[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="anarcat"
 subject="comment 4"
 date="2015-08-19T17:17:50Z"
 content="""
darn, you're right... then i screwed up my copy-paste. :( the assistant *was* running on a and b, that i am sure of.

here's a more complete transcript (hopefully):

<pre>
[997]anarcat@desktop008:test$ mkdir g-a
[998]anarcat@desktop008:test$ cd g-a/
[999]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ git init a
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/anarcat/test/g-a/a/.git/
[1000]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ git init b
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/anarcat/test/g-a/b/.git/
[1001]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ git init c
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/anarcat/test/g-a/c/.git/
[1002]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ cd a
[1003]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex init
init  ok
(recording state in git...)
[1004]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git remote add origin ../b
[1005]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ../b
[1006]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex init
init  ok
(recording state in git...)
[1007]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git remote add origin ../c
[1008]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../c
[1009]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex init
init  ok
(recording state in git...)
[1010]anarcat@desktop008:c$ cd ../a/
[1011]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex ^C
[1011]anarcat@desktop008:a130$ touch test
[1012]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex add tset
git-annex: tset not found
git-annex: add: 1 failed
[1013]anarcat@desktop008:a1$ git annex add test
add test ok
(recording state in git...)
[1014]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex sync
commit  ok
pull origin
warning: no common commits
remote: Counting objects: 5, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 5 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (5/5), done.
From ../b
 * [new branch]      git-annex  -> origin/git-annex
ok
(merging origin/git-annex into git-annex...)
(recording state in git...)
push origin
Counting objects: 16, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (12/12), done.
Writing objects: 100% (16/16), 1.56 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 16 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To ../b
 * [new branch]      git-annex -> synced/git-annex
 * [new branch]      master -> synced/master
ok
[1015]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex assistant
[1016]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ../b
[1017]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex assistant
[1018]anarcat@desktop008:b$ ls
[1019]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git anne^C
[1019]anarcat@desktop008:b130$ ls
[1019]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex sync
commit  ok
pull origin

merge: refs/remotes/origin/master - not something we can merge

merge: refs/remotes/origin/synced/master - not something we can merge
failed
git-annex: sync: 1 failed
[1020]anarcat@desktop008:b1$ git remote -v^C
[1020]anarcat@desktop008:b130$ git re^C
[1020]anarcat@desktop008:b130$ ls
[1021]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../
[1022]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ git annexccd ^C
[1022]anarcat@desktop008:g-a130$ cd c
[1023]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex sync
commit  ok
[1024]anarcat@desktop008:c$ ls
[1025]anarcat@desktop008:c$ cd ../b
[1026]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git co master
error: pathspec 'master' did not match any file(s) known to git.
[1027]anarcat@desktop008:b1$ git branch -a
  git-annex
  synced/git-annex
  synced/master
  remotes/origin/git-annex
[1028]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git co -b master synced/master
Already on 'master'
[1029]anarcat@desktop008:b$ ls
test
[1030]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex sync
commit  ok
pull origin
ok
[1031]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ..c
bash: cd: ..c: No such file or directory
[1032]anarcat@desktop008:b1$ cd ../c
[1033]anarcat@desktop008:c$ ls
[1034]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex sync
(recording state in git...)
commit  ok
[1035]anarcat@desktop008:c$ ls
[1036]anarcat@desktop008:c$ cd ../a
[1037]anarcat@desktop008:a$ echo test > foo
[1038]anarcat@desktop008:a$ ls -al
total 20K
drwxr-xr-x  3 anarcat 4294967294 4096 aoû 19 13:12 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 anarcat 4294967294 4096 aoû 19 13:10 ..
lrwxrwxrwx  1 anarcat 4294967294  178 aoû 19 13:12 foo -> .git/annex/objects/w8/pv/SHA256E-s5--f2ca1bb6c7e907d06dafe4687e579fce76b37e4e93b7605022da52e6ccc26fd2/SHA256E-s5--f2ca1bb6c7e907d06dafe4687e579fce76b37e4e93b7605022da52e6ccc26fd2
drwxr-xr-x 10 anarcat 4294967294 4096 aoû 19 13:12 .git
lrwxrwxrwx  1 anarcat 4294967294  178 aoû 19 13:11 test -> .git/annex/objects/pX/ZJ/SHA256E-s0--e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855/SHA256E-s0--e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855
[1039]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
[1040]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex list
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||
XX__ foo
XX__ test
[1041]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||
XX__ foo
XX__ test
[1042]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ../b
[1043]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex wanted transfer
git-annex: there is no available git remote named \"transfer\"
[1044]anarcat@desktop008:b1$ git annex wanted . transfer
wanted . git-annex: Parse error: Parse failure: near \"transfer\"
[1045]anarcat@desktop008:b1$ git annex wanted . groupwanted
wanted . ok
(recording state in git...)
[1046]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex group . transfer
group . c ok
(recording state in git...)
[1047]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../a
[1048]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex group . source
group . ok
(recording state in git...)
[1049]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex wanted . groupwanted
wanted . ok
(recording state in git...)
[1050]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ../c
[1051]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex wanted . groupwanted
wanted . ok
(recording state in git...)
[1052]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex group . backup
group . (merging synced/git-annex into git-annex...)
(recording state in git...)
ok
(recording state in git...)
[1053]anarcat@desktop008:c$ cd ../
[1054]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ cd b
[1055]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../a
[1056]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||
XX__ foo
XX__ test
[1057]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git annex^C
[1057]anarcat@desktop008:a130$ cd ../
[1058]anarcat@desktop008:g-a$ git ^C
[1058]anarcat@desktop008:g-a130$ cd b
[1059]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git remote -v
origin  ../c (fetch)
origin  ../c (push)
[1060]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex sync
commit  ok
pull origin
remote: Counting objects: 23, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
remote: Total 23 (delta 8), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (23/23), done.
From ../c
   ac66bb1..43cfe35  git-annex  -> origin/git-annex
ok
(merging origin/git-annex into git-annex...)
[1061]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||anarcat@desktop008:~/test/g-a/a
|||||
XX__X foo
XX__X test
[1062]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../a/
[1063]anarcat@desktop008:a$ echo bar > bar
[1064]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
[1065]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ^C
[1065]anarcat@desktop008:a130$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||
XX__ bar
XX__ foo
XX__ test
[1066]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd ../b
[1067]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||anarcat@desktop008:~/test/g-a/a
|||||
XX__X bar
XX__X foo
XX__X test
</pre>

now it seems that setting repo `b` in the transfer group helped, but the files didn't get purged from `a` (or `b`, for that matter).

setting the central `b` wanted expression seems to help in dropping the file from `a`, but not from `b`:

<pre>
[1070]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../a
[1071]anarcat@desktop008:a$ echo quuex > quuex
[1072]anarcat@desktop008:a$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
[1073]anarcat@desktop008:a$ cd -
/home/anarcat/test/g-a/b
[1074]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||anarcat@desktop008:~/test/g-a/a
|||||
XX__X bar
XX__X foo
X___X quuex
XX__X test
[1075]anarcat@desktop008:b$ cd ../c
[1076]anarcat@desktop008:c$ git annex group
git-annex: Specify a repository and a group.
[1077]anarcat@desktop008:c1$ git annex group .
(recording state in git...)
backup
[1078]anarcat@desktop008:c$ cd -
/home/anarcat/test/g-a/b
[1079]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex list --allrepos
here
|origin
||web
|||bittorrent
||||anarcat@desktop008:~/test/g-a/a
|||||
XX__X bar
XX__X foo
X___X quuex
XX__X test
[1080]anarcat@desktop008:b$ git annex numcopies
global numcopies is not set
(default is 1)
</pre>

i think i'm almost getting this now. :)
"""]]