# Creating a special S3 remote to hold files shareable by URL

In this example, I'll assume you'll be creating a bucket in Amazon S3 named
$BUCKET and a special remote named public-s3. Be sure to replace $BUCKET
with something like "public-bucket-joey" when you follow along in your
shell.

Set up your special [[S3 remote|special_remotes/S3]] with (at least) these options:

	git annex initremote public-s3 type=s3 encryption=none bucket=$BUCKET exporttree=yes public=yes encryption=none

Then export the files in the master branch to the remote:

	git annex export master --to public-s3

You can run that command again to update the export. See
[[git-annex-export]] for details.

Each exported file will be available to the public from
`http://$BUCKET.s3.amazonaws.com/$file`

Note: Bear in mind that Amazon will charge the owner of the bucket
for public downloads from that bucket.

# Indexes

By default, there is no index.ntml file exported, so if you open
`http://$BUCKET.s3.amazonaws.com/` in a web browser, you'll see an
XML document listing the files.

For a nicer list of files, you can make an index.html file, check it into
git, and export it to the bucket. You'll need to configure the bucket to
use index.html as its index document, as
[explained here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27899/is-there-a-way-to-have-index-html-functionality-with-content-hosted-on-s3).

# Old method

To use `git annex export`, you need git-annex version 6.20170909 or
newer. Before we had `git annex export` an [[old_method]] was used instead.