git-annex/doc/internals/git-remote-annex.mdwn
Joey Hess dfb09ad1ad
preparing to merge git-remote-annex
Update its todo with remaining items.

Add changelog entry.

Simplified internals document to no longer be notes to myself, but
target users who want to understand how the data is stored
and might want to extract these repos manually.

Sponsored-by: Kevin Mueller on Patreon
2024-05-10 15:06:15 -04:00

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Markdown

The [[git-remote-annex|/git-remote-annex]] command allows pushing a git
repository to a special remote, and later cloning from it.
This adds two new key types to git-annex, GITMANIFEST and a GITBUNDLE.
GITMANIFEST--$UUID is the manifest for a git repository stored in the
git-annex repository with that UUID.
GITBUNDLE--$UUID-sha256 is a git bundle.
# format of the manifest file
An ordered list of bundle keys, one per line.
(Lines end with unix `"\n"`, not `"\r\n"`.)
# multiple GITMANIFEST files
Usually there will only be one per special remote, but it's possible for
multiple special remotes to point to the same object storage, and if so
multiple GITMANIFEST objects can be stored.
This is why the UUID of the special remote is included in the GITMANIFEST
key, and in the annex:: uri.
# manually cloning from these files
If you are unable to use git-annex and need to clone a git repository
stored in such a special remote, this procedure will work:
* Find and download the GITMANIFEST
* Download each listed GITBUNDLE
* `git fetch` from each new bundle in order.
(Note that later bundles can update refs from the versions in previous
bundles.)
When the special remote is encryptee, the GITMANIFEST and GITBUNDLE will
also be encrypted. To decrypt those manually, see this
[[fairly simple shell script using standard tools|tips/Decrypting_files_in_special_remotes_without_git-annex]].