If you are starting from nothing (no existing `git` or `git-annex` repository) and want to use a server as a centralised repository, try the following steps. On the server where you'll hold the "master" repository: server$ cd /one/git server$ mkdir m server$ cd m server$ git init --bare Initialized empty Git repository in /one/git/m/ server$ git annex init origin init origin ok server$ Clone that to the laptop: laptop$ cd /other laptop$ git clone ssh://server//one/git/m Cloning into 'm'... remote: Counting objects: 5, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done. remote: Total 5 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Receiving objects: 100% (5/5), done. warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to checkout. laptop$ cd m laptop$ git annex init laptop init laptop ok laptop$ Add some content: laptop$ git annex addurl http://kitenet.net/~joey/screencasts/git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg addurl kitenet.net_~joey_screencasts_git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg (downloading http://kitenet.net/~joey/screencasts/git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg ...) --2011-12-15 08:13:10-- http://kitenet.net/~joey/screencasts/git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg Resolving kitenet.net (kitenet.net)... 2001:41c8:125:49::10, 80.68.85.49 Connecting to kitenet.net (kitenet.net)|2001:41c8:125:49::10|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 39362757 (38M) [audio/ogg] Saving to: `/other/m/.git/annex/tmp/URL--http&c%%kitenet.net%~joey%screencasts%git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg' 100%[======================================>] 39,362,757 2.31M/s in 17s 2011-12-15 08:13:27 (2.21 MB/s) - `/other/m/.git/annex/tmp/URL--http&c%%kitenet.net%~joey%screencasts%git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg' saved [39362757/39362757] (checksum...) ok (Recording state in git...) Don't forget to commit it: laptop$ git commit -m 'See Joey play.' [master (root-commit) 106e923] See Joey play. 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 120000 kitenet.net_~joey_screencasts_git-annex_coding_in_haskell.ogg laptop$ All fine, now push it back to the centralised master: laptop$ git push origin master Counting objects: 20, done. Delta compression using up to 4 threads. Compressing objects: 100% (11/11), done. Writing objects: 100% (18/18), 1.50 KiB, done. Total 18 (delta 1), reused 1 (delta 0) To ssh://server//one/git/m 3ba1386..ad3bc9e git-annex -> git-annex laptop$ You'll probably want to use `git annex copy --to origin` to copy the annexed file contents to the server. See the [[walkthrough]] for details. You can add more "client" repositories by following the `laptop` sequence of operations.