How can I tell Git to use a different gitignore file than “.gitignore”?

Question

I can tell Git where the Git repository is with --git-dir. I can tell Git where the working tree is with --work-tree. How do I tell Git where the g

Answer 1

You can use core.excludesfile to specify the new ignore file. By default this will only affect the current repository; you can use the --global option if you want to change the default value.

git config core.excludesfile ".new_gitignore"

Edit 1

AFAIK, .gitignore cannot be disabled. And it takes precedence over .git/info/excludes and core.excludesfile. The only way I can think of is having some hacks using filters. This answer explains the use of filters well.