this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Delete backup files when saving (alien.top)
submitted 1 year ago by usuario1986@alien.top to c/emacs
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Hi.

Still learning Emacs but happy with it so far. One thing i'm trying to find out is this. I'm OK with Emacs creating recovery files from which i can, well, recover my work after emacs is closed. However, if I save my files, I have no need for these #filename# or filename~ files that populate my folders. Is there a way to make emacs keep creating these recovery files, but deleting them if I *save* my actual files?

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[–] 7890yuiop@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Autosaves aren't needed once you've saved -- but emacs should already be removing them when you save your changes.

Backups are very specifically protecting you from the situation where the thing you saved was wrong. If you think that's useless, you haven't understood the purpose.

[–] SnooPets20@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's what git is for, or just having undo-tree from which the file can be reverted to a previous state.

I tried to keep auto-saves and backup files in their own separate directory, since they always litter my projects which is annoying, but they just won't listen, I have to disable them.

[–] 7890yuiop@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

That's what git is for

Even for files which are being tracked in version control, I don't agree that VCS always replaces backups. In some cases, yes; but backups are to protect me from data loss, and I want that protection in more situations than VCS gives me.

or just having undo-tree

I assume you mean "with a persistent undo record", which is another form of backup file, so sure -- whichever kind(s) of backup you prefer. Personally I believe I'd still want regular backups even if I used that -- if I can't trivially grep or compare old versions, I'd feel I'm missing a capability.

I tried to keep auto-saves and backup files in their own separate directory, since they always litter my projects which is annoying, but they just won't listen, I have to disable them.

I keep all backups in a separate directory, and I do not experience your problem, so that sounds to me like a fixable config issue.