Re: backing up *FULL* gnus state

[Leonidas Tsampros]

Maurizio Vitale
<mav@cuma.i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me> writes:

> occasionally, sometimes, somewhere, I need to do a full linux reinstall
> wiping my home directory clean. Although I save my .newsrc* files, I
> always find that some part of my state is not preserved across the
> reinstall. Things that at different times haven't been preserved are:
>   - nnml groups (these often come up after a bit of playing around, but
>     I'm not sure what I do to make it happen. They seem unsubscribed)
>   - rss feeds
>   - scoring/banning of authors
>   - hierarchical group organization
>   - mail fetching (so I have .authinfo added to my list of things to
>     remember now)
> so my question is: what is the full list of files I need to backup in
> order to be able to wipe my home clean, reinstall those files and have
> gnus behaving *exactly* as before the big purge?
>
> Thanks,
>
>         Maurizio
>
> ...and yes, I know that a separate partition for my home directory would
> solve this problem, but I'm afraid it would introduce others:
> distributions save craploads of stuff in home directories and I do not
> particularly trust the fact that they're compatible across major
> release, or different dstributions.
> I do have separate partitions for a few subdirectories of my home, though.


Hi Maurizio,

AFAIR last time I tried a full migration, apart from the gnus
configuration file, I copied over the following things:

* .newsrc*
* .authinfo
* the nnml-directory which in my case is set to ~/Mail.Gnus

(The active file is here. Also note that each nnml group has it's own
.marks/.overview files in it's directory.)

* and my News/ directory (haven't changed the default)

I don't remember losing anything while having transferred the
above. However, I guess that this depends on the amount of
configuration/customization you have performed in your .gnus file.

Good luck