Gitignore not ignoring some build files in Android library

Question

I have an Android library and for some reason, the files and folders I have specified in my .gitignore are not being ignored.

I have tried modifying my .gitignore and also following these steps, but this doesn't change anything.

Here is my top-level .gitignore (which can also be found on the GitHub repo):

# Gradle files
.gradle/
build/
*/build/

# Local configuration file (sdk path, etc)
local.properties

# IntelliJ
*.iml
/.idea

The module with the build folder that isn't being ignored has the following .gitignore:

/build/

I'm not sure why the build directory isn't being ignored, as it is being ignored in my sample app module, and in the top-level directory.

Also, I did commit changes to some files in the build directory when I updated versions of my library, if that's important.

Answer 1

This answer on Stack Overflow helped me solve my issue.

Here is part of that answer:

First commit any outstanding code changes, and then, run this command:

git rm -r --cached .

This removes any changed files from the index(staging area), then just run:

git add .

Commit it:

git commit -m ".gitignore is now working"