diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/load.go b/pkg/chartutil/load.go
index cf11ae2e4..f10c0eddd 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/load.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/load.go
@@ -245,6 +245,11 @@ func LoadDir(dir string) (*chart.Chart, error) {
 
 	err = filepath.Walk(topdir, func(name string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
 		n := strings.TrimPrefix(name, topdir)
+		if n == "" {
+			// No need to process top level. Avoid bug with helmignore .* matching
+			// empty names. See issue 1779.
+			return nil
+		}
 
 		// Normalize to / since it will also work on Windows
 		n = filepath.ToSlash(n)
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/requirements_test.go b/pkg/chartutil/requirements_test.go
index ef09bcd2e..1ddaa78a1 100644
--- a/pkg/chartutil/requirements_test.go
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/requirements_test.go
@@ -419,6 +419,12 @@ func TestDependentChartWithSubChartsAbsentInRequirements(t *testing.T) {
 
 }
 
+func TestDependentChartWithSubChartsHelmignore(t *testing.T) {
+	if _, err := Load("testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to load testdata: %s", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestDependentChartsWithSubchartsAllSpecifiedInRequirements(t *testing.T) {
 	c, err := Load("testdata/dependent-chart-with-all-in-requirements-yaml")
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/.helmignore b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/.helmignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8a71bc82e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/.helmignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ignore/
+.*
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/Chart.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c071c27b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+name: frobnitz
+description: This is a frobnitz.
+version: "1.2.3"
+keywords:
+  - frobnitz
+  - sprocket
+  - dodad
+maintainers:
+  - name: The Helm Team
+    email: helm@example.com
+  - name: Someone Else
+    email: nobody@example.com
+sources:
+  - https://example.com/foo/bar
+home: http://example.com
+icon: https://example.com/64x64.png
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/.ignore_me b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/.ignore_me
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/_ignore_me b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/_ignore_me
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2cecca682
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/_ignore_me
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This should be ignored by the loader, but may be included in a chart.
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/Chart.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..38a4aaa54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+name: alpine
+description: Deploy a basic Alpine Linux pod
+version: 0.1.0
+home: https://k8s.io/helm
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/README.md b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7c84fc41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+This example was generated using the command `helm create alpine`.
+
+The `templates/` directory contains a very simple pod resource with a
+couple of parameters.
+
+The `values.toml` file contains the default values for the
+`alpine-pod.yaml` template.
+
+You can install this example using `helm install docs/examples/alpine`.
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/Chart.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..171e36156
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+name: mast1
+description: A Helm chart for Kubernetes
+version: 0.1.0
+home: ""
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/values.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/values.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42c39c262
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast1/values.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Default values for mast1.
+# This is a YAML-formatted file.
+# Declare name/value pairs to be passed into your templates.
+# name = "value"
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast2-0.1.0.tgz b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast2-0.1.0.tgz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ced5a4a6a
Binary files /dev/null and b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/charts/mast2-0.1.0.tgz differ
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/templates/alpine-pod.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/templates/alpine-pod.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..08cf3c2c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/templates/alpine-pod.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: {{.Release.Name}}-{{.Chart.Name}}
+  labels:
+    heritage: {{.Release.Service}}
+    chartName: {{.Chart.Name}}
+    chartVersion: {{.Chart.Version | quote}}
+  annotations:
+    "helm.sh/created": "{{.Release.Time.Seconds}}"
+spec:
+  restartPolicy: {{default "Never" .restart_policy}}
+  containers:
+  - name: waiter
+    image: "alpine:3.3"
+    command: ["/bin/sleep","9000"]
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/values.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/values.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c2aab7ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/charts/alpine/values.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# The pod name
+name: "my-alpine"
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/templates/template.tpl b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/templates/template.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c651ee6a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/templates/template.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Hello {{.Name | default "world"}}
diff --git a/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/values.yaml b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/values.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..61f501258
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/chartutil/testdata/dependent-chart-helmignore/values.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# A values file contains configuration.
+
+name: "Some Name"
+
+section:
+  name: "Name in a section"
diff --git a/pkg/ignore/rules.go b/pkg/ignore/rules.go
index aba089613..76f45fc7a 100644
--- a/pkg/ignore/rules.go
+++ b/pkg/ignore/rules.go
@@ -82,6 +82,11 @@ func (r *Rules) Len() int {
 // Ignore evaluates path against the rules in order. Evaluation stops when a match
 // is found. Matching a negative rule will stop evaluation.
 func (r *Rules) Ignore(path string, fi os.FileInfo) bool {
+	// Don't match on empty dirs.
+	if path == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	// Disallow ignoring the current working directory.
 	// See issue:
 	// 1776 (New York City) Hamilton: "Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir?"
diff --git a/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go b/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
index 6afc4345b..17b8bf403 100644
--- a/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ignore/rules_test.go
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ func TestIgnore(t *testing.T) {
 		// "." should never get ignored. https://github.com/kubernetes/helm/issues/1776
 		{`.*`, ".", false},
 		{`.*`, "./", false},
+		{`.*`, ".joonix", true},
+		{`.*`, "helm.txt", false},
+		{`.*`, "", false},
 
 		// Directory tests
 		{`cargo/`, "cargo", true},
diff --git a/pkg/ignore/testdata/.joonix b/pkg/ignore/testdata/.joonix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb