Brought back the setkey plumbing command that was removed in 2011, since we found a use case for it. Note that the command's syntax was changed for consistency.

CmdLine/GitAnnex.hs

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import qualified Command.ContentLocation
 import qualified Command.ExamineKey
 import qualified Command.FromKey
 import qualified Command.RegisterUrl
+import qualified Command.SetKey
 import qualified Command.DropKey
 import qualified Command.TransferKey
 import qualified Command.TransferKeys
@@ -159,6 +160,7 @@ cmds = concat
 	, Command.ExamineKey.cmd
 	, Command.FromKey.cmd
 	, Command.RegisterUrl.cmd
+	, Command.SetKey.cmd
 	, Command.DropKey.cmd
 	, Command.TransferKey.cmd
 	, Command.TransferKeys.cmd

Command/SetKey.hs

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+{- git-annex command
+ -
+ - Copyright 2010, 2015 Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
+ -
+ - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
+ -}
+
+module Command.SetKey where
+
+import Common.Annex
+import Command
+import Logs.Location
+import Annex.Content
+import Types.Key
+
+cmd :: [Command]
+cmd = [command "setkey" (paramPair paramKey paramPath) seek
+	SectionPlumbing "sets annexed content for a key"]
+
+seek :: CommandSeek
+seek = withWords start
+
+start :: [String] -> CommandStart
+start (keyname:file:[]) = do
+	showStart "setkey" file
+	next $ perform file (mkKey keyname)
+start _ = error "specify a key and a content file"
+
+mkKey :: String -> Key
+mkKey = fromMaybe (error "bad key") . file2key
+
+perform :: FilePath -> Key -> CommandPerform
+perform file key = do
+	-- the file might be on a different filesystem, so mv is used
+	-- rather than simply calling moveAnnex; disk space is also
+	-- checked this way.
+	ok <- getViaTmp key $ \dest ->
+		if dest /= file
+			then liftIO $
+				boolSystem "mv" [File file, File dest]
+		else return True
+	if ok
+		then next $ cleanup key
+		else error "mv failed!"
+
+cleanup :: Key -> CommandCleanup
+cleanup key = do
+	logStatus key InfoPresent
+	return True

debian/changelog

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ git-annex (5.20150618) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * assistant: Fix ANNEX_SHELL_DIR written to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys 
     in local pairing to be the absolute path to the repository, not "."
     This was a reversion caused by the relative path changes in 5.20150113.
+  * Brought back the setkey plumbing command that was removed in 2011, since
+    we found a use case for it. Note that the command's syntax was changed
+    for consistency.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:31:14 -0400
 

doc/git-annex-dropkey.mdwn

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ exist; using it can easily result in data loss.
 
 [[git-annex]](1)
 
+[[git-annex-setkey]](1)
+
 # AUTHOR
 
 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

doc/git-annex-setkey.mdwn

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# NAME
+
+git-annex setkey - sets annexed content for a key
+
+# SYNOPSIS
+
+git annex setkey key file
+
+# DESCRIPTION
+
+This plumbing-level command makes the content of the specified key
+be set to the specified file. The file is moved into the annex.
+
+No checking is done that the file contains the expected contents of the key.
+So it's generally a better idea to use [[git-annex-reinject]](1) instead of
+this command.
+
+# SEE ALSO
+
+[[git-annex]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-reinject]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-dropkey]](1)
+
+# AUTHOR
+
+Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+
+Warning: Automatically converted into a man page by mdwn2man. Edit with care.

doc/git-annex.mdwn

@@ -547,6 +547,13 @@ subdirectories).
   
   See [[git-annex-registerurl]](1) for details.
 
+* `setkey key file`
+
+  Moves a file into the annex as the content of a key.
+  
+  See [[git-annex-setkey]](1) for details.
+
+
 * `dropkey [key ...]`
 
   Drops annexed content for specified keys.