1git-annex-import(1) General Commands Manual git-annex-import(1)
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6 git-annex-import - add files from a non-versioned directory or a spe‐
7 cial remote
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10 git annex import [path ...] | git annex import --from remote
11 branch[:subdir]
12
14 This command is a way to import files from elsewhere into your git-
15 annex repository. It can import files from a directory into your repos‐
16 itory, or it can import files from a git-annex special remote.
17 ## IMPORTING FROM A SPECIAL REMOTE
19 Importing from a special remote first downloads all new content from
21 it, and then constructs a git commit that reflects files that have
22 changed on the special remote since the last time git-annex looked at
23 it. Merging that commit into your repository will update it to reflect
24 changes made on the special remote.
25 This way, something can be using the special remote for file storage,
27 adding files, modifying files, and deleting files, and you can track
28 those changes using git-annex.
29 You can combine using git annex import to fetch changes from a special
31 remote with git annex export to send your local changes to the special
32 remote.
33 You can only import from special remotes that were configured with
35 importtree=yes when set up with git-annex-initremote(1). Only some
36 kinds of special remotes will let you configure them this way.
37 To import from a special remote, you must specify the name of a branch.
39 A corresponding remote tracking branch will be updated by git annex
40 import. After that point, it's the same as if you had run a git fetch
41 from a regular git remote; you can git merge the changes into your cur‐
42 rently checked out branch.
43 For example:
45 git annex import master --from myremote
47 git merge myremote/master
48 Note that you may need to pass --allow-unrelated-histories the first
50 time you git merge from an import. Think of this as the remote being a
51 separate git repository with its own files. If you first git annex
52 export files to a remote, and then git annex import from it, you won't
53 need that option.
54 You can also limit the import to a subdirectory, using the "branch:sub‐
56 dir" syntax. For example, if "camera" is a special remote that accesses
57 a camera, and you want to import those into the photos directory,
58 rather than to the root of your repository:
59 git annex import master:photos --from camera
61 git merge camera/master
62 The git annex sync --content command (and the git-annex assistant) can
64 also be used to import from a special remote. To do this, you need to
65 configure "remote.<name>.annex-tracking-branch" to tell it what branch
66 to track. For example:
67 git config remote.myremote.annex-tracking-branch master
69 git annex sync --content
70 ## IMPORTING FROM A DIRECTORY
72 When run with a path, git annex import moves files from somewhere out‐
74 side the git working copy, and adds them to the annex.
75 Individual files to import can be specified. If a directory is speci‐
77 fied, the entire directory is imported.
78 git annex import /media/camera/DCIM/*
80 When importing files, there's a possibility of importing a duplicate of
82 a file that is already known to git-annex -- its content is either
83 present in the local repository already, or git-annex knows of another
84 repository that contains it, or it was present in the annex before but
85 has been removed now.
86 By default, importing a duplicate of a known file will result in a new
88 filename being added to the repository, so the duplicate file is
89 present in the repository twice. (With all checksumming backends,
90 including the default SHA256E, only one copy of the data will be
91 stored.)
92 Several options can be used to adjust handling of duplicate files, see
94 --duplicate, --deduplicate, --skip-duplicates, --clean-duplicates, and
95 --reinject-duplicates documentation below.
96
98 --duplicate
99 Do not delete files from the import location.
101 Running with this option repeatedly can import the same files
103 into different git repositories, or branches, or different loca‐
104 tions in a git repository.
105 --deduplicate
107 Only import files that are not duplicates; duplicate files will
108 be deleted from the import location.
109 --skip-duplicates
111 Only import files that are not duplicates. Avoids deleting any
112 files from the import location.
113 --clean-duplicates
115 Does not import any files, but any files found in the import
116 location that are duplicates are deleted.
117 --reinject-duplicates
119 Imports files that are not duplicates. Files that are duplicates
120 have their content reinjected into the annex (similar to git-
121 annex-reinject(1)).
122 --force
124 Allow existing files to be overwritten by newly imported files.
125 Also, causes .gitignore to not take effect when adding files.
127 file matching options
129 Many of the git-annex-matching-options(1) can be used to specify
130 files to import.
131 git annex import /dir --include='*.png'
133 ## COMMON OPTIONS
135 --jobs=N -JN
137 Imports multiple files in parallel. This may be faster. For
138 example: -J4
139 --json Enable JSON output. This is intended to be parsed by programs
141 that use git-annex. Each line of output is a JSON object.
142 --json-error-messages
144 Messages that would normally be output to standard error are
145 included in the json instead.
146
148 Note that using --deduplicate or --clean-duplicates with the WORM back‐
149 end does not look at file content, but filename and mtime.
150 If annex.largefiles is configured, and does not match a file, git annex
152 import will add the non-large file directly to the git repository,
153 instead of to the annex.
154
156 git-annex(1)
157 git-annex-add(1)
159 git-annex-export(1)
161
163 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
164 git-annex-import(1)