diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b35b798..ece3706 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ tags
 *.secring
 *random_seed*
 *.log
+tests/doctests/*
 
 # Ignore distutils record of installed files:
 installed-files.txt
diff --git a/tests/doctests/README b/tests/doctests/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b14ed4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/doctests/README
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+This directory contains files related to doctests in python-gnupg docstrings.
+
+This file is a placeholder so that this directory exists when doctests are
+executed, and is not necessary to keep. It is safe to delete this directory.