How to preserve my mail when going from slackware 12.0 to 14.0?
 

Hi:
I have slackware 12.0 installed. I will now replace it by slackware 14.0. Somebody here told me:
So, after the backup, I'll format the partition and install 14.0 on it (I suppose that's what a clean install is). The problem is that I want to keep my mail. What can I do to be able to still see it under 14.0? I was using Seamonkey Mail and, in 14.0 will continue to use it.

If you only use IMAP to read your mail then there is nothing you need to do, as the mail is stored on the remote server(s). If you store you mail on you local machine then you can probably get away with copying over your Seamonkey Mail profile directory from your old install (Slackware 12.0) to your new install (Slackware 14.0).

I don't use Seamonkey, so I don't know where it keeps profile directories. That should be easy enough to find with a search on the 'net.

Thank you. I do not use IMAP. I use POP3 y SMTP (DHCP). I think the mail is in I have to investigate why it is duplicated.

IMAP is the way to go with e-mail. It is wonderful to have your e-mail synchronized across all of your computers, phones, and devices. I left POP3 behind quite some time ago. In my opinion IMAP is worth investigating.

I don't know if my ISP will let me use IMAP. I could try to create a new account and choose IMAP to see what happens.

I had the same issue you have with my local ISP. I no longer use my local ISP; I now use google as my mail ISP (specifically gmail). I use gmail to download my local ISP e-mail to my gmail account.

stf92,

I stopped to use Slackware 12.0 in 2008 (I switched then to Slackware 12.1). So I can’t remember where my mail was when I used Slackware 12.0. According to your report your mail is in ~/.mozilla/default/rxvl4w7z.slt/Mail and ~/.mozilla/Default\ User/5oquixb6.slt/Mail/. Both of them follow the same mailbox named pop3.fibertel.com.ar or POP3.FIBERTEL.COM.AR. It’s strange that there are two different locations. I suppose you use two different methods to download your mail. As a result some incoherency occured. You should inspect that carefully.

When I used Slackware 13.xx and when I use Slackware 14.0 my mail was and is in ~/.thunderbird/w9z0oqui.default/Mail/ directory subdirectories. So you see the difference: your mail is in ~/.mozilla/ directory subdirectories and my mail is in ~/.thunderbird/ directory subdirectories.

If you keep your /home/ directory on a separate partition the situation is simple. Install Slackware 14.0 leaving the partition including /home/ directory intact and go to the step 8. below.

If your /home/ directory shares the same partition with Slackware 12.0 the situation is more complicated. In such a case:

1. Make ~/TEMP/ directory and copy there all your dot directories and dot files such as ~/.mozilla/ or ~/.bashrc.

2. Go to ~/ directory and make the backup using tar czf backup.tar.gz TEMP command.

3. Store backup.tar.gz file on some external drive such as pendrive or hard disk.

4. If you have some other important files store them on an external drive as well.

5. Start Slackware 14.0 installation, remove all partitions using cfdisk, and prepare new partitions:

‒ /dev/sda1 for Slackware Linux (about 20 GB).
‒ /dev/sda2 for the swap (about 2 GB).
‒ /dev/sda3 for the /home/ directory (the rest of the drive).

6. Install Slackware 14.0 on /dev/sda1 partition, run Slackware 14.0 for the first time and move /home/ directory to /dev/sda3 partition.

7. Restore your dot directories and dot files in /home/ directory going to ~/ directory, running the command such as tar xzf backup.tar.gz, and moving or copying the dot directories and dot files from ~/TEMP/ directory to ~/ directory. If it’s necessary copy there also the other stored files.

8. Make your investigations.

***

The above recipe is obviously too detailed for an experienced user as you ‒ I made it so detailed taking into consideration that some newbies can read that thread as well.

For what it is worth, your ISP provides IMAP access:

Perhaps you have some need to stick with POP3 (low ISP disk quotas, extra charges for IMAP access, not wanting to store your email remotely, etc.), but if you wanted to switch to IMAP you could do something like the following:

• Set up a new IMAP account on your current Slackware/Seamonkey installation
• Copy all your locally stored email to the Inbox or some other location on your new IMAP account (this may take a long time depending on connection speed and amount of stored mail)
• Install Slackware 14.0
• Configure Seamonkey to use your IMAP account
• Done

Now all your mail is stored remotely and you can access it any time from any computer or device with an IMAP client. No need to worry about backing up and copying your email any time you upgrade your system or change mail clients.

Thank you very much guys. I'll have to test these things that you propose.

Going back to the original question of how to back up and restore your mail files, back up your /home directory to external media, including the hidden files for your mail client and other items you have configured.

For example, I back up my hidden dot-fluxbox, dot-pan2, and dot-opera directories (I use Opera for mail as well as for browsing). I also back up any directories in /etc that I have configured, such as /etc/samba and /etc/rc.d/rc.firewall. I DO NOT back up configuration directories and files that I leave at default.

Once you install the new OS, restore the hidden files and you will have your mail store and other data back.

If you are not sure what directory your mail store is in, check the website for your mail client.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of IMAP for my personal email. I have no reason for having loads of mail on the server and everything synced up. That's just me and how I use email.

For business and professional mail, it is invaluable.

How could you know the port is 143?

Port 143 is the IANA assigned port for IMAP.

http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:install
Again - for an experienced user like yourself with 2102 posts - this is old news of course. Sorry to have bothered you. :newbie:

Now to get serious - I've quite often wondered about this too. As a senior member you should be the one answering these kind of questions, not asking them. Sorry to be so blunt, but ...

Maybe someone can explain to us what it means to be a "senior member" on LQ. :study:

That was more than a little unnecessary. We all have gaps in our knowledge regardless of our level of experience. This was really an application question and not a Linux one -- you may be a Linux pro but unless you have sufficient experience with Seamonkey mail you still may not know where it stores its mail (and whether it could be imported on a new install). The "senior member" status just indicates that a given user has posted more than 1,000? times. It has nothing to do with a user's knowledge or ability.

Quite frankly, if I were you I'd just take the plunge and do a brute-force upgrade from 12.0 to 14.0 while keeping the UPGRADE.TXT files from releases made in the interim by my side, recognizing that you're going to have to fix some breakages before you're good to go. But, more to the point I agree with the others that you should definitely be making a full backup of your home directory before proceeding with this upgrade whether you do it by way of a fresh install or a brute-force package upgrade.

I know that (perhaps not on Slackware releases, but I can't recall with 100% certainty) in the past I've seen config directories for Mozilla applications go from ~/.mozilla/<application> to ~/.<application> and back again, so to be safe rather than sorry it'd be better to just back-up all of /home (and /etc while you're at it, at least).

I'd would use IMAP if it were not that my ISP has a limit on the quantity of mail I can keep on their sever. When this limit is reached, the oldest e-mail is discarded (LIFO queue).

By the way, how are the names of the incoming and outgoing servers for IMAP formed? With POP, I put POP3.FIBERTEL.COM.AR and SMTP.FIBERTEL.COM.AR, where FIBERTEL.COM.AR is my ISP.