[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="joey"
 subject="""comment 1"""
 date="2022-08-03T13:54:44Z"
 content="""
That old todo was about adding --dry-run to all git-annex commands.
That would be infeasible as discussed there. I'm willing to consider adding
it to specific commands like `git-annex add` or maybe `git-annex drop`.

It's certianly possible to use `git-annex matchexpression` to check if a
file matches an annex.largefiles or annex.addunlocked expression. But I think
you're probably not looking for a machine-parseable way to do it.
(It would not be appropriate for `--dry-run` output to be machine-parseable
either.)

While `git-annex add` does report when it adds a file to git rather than
the annex, it does not currently have any output difference at all for
locked vs unlocked adds. I don't think I would want to change that
either. If add does not do what the user wants WRT locked/unlocked, they
can just use `git-annex lock` or `git-annex unlock` to get to the desired
state.

> > And like git add, you can certianly undo the effects of git annex add.
> 
> well -- unless there was a version staged already you don't want to loose etc.

That does not make sense. Why would --dry-run help you avoid such a mistake?
It's not going to tell you that you have a previous staged version
that would be overwritten. If you're concerned about that happening, commit
first.
"""]]