As of ~/.bashrc having space prefixed exclude pattern in HISTIGNORE no need for dedicated file, just add a symlink!
# -*- mode: sh -*-
d=.
until [ -d $d/debian ]; do
d=`readlink -e $d/..`
[ $d = / ] && break || :
done
if [ -d $d/debian ] && [ -z $QUILT_PATCHES ]; then
# if in Debian packaging tree with unset $QUILT_PATCHES
QUILT_PATCHES="debian/patches"
QUILT_PATCH_OPTS="--reject-format=unified"
QUILT_DIFF_ARGS="-p ab --no-timestamps --no-index --color=auto"
QUILT_REFRESH_ARGS="-p ab --no-timestamps --no-index"
QUILT_COLORS="diff_hdr=1;32:diff_add=1;34:diff_rem=1;31:diff_hunk=1;33:diff_ctx=35:diff_cctx=33"
mkdir -p $d/debian/patches
fi