1 files changed, 28 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/todo/wishlist:_turn_a_directory_into_a_git-annex_direct_repository.mdwn b/doc/todo/wishlist:_turn_a_directory_into_a_git-annex_direct_repository.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af646e403
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/todo/wishlist:_turn_a_directory_into_a_git-annex_direct_repository.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+It would be nice to have a simple command that can safely turn a plain directory into a git-annex direct repository.
+
+This is the use case:
+
+* I use git-annex to manage a directory full of files, including many huge files.
+* These files are also stored in an S3 repository.
+* It takes days to download those files.
+* I have another computer with a directory that contains 80% of these files.
+* I would like to turn that directory into a git-annex repository.
+* I would like to download only the 20% missing files.
+
+What I would like to have a command that turns that directory into a direct repository without dealing with the gory details I will describe later. This command could be something like
+
+```
+$ cd Documents
+$ git annex setup --direct example.org:~/annex/Documents.git
+```
+
+This command should take care of:
+
+* cloning the git repository `example.org:~/annex/Documents.git` to `.git`,
+* switching to direct mode (carefully setting up all the needed branches),
+* create symlinks _only_ for the missing files,
+* record that the existing files are present in this repository.
+
+These are just the main problems that one faces in this task; they are mostly caused by the fact that the repo is in direct mode.
+
+There are workarounds, like those sketched at <http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/75557/init-gix-annex-additional-repo-with-existing-files>, but the all are time-consuming and fragile.