diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4f018bdb..73f6eebf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 *.so
 *.bak
 *.c
-.gitignore
 *.new
 doc/source/api
 doc/build
diff --git a/doc/.gitignore b/doc/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..714238f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+gh-pages