[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="http://joeyh.name/"
 ip="4.154.0.21"
 subject="comment 1"
 date="2013-07-30T20:24:06Z"
 content="""
From the man page:

> Until a repository (**or one of its remotes**) has been initialized
> git-annex will refuse to operate on it, to avoid accidentally
> using it in a repository that was not intended to have an annex.

So, yes, it assumes that if a repository has a git-annex branch already, git-annex is being used, and no explicit init is necessary. You can still run `git annex init` after the fact if you like.
"""]]
