strange auto-save behavior on Lynx

strange auto-save behavior on Lynx

[Stephen Leake]

I'm using Emacs 21.2 on Lynx 4.0 (yes, lynx, not linux). It's doing
something strange with auto-save files, and I'd like some help in
tracking it down.

When I first start typing in a file, say foo/bar.txt, a symbolic link
foo/.#bar.txt -> stephe@roke.89 is created. Then, when I save the
file, that symlink is renamed to stephe@roke.89 -> stephe@roke.89 (it
is _not_ deleted).

I assume this is a bug in the Lynx implementation somewhere; I'm
trying to track it down. I can't find a description of the correct
behavior in the Emacs manual (it talks about auto-save files, but not
at this level). I tried tracing save-buffer with debug-on-entry; the
rename is happening in write-region, which is a C file and can't be
traced this way. Before I start trying to read the C, I thought I'd
ask here.

Why is Emacs creating a symlink that doesn't point anywhere real in
the first place?

Can anyone explain what's supposed to happen? 

Can anyone point to some code I should read to help find the bug?

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: strange auto-save behavior on Lynx

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stephen Leake <Stephe.Leake@nasa.gov>
> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> Date: 08 Sep 2003 16:39:05 -0400
> 
> When I first start typing in a file, say foo/bar.txt, a symbolic link
> foo/.#bar.txt -> stephe@roke.89 is created. Then, when I save the
> file, that symlink is renamed to stephe@roke.89 -> stephe@roke.89 (it
> is _not_ deleted).
> 
> I assume this is a bug in the Lynx implementation somewhere; I'm
> trying to track it down. I can't find a description of the correct
> behavior in the Emacs manual (it talks about auto-save files, but not
> at this level).

This is not an auto-save file, it's a user-lock file; it should be
deleted when you save your changes.  See the node "Interlocking" in
the Emacs manual, which describes this feature.