I’m trying to start syncing between two Macs. This is my first time trying to use git-annex.

I have Mac #1 with macOS v14 Sonoma, which is an Apple Silicon Mac.

Mac #2, an Intel Macs, has macOS v13 Ventura.

I installed git-annex via the disk image (dmg) on both. Each computer has version 10.20231228-g181e14467ffee9d198529efb74c38242e51107c3.

On Mac #1, I start “git-annex” by double-clicking on it in the Finder. It starts up the assistant in Safari. I create a starting git-annex repo there, with a path in my macOS user home folder — or at least I try, because the progress of loading the page never finishes after many minutes of waiting and no indication of any further progress.

I found that if I quit git-annex in Activity Monitor and then re-launch it, I see the git-annex repo listed.

From there, I select git-annex Assistant > Configuration > Repositories > Local Computer. I input a Secret Phase, click the “Start Pairing” button, and all seems relatively okay. There is a “Pair in progress” notice in the Assistant, with a “Cancel” button.

On Mac #2, I start “git-annex” in the Finder, and it launches in Safari. I create an initial git-annex repo. Again, this never seems to complete.

I quit git-annex in Activity Monitor and then re-launch it, I see the git-annex repo listed as I did on Mac #1.

Mac #2 shows the “ is sending a pair request” notice, with a “Respond” button. I click “Respond,” enter the same Secret Phrase, and click “Finish pairing.”

At this point, Assistant on Mac #1 shows “PairListener crashed: failed setting up ssh authorized keys” with a ”Restart Thread” button. Clicking the button does not seem to help.

Here are things I’ve also checked and/or tried:

1. Enabled “Remote Login” (SSH) in System Settings > General > Sharing on each computer. (I did this before any attempts to share any git-annex repositories between the two computers.) This is limited to only my macOS user account on both Macs.
2. macOS Firewall is set to default (i.e. shows up as “Inactive” on both Macs.
3. Mac #2 is using Little Snitch (an alternative firewall) in “Silent (Allow)” mode. I don’t get any alerts from its app about git-annex or ssh, and it is set to allow incoming and outbound traffic. Even with Little Snitch in “Alert Mode,” I do not get any information about git-annex or ssh.
4. Doing a manual setup without Assistant, using the “walkthrough” instructions. This has always resulting in “Remote origin does not have git-annex installed” errors, which I surmise are due to the authorized_keys and config settings for SSH, or just needing a more-permissive-than-macOS-defaults SSH setup.
5. Starting setup with Assistant, then trying to manually fill in the SSH configuration gaps. This means I’m trying to cobble together what I assume should be the authorized_keys and config settings for SSH manually. I’ve used the git-annex man pages and some ChatGPT to try to sort that out. I haven’t sorted this out yet. I also haven’t been able to have Git work over SSH between the two computers for this purpose. While doing this, I noted that Mac #1 didn’t have any SSH changes made by git-annex Assistant — but interestingly, Mac #2 did get at least the authorized_keys changes. It is possible if I simplify what was doing manually, I may get better luck. Mac #2 already has an ~/.ssh/config setup and ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
6. Assistant setup, after adding the “git-annex.app” to the Full Disk Access list in System Settings > Privacy & Security. I quit all git-annex processes and restarted the app from the Finder afterwards on both computers. Same results.

I’m at a bit of a loss here. Thanks in advance for any ideas that could help get this going.