From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: backup files for files under VC Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:48:59 -0400 Message-ID: References: <87fxtf3aiq.fsf@physik.rwth-aachen.de> <85mynnsg0t.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> <8763ub31eh.fsf@physik.rwth-aachen.de> <85wsmrqv1j.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1208789446 9663 80.91.229.12 (21 Apr 2008 14:50:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:50:46 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: David Kastrup Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Apr 21 16:51:20 2008 connect(): Connection refused Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1JnxMT-0006He-GO for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:51:18 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JnxLU-0007T1-4N for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:16 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JnxLQ-0007Sw-9P for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:12 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1JnxLK-0007SP-59 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:12 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1JnxLJ-0007SM-Vj for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:50:06 -0400 Original-Received: from ironport2-out.pppoe.ca ([206.248.154.182] helo=ironport2-out.teksavvy.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1JnxKm-0001Ex-Hm; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:49:58 -0400 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AsAFANdFDEhMCpdU/2dsb2JhbACBUahl X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.25,690,1199682000"; d="scan'208";a="18820131" Original-Received: from smtp.pppoe.ca (HELO smtp.teksavvy.com) ([65.39.196.238]) by ironport2-out.teksavvy.com with ESMTP; 21 Apr 2008 10:49:00 -0400 Original-Received: from pastel.home ([76.10.151.84]) by smtp.teksavvy.com (Internet Mail Server v1.0) with ESMTP id BSS21500; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:49:00 -0400 Original-Received: by pastel.home (Postfix, from userid 20848) id F27608066; Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:48:59 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <85wsmrqv1j.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> (David Kastrup's message of "Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:58:16 +0200") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.60 (gnu/linux) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:95634 Archived-At: >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> and request to change it because the VCS only stores the last >>>> commit. >>> >>> What version control system would that be? >> >> If I change the file, save it, and remove it afterwards, the changes >> are lost. > Why would you do that without checking this into a branch when you have > serious work done on it? This is not a good question: clearly something like this has happened to Torsten, and clearly it can happen to the best of us. As for the issue at hand, I agree with Torsten that there is a risk of losing some data. Setting vc-make-backup-files to a non-nil value can reduce this risk. But note that it does not eliminate the risk. Experience seems to indicate that for most people, the kind of "backup" provided by VCS is at least as good as the one provided by Emacs's backup files, so I think it's best to keep vc-make-backup-files set to nil by default. Also if the problem you saw was that after: 1 - edit file 2 - "cvs remove" (or "git remove" or "bzr remove") the edit was lost, maybe the right place to solve it is in cvs/git/bzr: revision control systems generally place a lot of emphasis on not losing any data, so they may/should provide a way to undo the "cvs remove" and recover the edits you've made in "file". Stefan