universal backup directory

universal backup directory

[john doe]

I have the following entry in my dotfile:

;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY 
(setq backup-directory-alist `(("." .
,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
 
This will make backups in the current directory to a
dir called .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way
to make one universal backup directory that all emacs
files go to regardless of where they are saved?

Thanks!

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Re: universal backup directory

[Kai Großjohann]

john doe <m0nkeyd0g2000@yahoo.com> writes:

> ;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY 
> (setq backup-directory-alist `(("." .
> ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
>  
> This will make backups in the current directory to a
> dir called .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way
> to make one universal backup directory that all emacs
> files go to regardless of where they are saved?

Doesn't the above do that?  It chooses ~/.emacs_backups for all
directory names which contain at least one non-newline character,
IIUC.
-- 
Ambibibentists unite!

Re: universal backup directory

[Phillip Lord]

>>>>> "john" == john doe <m0nkeyd0g2000@yahoo.com> writes:

  john> I have the following entry in my dotfile:

  john> ;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY (setq
  john> ;; backup-directory-alist
  john> `(("." .  ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
 
  john> This will make backups in the current directory to a dir
  john> called .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way to make one
  john> universal backup directory that all emacs files go to
  john> regardless of where they are saved?


The "backup-dir" package does exactly what you want. I've used it for
a while, and found it to do what I want. google will provide, I'm
sure. 


Phil

Re: universal backup directory

[Benjamin Riefenstahl]

john doe <m0nkeyd0g2000@yahoo.com> writes:

> ;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY 
> (setq backup-directory-alist `(("." .
> ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
>  
> This will make backups in the current directory to a dir called
> .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way to make one universal
> backup directory that all emacs files go to regardless of where they
> are saved?

Read the variable documentation.  


Hope this helps, benny

Re: universal backup directory

[Jay Belanger]

john doe <m0nkeyd0g2000@yahoo.com> writes:

> ;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY 
> (setq backup-directory-alist `(("." .
> ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
>  
> This will make backups in the current directory to a
> dir called .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way
> to make one universal backup directory that all emacs
> files go to regardless of where they are saved?

The `file-name-nondirectory' strips the "~/" from "~/.emacs_backups",
and so what you have is equivalent to 

(setq backup-directory-alist '(("." ".emacs_backups")))

and so .emacs_backup is put in the current directory.  You probably
want

(setq backup-directory-alist '(("." "~/.emacs_backups")))

Jay

Re: universal backup directory

[Todd Wylie]

Using:

(setq backup-directory-alist '(("." . "~/.emacs_backups")))

Seems to do the trick... thanks! Interestingly, filenames seem to be keeping entire directory path and simply replacing "/" with "!".

Cheers.


Jay Belanger <belanger@truman.edu> writes:


> john doe <m0nkeyd0g2000@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> > ;; MAKE ALL BACKUPS TO A SINGLE DIRECTORY 
> > (setq backup-directory-alist `(("." .
> > ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))
> >  
> > This will make backups in the current directory to a
> > dir called .emacs_backups -- however, is there a way
> > to make one universal backup directory that all emacs
> > files go to regardless of where they are saved?
> 
> The `file-name-nondirectory' strips the "~/" from "~/.emacs_backups",
> and so what you have is equivalent to 
> 
> (setq backup-directory-alist '(("." ".emacs_backups")))
> 
> and so .emacs_backup is put in the current directory.  You probably
> want
> 
> (setq backup-directory-alist '(("." "~/.emacs_backups")))
> 
> Jay

Re: universal backup directory

[Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>]

>> (setq backup-directory-alist
>>       `(("." . ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))

Use 

 (setq backup-directory-alist
       `(("" . ,(file-name-nondirectory "~/.emacs_backups"))))

if you want it to work with file names that only contain line-feeds.


        Stefan

Re: universal backup directory

[Kevin Rodgers]

Todd Wylie wrote:

> Interestingly, filenames seem to be keeping entire directory path and
> simply replacing "/" with "!".

So that files with the same name in different directories can be backed up
(e.g. /a/b/c/foo and /x/y/z/foo).

-- 
<a href="mailto:&lt;kevin.rodgers&#64;ihs.com&gt;">Kevin Rodgers</a>