Warn user on external changes to saved files

[arctwelve]

Brackets currently warns the user if an unsaved file is altered by an external program or process, but doesn't do the same if the file is in a saved state in Brackets. Any external change, even a touch on a saved file will be automatically and silently applied. This is a serious problem as it causes the file history to be lost without warning.

The loss of history, however, should be considered normal if a file is externally altered and the external change warning is accepted (i.e., the user clicks "Reload from Disk").

What happens to the history is open. Different editors treat externally changed history differently. TextPad clears the history if a saved file is altered externally and loaded from disk at the warning prompt, where as SublimeText appends the altered external version to the SublimeText history. SublimeText, like Brackets, also doesn't warn the user, but the history works as expected: the external changes become part of the undo history.

The problem is that the user doesn't even have a choice, and may not even be aware a saved file has been externally altered, and that the undo history is lost.

[petetnt]

The relevant bits of code for this (do correct me if I am wrong):

brackets/src/project/FileSyncManager.js

Line 123 in afb5249

if (fileTime !== doc.diskTimestamp.getTime()) {

[petetnt]

I think the check should be something like

  if (doc.isDirty) {
    editConflicts.push({doc: doc, fileTime: fileTime});
  } else if (doc.hasHistory) else {
    // either 
    // a) Do the changes but merge the history objects
    // b) Pop up the edit conflict window when the doc is opened, essentially simplifying this to 
    // if (doc.isDirty || doc.hasHistory) else { }
  } else {
    toReload.push(doc);
  }

My extension brackets-persistent-history does the option a) of the above, but only between closing Brackets or switching projects: if there has been outside changes when the file is reopened, CTRL+Z reverts the file to the last state before the external changes.

[arctwelve]

Screenshot from TextPad showing the best case for allowing the user to choose. Important feature, properly implemented.

[baoang]

Dreamweaver is smarter in detecting file modification by third party editors even before it was acquired by Adobe

[abose]

If I remember correctly, Dreamweaver was acquired by adobe 11 years before.

[baoang]

I am not very sure about the year. When I first met with Dreamweaver, that's the MS Front-page era, and Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash were called The Three Musketeers in Web Design domain.

[thanazer]

I'm newbie to opensource and would like to contribute to this issue. Can I pick it up?