From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Reconsider make-backup-files default value Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:51:57 -0400 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Utf-8 Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="1404"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: James Ipswich Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Wed Sep 18 05:52:43 2024 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1sqlkA-0000Du-Ll for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 18 Sep 2024 05:52:42 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1sqljX-0007WK-7C; Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:52:03 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1sqljV-0007Vx-SU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:52:02 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1sqljV-0003tb-9q; Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:52:01 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gnu.org; s=fencepost-gnu-org; h=Date:References:Subject:In-Reply-To:To:From: mime-version; bh=GdCyRT4fGQF5GuUSN7H/Um6AGq/05UVxVEzdaKoI3yg=; b=BWe9KKSEp2C3 Y9LV9VDpgCsAga/7EGpYF9EzU8fhz0tC/VA6Je54Y/gsJf2+pywnU63mIg/aEBvufcKcoa+C+/hNa V0QhBJhPWUt3UOEhFqikDs0ZAfI4IQpyYfQCXbNynPOli4C1iSTL0YkxEvs5NKbZwEIqXC1rl4fT8 pzpOd/5A+0EFh1ogvRcaRAC8JLhnDyhq0lGaHJOhED/IjnyWNACpykaFN2zymjAoMKttjfy2fmrED yf5BvYe5SBTjTR/eALBNSDt2slvMQt4gypqtbH4qT+x1jiSuutD1PDOlDCgIhgWyhPFuqrgbMHMon vQUfODL1lkBSgwLY/ojyoQ==; Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1sqljR-0005w5-2f; Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:51:57 -0400 In-Reply-To: (message from James Ipswich on Sun, 15 Sep 2024 22:19:42 +0000) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:323712 Archived-At: [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > Emacs has traditionally kept all defaults very minimal, and most > functionality needs to be explicitly enabled by the user. For example, > out of the box minibuffer and CAPF completion is quite plain. This is not a rule, just a usual approach. It tends to keep the default mode of operation simple. If a feature is a possible convenience, people can turn it on if they want it. > However, make-backup-files default value is t, which I think goes > against this philosophy. That is very important. If you don't save the previous version, you will regret it. Being safe is a better default than being risky. Thus, whether to enable an option by default is a matter of what it does. Lets not make rigidity our rigid principle. Changes in the details of making or naming backups are a different issue. They are not risky as disabling backups would be. If we want to introduce a method that is not currently an option, we should introduce it as an option. Changing the default details of making or naming backups is possible too, but we shouldn't consider changing to a method until it has been in a release for a year and we can see how much people like it. "Hiding" backup files might cause a risk that other changed details would not cause. If you are not an expert on Emacs, and you don't see a backup file when you list that directory, you may not realize that it exists. You might think that the old version is lost, when in fact you have it in a backup file. The harm done by one instance of that could easily outweigh a thousand instances of being annoyed about "clutter". -- Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org) Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org) Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org) Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)