diff --git a/vcsh b/vcsh
index f4d98ad9c0c0a8c97bdd3a8fc9bd4d4143e53716..9df4f9d674dc2966000755301d8fc4828db6b7d4 100755
--- a/vcsh
+++ b/vcsh
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@ elif [ "$1" = 'seed-gitignore' ]; then
 	old_dir="$PWD"
 	cd "$HOME"
 	git config core.excludesfile ".gitignore.d/$REPO_NAME"
-	files=$(git ls-files)
 	gitignores=$(for file in $(git ls-files); do
 		while true; do
 			echo $file; new="${file%/*}"