates/ folder for example:

.cargo/templates/
 ├─ default/
 │   ├─ src/main.rs
 │   ├─ .gitignore
 │   └─ Cargo.toml
 ├─ github/
 │   ├─ .github/workflows/fmt.yml
 │   ├─ src/main.rs
 │   ├─ .gitignore
 │   └─ Cargo.toml
 └─ ...

cargo new <project-name> --template "path/to/template/folder/"
# or
cargo new <project-name> --template github # Cargo could automatically search the folder 'github' in .cargo/templates/

Or something like that 😃

Notes

No response

[ehuss]

Thanks for the suggestion! At this time, we would like to avoid adding specific settings for configuring the initial project. In the future, we would like to see cargo support customizable templates so that you can define whatever kind of structure you want (tracked in #5151). In the meantime, you might want to check out a project like cargo-generate which allows some customization.

I'm going to close in deferral to #5151.