diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5c46edf8eb342c372e52ca2874548130dce3dbb5..239fcefa5b5a2d453fa9e9a8a095a2573888a7c7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
-geometry
-input
-parameters
-build
-Dart.cfg
+# exclude top level directories
+# which are taken from other git repositories
+# The / at the beginning is important, otherwise all directories
+# containing the string are ignored 
+/geometry
+/input
+/parameters
+/build
+
+# Comment some single files
+Dart*.cfg