From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: (no subject) Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 06:11:23 -0700 (PDT) Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <20030812131123.75904.qmail@web21305.mail.yahoo.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1060693959 24116 80.91.224.253 (12 Aug 2003 13:12:39 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 13:12:39 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Tue Aug 12 15:12:38 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19mYx4-0004ys-00 for ; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:12:38 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 19mZ4m-0003tc-00 for ; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:20:36 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.20) id 19mYwi-0001Ye-Fg for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:12:16 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.20) id 19mYwZ-0001Vm-Vf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:12:07 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.20) id 19mYw2-0000wi-Ut for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:12:06 -0400 Original-Received: from [216.136.129.141] (helo=web21305.mail.yahoo.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with smtp (Exim 4.20) id 19mYw2-0000qE-DO for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:11:34 -0400 Original-Received: from [128.139.197.31] by web21305.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 12 Aug 2003 06:11:23 PDT Original-To: rms@gnu.org In-Reply-To: X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:15903 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:15903 Richard Stallman wrote: >> (while file-exists-p target-file) >> ;; Remove the target before writing it, so that any >> ;; hard-links continue to point to the old file (this makes >> ;; it possible for installed files to share disk space with >> ;; the build tree, without causing problems when emacs-lisp >> ;; files in the build tree are recompiled). >> (delete-file target-file)) >> >> This is a hack for developers, and shouldn't be in the releases, in >> my opinion. For example, it trashes the .elc file permissions, not to >> speak about symlinks, etc. > > I think we need to keep this feature. Of what use is it to users (as opposed to the developers)? On the other hand, for example, I am maintaining an emacs configuration which is in widespread use (via -u). My umask is 077, and whenever I recompile a file, I need to change its .elc counterpart permissions back. You could say that I should change the recompiling function, but in my opinion, the UNIX way of rewriting files is in no need of questionable improvements like these. At the least, one could ensure that the number of hardlinks is more than one before erasing target-file. Also, what if target-file is a symlink? In my opinion, this feature only confuses matters. Best regards, Shuki __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com