The only remaining vestiage of backends is different types of keys. These
are still called "backends", mostly to avoid needing to change user interface
and configuration. But everything to do with storing keys in different
backends was gone; instead different types of remotes are used.
In the refactoring, lots of code was moved out of odd corners like
Backend.File, to closer to where it's used, like Command.Drop and
Command.Fsck. Quite a lot of dead code was removed. Several data structures
became simpler, which may result in better runtime efficiency. There should
be no user-visible changes.
git-annex allows managing files with git, without checking the file
contents into git. While that may seem paradoxical, it is useful when
dealing with files larger than git can currently easily handle, whether due
to limitations in memory, checksumming time, or disk space.
For documentation, see doc/ or <http://git-annex.branchable.com/>
9f1577f746