Can I emerge sync without /usr/portage?

[kohno]

I want to backup my system onto a single CD, but /usr/portage is over 400MB, can I just leave the stuff there out?

[steveb]

[kohno]

Why do I need to backup /usr/portage/distfiles and /usr/portage/packages? Many people say you can safely delete things there.
My question is if I leave everything in /usr/portage out, can I bring all those ebuilds back by doing emerge sync later? Or do you actually need certain things in the directory for emerge sync to work properly?

[steveb]

yes. you can bring the things back by doing the following:

to get the ebuilds back:
emerge sync or emerge rsync

to get the stuff back from distfiles:
emerge -ef world

to get the stuff back from packages:
well... you need to recompile everything or use quickpkg to recreate the packages. quickpkg is only a emergency solution. it is not 100% the same as when you recompile.


cheers

SteveB

[kohno]

Since I'm gonna do a full backup, so I don't really need to backup distfiles or packages. Anyway, thank you very much for your explanation, steveb.