Please describe the problem.

A very basic operation is stuck (isn't there a unit-test?)

What steps will reproduce the problem?

#!/bin/bash

export PS4='> '
set -x
set -eu
cd "$(mktemp -d ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/dl-XXXXXXX)"

(
mkdir src
cd src
git init
git annex init


touch 123
git add 123
git commit -m 123 123
)

#git clone --shared src dest
git clone src dest

(
cd dest
#git annex init
# would stall unless we git annex init above with 8.20200810+git5-gb41f77445-1~ndall+1
git annex get 123
)

ls -lLi {dest,src}/123

What version of git-annex are you using? On what operating system?

8.20200810+git47-g27329f0bb-1~ndall+1

Please provide any additional information below.

$> bash check-annex-hardlink.sh 
> set -eu
>> mktemp -d /home/yoh/.tmp/dl-XXXXXXX
> cd /home/yoh/.tmp/dl-sgm3azv
> mkdir src
> cd src
> git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/yoh/.tmp/dl-sgm3azv/src/.git/
> git annex init
init  (scanning for unlocked files...)
ok
(recording state in git...)
> touch 123
> git add 123
> git commit -m 123 123
[master (root-commit) 8e97f2f] 123
 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 123
> git clone src dest
Cloning into 'dest'...
done.
> cd dest
> git annex get 123
(merging origin/git-annex into git-annex...)
(scanning for unlocked files...)
^C

fixed --Joey