diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5eacd30b..25648c22 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
-*~
-*.swp
+# Add patterns in here to exclude files created by tools integrated with this
+# repository, such as test frameworks from the project's recommended workflow,
+# rendered documentation and package builds.
+#
+# Don't add patterns to exclude files created by preferred personal tools
+# (editors, IDEs, your operating system itself even). These should instead be
+# maintained outside the repository, for example in a ~/.gitignore file added
+# with:
+#
+# git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore'
+
 *.pyc
 *.log
 .coverage
@@ -17,8 +26,6 @@ openstack/versioninfo
 *.egg*
 .testrepository/
 .stestr/
-.project
-.pydevproject
 *.mo
 doc/build