diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1c47520cd..6a447a40e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -57,3 +57,6 @@ tags
 /build/win64/DF_PATH.txt
 /build/win32/DF_PATH.txt
 /.vs
+
+# custom plugins
+/plugins/CMakeLists.custom.txt
diff --git a/plugins/CMakeLists.custom.txt b/plugins/CMakeLists.custom.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 35a9d0efc..000000000
--- a/plugins/CMakeLists.custom.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-# You can add custom plugins here to avoid touching plugins/CMakeLists.txt,
-# This can be useful if you've made modifications to that file and try to
-# switch between branches that have also made modifications to it.
diff --git a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
index fbf458c4f..951a1d2d6 100644
--- a/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -178,4 +178,12 @@ if(BUILD_SKELETON)
     add_subdirectory(skeleton)
 endif()
 
+if(NOT EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeLists.custom.txt")
+    FILE(WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeLists.custom.txt" "# You can add custom plugins here to avoid touching plugins/CMakeLists.txt,
+# This can be useful if you've made modifications to that file and try to
+# switch between branches that have also made modifications to it.
+
+")
+endif()
+
 INCLUDE(CMakeLists.custom.txt)