How can I use elfeed on multiple devices?

[brabalan]

I will soon have a desktop in addition to my laptop, and I would like to use elfeed from both (while keeping them synchronized). What is the best way to achieve this? I found https://github.com/MasWag/emacs-elfeed-sync, which simply copies the index file using tramp. Is it all that is needed?

[CedricConday]

Mostly, yes, with one gap. Elfeed has no sync of its own: the whole state (feeds, entries, tags, read/unread) is the single index file under elfeed-db-directory, written as one s-expression by elfeed-db-save in elfeed-db.el. There is no merge; whichever index is copied last wins, which skeeto confirmed back in #131. So copying works as long as you push before leaving one machine and pull before starting on the other. emacs-elfeed-sync does handle the two things that usually trip people up: it calls elfeed-db-save before pushing (otherwise the db is only written on an idle timer, elfeed-db-save-idle, and from kill-emacs-hook) and wraps the pull in elfeed-db-unload / elfeed-db-load so the copied index is actually read.

The gap is content. The index only holds references; entry bodies live in data/ (loose files named by SHA-1, or data/archive.gz plus data/archive.index after elfeed-db-compact). elfeed-deref returns nil for a missing reference, so an entry that arrived via the index alone opens empty on the other machine until that feed is fetched there again (elfeed-entry-merge refreshes content on refetch and keeps your tags). If that matters, sync the whole elfeed-db-directory with the same save/unload discipline; data/ merges safely because identical names mean identical content.

If you would rather not think about ordering at all, put a server in the middle: elfeed-protocol (listed under Extensions in the README) fetches from FreshRSS, ttrss, Fever-style backends and the like, and the read state then lives on the server instead of in either index.

[brabalan]

Thank you!