Confusion about new format of ELPA repo

[Eric Abrahamsen]

I'm trying to release some updates to my org-translate package, which is
developed in ELPA itself. It is not an external (has an :external nil
key in the externals-list file). The entire "packages" subdirectory is
now ignored by .gitignore, meaning I would need to force-add changes to
this file. Maybe each package is now meant to be worked on in a separate
branch? But the .gitignore problem is still there.

Before I go screw something up -- how are we meant to work around
gitignore?

Thanks,
Eric