How to track directories but not their files with Git?

I wrote about this here.

Add a .gitignore within the directory.

Best answerd I've found is to include a .gitignore file in your upload folder with this content

# Ignore everything in this directory
*
# Except this file
!.gitignore

Here you have How can I add an empty directory to a Git repository?

Git doesn't track directories, it tracks files, so to acheive this you need to track at least one file. So assuming your .gitignore file looks something like this:

upload/*

You can do this:

$ touch upload/.placeholder
$ git add -f upload/.placeholder

If you forget the -f you'll see:

$ git add upload/.placeholder
The following paths are ignored by one of your .gitignore files:
upload
Use -f if you really want to add them.
fatal: no files added

Then when you do git status you'll see:

# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git rm --cached ..." to unstage)
#
#   new file:   upload/.placeholder
#

Obviously you can then do:

$ touch upload/images/.placeholder
$ git add -f upload/images/.placeholder