ssh:// remotes are not special remotes. Perhaps it would be useful to have a special remote that wraps a ssh:// remote? This would allow setting up a ssh:// remote that can be enabled using the webapp's normal UI for enabling special remotes.

Enabling such a special remote would just make a regular git remote, so there would be no need to implement the methods to get/put data. (Although it might need to provide stubs to appease the compiler.)

Above is done. The command line interface in initremote and enableremote is not too easy or perhaps useful, but it works great in the webapp. --Joey

It could optionally embed the ssh private key into the git-annex branch as a credential, for when you want anyone who has access to the git repo to be able to use the (locked-down) git-annex-shell on that server.

Leaving this todo open for this ssh private key embedcreds part. I think it makes sense to do, but it it probably not too easy. (webapp ssh setup should work with locked down git-annex-shell account needs to be fixed first). --Joey

---

I am on the fence about whether this would be useful, and would appreciate use cases.

One use case I was thinking about was a LAN with a central server, with a shared account with a git-annex repository on it. But then I realized this wouldn't really help set up git-annex in that situation, most of the time, because new clients would have the central server added as their first remote.

(It would help if one client paired with another new client, but that is unncessarily round-about most of the time.)

It might help in a more complex situation, where the LAN is not the whole network an a client might come onto the LAN already knowing about the central server there. --Joey

A very compelling use case is switching from XMPP to a ssh server, and wanting to make it easy for users. --Joey