69 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.7 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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Repositories created by the [[assistant]] use direct mode by default.
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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 (until you dropunused them).
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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`. But not `git commit -a` .. It'll
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commit whole large files into git!
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## what doesn't work in direct mode
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`git annex status` show 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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