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This was the last place in git-annex that could remove data referred to by the git history, without being forced. Like drop, dropunused checks remotes, and honors the global annex.numcopies setting. (However, .gitattributes settings cannot apply to unused files.)
77 lines
3 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
3 KiB
Markdown
Normally, git-annex repositories consist of symlinks that are checked into
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git, and in turn point at the content of large files that is stored in
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`.git/annex/objects/`. Direct mode gets rid of the symlinks.
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The advantage of direct mode is that you can access files directly,
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including modifying them. The disadvantage is that most regular git
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commands cannot safely be used, and only a subset of git-annex commands
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can be used.
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Normally, git-annex repositories start off in indirect mode. With some
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exceptions:
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* Repositories created by the [[assistant]] use direct mode by default.
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* Repositories on FAT and other less than stellar filesystems
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that don't support things like symlinks will be automatically put
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into direct mode.
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* Windows always uses direct mode.
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## enabling (and disabling) direct mode
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Any repository can be converted to use direct mode at any time, and if you
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decide not to use it, you can convert back to indirect mode just as easily.
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Also, you can have one clone of a repository using direct mode, and another
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using indirect mode; direct mode interoperates.
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To start using direct mode:
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git annex direct
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To stop using direct mode:
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git annex indirect
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## safety of using direct mode
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With direct mode, you're operating without large swathes of git-annex's
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carefully constructed safety net, which ensures that past versions of
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files are preserved and can be accessed.
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With direct mode, any file can be edited directly, or deleted at any time,
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and there's no guarantee that the old version is backed up somewhere else.
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So if you care about preserving the history of files, you're strongly
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encouraged to tell git-annex that your direct mode repository cannot be
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trusted to retain the content of a file. To do so:
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git annex untrust .
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On the other hand, if you only care about the current versions of files,
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and are using git-annex with direct mode to keep files synchronised between
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computers, and manage your files, this should not be a concern for you.
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## use a direct mode repository
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You can use most git-annex commands as usual in a direct mode repository.
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A very few commands don't work in direct mode, and will refuse to do anything.
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Direct mode also works well with the git-annex assistant.
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You can use `git commit --staged`, or plain `git commit`.
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But not `git commit -a`, or `git commit <file>` ..
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that'd commit whole large files into git!
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## what doesn't work in direct mode
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`git annex status` shows incomplete information. A few other commands,
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like `git annex unlock` don't make sense in direct mode and will refuse to
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run.
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As for git commands, you can probably use some git working tree
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manipulation commands, like `git checkout` and `git revert` in useful
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ways... But beware, these commands can replace files that are present in
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your repository with broken symlinks. If that file was the only copy you
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had of something, it'll be lost.
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This is one more reason it's wise to make git-annex untrust your direct mode
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repositories. Still, you can lose data using these sort of git commands, so
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use extreme caution.
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