Re: [PATCH] vc-bzr.el: avoid stomping files across hardlink branches.

[Tim Penhey <tim@penhey.net>]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:03:05 Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > I'm offering this patch for review before I commit, since I'm not
> > an expert in the VC code.  Following the patch is a shell script
> > showing the reproduction recipe.
>
> I don't really like this, because links can also be used for other
> purposes than "copy on write".  Most importantly your patch breaks
> symlinks, which is usually the wrong thing to do.
>
> In my opinion, the use of hardlinked trees is just risky business
> that requires a lot of care, so I think priority should be given to
> handle the "non-hardlinked tree" case correctly.

Can we at least have an option to have emacs break hard links on edit?

This bit me when my ubuntu laptop was upgraded to intrepid, which 
upgraded my emacs which brought with it a newer vc module which 
automagically detected files that were in a bzr branch.  Previously 
backup copies were being made, which caused the had links to be broken.  
When the files were detected to be in source control, emacs (correctly in 
my opinion) stopped attempting to create backup files.  My issue was that 
my workflow suddenly got screwed up.

I'm not suggesting that the default behaviour necessarily be changed for 
everything, but I'd like the ability to have emacs brake my hardlinks on 
edit for my bzr hosted files.

Tim