git-annex:tldr:97fae

The git annex init command is used to initialize a Git repository as a Git-annex repository. Git-annex is an extension to Git that helps manage large files and their storage across multiple locations.

When you run git annex init, it performs the following actions:

1. It initializes a regular Git repository if one does not already exist. This is done with the git init command.
2. It sets up Git-annex in the repository by creating a .git directory and adding additional files and folders specific to Git-annex.
3. It enables an optional repository description by asking you to set a description for the repository.
4. It initializes the annex configuration by creating a new .git/config file and populating it with default settings.
5. It sets up a local annex branch that stores the metadata about the annexed files.
6. It configures the repository to enable the automatic committing of changes made by Git-annex, such as adding or removing files from the annex.

Once git annex init is executed, your Git repository is ready to use Git-annex for managing files, content distribution, and storage tracking.