Provided by: git-annex_8.20210223-2ubuntu2_amd64 bug

NAME

       git-annex-preferred-content - which files are wanted in a repository

DESCRIPTION

       Each  repository  has  a  preferred  content  setting,  which  specifies  content that the
       repository wants to have present. These settings can be configured using git  annex  vicfg
       or git annex wanted.  They are used by the --auto option, by git annex sync --content, and
       by the git-annex assistant.

       While preferred content expresses a preference, it can be overridden by simply  using  git
       annex drop. On the other hand, required content settings are enforced; git annex drop will
       refuse to drop a file  if  doing  so  would  violate  its  required  content  settings.  A
       repository's  required  content  can  be  configured  using  git  annex vicfg or git annex
       required.

SYNTAX

       Preferred content expressions use a similar syntax to  the  git-annex-matching-options(1),
       without the dashes.  For example:

        exclude=archive/* and (include=*.mp3 or smallerthan=1mb)

       The  idea  is  that  you  write  an  expression  that files are matched against. If a file
       matches, the repository wants to store its content. If it doesn't, the repository wants to
       drop its content (if there are enough copies elsewhere to allow removing it).

EXPRESSIONS

       include=glob / exclude=glob

              Match files to include, or exclude.

              While  the  command-line  options  --include=glob  and  --exclude=glob  match files
              relative to the  current  directory,  preferred  content  expressions  match  files
              relative to the top of the git repository.

              For  example,  suppose you put files into archive directories when you're done with
              them. Then you could configure your laptop to prefer to  not  retain  those  files,
              like this: exclude=*/archive/*

              When  a  subdirectory  is  being exported or imported to a special remote (see git-
              annex-export(1)) and git-annex-import(1), these match relative to the  top  of  the
              subdirectory.

              Note  that,  when  a command is run with the --all option, or in a bare repository,
              there is no filename associated with an  annexed  object,  and  so  "include="  and
              "exclude=" will not match.

       copies=number
              Matches  only files that git-annex believes to have the specified number of copies,
              or more. Note that it does not check remotes to verify that the copies still exist.

              To decide if content should be dropped, git-annex evaluates the  preferred  content
              expression under the assumption that the content has *already* been dropped. If the
              content would not be wanted then, the drop can be done.  So, for example,  copies=2
              in  a  preferred  content  expression  lets  content be dropped only when there are
              currently 3 copies of it, including the repo  it's  being  dropped  from.  This  is
              different  than  running  git  annex  drop  --copies=2,  which will drop files that
              currently have 2 copies.

       copies=trustlevel:number
              Matches only files that git-annex believes have the  specified  number  copies,  on
              remotes with the specified trust level. For example, copies=trusted:2

              To  match  any  trust  level  at or higher than a given level, use trustlevel+. For
              example, copies=semitrusted+:2

       copies=groupname:number
              Matches only files that git-annex believes have the specified number of copies,  on
              remotes in the specified group. For example, copies=archive:2

              Preferred content expressions have no equivalent to the --in option, but groups can
              accomplish similar things. You can add repositories to groups,  and  match  against
              the groups in a preferred content expression. So rather than --in=usbdrive, put all
              the USB drives into a "transfer" group, and use copies=transfer:1

       lackingcopies=number
              Matches only files that git-annex  believes  need  the  specified  number  or  more
              additional copies to be made in order to satisfy their numcopies settings.

       approxlackingcopies=number
              Like  lackingcopies,  but does not look at .gitattributes annex.numcopies settings.
              This makes it significantly faster.

       inbackend=name
              Matches only files whose content is stored using the specified key-value backend.

       securehash
              Matches only files  whose  content  is  hashed  using  a  cryptographically  secure
              function.

       inallgroup=groupname
              Matches  only  files that git-annex believes are present in all repositories in the
              specified group.

       smallerthan=size / largerthan=size
              Matches only files whose content is smaller than,  or  larger  than  the  specified
              size.

              The  size  can  be specified with any commonly used units, for example, "0.5 gb" or
              "100 KiloBytes"

       metadata=field=glob
              Matches only files that have a metadata field attached with a  value  that  matches
              the glob. The values of metadata fields are matched case insensitively.

              To match a tag "done", use metadata=tag=done

              To match author metadata, use metadata=author=*Smith

       metadata=field<number / metadata=field>number

       metadata=field<=number / metadata=field>=number
              Matches  only  files  that  have  a  metadata field attached with a value that is a
              number and is less than or greater than the specified number.

              To match PDFs with between 100 and 200  pages  (assuming  something  has  set  that
              metadata), use metadata=pagecount>=100 and metadata=pagecount<=200

       present
              Makes content be wanted if it's present, but not otherwise.

              This  leaves it up to you to use git-annex manually to move content around. You can
              use this to avoid preferred content settings from  affecting  a  subdirectory.  For
              example: auto/* or (include=ad-hoc/* and present)

              Note that not present is a very bad thing to put in a preferred content expression.
              It'll make it want to get content that's not present,  and  drop  content  that  is
              present! Don't go there..

       inpreferreddir
              Makes  content  be  preferred if it's in a directory (located anywhere in the tree)
              with a particular name.

              The name of the directory can be configured using git  annex  enableremote  $remote
              preferreddir=$dirname

              (If no directory name is configured, it uses "public" by default.)

              Note  that,  when  a command is run with the --all option, or in a bare repository,
              there is no filename associated with an annexed  object,  and  so  "inpreferreddir"
              will not match.

       standard
              git-annex  comes with some built-in preferred content expressions, that can be used
              with repositories that are in some standard groups such as "client" and "transfer".

              When a repository is in exactly one such group, you can use the "standard"  keyword
              in  its  preferred  content  expression,  to  match  whatever  content  the group's
              expression matches.

              Most often, the whole preferred content expression is simply "standard".  But,  you
              can do more complicated things, for example: standard or include=otherdir/*

       groupwanted
              The  "groupwanted"  keyword  can be used to refer to a preferred content expression
              that is associated with a group, as long as there is exactly  one  such  expression
              amoung  the groups a repository is in. This is like the "standard" keyword, but you
              can configure the preferred content expressions using git annex groupwanted.

              When writing a groupwanted preferred  content  expression,  you  can  use  all  the
              keywords documented here, including "standard".  (But not "groupwanted".)

              For  example, to make a variant of the standard client preferred content expression
              that does not want  files  in  the  "out"  directory,  you  could  run:  git  annex
              groupwanted client "standard and exclude=out/*"

              Then  repositories  that  are  in the client group and have their preferred content
              expression set to "groupwanted" will use that, while other client repositories that
              have  their  preferred  content  expression set to "standard" will use the standard
              expression.

              Or, you could make a new group, with your own custom preferred  content  expression
              tuned  for  your  needs,  and  every  repository you put in this group and make its
              preferred content be "groupwanted" will use it.

              For example, the archive group only wants to archive 1 copy of  each  file,  spread
              among  every  repository  in  the  group.   Here's  how  to configure a group named
              redundantarchive, that instead wants to contain 3 copies of each file:

               git annex groupwanted redundantarchive "not (copies=redundantarchive:3)"
               for repo in foo bar baz; do
                   git annex group $repo redundantarchive
                   git annex wanted $repo groupwanted
               done

       unused Matches only keys that git annex unused has determined to be unused.

              This is related the the --unused option.  However, putting unused  in  a  preferred
              content  expression doesn't make git-annex consider those unused keys. So when git-
              annex  is  only  checking  preferred  content  expressions  against  files  in  the
              repository  (which  are  obviously  used), unused in a preferred content expression
              won't match anything.

              So when is unused useful in a preferred content expression?

              Using git annex sync --content --all will operate on all  files,  including  unused
              ones, and take unused in preferred content expressions into account.

              The git-annex assistant periodically scans for unused files, and moves them to some
              repository  whose  preferred  content  expression  says  it  wants  them.  (Or,  if
              annex.expireunused is set, it may just delete them.)

       anything
              Always matches.

       nothing
              Never matches. (Same as "not anything")

       not expression
              Inverts what the expression matches. For example, not include=archive/* is the same
              as exclude=archive/*

       and / or / ( expression )
              These can be used to build up more complicated expressions.

TESTING

       To check at the command line which files are matched by a repository's  preferred  content
       settings, you can use the --want-get and --want-drop options.

       For example, git annex find --want-get --not --in . will find all the files that git annex
       get --auto will want to get, and git annex find --want-drop --in . will find all the files
       that git annex drop --auto will want to drop.

SEE ALSO

       git-annex(1)

       git-annex-vicfg(1)

       git-annex-wanted(1)

       <https://git-annex.branchable.com/preferred_content/>

       <https://git-annex.branchable.com/preferred_content/standard_groups/>

AUTHOR

       Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

       <http://git-annex.branchable.com/>

                                                                   git-annex-preferred-content(1)