How do I ignore a directory with SVN?

Set the svn:ignore property of the parent directory:

svn propset svn:ignore dirname .

If you have multiple things to ignore, separate by newlines in the property value. In that case it's easier to edit the property value using an external editor:

svn propedit svn:ignore .

Here's an example directory structure:

\project
    \source
    \cache
    \other

When in project you see that your cache directory is not added and shows up as such.

> svn st
M  source
?  cache

To set the ignore property, do

svn propset svn:ignore cache .

where svn:ignore is the name of the property you're setting, cache is the value of the property, and . is the directory you're setting this property on. It should be the parent directory of the cache directory that needs the property.

To check what properties are set:

> svn proplist
Properties on '.':
  svn:ignore

To see the value of svn:ignore:

> svn propget svn:ignore
cache

To delete properties previously set:

svn propdel svn:ignore

Important to mention:

On the commandline you can't use

svn add *

This will also add the ignored files, because the command line expands * and therefore svn add believes that you want all files to be added. Therefore use this instead:

svn add --force .