[gnu.emacs.bug] autosave bug

kjones@UUNET.UU.NET (Kyle Jones) (09/28/88)

GNU Emacs 18.52:

This bit of code from src/fileio.c can cause Emacs not to autosave
some file buffers at all, even when auto-save-mode is turned on in the
buffer.  This is disastrous if the system crashes in the midst of an
edit session, or Emacs receives a terminate signal (say from `shutdown').

	  if ((XFASTINT (b->save_length) * 10
	       > (b->text.size1 + b->text.size2) * 13)
	      /* These messages are frequent and annoying for `*mail*'.  */
	      && !EQ (b->filename, Qnil))
	    {
	      /* It has shrunk too much; don't checkpoint. */
	      message ("Buffer %s has shrunk a lot; not autosaving it",
		       XSTRING (b->name)->data);
	      Fsleep_for (make_number (1));
	      continue;
	    }

I'd like to this check removed.  I understand the reasoning behind the
heuristic but I think Emacs has enough revision safeguards that we
could heave this one.  Besides that, those "buffer has shrunk a lot"
messages are an irritant.

kyle jones

jbw@bucsb.UUCP (Joe Wells) (10/01/88)

In article <8809291455.AA03009@uunet.UU.NET> kjones@talos.UUCP writes:
>GNU Emacs 18.52:
[stuff deleted]
>I'd like to this check removed.  I understand the reasoning behind the
>heuristic but I think Emacs has enough revision safeguards that we
>could heave this one.  Besides that, those "buffer has shrunk a lot"
>messages are an irritant.

I agree completely.  I also don't think this is an improvement.  When
I first saw this message, I couldn't read the entire message, instead
it would flash briefly.  This is because I use the arrow keys on my
terminal which produce 5 character sequences.  I also have
auto-save-interval set to 50.  So I was getting this message fairly
often.  I ended up spending a lot of time tracking down this "bug"
only to find out it was a "feature".

Joe Wells
INTERNET: jbw@bucsf.bu.edu
UUCP: ...!harvard!bu-cs!bucsf!jbw