While git-annex can be installed on your Android device, it might be easier not to install it there, but run it on your computer using adb to pull and push changes to the Android device.

A few reasons for going this route:

• Easier than installing git-annex on Android.
• Avoids needing to type commands into a terminal on Android.
• Avoids problems with putting a git-annex repository on Android's /sdcard, which is crippled by not supporting hard links etc.

All you should need is a USB cable (or adb over wifi), and the adb command.

setting it up

First, initialize your git-annex repository on your computer, if you haven't already.

Then, in that repository, set up an adb special remote:

git-annex initremote android type=adb androiddirectory=/sdcard encryption=none exporttree=yes importtree=yes

The above example syncs with the /sdcard directory of the Android device. That can be a lot of files, so you may want a more limited directory. See the sample workflows below for some more examples.

Next, configure how trees of files imported from it will be merged into your git repository.

    git config remote.android.annex-tracking-branch master:android

Setting "master:android" makes the phone be treated as containing a branch of the master branch, and makes all its files appear to be inside a subdirectory named android. If you want its files to not be in a subdirectory, set it to "master" instead.

Finally, you may want to configure a preferred content expression for the remote. That will limit both what is exported to it, and what is imported from it. If you want to fully sync all files, you don't need to do this.

For example, to limit the files that get imported and exported to sound files:

git annex wanted android 'include=*.mp3 or include=*.ogg'

syncing with it

git annex sync --content android

This command does a bi-directional sync with the phone, first importing new and changed files from it, merging that into the master branch, and then exporting from the master branch back to the android device so any modifications you have made get synced over to it.

See ?git-annex-import, [[git-annex-export, and git-annex-sync for more details, and bear in mind that you can also use commands like these to only import from or export to the android device:

git annex import master:android --from android
git annex merge android/master
git annex export master:android --to android

sample workflows

photos

Set up the remote to use the /sdcard/DCIM directory where the phone's camera stores them.

git-annex initremote android type=adb androiddirectory=/sdcard/DCIM encryption=none exporttree=yes importtree=yes

The annex-tracking-branch can be the same as before, to limit the files that are synced to those in an android directory:

git config remote.android.annex-tracking-branch master:android

If you don't want to keep old photos on your Android device, you can simply git mv the files from the android directory to another directory, and the next sync with the phone will delete them from the Android device:

git mv android/* .
git annex sync --content

music and podcasts

You could set up the remote to use the /sdcard/Music directory. But, I sometimes download music to other locations, and perhaps you do too. Let's instead limit the remote to mp3 and ogg files:

git-annex initremote android type=adb androiddirectory=/sdcard encryption=none exporttree=yes importtree=yes
git annex wanted android 'include=*.mp3 or include=*.ogg'

The annex-tracking-branch can be the same as before, to limit the files that are synced to those in an android directory:

git config remote.android.annex-tracking-branch master:android

And then do an initial sync:

git annex sync --content android

Now, you can copy music and podcasts you want to listen to over to the Android device, by first copying them to the android directory of your git-annex repo:

cp -a podcasts/LibreLounge/Episode_14__Secure_Scuttlebutt_with_Joey_Hess.ogg android/
git annex add android
git annex sync --content android

That will also import any new sound files from the Android device into your git-annex repo.

Once you're done with listening to something on the Android device, you can simply delete it from the device, and the next time git-annex syncs, it will get removed from the android directory. Or, you can delete it from the android directory and the next sync will delete it from the Android device.