Re: Optional argument for `file-local-copy'

[Thien-Thi Nguyen <ttn@gnu.org>]

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() Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
() Sat, 29 Nov 2014 15:33:20 +0000

   > > > REUSE-IF-ALREADY-EXISTS non-nil means return the name of an existing
   > > > local copy of FILE, if FILE's file attributes didn't change since
   > >                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   > > > the last copy operation.

   > > "haven't changed", here, since it's expressing a current state.  "didn't
   > > change" would be appropriate for referring to a past event.

   > It _is_ a past event, by the time this function is called.

   Yes, but it is that event's effect on the present which makes
   the "present perfect" the right tense.

   "haven't changed" is the correct tense here.  Really it is.

Another formulation is "if FILE's file attributes are unchanged".
This shifts the emphasis from the interval to the present, which
is the "time" i think "in" for trying to grok these things.

-- 
Thien-Thi Nguyen
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