diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
index 403d0dbee..ea439b946 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
@@ -255,6 +255,9 @@ public final class Constants {
 	/** Beginning of the common "Signed-off-by: " commit message line */
 	public static final String SIGNED_OFF_BY_TAG = "Signed-off-by: ";
 
+	/** A gitignore file name */
+	public static final String GITIGNORE_FILENAME = ".gitignore";
+
 	/**
 	 * Create a new digest function for objects.
 	 *