Emacs (was Re: a question about evim)

[Jason Stephenson]

Paul Lussier wrote:
> Jason Stephenson <jason at sigio.com> writes:
> 
> 
>>Fred wrote:
>>
>>>...
>>>I use emacs extensively, and get annoyed with the backup files
>>>too. So I wrote a bash script I run peroidically to copy *all* the
>>>backup files in the directory tree to /tmp.
>>
>>All you need to get rid of the backup files in emacs is the following
>>line in your .emacs file:
>>
>>(setq make-backup-files nil)
>>
>>You can also do this interactively, but the keystrokes are rather arcane. ;)
> 
> 
> How so?  M-: (setq make-backup-files nil)

I was thinking more along the lines of:

M-x set-variable\r
make-backup-files\r
nil\r

M-: is probably quicker--less typing of the return key.

> 
> Hmm, I wonder what the difference between (setq make-backup-files nil)
> and (setq version-control "never") is...
> 
> Ahh, I see.  version-control determines whether or not you get
> multiple backup files with version numbering like foo.txt.~1~ and
> foo.txt.~2~.  So having version-control set to nil means I can still
> get foo.txt~, but won't get the version numbered files.  Setting
> make-backup-files to nil means I don't even get the simple backup file.
> 
> And note that neither of these options affects auto-save, which in
> most cases should *NOT* be disabled :)

Yes, but I also have auto-save disabled. I've not used auto-save in 
emacs in over 12 years!

As someone suggested earlier, I use revision control (cvs in my case) 
for all of my important files.

On a side note, I use vim when I "have to" or when it is more convenient 
than emacs, like when logging in remotely to a server or when making a 
quick configuration file change. I almost got bitten at work today with 
a difference between emacs and vim. In emacs, when you write your 
current buffer to a file with a different name than the original file 
(i.e. doing something like a "Save As..."), the buffer is now associated 
with the new file. In vim, apparently, this isn't the case, so when I 
wanted to make a new version of a shell program today I did the "ESC :w 
newfilename" sequence to write the file out before making my changes. 
Being used to emacs, I naturally assumed that a later ":w" would put the 
changes in the new file, but they went in the old one. Had I not noticed 
the filename when vim reported it was saving the file, I'd have wondered 
why the new program did exactly what the old one did! A cp and 2 mvs 
later, and it was all sorted out.

I also find myself automatically typing emacs key sequences in other 
text editors on occasion--not in vim, however!

Cheers,
Jason