instructions for using Box.com as a special remote

I was sucked in by the 50 gb free lifetime storage offer.
Happily, it was pretty easy to get it to work with git-annex.

2 files changed, 59 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/doc/special_remotes.mdwn b/doc/special_remotes.mdwn
index ddb2fd125..2d0474ffe 100644
--- a/doc/special_remotes.mdwn
+++ b/doc/special_remotes.mdwn
@@ -13,7 +13,15 @@ They cannot be used by other git commands though.
 * [[rsync]]
 * [[web]]
 * [[hook]]
-* [[tahoe-lafs|forum/tips:_special__95__remotes__47__hook_with_tahoe-lafs]] - limited testing
+
+The above special remotes can be used to tie git-annex 
+into many cloud services. Here are specific instructions
+for various cloud things:
+
+* [[tips/using_Amazon_S3]]
+* [[tips/Internet_Archive_via_S3]]
+* [[tahoe-lafs|forum/tips:_special__95__remotes__47__hook_with_tahoe-lafs]]
+* [[tips/using_box.com_as_a_special_remote]]
 
 ## Unused content on special remotes
 
diff --git a/doc/tips/using_box.com_as_a_special_remote.mdwn b/doc/tips/using_box.com_as_a_special_remote.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e6f73866
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+++ b/doc/tips/using_box.com_as_a_special_remote.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[Box.com](http://box.com/) is a file storage service, currently notable 
+for providing 50 gb of free storage if you sign up with its Android client.
+(Or a few GB free otherwise.)
+
+With a little setup, git-annex can use Box as a
+[[special remote|special_remotes]]. 
+
+## davfs2 setup
+
+* First, install
+  the [davfs2](http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/davfs2) program,
+  which can mount Box using WebDAV. On Debian, just `sudo apt-get install davfs2`
+* Allow users to mount davfs filesystems, by ensuring that
+  `/sbin/mount.davfs` is setuid root. On Debian, just `sudo dpkg-reconfigure davfs2`
+* Add yourself to the davfs2 group.
+	sudo adduser $(whoami) davfs2
+* Edit `/etc/fstab`, and add a line to mount Box using davfs.
+	sudo mkdir -p /media/box.com
+	echo "https://www.box.com/dav/	/media/box.com	davfs	noauto,user	0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
+* Create `~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf`:
+	mkdir ~/.davfs2/
+	echo use_locks 0 >> ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf
+	echo delay_upload 0 >> ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf
+* Create `~/.davfs2/secrets`. This file contains your Box.com login and password.
+  Your login is probably the email address you signed up with.
+	echo "/media/box.com joey@kitenet.net mypassword" > ~/.davfs2/secrets
+	chmod 600 ~/.davfs2/secrets
+* Now you should be able to mount Box, as a non-root user:
+	mount /media/box.com
+
+## git-annex setup
+
+You need git-annex version 3.20120303 or newer, which adds support for chunking
+files larger than Box's 100 mb limit.
+
+Create the special remote, in your git-annex repository.
+** This example is non-encrypted; fill in your gpg key ID for a securely
+encrypted special remote! **
+
+	git annex initremote box.com type=directory directory=/media/box.com chunksize=100mb encryption=none
+
+Now git-annex can copy files to box.com, get files from it, etc, just like
+with any other special remote.
+
+	% git annex copy bigfile --to box.com
+	bigfile (to box.com...) ok
+	% git annex drop bigfile
+	bigfile (checking box.com...) ok
+	% git annex get bigfile
+	bigfile (from box.com...) ok