Optionally skip creation of .gitignore in virtualenv directory

docs/changelog/2003.feature.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Optionally skip generation of ``.gitignore`` with * directive in virtualenv
+directory, using command line option :option:`no-gitignore`.
+Default behavior is to generate the file as before.

docs/user_guide.rst

@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ The tool works in two phases:
   - install activation scripts into the binary directory of the virtual environment (these will allow end user to
     *activate* the virtual environment from various shells).
   - create files that mark the virtual environment as to be ignored by version control systems (currently we support
-    Git only, as Mercurial, Bazaar or SVN does not support ignore files in subdirectories).
+    Git only, as Mercurial, Bazaar or SVN do not support ignore files in subdirectories). This step can be skipped
+    with the :option:`no-gitignore` command line option.
+
 
 The python in your new virtualenv is effectively isolated from the python that was used to create it.
 

src/virtualenv/create/creator.py

@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ def __init__(self, options, interpreter):
         self._debug = None
         self.dest = Path(options.dest)
         self.clear = options.clear
+        self.gitignore = options.gitignore
         self.pyenv_cfg = PyEnvCfg.from_folder(self.dest)
         self.app_data = options.app_data
 
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ def _args(self):
         return [
             ("dest", ensure_text(str(self.dest))),
             ("clear", self.clear),
+            ("gitignore", self.gitignore),
         ]
 
     @classmethod
@@ -90,6 +92,13 @@ def add_parser_arguments(cls, parser, interpreter, meta, app_data):
             help="remove the destination directory if exist before starting (will overwrite files otherwise)",
             default=False,
         )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--no-gitignore",
+            dest="gitignore",
+            action="store_false",
+            help="skip creation of coverall .gitignore in destination directory",
+            default=True,
+        )
 
     @abstractmethod
     def create(self):
@@ -160,7 +169,8 @@ def run(self):
             safe_delete(self.dest)
         self.create()
         self.set_pyenv_cfg()
-        self.setup_ignore_vcs()
+        if self.gitignore:
+            self.setup_ignore_vcs()
 
     def set_pyenv_cfg(self):
         self.pyenv_cfg.content = OrderedDict()

tests/unit/create/test_creator.py

@@ -249,6 +249,19 @@ def test_create_gitignore_exists(tmp_path):
     assert git_ignore.read_text() == "magic"
 
 
+def test_create_gitignore_override(tmp_path):
+    git_ignore = tmp_path / ".gitignore"
+    cli_run([str(tmp_path), "--without-pip", "--no-gitignore", "--activators", ""])
+    assert not git_ignore.exists()
+
+
+def test_create_gitignore_exists_override(tmp_path):
+    git_ignore = tmp_path / ".gitignore"
+    git_ignore.write_text("magic")
+    cli_run([str(tmp_path), "--without-pip", "--no-gitignore", "--activators", ""])
+    assert git_ignore.read_text() == "magic"
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not CURRENT.has_venv, reason="requires interpreter with venv")
 def test_venv_fails_not_inline(tmp_path, capsys, mocker):
     if hasattr(os, "geteuid"):