From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: [Martin.Buchmann@uni-jena.de: Re: erase customization does not work] Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:42:28 +0100 Message-ID: <85br0g5hnf.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> References: <200511180054.jAI0sSh07595@raven.dms.auburn.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1132443792 14637 80.91.229.2 (19 Nov 2005 23:43:12 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 23:43:12 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Luc Teirlinck , emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Nov 20 00:43:02 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EdcM5-0004Jl-Tb for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:42:50 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EdcM5-00012Z-EN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:49 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EdcLs-00011P-Ba for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:36 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1EdcLr-00010E-4b for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:35 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1EdcLq-000104-Tp for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:35 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1EdcLr-0006VQ-63 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:35 -0500 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lola.goethe.zz) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1EdcLj-0002fV-K1; Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:42:27 -0500 Original-Received: by lola.goethe.zz (Postfix, from userid 1002) id 830211C12C94; Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:42:29 +0100 (CET) Original-To: rms@gnu.org In-Reply-To: (Richard M. Stallman's message of "Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:26:57 -0500") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:46299 Archived-At: "Richard M. Stallman" writes: > The problem is that I believe that this is a dangerous button, > that could make people loose a lot of customizations carefully > built up over the years, by inadvertently clicking mouse-1 on it > (just to give focus to the frame). > > If you delete customizations this way, they will remain in the > backup file of .emacs. So it isn't quite so dangerous as you make > it sound. The first impulse of an average user when confronted with a catastrophe is to try salvaging it. In a panic, this will likely result in an attempt of putting together the old .emacs from memory or other sources. In this case, the backup file will be gone with the next save. I have witnessed enough scenarios where I had to tell people "if you had just called me right after the damage instead of trying to fix it, it would have been easy to restore". So in particular in this case, I'd not consider the existence of the backup file (and some people turn of backup files, anyway) enough for dismissing the case as harmless. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum