[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="nobodyinperson"
 avatar="http://cdn.libravatar.org/avatar/736a41cd4988ede057bae805d000f4f5"
 subject="comment 16"
 date="2023-07-15T17:04:38Z"
 content="""
> My current thinking is that when a repository does not have a preferred content expression, a content sync could avoid adding content to it.

Technically, that would make the default preferred content expression `present` instead of `include=*`, right? I'd like that. Less unwanted content after the initial clone when running `git annex assist` or `git annex sync --content`. Goes into the direction of [specifying the default preferred content expression](https://git-annex.branchable.com/todo/Setting_default_preferred_content_expressions/). Users having freshly cloned a repo can then explicitly `get` files or set up their preferred content expression.

Many annexed repos will be huge in size and rarely one will want *everything* from it initially. Also great for DataLad datasets.
"""]]
