diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..52ddd4999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
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+# Don't bother tracking a bunch of stuff when building and installing
+# Org from the master git repository.
+
+# ...by ignoring everything created by 'make' and 'make doc'.
+
+*.aux
+*.cp
+*.cps
+*.fn
+*.fns
+*.html
+*.ky
+*.kys
+*.log
+*.pdf
+*.pg
+*.toc
+*.tp
+*.vr
+*.dvi
+orgcard_letter.tex
+
+# aspell word and replacement lists
+
+.aspell.org.pws
+.aspell.org.prepl
+*.bak
+
+# and collateral damage from Emacs
+
+*~
+
+#
+# Local variables:
+# fill-column: 72
+# mode: conf
+# End:
diff --git a/doc/.aspell.org.conf b/doc/.aspell.org.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..facdc494b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/.aspell.org.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+# Aspell configuration for proof reading Org documentation.
+
+# Org documentation is written in American...
+
+master en_US-w_accents
+lang en_US
+
+# Assume the Org specific word and replacement lists are in the doc
+# directory and that any spell check is also run from there.  Specify
+# this file when running aspell by some command like:
+#
+# $ aspell check --per-conf=".aspell.org.conf" org.texi
+
+personal ./.aspell.org.pws
+repl ./.aspell.org.prepl
+
+# Checking options.  See man aspell.
+
+save-repl true
+sug-mode normal
+ignore-case false
+ignore-accents false
+
+# Filters
+
+# For some reason the following doesn't seem to work which stuffs up
+# trying to use Ispell mode from an Emacs buffer (at least I cannot
+# make it work) but aspell seems abot to recognise texinfo files
+# automatically when checking from the command line so it doesn't
+# matter much.
+
+# mode texinfo
+
+lset-filter tex:url
+
+# Let's be clear about what we choose to ignore.
+
+clear-f-texinfo-ignore
+
+add-f-texinfo-ignore c
+add-f-texinfo-ignore code
+add-f-texinfo-ignore command
+add-f-texinfo-ignore documentencoding
+add-f-texinfo-ignore email
+add-f-texinfo-ignore env
+add-f-texinfo-ignore file
+add-f-texinfo-ignore kbd
+add-f-texinfo-ignore macro
+add-f-texinfo-ignore option
+add-f-texinfo-ignore printindex
+add-f-texinfo-ignore samp
+add-f-texinfo-ignore set
+add-f-texinfo-ignore setfilename
+add-f-texinfo-ignore syncode
+add-f-texinfo-ignore url
+add-f-texinfo-ignore value
+add-f-texinfo-ignore var
+add-f-texinfo-ignore verb
+add-f-texinfo-ignore verbatiminclude
+add-f-texinfo-ignore vskip
+
+# Utility options
+
+backup true
+guess true
+suggest true
+
+# Miscellaneous
+#
+# Org documentation uses a lot of compound words.  Try and ignore them
+# rather than including them in a specfic word list.
+
+run-together-limit 2
+run-together-min 2
+
+#
+
+# Local variables:
+# fill-column: 72
+# mode: conf
+# End: