gnus-sync usage

gnus-sync usage

[Julien Cubizolles]

I've seen many discussions about gnus-sync and I'm considering using it
but I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do :-) 

So far I'm synchronising my messages/configuration on two machines by
syncing the relevant files/directories (Mail/, News/, .newsrc ...) with
unison but I get the feeling that gnus sync would replace it, and do it
better.

I've read the info in gnus-sync.el but is there some kind of tutorial
available somewhere ?

Thanks,

Julien.

Re: gnus-sync usage

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> Julien Cubizolles <j.cubizolles@free.fr>:

> I've seen many discussions about gnus-sync and I'm considering using it
> but I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do :-) 

It synchronizes read counts and group subscriptions for nntp groups, and
topics between machines.  The synchronization can be against a file
stored remotely, or against a couchdb database.

> So far I'm synchronising my messages/configuration on two machines by
> syncing the relevant files/directories (Mail/, News/, .newsrc ...)
> with unison but I get the feeling that gnus sync would replace it, and
> do it better.

Well, next generation gnus-sync will definitely be better, when Ted
and/or Lars get enough free time to implement it.

The current version has done the job for me for about a year or so, and
its predecessor for a year before that.

I'm using a couchdb database as the gnus-sync repository.

> I've read the info in gnus-sync.el but is there some kind of tutorial
> available somewhere ?

Not beyond what you've seen posted on this group, I think...?

You can check out my attempts at using it last year, with Ted's
responses and explanations
 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/80376/focus=80402
 http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/80597

(Looks like I didn't start using it until November last year... I
thought I started using it last summer... it's good we have machines to
remember for us)

Re: gnus-sync usage

[Julien Cubizolles]

Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no> writes:

>>>>>> Julien Cubizolles <j.cubizolles@free.fr>:
>
>> I've seen many discussions about gnus-sync and I'm considering using it
>> but I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do :-) 
>
> It synchronizes read counts and group subscriptions for nntp groups, and
> topics between machines.  The synchronization can be against a file
> stored remotely, or against a couchdb database.

All this information is stored in the .newsrc file, is it not ? Does
gnus-sync only keeps a copy of .newsrc somewhere ?


> You can check out my attempts at using it last year, with Ted's
> responses and explanations
>  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/80376/focus=80402
>  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/80597

I'll definitely look it up. Thanks.

Julien.

Re: gnus-sync usage

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> Julien Cubizolles <j.cubizolles@free.fr>:

> All this information is stored in the .newsrc file, is it not ?

Yep.

> Does gnus-sync only keeps a copy of .newsrc somewhere ?

Yes, and no.  Not in the .newsrc.eld format AFAIK.  And not the entire
file, just a subset of it.

With couchdb that information is stored as JSON documents.  I have no
idea what the current file based sync looks like.

The gnus-sync-read function reads the latest info from the sync server
and merges it with the current .newsrc.eld content.

The gnus-sync-save function saves the latest changes as updates to the
JSON document for the group in couchdb.  I have no idea what it does on
the file version.

Those are the only two functions I use in practice.

When I start gnus, I do: `M-x gnus RET M-x gnus-sync-read RET g' and
after the g I will see the updated read counts for the groups.

When one of my gnusen have added a new nntp group and do gnus-sync-read
on another gnus, I am asked if I wish to add that group.  Ditto with
topics. 

When I want to save, I do: `M-x gnus-sync-save RET s'

It's a little bit fragile:
 - If I forget to gnus-sync-save I may lose all read marks I have added
   in this session, because the gnus-sync-read of a new session will
   overwrite my .newsrc.eld status with the older status on the server.
 - If I forget to do gnus-sync-read at the start of the session and then
   try to do gnus-sync-save I am told that I can't gnus-sync-save until
   I've done gnus-sync-read (which will overwrite my current read marks
   with the older saved one)