Want to share all the files in your repository with a friend?

Let's suppose you use Google Mail, and so does your friend, and you
sometimes also chat in Google Talk. The git-annex assistant will
use your Google account to share with your friend. (This actually
works with any Jabber account you use, not just Google Talk.)

Start by opening up your git annex dashboard.

[[!img pairing_walkthrough/addrepository.png alt="Add another repository button"]]

`*click*`

[[!img pairing.png alt="Share with a friend"]]

`*click*`

[[!img xmpp.png alt="Configuring Jabber account"]]

Fill that out, and git-annex will be able to show you a list of your
friends.

[[!img buddylist.png alt="Buddy list"]]

This list will refresh as friends log on and off, so you can
leave it open in a tab until a friend is available to start pairing.

(If your friend is not using git-annex yet, now's a great time to spread
the word!)

Once you click on "Start Pairing", your friend will see this pop up
on their git annex dashboard.

[[!img xmppalert.png alt="Pair request"]]

Once your friend clicks on that, your repositories will be paired.

### But, wait, there's one more step...

Despite the repositories being paired now, you and your friend can't yet
quite share files. You'll start to see your friend's files show up in your
git-annex folder, but you won't be able to open them yet.

What you need to do now is set up a repository out there in the cloud,
that both you and your friend can access. This will be used to transfer
files between the two of you.

At the end of the pairing process, a number of cloud providers are
suggested, and the git-annex assistant makes it easy to configure one of
them. Once you or your friend sets it up, it'll show up in the other
one's list of repositories:

[[!img repolist.png alt="Repository list"]]

The final step is to share the login information for the cloud repository
with your friend, so they can enable it too.

With that complete, you'll be able to open your friend's files!