Re: backup method

[Miles Bader]

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 18:45:18 -0600 (CST), Luc Teirlinck
<address@hidden> wrote:
> Han Boetes wrote:
> 
>    So I would like to suggest to  make backup by copying the default.
> 
> I agree.  Backup by renaming is a very confusing default.

No it's not.  It's by _far_ the most natural way to do it.

> I had to
> change it instantly after I first started using Emacs.  I had a
> process appending to a file with auto-revert enabled.  I edited the
> file and saved my changes.  The process started appending to the
> backup file.  Very confusing

The problem here is that you're doing something Very Weird: editing
and saving a file currently being written by a process is _not_ a
common thing to do, for good reason -- no matter what your editor
does, it's pretty much random luck whether the right thing happens or
not.

Backup-by-renaming is the best method for general use; there are
specific exceptional cases where it doesn't work well.  If some of
these exceptional cases are easy to detect, Emacs should detect them.

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.