Global hgignore usage

Question

In my mercurial.ini file, I call a global hgignore file like this:

[ui]
ignore = ~/hgignore.ini

This refers to a hgignore.ini file which is in the same directory as the mercurial.ini file.

1. Does the local hgignore override the global hgignore?
2. If so, is it recommended to have a single global hgignore with relevant sections marked or have a global hgignore file for general patterns and individual local hgignore files for special patterns pertaining to the particular repo?

By global hgignore with relevant sections marked, I mean:

syntax: glob

# VISUAL STUDIO

*.obj
*.pdb
*.suo
[Bb]in
[Dd]ebug*/
[Rr]elease*/

# TEMPORARY FILES

*.log
*.bak
*.cache    

Answer 1

The global .hgignore is "added" to the local one. This means that everything in the global one will be considered for each repository, but the content of the local one will also be considered.

For the second question, I think the best answer is : it depends on what you want ;)

1. If you want a really fine grained control on what is ignored for each repository, go for the local version.
2. If you want to don't be bothered each time you create a repo, add everything to the global file.
3. Anything in between to suits your needs...

In my case, I use both of them. The global .hgignore contains project files (Visual Studio, Netbeans), backup files (.bak, vim), libraries (dll, so, etc). And for each project, I put whatever is specific in the local file.