DATALAD-CREATE-SIBLING(1)

📦

version 1.1.5 · 8 versions

1.1.5 · debian trixie, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking (latest)
1.7.1 · fedora 44
1.6.1 · fedora 43
1.2.0 · fedora 43
0.15.5 · ubuntu jammy
1.6.2 · fedora 44
1.3.4 · fedora 44
0.18.1 · debian bookworm

, in debian trixie, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💅 datalad create-sibling(1) — the "put ur dataset on a server" era

okay so bestie, welcome to the General Commands Manual entry for datalad create-sibling ✨ this is the one where you take a local dataset and give it a whole remote life on some UNIX-like machine you can reach via a shell (local or over SSH). it's giving "my dataset is moving out and getting its own apartment" 🏠💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

datalad create-sibling — create a dataset sibling on a UNIX-like Shell (local or SSH)-accessible machine 🖥️🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

datalad create-sibling [-h] [-s [NAME]] [--target-dir PATH] [--target-url URL]
                       [--target-pushurl URL] [--dataset DATASET] [-r]
                       [-R LEVELS] [--existing MODE]
                       [--shared {false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody|0xxx}]
                       [--group GROUP] [--ui {false|true|html_filename}]
                       [--as-common-datasrc NAME] [--publish-by-default REFSPEC]
                       [--publish-depends SIBLINGNAME] [--annex-wanted EXPR]
                       [--annex-group EXPR] [--annex-groupwanted EXPR] [--inherit]
                       [--since SINCE] [--version] [SSHURL]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so. you've got a local dataset, and you've got a path or some SSH login info. this command does the iconic thing: it creates a remote dataset repository on that machine and configures it as a dataset sibling — aka a publication target, the thing you'll push to with the PUBLISH command 👑 literally the glow-up your dataset deserves.

you can configure a bunch of properties of the remote sibling, like... the name, the location on the server, the read and write access URLs, and the access permissions 💅 all the good stuff.

and optional bonus: a basic web-viewer for DataLad datasets can be installed at the remote location 🎀 cute right?

this command also supports recursive processing of dataset hierarchies — meaning it'll create a remote sibling for each dataset in the hierarchy 🌈 by default those remote siblings get created in a hierarchical structure that mirrors the organization on your local file system (very faithful, very loyal). BUT there's also a simple templating mechanism if you want to produce a flat list of datasets instead — peep --target-dir for that one 😌

🛠️ OPTIONS 🛠️

SSHURL — login information for the target server, bestie. this can be given as a URL (ssh://host/path), SSH-style (user@host:path), or just a local path. unless you override it, this also serves as the future dataset's access URL and path on the server. constraints: value must be a string ✨
-h, --help, --help-np — show this help message. --help-np forcefully disables the use of a pager for displaying the help message (no pager, no drama, no cap 💀)
-s [NAME], --name [NAME] — sibling name to create for this publication target. if RECURSIVE is set, the same name will be used to label all the subdatasets' siblings 🏷️ and when creating a target dataset fails, no sibling is added (no half-finished situations here, we don't do that). constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--target-dir PATH — path to the directory on the server where the dataset shall be created. by default this is set to the URL (or local path) specified via SSHURL. if a relative path is provided here, it's interpreted as being relative to the user's home directory on the server (or relative to SSHURL, when that is a local path) 🏡

additional features are relevant for recursive processing of datasets with subdatasets. by default, the local dataset structure is replicated on the server. however, it's possible to provide a template for generating different target directory names for all (sub)datasets 🌟 templates can contain certain placeholders that are substituted for each (sub)dataset. for example: "/mydirectory/dataset%RELNAME". supported placeholders: %RELNAME — the name of the datasets, with any slashes replaced by dashes. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE

--target-url URL — the "public" access URL of the to-be-created target dataset(s) (default: SSHURL). accessibility of this URL determines the access permissions of potential consumers of the dataset 👀 as with target_dir, templates (same set of placeholders) are supported. also, if specified, it is provided as the annex description. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--target-pushurl URL — in case the TARGET_URL can't be used to publish to the dataset, this option specifies an alternative URL for this purpose 🔁 as with target_url, templates (same set of placeholders) are supported. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--dataset DATASET, -d DATASET — specify the dataset to create the publication target for. if no dataset is given, an attempt is made to identify the dataset based on the current working directory 🔍 constraints: Value must be a Dataset or a valid identifier of a Dataset (e.g. a path) or value must be NONE
-r, --recursive — if set, recurse into potential subdatasets 🪆 (yes, the doll thing)
-R LEVELS, --recursion-limit LEVELS — limit recursion into subdatasets to the given number of levels. constraints: value must be convertible to type int or value must be NONE
--existing MODE — action to perform if a sibling is already configured under the given name and/or a target (non-empty) directory already exists 📁 in this case, a dataset can be skipped ('skip'), the sibling configuration be updated ('reconfigure'), or process interrupts with error ('error').

⚠️ DANGER ZONE ⚠️ if 'replace' is used, an existing target directory will be forcefully removed, re-initialized, and the sibling (re-)configured (thus implies 'reconfigure'). REPLACE could lead to data loss, so use with care 😭 to minimize possibility of data loss, in interactive mode DataLad will ask for confirmation, but it would raise an exception in non-interactive mode. literally be careful bestie.

constraints: value must be one of ('skip', 'error', 'reconfigure', 'replace') [Default: 'error']

--shared {false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody|0xxx} — if given, configures the access permissions on the server for multi-users (this could include access by a webserver! 🌐). possible values for this option are identical to those of git init --shared and are described in its documentation. constraints: value must be a string or value must be convertible to type bool or value must be NONE
--group GROUP — filesystem group for the repository. specifying the group is particularly important when --shared=group 👥 constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--ui {false|true|html_filename} — publish a web interface for the dataset with an optional user-specified name for the html at publication target. defaults to index.html at dataset root 🌐✨ constraints: value must be convertible to type bool or value must be a string [Default: False]
--as-common-datasrc NAME — configure the created sibling as a common data source of the dataset that can be automatically used by all consumers of the dataset (technical: git-annex auto-enabled special remote) 🔌
--publish-by-default REFSPEC — add a refspec to be published to this sibling by default if nothing specified. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--publish-depends SIBLINGNAME — add a dependency such that the given existing sibling is always published prior to the new sibling 🫶 this equals setting a configuration item 'remote.SIBLINGNAME.datalad-publish-depends'. this option can be given more than once to configure multiple dependencies. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--annex-wanted EXPR — expression to specify 'wanted' content for the repository/sibling. see https://git-annex.branchable.com/git-annex-wanted/ for more information. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--annex-group EXPR — expression to specify a group for the repository. see https://git-annex.branchable.com/git-annex-group/ for more information. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--annex-groupwanted EXPR — expression for the groupwanted. makes sense only if --annex-wanted="groupwanted" and annex-group is given too. see https://git-annex.branchable.com/git-annex-groupwanted/ for more information. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--inherit — if sibling is missing, inherit settings (git config, git annex wanted/group/groupwanted) from its super-dataset 🧬
--since SINCE — limit processing to subdatasets that have been changed since a given state (by tag, branch, commit, etc). this can be used to create siblings for recently added subdatasets 🆕 if '^' is given, the last state of the current branch at the sibling is taken as a starting point. constraints: value must be a string or value must be NONE
--version — show the module and its version which provides the command 📌

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

datalad is developed by The DataLad Team and Contributors <team@datalad.org> 💜 iconic, honestly.

and that's the whole thing, bestie 🎀 this page is from datalad create-sibling 1.1.5, dated 2025-06-15 — go forth and give ur datasets the remote era they deserve 💅✨🌸

📦 where this page comes from

debian trixie: datalad 1.1.5-2.1 · MIT
ubuntu resolute: datalad 1.1.5-2.1 · MIT
ubuntu stonking: datalad 1.1.5-2.1 · MIT
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-06: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms