[[!comment format=mdwn username="joey" subject="""comment 3""" date="2016-04-13T16:54:01Z" content=""" Hmm, so it is enabled. So, I guess that the attempt to use the magic database is somehow failing. Apparently in a way that doesn't cause git-annex to display a useful error message. Can you check what is the behavior if you run: git-annex smudge --clean file < file That is supposed to output something on stdout, and exit successfuly. I guess it's probably exiting nonzero, and any output would be helpful to know. It may also be helpful to strace that command. """]]