diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a0fb9211775d47cdb2a12792ec05e8ac56108ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Compiled source #
+###################
+*.com
+*.class
+*.dll
+*.exe
+*.o
+*.so
+
+# Packages #
+############
+# it's better to unpack these files and commit the raw source
+# git has its own built in compression methods
+*.7z
+*.dmg
+*.gz
+*.iso
+*.jar
+*.rar
+*.tar
+*.zip
+
+# Logs and databases #
+######################
+*.log
+*.sql
+*.sqlite
+
+# OS generated files #
+######################
+.DS_Store
+.DS_Store?
+._*
+.Spotlight-V100
+.Trashes
+ehthumbs.db
+Thumbs.db
+
+###### Other
+
+*.vtk
+AUTHORS
+COPYING
+ChangeLog
+INSTALL
+NEWS
+README
+Makefile
+Makefile.in
+config.status
+configure
+numerics
+**/.deps
+**/src/config
+aclocal.m4
+**/autom4te.cache
+src/io