100% funded in the first day! Additional funding will give me more time to obsess over making this perfect and add more and better features. Thanks to my backers for funding me $20k -- now I'm working on this for a full year!
I wrote git-annex to make git usable with large files. And for archivists, scientists, and regular geeky folks with many photos, music, and videos, a git that can handle big files is perfect. Now I'm going to make it easy to use too.
You'll be able to drop large files into a folder and have them automatically checked into git, and synced out to your personal cloud of other computers, sevices like Amazon S3 and rsync.net, and removable hard drives.
Building git-annex was the hard part. I holed up in a cabin, learned Haskell, and coded for a year, blazing new trails. It's done, and it works.It's been reviewed by publications like Linux Weekly News (http://lwn.net/Articles/419241/). Now I need your help to fund three months more work that will turn it from a geek power tool into an app everyone can use.
The first step will be to make git-annex watch for changes to your files, check them into git, and automatically sync them to your other repositories. I have a prototype of this using Linux's inotify. It will be extended to also support Mac OS X.
Then I will build a web app that can be used to control and configure things. Watch files as they upload and download, set priorities, etc. No command line needed. I plan to use Haskell's amazing Yesod web framework.
Finally, I will add configuration assistants to help you get the most out of the system. Easily set up syncing to remote computers, store encrypted copies of your data in Amazon S3 or other cloud services, automate moving old files to archival drives. There are many possibilities like these, and I will prioritize the ones my backers need.
I'll spend around one month on each of these steps. Then I'll spend another month or two on an Android port, and additional time I'm funded for to add more features. At the end of the year, I'll spend a month porting it to Windows, too. I'll be blogging about my progress all along the way, and each new feature will immediately be available in git-annex's own git repository.
- Project wiki, roadmap, and design: http://git-annex.branchable.com/design/assistant/
- Development blog: http://git-annex.branchable.com/design/assistant/blog
Now that my work is funded for a full year, I'm setting aside any further funding received, and using it to pay for things that will make the git-annex assistant even better:
- Get a professional web designer to polish the web app, so it looks and feels great!
- Access to a wider variety of Android gadgets to ensure that port works well.
- Necessary Windows license (seems I don't have one anymore!)
- Usability testing.
- Artwork.
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (20 days)