Re: backup method

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

Miles Bader wrote:

   The problem here is that you're doing something Very Weird: editing
   and saving a file currently being written by a process is _not_ a
   common thing to do, for good reason -- no matter what your editor
   does, it's pretty much random luck whether the right thing happens or
   not.

The right thing always happens if the other program only appends.  The
only problem occurs if there is program output before you are able to
save your changes.  Auto Revert warns you about that.  So you save
often enough that loosing your changes is no big deal, especially
since these changes are just killing some junk output by the program
and you only edit if you know the program is going to be busy for
hours without output anyway.  I have enjoyed 100% random luck for many
years now.

If a program is going to run for weeks or maybe months, I can not wait
for weeks or months before starting to edit its output.

Sincerely,

Luc.