Newbie question -- which files to back up?

[Glenn Dawson]

At 09:08 AM 4/16/2006, Oliver Iberien wrote:
>On Sunday 16 April 2006 09:00, Glenn Dawson wrote:
> > At 09:58 PM 2/22/2006, Andy Reitz wrote:
> > >Hi Oliver,
> > >
> > >At a minimum, you will probably want to back up the following directories:
> > >
> > >         /etc
> > >         /usr/local/etc
> > >         /home
> > >
> > >That will get all of the configuration files for FreeBSD and the
> > >software thar you installed from ports.
> >
> > Actually, no.  If you want to backup the software installed from
> > ports you will typically need /usr/local.
> >
> > The contents of /var/db would also be desirable so that you know
> > which ports are installed on the machine among other things.
> >
> > -Glenn
> >
> > >  The last directory will det all of your user's data. Some other
> > > applications might put data in other places, however, so you might
> > > want to research the applications that you are running to make sure
> > > you don't miss any important data.
> > >
> > >-Andy.
>
>Thanks for all this information. Can /usr/local and /var/db just be copied
>directly back in after recovery, or (if it's more complicated that that)
>would there be a tutorial on this somewhere?

Generally speaking, /usr/local is empty after a clean install, so 
simply replacing its contents should be ok.  Though keep in mind that 
some ports put things outside /usr/local so they may not work until 
other things are restored.

/var/db/pkg is the dir you want for restoring the database of 
installed ports/packages.  The other things in /var/db you will 
probably want to put back as needed instead of all at once.

-Glenn


>Oliver
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