Now closed, see the 2015 survey!
To start off the 2013 git-annex user survey, let's see how many users
type git annex commands at the command line, and how many use the
assistant (and its webapp).
I use mostly the git-annex assistant (31%)
I use mostly git-annex at the command line (46%)
I use both equally often (15%)
I do not yet use git-annex (7%)
Total votes: 426
I'm curious to see how popular direct mode is versus indirect mode.
I use mostly indirect mode (34%)
I use mostly direct mode (26%)
I use direct and indirect mode equally (12%)
I use indirect mode when possible, but am forced to use direct mode on some platforms (11%)
I use whatever is the default (10%)
I don't know (4%)
Total votes: 308
How do you get git-annex installed?
From a prebuilt version on this website (21%)
I build from source (9%)
I install the version provided by my OS distributor (33%)
I don't know; it was installed for me (0%)
homebrew -> cabal (4%)
from the ubuntu PPA (5%)
The version from the Arch Linux AUR (6%)
From official debian repositories (18%)
debian testing or sid on Ubuntu (0%)
Compiling from source sucks if one needs to build the haskell compiler first (which unlike c/c++-compilers are not standard) (0%)
FreeBSD port (0%)
Gentoo, so I use the version provided by the gentoo-haskell overlay, yet I compile it (0%)
Total votes: 332
If you install it using different methods at different times, pick the method you use most frequently.
Pick the operating system which you use git-annex on the most.
Linux (79%)
OSX (15%)
Android (1%)
other Unix (0%)
Windows (2%)
Debian VM on Windows host (0%)
Total votes: 320
git-annex runs on many operating systems: Linux, OS X, BSDs, Android, and Windows. However, some ports are further along than others.
If there's a device on which you cannot use git-annex today, because the port to an OS is missing or incomplete, please pick it. Please don't vote for an OS where you already successfully use git-annex.
I'm good -- git-annex runs on my OS of choice! (42%)
Windows (16%)
Android (17%)
Apple iOS (4%)
Synology NAS (6%)
OpenSolaris (0%)
Firefox OS (1%)
raspberry (3%)
Symbian S60 5th (0%)
MeeGo (1%)
SailfishOS (1%)
Qnap NAS (0%)
ChromeOS (0%)
Mac OS (Snow Leopard) (0%)
AIX, Power8-based platforms, ones without enough disk to fully build and install Haskell, and some others. (0%)
FreeNAS plugin (0%)
Maemo (0%)
Total votes: 307
How many git-annex repositories do you have? This can be different clones of the same repository on different machines and drives, and/or completely separate git repositories.
1 (7%)
2-5 (51%)
6-10 (24%)
11-20 (7%)
21-30 (5%)
31-40 (1%)
41-50 (0%)
51-60 (0%)
61-70 (0%)
71-80 (0%)
81-90 (0%)
91-100 (0%)
100+ (0%)
Total votes: 284
How much data do you have stored in git-annex?
The way to get this value is to run git annex status (or git annex info
if you have git-annex version 5 already), and look for the line
that says "size of annexed files in working tree" or "known annex size".
If you've got multiple repositories that each contain different files (not git clones), you can run it in each and add them up.
less than 1+ GB (11%)
1+ GB (10%)
10+ GB (24%)
100+ GB (30%)
1+ TB (7%)
2+ TB (7%)
4+ TB (3%)
8+ TB (1%)
16+ TB (0%)
32+ TB (0%)
64+ TB (0%)
128+ TB (0%)
rather not say (0%)
I have too much data for git-annex to handle 
(0%)
Total votes: 265
What kind of data do you mostly use git-annex to store?
personal data (51%)
business data (4%)
scientific data (8%)
game development assets (0%)
rather not say (0%)
none yet, still working through the bugs (4%)
videos (7%)
music (10%)
photos (10%)
Audio production data (0%)
For everything expect the operation system and temp files (0%)
ebooks (0%)
Total votes: 270
Do you use git-annex by yourself, or as part of a group of people who share a repository? (If you have multiple repositories, pick the one with the largest group.)
by myself (60%)
by myself so far but I hope to get others using my repository (27%)
1 other person (7%)
2 others (1%)
3-5 others (2%)
6-10 others (0%)
11-20 others (0%)
21-30 others (0%)
Total votes: 288
How would you characterize your general git knowledge? (Not your git-annex knowledge!)
novice (2%)
casual, needs advice (15%)
everyday use (19%)
can offer advice (42%)
know it very well (16%)
wrote some of it (2%)
Total votes: 277
Overall, how happy are you with git annex?
unhappy (1%)
not so happy (12%)
happy (39%)
very happy (25%)
completely ecstatic (3%)
one of my favorite applications of all time (5%)
very enthusiastic, but still often bitten by quirks (so not very happy yet, but with lots of confidence in the potential) (13%)
Total votes: 268
If a problem is preventing you from using git-annex, or the git-annex assistant, please indicate it here.
If you're currently using git-annex, you can instead answer on behalf of less technically adept friends or family, and identify a problem blocking them from using the git-annex assistant.
too hard to install (3%)
too hard to use (22%)
not good enough documentation (7%)
because of a bug (that has been reported) (3%)
because of a bug (that's not been reported yet) (3%)
because I don't think it's ready (7%)
Need easy way to use assistant (webapp) with sites like github for people not having access to a server to sync computers that are never simultaneously on (16%)
information gets lost on a hard shutdown (0%)
assistant doesn't run on windows (10%)
doesn't work in older Android (0%)
To use it for real, I would need the assistant to be able to handle more functions (in particular: decide which files to keep locally and which files to store only remotely; yes, I know about the archive subdirectory, but it is too coarse for me) (12%)
because of missing Windows support (webapp) (1%)
OSX problems with symlinks - http://git-annex.branchable.com/design/assistant/desymlink/ (1%)
Too slow for large archive (5%)
It doesn't work on Mac OS Snow Leopard (1%)
Needs better support for NAS drives (3%)
Total votes: 193
(Note that missing ports covers ports to Windows etc, so don't add them here.)
Looking at git-annex's roadmap, which item seems most important to you?
improved special remote interface (10%)
xmpp security (3%)
Windows assistant and webapp (16%)
gpg key management in assistant (0%)
ssh password prompting in assistant (2%)
get Android out of beta (17%)
fixed size chunks to avoid leaking file size info (0%)
faster syncing of modified versions of files (deltas) (14%)
not needing twice disk space of repo in direct mode [ It doesn't need that! -- Joey ] (5%)
xmpp security, again because most people haven't read and realized how important this is (5%)
Scalability - better handling of a huge number of files (8%)
better documentation/howtos (6%)
partial content control, so I can manage music etc. on my Android device (3%)
more usability improvements (2%)
more plumbing so that we can experiment with other workflows, concepts and user interfaces (1%)
Total votes: 157