gnus-backup-startup-file

gnus-backup-startup-file is a variable defined in `gnus-start.el'.
Its value is

never

Documentation:
Control use of version numbers for backups of `gnus-startup-file'.
This variable takes the same values as the `version-control'
variable.

You can customize this variable.

This variable was introduced, or its default value was changed, in version 22.1 of Emacs.