Change backup system

Change backup system

[Florian Lindner]

Hello,

can I (I suppose I can, it's Emacs) and how can I change the way Emacs
backup files. The default is to create a filename~ in the same folder.

My idea is to copy the file to another folder. When I edit and save ~/
text/file.txt the backup is saved in ~/.emacs.d/backup/home/florian/
text/file.txt.n with n being a number incremted form 1 to x each save.

Can I configure Emacs like that?

Thanks,

Florian

Re: Change backup system

[Evans Winner]

Florian Lindner <Florian.Lindner@xgm.de> writes:

    My idea is to copy the file to another folder. When I
    edit and save ~/ text/file.txt the backup is saved in
    ~/.emacs.d/backup/home/florian/ text/file.txt.n with n
    being a number incremted form 1 to x each save.

I have a directory called ~/bu and this in my .emacs
(thought I am not sure which versions of Emacs it works
with):

(setq version-control t)              ; Numbered backups.
(setq backup-directory-alist          ; Backup directory          
      `(("." .                        
	 ,(expand-file-name "~/bu"))))

I don't know if this is exactly what you mean....  I
occasionally clean out old stuff from my ~/bu directory.

The files are named like this:

  !home!thorne!hacking!litmus!mla.tmac.~3~

with bang-path kinda names and the number at the end a
version number.

Here is some documentation about those variables:

,----[ C-h v version-control RET ]
| version-control is a variable defined in `/home/usr/local/share/emacs/23.0.60/lisp/files.elc'.
| Its value is t
| 
|   This variable is safe as a file local variable if its value
|   satisfies the predicate `(lambda (x) (or (booleanp x) (equal x (quote never))))'.
| 
| Documentation:
| Control use of version numbers for backup files.
| When t, make numeric backup versions unconditionally.
| When nil, make them for files that have some already.
| The value `never' means do not make them.
| 
| You can customize this variable.
`----

,----[ C-h v backup-directory-alist RET ]
| backup-directory-alist is a variable defined in `/home/usr/local/share/emacs/23.0.60/lisp/files.elc'.
| Its value is 
| (("." . "/home/thorne/bu"))
| 
| 
| Documentation:
| Alist of filename patterns and backup directory names.
| Each element looks like (REGEXP . DIRECTORY).  Backups of files with
| names matching REGEXP will be made in DIRECTORY.  DIRECTORY may be
| relative or absolute.  If it is absolute, so that all matching files
| are backed up into the same directory, the file names in this
| directory will be the full name of the file backed up with all
| directory separators changed to `!' to prevent clashes.  This will not
| work correctly if your filesystem truncates the resulting name.
| 
| For the common case of all backups going into one directory, the alist
| should contain a single element pairing "." with the appropriate
| directory name.
| 
| If this variable is nil, or it fails to match a filename, the backup
| is made in the original file's directory.
| 
| On MS-DOS filesystems without long names this variable is always
| ignored.
| 
| You can customize this variable.
`----

Re: Change backup system

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 28.07.2008 um 21:00 schrieb Florian Lindner:

> Can I configure Emacs like that?

(setq auto-save-interval 125)
;; Backups to central location
(setq make-backup-files         t ; backup my files
       backup-by-copying         t ; don't clobber sym-links
;      backup-directory-alist   '(("." . (concat (user-emacs- 
directory "/Sicherungen")))) ; don't litter
       delete-old-versions       t
       kept-new-versions         6
       kept-old-versions         2
       version-control           t ; use versioned backups
       vc-make-backup-files      t ; make backups for cvs projects
       vc-follow-symlinks        t)
(setq backup-directory-alist    '(("." . "~/.emacs.d/ 
Sicherungen"))) ;don't litter

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

   Pete     === -Q
              ==<__/% >>
_____________(_)____@_____________________________

Re: Change backup system

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> writes:

> Am 28.07.2008 um 21:00 schrieb Florian Lindner:
>
>> Can I configure Emacs like that?
>
> (setq auto-save-interval 125)
> ;; Backups to central location
> (setq make-backup-files         t ; backup my files
>       backup-by-copying         t ; don't clobber sym-links
> ;      backup-directory-alist   '(("." . (concat (user-emacs-
> directory "/Sicherungen")))) ; don't litter
>       delete-old-versions       t
>       kept-new-versions         6
>       kept-old-versions         2
>       version-control           t ; use versioned backups
>       vc-make-backup-files      t ; make backups for cvs projects
>       vc-follow-symlinks        t)
> (setq backup-directory-alist    '(("." . "~/.emacs.d/
> Sicherungen"))) ;don't litter

And when you /su::/etc (for example) if you add that lines:

,----
| (setq tramp-backup-directory-alist backup-directory-alist)
| (setq auto-save-file-name-transforms nil)
`----

when you edit files in /etc you will have also the backups in your
`backup-directory-alist' directory.

-- 
A + Thierry Volpiatto
Location: Saint-Cyr-Sur-Mer - France

Re: Change backup system

[Xah]

On Jul 28, 12:00 pm, Florian Lindner <Florian.Lind...@xgm.de> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> can I (I suppose I can, it's Emacs) and how can I change the way Emacs
> backup files. The default is to create a filename~ in the same folder.
>
> My idea is to copy the file to another folder. When I edit and save ~/
> text/file.txt the backup is saved in ~/.emacs.d/backup/home/florian/
> text/file.txt.n with n being a number incremted form 1 to x each save.
>
> Can I configure Emacs like that?


Yes. I have the code that does exactly what you want.

----------------------------------

Q: How to set emacs so that all backups are directed into one folder?
(such as at a directory "~/myBackups")

Use the following lisp code in init file:

; return a backup file path of a give file path
; with full directory mirroring from a root dir
; non-existant dir will be created
(defun my-backup-file-name (fpath)
  "Return a new file path of a given file path.
If the new path's directories does not exist, create them."
  (let (backup-root bpath)
    (setq backup-root "~/.emacs.d/emacs-backup")
    (setq bpath (concat backup-root fpath "~"))
    (make-directory (file-name-directory bpath) bpath)
    bpath
  )
)
(setq make-backup-file-name-function 'my-backup-file-name)

The above will mirror all directories at the given backup dir. For
example, if you are editing a file “/Users/jane/web/xyz/myfile.txt”,
and your backup root is “/Users/jane/.emacs.d/emacs-backup”, then the
backup will be at “/Users/jane/.emacs.d/emacs-backup/Users/jane/web/
xyz/myfile.txt~”.

If you want all backup to be flat in a dir, use the following:

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

This will create backup files flat in the given dir, and the backup
file names will have “!” characters in place of the directory
separator. For example, if you are editing a file at “/Users/jane/web/
xyz/myfile.txt”, and your backup dir is set at “/Users/jane/.emacs.d/
emacs-backup”, then the backup file will be at: “/Users/jane/.emacs.d/
emacs-backup/Users!jane!web!emacs!myfile.txt~”. If you use long file
names or many nested dirs, this scheme will reach file name length
limit quickly.

------------------

The above is a excerpt from:

http://xahlee.org/emacs/emacs_adv_tips.html

The page is part of my emacs and elisp tutorial at

http://xahlee.org/emacs/emacs.html

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄

Re: Change backup system

[Florian Lindner]

On 29 Jul., 11:29, Xah <xah...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 28, 12:00 pm, Florian Lindner <Florian.Lind...@xgm.de> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
>
> > can I (I suppose I can, it's Emacs) and how can I change the way Emacs
> > backup files. The default is to create a filename~ in the same folder.
>
> > My idea is to copy the file to another folder. When I edit and save ~/
> > text/file.txt the backup is saved in ~/.emacs.d/backup/home/florian/
> > text/file.txt.n with n being a number incremted form 1 to x each save.
>
> > Can I configure Emacs like that?
>
> Yes. I have the code that does exactly what you want.

[...]

I have now:

(defun my-backup-file-name (fpath)
  "Return a new file path of a given file path. If the new path's
directories does not exist, create them."
  (let (backup-root bpath)
    (setq backup-root "~/.emacs.d/backup")
    (setq bpath (concat backup-root fpath "~"))
    (make-directory (file-name-directory bpath) bpath)
    bpath
    )
  )
(setq make-backup-file-name-function 'my-backup-file-name
      version-control t
      delete-old-versions t
      kept-new-versions 6
      kept-old-versions 2)

The my-backup-file-name works as you have described but it seems not
to cooperate with the numbered backups (version-control t). There is
always the first backup saved and never modified.
BTW: What is difference between kept-new-versions and kept-old-
versions?

Thanks,

Florian