[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="joey"
 subject="""comment 4"""
 date="2016-01-20T18:43:13Z"
 content="""
It's true; the directory special remote copies the files in and out. The
main reason this is done is to get a useful progress display, which using
`cp` wouldn't provide. Of course, if cp were using reflinks, it'd be so
fast that a progress display would not be necessary! But often, reflinks
cannot be used.

It might be a good enhancement for the directory special remote to be
configurable to use cp --reflink, or even autodetect if reflinks can be
used (although I don't know how it would detect that).

OTOH, you might be better off using `git clone --shared`. Recent versions
of git-annex can hard-link objects between shared clones.
"""]]