Backing up MacPorts directories

[Ryan Schmidt]

On May 26, 2015, at 12:11 PM, Lawrence Velázquez wrote:

> On May 26, 2015, at 7:11 AM, Steve Holden wrote:
> 
>> Is it recommended to omit any of the directories under
>> ‘/opt/local/var/macports’ from backups (e.g. ‘distfiles’, ‘sources’)?
>> https://guide.macports.org/#internals.hierarchy
>> 
>> Whilst I’d like a fully-functioning MacPorts installation if I have to
>> boot from or restore from a backup drive, I wondered whether any of
>> its build directories could be safely omitted? Would their contents be
>> re-downloaded or re-built automatically (or could they be manually)?
> 
> You can probably omit these.
> 
> - var/macports/build: A scratch directory for port builds. There
>  shouldn't be anything in there, unless a build was interrupted and you
>  didn't run `port clean` afterwards.
> - var/macports/distfiles: A cache for ports' source distributions.
>  MacPorts will redownload anything it can't find here.
> - var/macports/logs: MacPorts' logs.
> - var/macports/sources: Contains the ports tree and MacPorts base source
>  code. I believe `port selfupdate` repopulates this, so you need not
>  back it up.

While the contents of those directories can be safely deleted, MacPorts might expect the directories themselves to exist, with certain permissions and ownership. Not sure if they will be recreated automatically if you delete them (or exclude them from your backup, then restore them).