I'm trying to keep my static files in a separate branch so that I can keep them from merging into my master brach (on Heroku, your application's slug needs to stay small). I don't want to ignore my static files, because I want to keep them inside my "devel" branch.
Ideally I'd like to keep test.db blank and my entire public folder blank in the master branch.
So, can I create an 'overlay' onto a branch? Can I prevent certain files/directories from merging into my master branch?