[Users] Upgrading with Multiple Directories

[Dustin Miller]

On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 09:48:38 -0000
Paul <paul at claws-mail.org> wrote:

> On Wed, 6 Apr 2022 10:04:39 +0600
> Dustin Miller via Users <users at lists.claws-mail.org> wrote: 
> 
> > I normally install / upgrade Claws Mail (CM) by building from a
> > 'release' tarball or occasionally from the development source code
> > available on git. I run multiple instances of CM and have a separate
> > configuration directory for each instance, which gets specified
> > during the configuration step of the build process and when
> > executing the binary. One thing I'm not clear on is how the build
> > process affects the configuration directory.
> > 
> > Assuming that each instance of CM is run using the same binary, for
> > doing an upgrade do I need to go through the build process for each
> > configuration directory, or is it sufficent to do it only for one?  
> 
> It's not clear what you are saying here because the configuration
> directory (default is ~/.claws-mail/) is not set at build time
> 
DM: Perhaps I have misunderstood the process. For the configuration
step of the build process, I run a command like './configure
--with-config-dir=/path/to/alternate/.claws-mail'. I was under the
impression that this was a necessary part of the build/install process
if I was using a different location for the configuration directory
than the default. Or maybe this isn't necessary / useful if the
directory already exists at that location?
> 
> but at run time (you can choose a different location from the default
> by using --alternate-config-dir [DIR]).
> 
DM: I also use this, matching [DIR] with the path I specified in the
configuration step of the build process.
> 
> You can choose different installation directory when building, using
> --prefix. I suppose that is what you mean?
> 
DM: I have used this in the past for testing different versions of
CM, but that is not what I mean for this email.

DM: I guess another way of approaching my question is to ask, "When
upgrading CM, does the build / install process need to make any changes
to the configuration directory?" If it doesn't, then I could just
upgrade CM once, and then point it to each configuration directory at
run time. If it does, then I should do the upgrade for each
configuration directory. Or maybe it depends on what changes have been
made between the version I'm upgrading from and the one I'm upgrading
to.

DM: Hope that helps make my question a bit clearer; if not, let me know
and I'll try again. Of course, if I've misunderstood the build process,
my question may be moot / irrelevant. :) In any case, thanks for taking
the time to help me understand some of these details. ---Dustin