Tracking the untracked

Bug or feature? I don't know.

On the master branch I have some untracked files e.g., object modules, executables.

I create a branch B1 and add+commit the untracked files.

When I switch back to the master (git checkout master), the untracked files are no longer where I left them.

Basically, I'm trying to find a way of having a huge bunch of stuff in my repository and tracked, but which doesn't get pushed to the central program repository .. which has always just been source for us .. I figured I could stick it on a branch which doesn't get pushed. But that doesn't work for the reason mentioned.

One solution would be to have a class of files that is "unversioned but tracked".

Alternatively we could just bite the bullet and track everything.

Any ideas?

Cheers, Geoff Russell