diff --git a/kernel.spec b/kernel.spec
index e308537d1..8ed80f06a 100644
--- a/kernel.spec
+++ b/kernel.spec
@@ -1394,6 +1394,9 @@ done
 # get rid of unwanted files resulting from patch fuzz
 find . \( -name "*.orig" -o -name "*~" \) -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null
 
+# remove unnecessary SCM files
+find . -name .gitignore -exec rm -f {} \; >/dev/null
+
 cd ..
 
 ###