Possible FAQ entry: How do I archive/restore my (nnml) mail?

[Rob Browning <rlb@defaultvalue.org>]

This seems like FAQ material now that there's a fairly good solution.

Q: How do I archive/restore my (nnml) mail?

A: Some of the server backends, notably nnml ATM, now actually store
the article marks with each group.  For these servers, archiving and
restoring a group is fairly simple (Caveat: at the moment, group
parameters will not be preserved by this process, so if you depend on
them, beware):

  Archiving:

  - Quit gnus.

  - Tar up the relevant group directory and save it somewhere.

  - Start gnus and delete the group with "C-u G DEL".  WARNING: This
    will delete the group and its contents, so make sure your tar
    command really worked!

  Restoring:

  - Quit gnus.

  - Untar a group directory into the right place (wherever your
    nnml backend keeps them).

  - Start gnus and ask it to create the group with "G m".  It will ask
    you for the group name (make sure you use the same name as the
    directory you untarred), and for the server backend, probably
    something like "nnml:foo".

    The reason you need this step is so that the new group will have
    an entry in the active file.  Without that, gnus won't know that
    it's there.  Some backends, notably nnmaildir, will automatically
    notice new directories, making this step unnecessary.

Thanks to Simon and ShengHuo for the info.

-- 
Rob Browning
rlb @defaultvalue.org, @linuxdevel.com, and @debian.org
Previously @cs.utexas.edu
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