using Amazon S3

git-annex extends git's usual remotes with some special remotes, that are not git repositories. This way you can set up a remote using say, Amazon S3, and use git-annex to transfer files into the cloud.

First, export your Amazon AWS credentials:

# export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="08TJMT99S3511WOZEP91"
# export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="s3kr1t"

Now, create a gpg key, if you don't already have one. This will be used to encrypt everything stored in S3, for your privacy. Once you have a gpg key, run gpg --list-secret-keys to look up its key id, something like "2512E3C7"

Next, create the S3 remote, and describe it.

# git annex initremote cloud type=S3 encryption=2512E3C7
initremote cloud (encryption setup with gpg key C910D9222512E3C7) (checking bucket) (creating bucket in US) (gpg) ok
# git annex describe cloud "at Amazon's US datacenter"
describe cloud ok

The configuration for the S3 remote is stored in git. So to make another repository use the same S3 remote is easy:

# cd /media/usb/annex
# git pull laptop
# git annex initremote cloud
initremote cloud (gpg) (checking bucket) ok

Now the remote can be used like any other remote.

# git annex copy my_cool_big_file --to cloud
copy my_cool_big_file (gpg) (checking cloud...) (to cloud...) ok
# git annex move video/hackity_hack_and_kaxxt.mov --to cloud
move video/hackity_hack_and_kaxxt.mov (checking cloud...) (to cloud...) ok

See S3 for details.

ANNEX_S3 vs AWS for keys

The instructions state ANNEX_S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID and ANNEX_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY but git-annex cannot connect with those constants. git-annex tells me to set both "AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY" instead, which works. This is with Xubuntu 12.04.