Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Marshall, Simon]

Hi folks,

Now that Exceed doesn't crash on a regular basis, I find that I run many
Emacs sessions for days or even a whole working week.  Unfortunately,
for those Emacs sessions, this means that the only backups I have for
files I visit in those sessions are days old or even a whole week.  For
example:

I start Emacs on Monday and visit some files.
I spend the whole week making edits & saving the files, but on Thurs I
realise I want some change I made earlier in the week to one of the
files, maybe Monday or Tuesday I can't quite remember, that I deleted a
day or so later.
I check the backup files only to discover there's only one for each
modified file---the one Emacs made the first time I saved on Monday.
The backup file is from the previous Friday.

I realise I can do C-u C-x C-s on an individual file, but that requires
me remembering (a) to do it, (b) whether I've done it already that day
given the large number of files I might be editing and (c) I save with
C-u C-x s because I tend to modify more than one file at a time.  What I
would like is to be able to tell Emacs to automatically make backups on
a daily basis, not just the first time I save a visited file.  Or maybe
some other configuration, e.g., make a backup when saving after a number
of hours since the last backup was made for the visited file.

WDYT?  Simon.

Simon Marshall, Misys International Banking Systems
1 St. George's Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4DR, UK
Email: simon.marshall@misys.com Web: www.misys.com
Phone: +44 20 8879 1188 Fax: +44 20 8879 1764

Re: Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Colin Walters]

> What I
> would like is to be able to tell Emacs to automatically make backups on
> a daily basis, not just the first time I save a visited file.

Sounds like a good idea to me; I would use such a feature.

Recently though I've gotten into the habit of using RCS a lot; a friend
pointed out to me that just typing 'C-x v v' on a file will create an
RCS directory for you and everything.  Very handy.

Re: Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Eli Zaretskii]

On Wed, 29 May 2002, Marshall, Simon wrote:

> I realise I can do C-u C-x C-s on an individual file, but that requires
> me remembering (a) to do it, (b) whether I've done it already that day
> given the large number of files I might be editing and (c) I save with
> C-u C-x s because I tend to modify more than one file at a time.  What I
> would like is to be able to tell Emacs to automatically make backups on
> a daily basis, not just the first time I save a visited file.  Or maybe
> some other configuration, e.g., make a backup when saving after a number
> of hours since the last backup was made for the visited file.
> 
> WDYT?

I think this would be a useful feature.

Re: Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

"Marshall, Simon" <simon.marshall@misys.com> writes:

   WDYT?  Simon.

probably you have more deterministic interaction if you use RCS.

thi

Re: Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Miles Bader]

Thien-Thi Nguyen <ttn@glug.org> writes:
> probably you have more deterministic interaction if you use RCS.

RCS requires you to make explicit versions.  He can do that using backup
files too, very simply, but he wanted some way to make the system
_automatically_ make more backup files at some periodic interval, in
case he's editing a file for a very long time.

I think it's a great idea...

-Miles
-- 
"Most attacks seem to take place at night, during a rainstorm, uphill,
 where four map sheets join."   -- Anon. British Officer in WW I

Re: Suggestion: create new file backups following turn of day

[Richard Stallman]

The feature idea seems reasonable as an option.  Would you like to
write it?