From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Miles Bader Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: backup method Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 10:20:40 +0900 Message-ID: References: <20050127000210.GA6167@boetes.org> <200501270045.j0R0jIq06197@raven.dms.auburn.edu> Reply-To: snogglethorpe@gmail.com, miles@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1106788980 17678 80.91.229.6 (27 Jan 2005 01:23:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 01:23:00 +0000 (UTC) Cc: han@mijncomputer.nl, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jan 27 02:22:54 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1CtyN4-0002mz-00 for ; Thu, 27 Jan 2005 02:22:54 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1CtyZP-0000DL-0L for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:35:39 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1CtyZ1-0000Bp-LE for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:35:15 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1CtyYz-0000Ac-W5 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:35:14 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1CtyYz-0000AX-QS for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:35:13 -0500 Original-Received: from [64.233.184.198] (helo=wproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1CtyKu-00066F-Tk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 20:20:41 -0500 Original-Received: by wproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id 49so226465wri for ; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:20:40 -0800 (PST) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:reply-to:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:references; b=QGYclgsZVJ3thytWF/MrC+bgOG3wVJUB1MslsKwvAHNr7PblHuEnRP4ajTk9slPC6RXISCiQyNiM2c3Bdt6ObCPoFOpj4fGRQDIhMvlry6FH5gtvhFqfApIhoric92x974Covzx+EcFi9fFhP/fzRmtJy/uTCjFA5iTljc2dxw0= Original-Received: by 10.54.20.25 with SMTP id 25mr675110wrt; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:20:40 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: by 10.54.19.59 with HTTP; Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:20:40 -0800 (PST) Original-To: Luc Teirlinck In-Reply-To: <200501270045.j0R0jIq06197@raven.dms.auburn.edu> 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: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:32569 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:32569 On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:45:18 -0600 (CST), Luc Teirlinck wrote: > Han Boetes wrote: > > So I would like to suggest to make backup by copying the default. > > I agree. Backup by renaming is a very confusing default. No it's not. It's by _far_ the most natural way to do it. > I had to > change it instantly after I first started using Emacs. I had a > process appending to a file with auto-revert enabled. I edited the > file and saved my changes. The process started appending to the > backup file. Very confusing 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. Backup-by-renaming is the best method for general use; there are specific exceptional cases where it doesn't work well. If some of these exceptional cases are easy to detect, Emacs should detect them. -Miles -- Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.