Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Jorge Godoy]

Hi!


I have something near 70 folders with thousands of messages using nnmh
backend. I'd like to switch to nnml. I've been trying it the way
described in the info (respooling) but I've done something wrong and
the mail was wrongly separated. 

Could anybody give me a hand on that? I can send my .gnus file if
needed (to verify the splitting rules, maybe...).


Thanks!
-- 
Godoy.	<godoy@conectiva.com> 

Departamento de Publicações
Publishing Department                   Conectiva S.A.

Re: Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Harry Putnam]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> Hi!
> 
> 
> I have something near 70 folders with thousands of messages using nnmh
> backend. I'd like to switch to nnml. I've been trying it the way
> described in the info (respooling) but I've done something wrong and
> the mail was wrongly separated. 
> 
> Could anybody give me a hand on that? I can send my .gnus file if
> needed (to verify the splitting rules, maybe...).

Without knowing how your split and servers are setup, I'll make some
(possibly bad) guesses.

If your secondary select method is currently set to nnmh like:
(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))

You'll need to change that to:
(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
Then restart gnus or re-evaluate ~/.gnus

I believe splitting only goes to the default servers

Now depending on how your split rules are setup, you should be able to
create nndir groups of each of your nnmh groups in turn (since nndir
is read only, your nnmh group should stay safe in case something goes
wrong)

When an nndir group is created then `M P a' in summary buffer and run 
`B r' to respool each message to what will now be nnml groups.

When this is done press `F' in group buffer to see all the new nnml
groups your split created.

If this is successful you can then do C-u G del on the nnmh groups in turn.

Re: Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Jorge Godoy]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

> Without knowing how your split and servers are setup, I'll make some
> (possibly bad) guesses.

:-)
Your guesses can give me some clues. 

> If your secondary select method is currently set to nnmh like:
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))

Actually it is:

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '(
                                      ;(nnml "private")
                                      ;(nnslashdot "")))
                                      (nnmh "")
                                      (nnfolder "")
                                      )
      )

> You'll need to change that to:
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

Ok... So the "private" wasn't any configuration value... or was it? If
so, what is this value intended for? I think I've tried without it
too... 

If I change this and don't keep the nnmh method as secondary, I can't
access any of these groups. 

> Then restart gnus or re-evaluate ~/.gnus
> 
> I believe splitting only goes to the default servers

Hmmmm... I can check that...

My rules are like this:

(setq nnmail-split-methods
      '(
        ("admin-linux-br" "^Sender:.*admin-linux-br")
        ("afc2000" "^Mailing-List:.*afc2000@egroups")
        ("amanda-backup" "^From:.*amanda@backup\.conectiva")
        ("beta" "^X-Mailing-List:.*beta")
        ("bos-br" "^Sender:.*bos-br-owner")
        )
)

> Now depending on how your split rules are setup, you should be able to
> create nndir groups of each of your nnmh groups in turn (since nndir
> is read only, your nnmh group should stay safe in case something goes
> wrong)
> 
> When an nndir group is created then `M P a' in summary buffer and run 
> `B r' to respool each message to what will now be nnml groups.
> 
> When this is done press `F' in group buffer to see all the new nnml
> groups your split created.
> 
> If this is successful you can then do C-u G del on the nnmh groups in turn.

I'm trying this now... Just making (another) backup of my messages.


Thanks!
-- 
Godoy.	<godoy@conectiva.com> 

Departamento de Publicações
Publishing Department                   Conectiva S.A.

Re: Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Harry Putnam]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:
> 
> > Without knowing how your split and servers are setup, I'll make some
> > (possibly bad) guesses.
> 
> :-)
> Your guesses can give me some clues. 
> 
> > If your secondary select method is currently set to nnmh like:
> > (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))
> 
> Actually it is:
> 
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '(
>                                       ;(nnml "private")
>                                       ;(nnslashdot "")))
>                                       (nnmh "")
>                                       (nnfolder "")
>                                       )
>       )

I've seen mention of the `private' business but have no experience
with it myself.  I suspect what is happening with that server setup is
that the first server on the list is grabbing the split.   

I think you should probably copy every thing to a safe place
Including .gnus .emacs .newsrc.eld .newsrc and all concerned groups.

Forgo mail retriveval for a bit,

Then eliminate all but one server from your secondary select like:
> > (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

Without having an nnml server first, I don't think splitting will work
to nnml groups.

You may not be able to access the nnmh groups as nnmh groups then but
gnus will allow you to access them as nndir groups.  Process mark all
messages just in one group and resplit it.  This will show if its
going to work.

> (setq nnmail-split-methods
>       '(
>         ("admin-linux-br" "^Sender:.*admin-linux-br")
>         ("afc2000" "^Mailing-List:.*afc2000@egroups")
>         ("amanda-backup" "^From:.*amanda@backup\.conectiva")
>         ("beta" "^X-Mailing-List:.*beta")
>         ("bos-br" "^Sender:.*bos-br-owner")
>         )
> )

You syntax above is different than mine but apparently it has been working.

If you are able to follow the above suggestion then in group, buffer
press "F" and look for newly created nnml groups with names as in your split.


If you don't want to risk your mail and news, you might want to wait
for wiser heads to reply to your message.  There are many much better
posters here than I.

Also if you are on your own machine you might want to do like I do for
experiments.

I create a `dummy' user account, currently its $USER `korn' who has
`pdksh' as his choice of shells and is fearless when it comes to gnus
experiments.

Then I setup gnus there and copy my mail and news to that account to
experiment with.  Won't matter if you completely bolix it up.  Plus
its fun having someone to use `talk' with... he he.

With a little configuring of sendmail.cf the dummy user can even send
and recieve e-mail on the internet.

Re: Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Kai Großjohann]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> I have something near 70 folders with thousands of messages using nnmh
> backend. I'd like to switch to nnml. I've been trying it the way
> described in the info (respooling) but I've done something wrong and
> the mail was wrongly separated. 

You appear to want to go from:

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))

to:

(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

For this special case, there is a shortcut: nnmh uses files in ~/Mail
for the messages, such that ~/Mail/mail/misc/1 is the first message in
nnmh:mail.misc.  nnml uses files in ~/Mail for the messages, such that
~/Mail/mail/misc/1 is the first message in nnml:mail.misc.

So the only thing that's missing from nnml is the overview files.  You
can generate these using M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases RET.

In a nutshell:

* Your .gnus contains this:
  (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))

* You change it to read like this:
  (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

* IMPORTANT!
  You _must_ prevent Gnus from fetching mail with the new config, lest
  Gnus might overwrite existing messages!
  (setq mail-sources nil)
  (setq nnmail-spool-file nil)

* Start Gnus.

* M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases RET

* Remove the two lines (setq mail-sources nil) and (setq
  nnmail-spool-file nil).

* Start Gnus again.

Does this work?

kai
-- 
I like BOTH kinds of music.

Re: Converting NNMH mail to NNML.

[Jorge Godoy]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:
> 
> > I have something near 70 folders with thousands of messages using nnmh
> > backend. I'd like to switch to nnml. I've been trying it the way
> > described in the info (respooling) but I've done something wrong and
> > the mail was wrongly separated. 
> 
> You appear to want to go from:
> 
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmh "")))
> 
> to:
> 
> (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))

Ok,

I've done what Kai suggested and it worked perfectly. The detail that
was missing on his recipe was to add _all_ nnml groups and then run
nnml-generate-nov-databases. You don't need to do that for each
group. :-)  Well, I'm a Gnus beginner, so I wasn't expecting that :-)) 


Thanks to all of you who helped me. Using gnus to fetch, filter and
read mail is much more productive than fetchmail, procmail and then
gnus... :-) 


Thanks again,
-- 
Godoy.	<godoy@conectiva.com> 

Departamento de Publicações
Publishing Department                   Conectiva S.A.