backup-by-copying-when-linked

backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Mario Lang]

Hi.

I was recently bitten again by Emacs destroying hard-links when saving.

I have to admit, I consider this default behaviour pretty rude.
What is the rationale for such a default?  And, can we perhaps find a
way to change this such that saving a hard-linked file doesn't undo the
link?

-- 
CYa,
  ⡍⠁⠗⠊⠕

Re: backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Stefan Monnier]

> I have to admit, I consider this default behaviour pretty rude.

In other circumstances, the other behavior is pretty rude as well.


        Stefan

Re: backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Elias Mårtenson]

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On Mon, 31 Aug 2020, 03:24 Stefan Monnier, <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

> > I have to admit, I consider this default behaviour pretty rude.
>
> In other circumstances, the other behavior is pretty rude as well.


While I consider the default Emacs behaviour to be appropriate, it is
possible to detect that a file has hardlinks and warn if you're saving to
such a file.

It may be useful to provide such functionality?

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Re: backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Stefan Monnier]

>> > I have to admit, I consider this default behaviour pretty rude.
>> In other circumstances, the other behavior is pretty rude as well.
> While I consider the default Emacs behaviour to be appropriate, it is
> possible to detect that a file has hardlinks and warn if you're saving to
> such a file.

Warning might be a good feature and even a good default, indeed, since both
options can be quite rude: sometimes the links are really there because
you really want to keep those N places equal, and other times the links
should only be there as long as the N files are equal.


        Stefan

Re: backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Eli Zaretskii]

On August 31, 2020 6:15:43 AM GMT+03:00, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>>> > I have to admit, I consider this default behaviour pretty rude.
>>> In other circumstances, the other behavior is pretty rude as well.
>> While I consider the default Emacs behaviour to be appropriate, it is
>> possible to detect that a file has hardlinks and warn if you're
>saving to
>> such a file.
>
>Warning might be a good feature and even a good default, indeed, since
>both
>options can be quite rude: sometimes the links are really there because
>you really want to keep those N places equal, and other times the links
>should only be there as long as the N files are equal.

Careful with these warnings: they could potentially be a terrible nuisance, since saving your edits is a very frequent operation.

If we are going to introduce such a warning, it should be issued only once per session for a given buffer.

Re: backup-by-copying-when-linked

[Stefan Monnier]

> If we are going to introduce such a warning, it should be issued only once
> per session for a given buffer.

Oh yes.  I'd even hope the info about which to choose can survive longer
than a session.


        Stefan