Re: [PATCH] show difference when recovering file

[Ivan Kanis <ivan.kanis@googlemail.com>]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

>> This trivial patch offer to see the difference between the current file
>> and the backup file. This helps making the decision whether one wants to
>> recover the file.
>    
>> +                      (diff file file-name)
>
> There's a problem here: the autosave file is saved using the internal
> coding-system (so it always succeeds, no matter what weird mix of
> characters happens to be currently in the buffer), where the
> non-autosave file will use the encoding which happens to be in use for
> this file.

Is it possible to open the non-autosave file in the internal format just
to run the diff? I guess not.

> So the diff may show lots of spurious changes.

I think it's a borderline case. It's more useful to see what the
difference is between the two files even though on rare occasion the
diff will show garbage
-- 
Ivan Kanis
http://ivan.kanis.fr

I had an interest in death from an early age. It fascinated me. When I
heard 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,' I thought, 'Did he fall or was
he pushed?'
    -- P.D. James