diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 67f751f5349..121111317a1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,21 +9,11 @@ doc/ctdeploy_key
 *.exe.manifest
 build/
 test/work/
-test_problems/ChemEquil_ionizedGas/ChemEquil_ionizedGas
-test_problems/cathermo/testWaterPDSS/WaterPDSS
-test_problems/cathermo/testWaterTP/WaterSSTP
-test_problems/cxx_ex/cxx_ex
-test_problems/diamondSurf/diamondSurf
-test_problems/pureFluidTest/pureFluid
-test_problems/rankine_democxx/rankine_democxx
-test_problems/surfkin/surfkin
 interfaces/cython/cantera/_cantera.h
 include/cantera/base/config.h
 include/cantera/base/config.h.build
 include/cantera/base/system.h.gch
 include/cantera/ext/
-interfaces/matlab/ctpath.m
-interfaces/matlab/Contents.m
 stage/
 .sconsign.dblite
 .sconf_temp
@@ -50,11 +40,43 @@ config.log
 *.gch
 coverage/
 coverage.info
-doc/sphinx/matlab/data.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/importing.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/kinetics.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/one-dim.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/thermodynamics.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/transport.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/utilities.rst
-doc/sphinx/matlab/zero-dim.rst
+
+# MATLAB
+src/matlab/*.m
+doc/sphinx/matlab/*.rst
+!doc/sphinx/matlab/index.rst
+interfaces/matlab/ctpath.m
+interfaces/matlab/Contents.m
+
+# test_problems folder
+test_problems/
+!test_problems/*.c
+!test_problems/*.cpp
+!test_problems/*.cti
+!test_problems/*.xml
+!test_problems/*blessed.*
+!test_problems/SConscript
+!test_problems/README*
+
+# interfaces folder
+interfaces/**/dist
+interfaces/**/setup*.py
+interfaces/**/*.egg-info
+interfaces/**/scripts/
+
+# cython folder
+interfaces/cython/cantera/*.c
+interfaces/cython/cantera/*.cpp
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.cti
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.xml
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.inp
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.dat
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.csv
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.yaml
+interfaces/cython/cantera/**/*.yml
+interfaces/cython/cantera/test/data/test_subdir
+
+# python_minimal folder
+interfaces/python_minimal/build
+interfaces/python_minimal/cantera/*.py
+!interfaces/python_minimal/cantera/__init__.py
diff --git a/interfaces/cython/.gitignore b/interfaces/cython/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index c76ec86cfad..00000000000
--- a/interfaces/cython/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-cantera/*.cpp
-cantera/*.c
-cantera/data
-cantera/test/data
-setup.py
-scripts/ctml_writer.py
-scripts/ctml_writer
-scripts/ck2cti.py
-scripts/ck2cti
-Cantera.egg-info
-dist
diff --git a/interfaces/python_minimal/.gitignore b/interfaces/python_minimal/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 4d311c802b7..00000000000
--- a/interfaces/python_minimal/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-setup*.py
-scripts/*
-cantera/ck2cti.py
-cantera/ctml_writer.py
-build
-dist
-Cantera_minimal.egg-info
diff --git a/src/matlab/.gitignore b/src/matlab/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 523771fa901..00000000000
--- a/src/matlab/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-*.m
diff --git a/test_problems/.gitignore b/test_problems/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index a460b83a47c..00000000000
--- a/test_problems/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,79 +0,0 @@
-.passed*
-*_output.txt
-*_output.csv
-*_output.out
-*.exe
-ChemEquil_gri_matrix/gri_matrix
-ChemEquil_gri_pairs/gri_pairs
-ChemEquil_ionizedGas/ionizedGasEquil
-ChemEquil_ionizedGas/table.csv
-ChemEquil_red1/basopt_red1
-CpJump/CpJump
-NASA9poly_test/NASA9poly_test
-VCSnonideal/NaCl_equil/nacl_equil
-VCSnonideal/NaCl_equil/vcs_equilibrate_res.csv
-VCSnonideal/LatticeSolid_LiSi/latticeSolid_LiSi
-VCSnonideal/LatticeSolid_LiSi/latsol
-VCSnonideal/LatticeSolid_LiSi/vcs_equilibrate_res.csv
-VPsilane_test/VPsilane_test
-cathermo/DH_graph_1/DH_graph_1
-cathermo/DH_graph_1/DH_graph_1.log
-cathermo/HMW_dupl_test/HMW_dupl_test
-cathermo/HMW_graph_CpvT/HMW_graph_CpvT
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/HMW_graph_GvI
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T298.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T373.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T423.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T473.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T523.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T548.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvI/T573.csv
-cathermo/HMW_graph_GvT/HMW_graph_GvT
-cathermo/HMW_graph_HvT/HMW_graph_HvT
-cathermo/HMW_graph_VvT/HMW_graph_VvT
-cathermo/HMW_test_1/HMW_test_1
-cathermo/HMW_test_3/HMW_test_3
-cathermo/VPissp/ISSPTester2
-cathermo/ims/IMSTester
-cathermo/issp/ISSPTester
-cathermo/stoichSub/stoichSub
-cathermo/testIAPWS/testIAPWSphi
-cathermo/testIAPWSPres/testIAPWSPres
-cathermo/testIAPWSTripP/testIAPWSTripP
-cathermo/testWaterPDSS/testWaterPDSS
-cathermo/testWaterTP/testWaterSSTP
-cathermo/wtWater/wtWater
-clib_test/clib_test
-cxx_samples/blasius.csv
-cxx_samples/kin1.dat
-cxx_samples/kin1.csv
-cxx_samples/flamespeed.csv
-cxx_samples/combustor_cxx.csv
-cxx_samples/transport_mix.csv
-cxx_samples/transport_multi.csv
-diamondSurf/diamond.xml
-diamondSurf/runDiamond
-fracCoeff/fracCoeff
-mixGasTransport/mixGasTransport
-multiGasTransport/multiGasTransport
-simpleTransport/simpleTransport
-dustyGasTransport/dustyGasTransport
-PecosTransport/pecosTransport
-negATest/negATest
-negATest/noxNeg.xml
-printUtilUnitTest/pUtest
-pureFluidTest/testPureWater
-python/diamond.csv
-python/diamond.xml
-python/frac.xml
-python/tut1/gri30.xml
-python/tut2/diamond.xml
-python/tut2/gri30.xml
-python/tut4/gri30.xml
-silane_equil/silane_equil
-surfSolverTest/results.txt
-surfSolverTest/results2.txt
-surfSolverTest/surfaceSolver
-surfSolverTest/surfaceSolver2
-surfkin/surfdemo
-stoichSolidKinetics/stoichSolidKinetics