diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a57dbc901ba23e3450c00a3fe89253898d376f03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+## Generic ignorable patterns and files
+*~
+.*.swp
+*bak*
+tags
+*.vim
+