diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 024ee67a85d5910b4fe3d6da65955001e2efe098..32573ddafb5f39cc0022851abaf675917d56255f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -50,13 +50,18 @@ test/fileMissing.lisp
 test/hello-world-example
 
 build-stamp
+
+# Although there is no debian subdir/ in this repo any more, the
+# presence of these lines helps the debian package maintainers, so
+# please leave them here.
+
 debian/cl-asdf.debhelper.log
 debian/cl-asdf.postinst.debhelper
 debian/cl-asdf.prerm.debhelper
 debian/cl-asdf.substvars
 debian/cl-asdf/
-debian/patches/
 debian/files
+
 .pc
 
 /.DS_Store