diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4470d7cfc0ae72..fd0707fadfee0b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
 /git-http-backend
 /git-http-fetch
 /git-http-push
+/git-ignore
 /git-imap-send
 /git-index-pack
 /git-init
diff --git a/Documentation/git-ignore.txt b/Documentation/git-ignore.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..df1dfd7a8896c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/git-ignore.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+git-ignore(1)
+=============
+
+NAME
+----
+git-ignore - Easily add entries to your .gitignore file
+
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+[verse]
+'git ignore' [--dry-run | -n] [--ext | -e] [--all-ext | -E] [--dir | -d]
+	[--all-file | -a] [--parent-level | -p <parent_level>] pathspec [...]
+'git ignore' --edit [--parent-level | -p <parent_level>]
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+The command modifies a .gitignore file in your path easily. By default,
+it adds lines to the .gitignore found in the root of your repository. It
+can, however, add lines to a gitignore anywhere inbetween the file(s)
+passed in and the root directory. The lines added can be based on
+filename, extension, directory, or recursive glob.
+
+Also, you can easily open the gitignore file using the $EDITOR environment
+variable.
+
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+<pathspec>...::
+	Files to add to a gitignore. Fileglobs (e.g. `*.c`) can
+	be given to add all matching files.  Also a
+	directory name can be given to add it to the gitignore
+	as well.
+
+--edit::
+	Open the appropriate gitignore file in your default editor (using the
+	$EDITOR variable). This option can be combined with `--parent-level` based
+	on your current working directory.
+
+-n::
+--dry-run::
+	Don't actually edit the gitignore(s), just show what changes
+	would have taken place.
+
+-e::
+--ext::
+	Add the relative filepath based on extension. If pathspec
+	references path/to/file.log, the added gitignore line would
+	be path/to/*.log.
+
+-E::
+--all-ext::
+	Add a global exclusion of the given extension. If pathspec
+	references path/to/file.log, the added gitignore line would
+	be **/*.log.
+
+-d::
+--dir::
+	Add the contents of the parent directory. If pathspec references
+	path/to/file.log, the added gitignore line would be path/to/*.
+
+-a::
+--all-file::
+	Add a global exclusion of the given filename. If pathspec references
+	path/to/file.log, the added gitignore line would be **/file.log.
+
+-p::
+--parent-level <parent_level>::
+	Modifications will go to a gitignore located <parent_level>
+	directories above each of the files passed in. If the number
+	of parent levels causes the directory to fall outside of the
+	root of the git repository, a warning is printed and the root
+	of the repository is used instead. Using a parent-level of 0
+	will use the gitignore in the directory of each file passed in.
+
++
+Note that the parent level is calculated for each file passed in. If multiple
+files are passed in that have different parents at a given parent level, then
+they will cause separate gitignore files to be written.
+
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+* Adds all `*.log` files under `tmp` directory
+and its subdirectories to the gitignore file found at the
+root of the repository:
++
+------------
+$ pwd
+/user/test/git_repo/src
+$ git ignore -e tmp/file.log
+------------
++
+Results in `tmp/*.log` added to /user/test/git_repo/.gitignore
+
+
+* Add the files under the `var/uploaded` directory to the gitignore above
+
++
+------------
+$ pwd
+/user/test/git_repo/
+$ git ignore -d --parent-level=1 www/var/uploaded/\*
+------------
+Results in `var/uploaded/*` added to /user/test/git_repo/www/.gitignore
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:gitignore[5]
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f58bf14c7bf3d9..77ad5bd8e249f3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ TEST_PROGRAMS_NEED_X =
 unexport CDPATH
 
 SCRIPT_SH += git-bisect.sh
+SCRIPT_SH += git-ignore.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-difftool--helper.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-filter-branch.sh
 SCRIPT_SH += git-merge-octopus.sh
diff --git a/git-ignore.sh b/git-ignore.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000000..7cdc76caaf4013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git-ignore.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2016, Thurston Stone
+#
+# unit test: t7900
+
+test -z "$DDDEBUG" || set -x
+
+_verbose=0
+
+SUBDIRECTORY_OK=Yes
+OPTIONS_KEEPDASHDASH=
+OPTIONS_STUCKLONG=t
+# Would be nice to have examples, but rev-parse sees '*' as a symbol to hide everything afterwards
+#e,ext		 add relative path for any file of that type (ex. path/to/*.ext)
+#E,all-ext	 all files of that extention anywhere (ex. **/*.ext)
+#d,dir		 all files under the parent directory (ex. directory/*)
+#a,all-file	 all files of that file name (ex. **/filename.ext)
+OPTIONS_SPEC="git ignore [options] [file|glob ...]
+--
+ Miscelleneous
+edit		 open the pertinent gitignore with your default text editor (Requires \$EDITOR to be set)
+v,verbose	 show verbose output
+n,dry-run	 do not actually edit any .gitignore files
+ Determine what files to add to the gitignore(s):
+e,ext		 add relative path for any file of that type
+E,all-ext	 all files of that extention anywhere
+d,dir		 all files under the parent directory
+a,all-file	 all files of that file name
+ Determine what gitignore(s) to use:
+p,parent-level=  number of parent directories containing the gitignore to edit. Set to 0 to put it in the local directory"
+
+. git-sh-setup
+. git-sh-i18n
+
+write_output () {
+	if test $_verbose -eq 1
+	then
+	say $1
+	fi
+}
+
+get_git_ignore () {
+	directory=$1
+
+	# if we don't yet have the repo root directory, get it
+	if test -z "$repo_root"
+	then
+	#First, determine the root of the repository
+	repo_root="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/"
+	write_output "repo_root=$repo_root"
+	fi
+
+	# get the path relative to the repo root
+	rel_directory="${directory#$repo_root}"
+	# if the relative path is the same as it was, try converting it to aa *nix
+	# style path
+	if test "$rel_directory" = "$directory"
+	then
+		# repo root 2 (cygwin-ified path) didn't work
+		# try the other one
+		write_output "changing repo_root from $repo_root"
+		#On windows, this turns to C:\... instead of /c/... from some other commands
+		repo_root=$(printf "$repo_root" | awk -F":" '{ if ($2) print "/" tolower($1) $2; else print $1 }')
+		write_output "	to $repo_root"
+		rel_directory="${directory#$repo_root}"
+	fi
+	# default gitignore
+	gitignore="${repo_root}.gitignore"
+
+	# ------------------------------------------------
+	# Determine the correct git ignore and the path of
+	# the file relative to it
+	# ------------------------------------------------
+	if test $_parent_level -ge 0
+	then
+		parent=${directory}
+		write_output "parent=${parent}"
+
+		if test $_parent_level -ne 0
+		then
+			i=1
+			while test "$i" -le $_parent_level
+			do
+				parent="$(dirname "$parent")/"
+				write_output "parent=${parent}"
+				i=$(($i + 1))
+			done
+		fi
+		root_len=$(printf "${repo_root}" | wc -m)
+		parent_len=$(printf "${parent}" | wc -m)
+		if test $root_len -ge $parent_len
+		then
+			write_output "root_len(${root_len}) >= parent_len(${parent_len})...
+			uh-oh"
+			gettextln "WARNING: Parent directory is outside of the repository"
+			parent="${repo_root}"
+		else
+			write_output "root_len(${root_len}) < parent_len(${parent_len})...
+			good"
+		fi
+		rel_directory="${directory#$parent}"
+		gitignore="${parent}.gitignore"
+	fi
+
+	write_output "rel_directory=${rel_directory}"
+	write_output "gitignore=${gitignore}"
+
+}
+
+add_ignore () {
+	# get the absolute path of the file
+	file="$(cd "$(dirname "$1")"; pwd)/$(basename "$1")"
+	write_output "file=$file"
+
+	directory="$(dirname "$file")/"
+	write_output "directory=$directory"
+	get_git_ignore "$directory"
+
+	filename=$(basename "$file")
+	write_output "filename=$filename"
+	extension="${filename##*.}"
+	write_output "extension=$extension"
+	# defaault line
+	line="${rel_directory}${filename}"
+
+	# ------------------------------------------------
+	# Determine the correct line to add to the gitignore
+	# based on user inputs
+	# ------------------------------------------------
+	if test $_ext -eq 1
+	then
+		line="${rel_directory}*.$extension"
+	fi
+	if test $_directory -eq 1
+	then
+		line="${rel_directory}*"
+	fi
+	if test $_file_anywhere -eq 1
+	then
+		line="**/$filename"
+	fi
+	if test $_ext_anywhere -eq 1
+	then
+		line="**/*.$extension"
+	fi
+	write_output "line=${line}"
+	dryrun=""
+	if test $_dry_run -eq 1
+	then
+		dryrun="$(gettext "DRY-RUN!")"
+	fi
+	say "$dryrun $(eval_gettext "Adding \$line to \$gitignore")"
+	if test $_dry_run -eq 0
+	then
+		echo "$line" >>"$gitignore"
+	fi
+}
+
+_ext=0
+_directory=0
+_file_anywhere=0
+_ext_anywhere=0
+_parent_level=-1
+_edit=0
+_dry_run=0
+
+while test $# != 0
+do
+	case "$1" in
+	--ext)
+		_ext=1
+	;;
+	--all-ext)
+		_ext_anywhere=1
+	;;
+	--dir)
+		_directory=1
+	;;
+	--all-file)
+		_file_anywhere=1
+	;;
+	--parent-level=*)
+		_parent_level="${1#--parent-level=}"
+		if ! echo $_parent_level | grep -q '^[0-9]\+$'
+		then
+			gettextln "ILLEGAL PARAMETER: -p|--parent-level requires a numerical argument"
+			usage
+		fi
+	;;
+	--dry-run)
+		_dry_run=1
+	;;
+	--edit)
+		if test -z $EDITOR
+		then
+			gettextln "ERROR: Shell variable \$EDITOR must be set"
+			usage
+		fi
+		_edit=1
+	;;
+	--verbose)
+		_verbose=1
+	;;
+	--)
+		only_files_left=1
+	;;
+	*)
+		if test $only_files_left -eq 1
+		then
+			add_ignore "$1"
+		fi
+	;;
+	esac
+	shift
+done
+if test $_edit -eq 1
+then
+	get_git_ignore "$(pwd)/"
+	git_editor "$gitignore"
+fi
+exit 0
diff --git a/t/t7070-ignore.sh b/t/t7070-ignore.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000000..4966f62ac226b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t7070-ignore.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2016 Thurston Stone
+#
+
+
+test_description='check-git-ignore-cmd'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+	echo a >a &&
+	git add a &&
+	git commit -m"adding initial files"
+'
+
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore at root' '
+	echo a >ignoreme.txt &&
+	DDDEBUG=1 git ignore ignoreme.txt &&
+	echo "ignoreme.txt"  >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore in subdir' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt"	>expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore extentions at root' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	echo a >ignoreme.txt &&
+	DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -e ignoreme.txt &&
+	echo "*.txt" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore extentions in subdir' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -e ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "sub/dir with space/*.txt" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore extentions anywhere' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -E ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "**/*.txt" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore directory' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -d ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "sub/dir with space/*" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'ignore filename anywhere' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -a ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "**/ignoreme.txt" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'dry run does not write anything' '
+	rm .gitignore &&
+	echo a >ignoreme.txt &&
+	DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -n ignoreme.txt >output &&
+	grep "^DRY-RUN!" <output &&
+	test_path_is_missing .gitignore
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'parent-level set to current dir' '
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -p 0 ignoreme.txt
+	) &&
+	echo "ignoreme.txt" >expect &&
+	cat "sub/dir with space/.gitignore" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'parent-level set to dir outside of repo top-level' '
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -p 2 ignoreme.txt >output
+	) &&
+	grep "^WARNING" <"sub/dir with space/output" &&
+	echo "sub/dir with space/ignoreme.txt" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'parent-level set to mutliple gitignores' '
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir1 with space/test" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir1 with space/test/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir2 with space/test" &&
+	echo a >"sub/dir2 with space/test/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v -p 1 "sub/dir1 with space/test/ignoreme.txt" "sub/dir2 with space/test/ignoreme.txt" &&
+	echo "test/ignoreme.txt" >expect &&
+	cat "sub/dir1 with space/.gitignore" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual &&
+	cat "sub/dir2 with space/.gitignore" >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+setup_fake_editor () {
+	write_script fake-editor <<-\EOF
+set -x
+file=$1
+printf "edited the file like a boss">"$1"
+EOF
+}
+
+test_set_editor "$(pwd)/fake-editor"
+
+test_expect_success 'edit root gitignore' '
+	setup_fake_editor &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -v --edit
+	) &&
+	printf "edited the file like a boss" >expect &&
+	cat .gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'edit root gitignore using --parent-level' '
+	setup_fake_editor &&
+	mkdir -p "sub/dir with space/test" &&
+	(
+		cd "sub/dir with space/test" &&
+		DDDEBUG=1 git ignore -p 2 --edit
+	) &&
+	printf "edited the file like a boss" >expect &&
+	cat sub/.gitignore >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_done