Re: Reconsider make-backup-files default value

[Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com>]

Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com> writes:

> Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> To be quite honest, I don't understand why the default state of backup
>> files has arisen for "deep philosophical" debate.
>
> It's because no other text editor does it by default, and many users
> consider them as useless clutter.  I think it's expected that this
> question will come up every now and then, as long as its the default.

The reason the "other text editors" can make ends met without backup
files is that they are designed for MS-Windows, which supports file
version numbers.  Decent text editors always produce backup files (if
not in the same directory), and only if the time comes when users of
Unix systems can easily restore previous versions of a file from a
Properties dialog will Emacs backup files actually become redundant.  As
here,

  https://winaero.com/restore-previous-versions-windows-10/

> FWIW, I find them quite useless.  I have put them in a separate
> directory for 20+ years, and have never had to consult that directory.
> In some cases, I wished I had disabled them, because some data I thought
> I had deleted was kept (the "passwords.txt" case).  YMMV.
>
> That said, I have no strong opinion about changing the default.  Neither
> choice is obviously better (on or off).

It is this reasoning which I cannot understand.  It is always better to
be cautious, especially in this age of 500GB+ disk drives.