diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e12007df5f..f4897f09be 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -42,5 +42,7 @@ doc/[Dd]oxygen/man
 *.tar.gz
 *.tgz
 
+# ignore .timeStamp in the main directory
+/.timeStamp
 
 # end-of-file