Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:


[...]
>> I've created the attached patch to have vc-delete file to keep files on
>> disk using a prefix argument. I've only tested it for vc-git.
>
> Thanks, sounds useful.
>
> A few minor comments below, mainly to the documentation parts:
[...]

Thanks, now fixed and attached.

>
>> -	(let ((backup-inhibited nil))
>> +	(let ((backup-inhibited nil)
>> + ;; if you don't set this, then for some reason, the file is never
>> brought back
>> +              (backup-by-copying t))
>
> Wouldn't it be better to understand why this mystery happens?

Yeah, a backup function should bring back the original file.  That is
indeed weird.  But I can't read much elisp yet to be of help in here.

In this case, backup-by-copying seems to be the better method for
backups since the intention is to not touch the original files at all.
Reading the docstring of backup-buffer, backup-by-rename doesn't look
fit for this use case.