git-annex v7 was released this fall, the culmination of a long effort to add some important new features to git-annex. Rather than go into details about it here, see this LWN article comparing and contrasting git-annex with git lfs.

For three years my work on git-annex had major support from Dartmouth's DataLad project, pushing it into use in the sciences, and driving large improvements in git-annex's API, concurrency support, etc. But that relied on government funding which has been drying up. Increasingly I have been relying on croudfunding from git-annex's users.

Now I'm entering a new phase, where DataLad users may also want to support git-annex. So far, McGill's NeuroHub project has committed to supporting its development (funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, for the Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives initiative), but I hope others will too. A diversity of funding sources is best.

A survey of git-annex users is now underway, the first in three years. If you've not already, please participate in it to help direct my newly funded work.