When comparing git-annex vs Fossil, the Slant community recommends Fossil for most people. In the question“What are the best open-source version control systems for artists?” Fossil is ranked 3rd while git-annex is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Fossil is:
Fossil includes source code management, bug tracking, a wiki, and technotes. It even includes its own web server, though it can fairly easily be incorporated into other webservers.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Large files can be kept off-site until needed
Git-annex doesn't necessarily store all content everywhere you use the repository. Instead, you can check out only the files you need right now. Git-annex figures out automatically from which remote to fetch files when you do need them. This doesn't require a server, the files can also be on some USB hard drives, in which case Git-annex will tell you which drive you need to connect to get a particular file.
Pro Very complete
Fossil includes source code management, bug tracking, a wiki, and technotes.
It even includes its own web server, though it can fairly easily be incorporated into other webservers.
Pro Self-contained
A Fossil repository is contained in a single file.
Pro Cross-platform
Fossil can run on Linux, Mac, BSD derivatives and on Windows.
Pro Very easy to configure as self-hosted
Single, stand-alone executable, including web server.
Pro Needs very few server resources
Since Fossil is a distributed VCS on top of being a bug tracker, it needs very few server resources.
Cons
Con Doesn't work very well with NTFS
Many artists are stuck on Windows, but Git-Annex relies on symlinks which are only properly supported by Linux and OSX. It does have a direct mode which also works on NTFS drives, but in this mode in doesn't work as smoothly
Con Only a web interface or CLI
Fossil's bug tracker only works with the web interface or the command-line interface. There's no native GUI client supporting it.
There are some independent GUI clients out there, but none of them support Fossil's full range of abilities.