> I use them to stash changes to config files that remain fairly stable across branches but require local paths, etc.

I had to resort to git's assume-unchanged[O] to keep these changes out of commits made in the heat of battle.

> this isn't a best practice for config files

Have had great results (in dotnet land) with MS' Secrets Manager[1].

[0] https://www.git-scm.com/docs/git-update-index [1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/app-se...