Corrupt git-annex repository

[Richard Hartmann]

On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 18:33, Joey Hess <joey at kitenet.net> wrote:

> It seems your repository has lost the git-annex branch.

No, the branch was still there. If you want the contents, I can send
them off-list.


> You might try running git fsck to get a better view of the damage,
> but it's unlikely to fix anything.

I had hoped to salvage the existing repo, but I will rather play it
safe and make _sure_ the data is correct.


> Your best bet is to re-clone the repository from origin, and preserve
> the git-annex file contents by moving .git/annex/objects from the broken
> repository to the new clone. You can also move .git/config over, to
> preserve the annex UUID setting (and any other configs of course). Then
> run git annex fsck to make sure its location tracking for that
> repository is accurate.

Sounds like a good idea. One question about the UUID, though. I
created a repo as replacement for a borked one and after running `git
annex init foo`, it set a UUID for that repo. I copied over the old
UUID, hoping to reduce clutter from unused repos, but git annex status
still told me the local repo had the initial UUID.
The above seems to imply that this should work.

The one problem with cloning a new repo is that I will need to restore
mtime semi-by-hand. You mentioned the gitogether at Google talking
about metadata; what, if anything, did come from that?

Finally, I think there's still no way to declare a repo permanently
gone, i.e. so that it will never show up in any status reports or
similar ever again. Or did I just not find it?


Richard