unprotect

Unprotect tracked files or directories (when hardlinks or symlinks have been enabled with dvc config cache.type).

Synopsis

usage: dvc unprotect [-h] [-q | -v] targets [targets ...]

positional arguments:
  targets        Data files/directories to unprotect.

Description

By default, this command is not necessary, as DVC avoids hardlinks and symlinks to link tracked data files from the cache to the workspace. However, these types of file links can be enabled with dvc config cache (cache.type config option).

Enabling hardlinks or symlinks makes the tracked data files in the workspace read-only links (preventing users from accidentally corrupting the cache by modifying their contents manually).

Running dvc unprotect guarantees that the target files or directories (targets) in the workspace are physically "unlinked" from the cache and can be safely updated. Read the Update a Tracked File guide to learn more on this process.

dvc unprotect can be an expensive operation (involves copying data). Check first whether your task matches one of the cases that are considered safe:

• Adding more files to a directory input dataset (say, images or videos)
• Deleting files from a directory dataset

Options

• -h, --help - prints the usage/help message, and exit.

• -q, --quiet - do not write anything to standard output. Exit with 0 if no problems arise, otherwise 1.

• -v, --verbose - displays detailed tracing information.

Examples

Enable symlinks:

$ dvc config cache.type symlink

Track a data file with DVC:

$ ls -lh
-rw-r--r--  1 10576022 Nov 27 13:30 Posts.xml.zip

$ dvc add Posts.xml.zip

Check that file is a read-only link (@ sign means a link):

$ ls -lh
-r--r--r--@ 1 10576022 Apr 25  2017 Posts.xml.zip
-rw-r--r--  1      120 Nov 27 13:29 Posts.xml.zip.dvc

Unprotect the file:

$ dvc unprotect Posts.xml.zip

Check that the file is writable now, the cached version is intact, and they are not linked (the file in the workspace is a copy of the cached file):

$ ls -lh
-rw-r--r--  1  120B Nov 27 13:29 Posts.xml.zip.dvc
-rw-r--r--  1   10M Nov 27 13:30 Posts.xml.zip

$ ls -lh .dvc/cache/files/md5/ce/
-rw-r--r--@ 1 10M Apr 25  2017 68b98d82545628782c66192c96f2d2