Auto-save creates backup #file# after renaming the file

[wolfv6]

Auto-save creates a backup #file# after renaming the file.

This is in my .spacemacs file, defun dotspacemacs/init () (setq-default :

dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location 'original

So all saves should be saved to the original file, and NOT saved to an auto-save #file#

Saves are NOT to the original file. This could confuse new Spacemacs users enough to cause them to lose data. Please consider making this issue a High Priority.

This might be related to #7927 #10347 #10327

Reproduction guide 🪲

1. open file in spacemacs
2. SPC f R (spacemacs/rename-current-buffer-file) and rename file to file1
3. edit file1 but do not save it
4. wait 30 seconds (or SPC SCP do-auto-save) and auto-save creates #file1#
5. edit file and save

Observed behaviour: 👀 💔
Auto-save #file1# is created.
All saves (SPC f R or auto-save) are to auto-save #file1#.

Expected behaviour: ❤️ 😄
No auto-save #file1# is created.
All saves are to the original file1.

System Info 💻

• OS: gnu/linux
• Emacs: 25.3.1
• Spacemacs: 0.200.10
• Spacemacs branch: master (rev. 4bb4cb4)
• Graphic display: t
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Editing style: vim
• Completion: ivy
• Layers:

(c-c++ emacs-lisp evil-snipe git ivy org shell spell-checking)

• System configuration features: XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG IMAGEMAGICK SOUND DBUS GCONF GSETTINGS NOTIFY ACL LIBSELINUX GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE M17N_FLT LIBOTF XFT ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11 MODULES XWIDGETS

Backtrace 🐾

<<BACKTRACE IF RELEVANT>>

[CeleritasCelery]

Setting dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location 'original just means to create an auto save file in same directory as the original file. If you don’t want an auto-save file created set this value to nil.

[wolfv6]

@CeleritasCelery
Thanks for looking into this. I am misinterpreting or the documentation is off.
https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/blob/master/doc/DOCUMENTATION.org#location-of-auto-saved-files says:

Auto-save of modified files can be performed in-place on the original file itself or in the cache directory (in this case the original file will remain unsaved).

My understanding is that dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location 'cache will auto-save in same directory as the original file, and the original file will remain unsaved.
dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location 'original will auto-save to the original file itself.

[CeleritasCelery]

dotspacemacs-auto-save-file-location 'original will auto-save to the original file itself.

That would be no different then a regular save.

cache will move all the auto saves to .emacs.d/.cache and original will keep the auto save in the original directory. If you feel that the documentation is unclear submit a PR that clarifies things.

[wolfv6]

I want a regular save every 30 seconds automatically.
In other words, auto-save modified files to the original file itself.
Is there a way to do that?

[CeleritasCelery]

You could write a function that saves the buffer on a timer. Shouldn’t be too hard. Though the question is, why don’t you want to use the builtin auto save? It’s more flexible because it won’t overwrite your file when you don’t want to.

[wolfv6]

I want to auto-save to the original file because my Linux desktop crashes often, and it's easier to reboot and just keep going, rather than go through the file-recovery dance.

[CeleritasCelery]

Then you will have to roll your own implementation.

[wolfv6]

Normally my Spacemacs auto-saves to the original file as described in the documentation.

Reproduction guide :

1. open file in spacemacs
2. edit file but do not save it
3. wait 30 seconds (or SPC SCP do-auto-save)

*Observed behaviour:
The file is auto-saved to the original file itself.
Verified by opening the file in another editor.
The directory time stamp indicates the time of auto-save.

But after SPC f R (spacemacs/rename-current-buffer-file) renaming the file, the auto-save behavior changes to saving to a #file# stored in the same directory (as described at the top of this thread).

I think that change in auto-save behavior is a bug, or a very strange feature.

[CeleritasCelery]

Looks like you were correct about the implementation of original. I misspoke.

[wolfv6]

@CeleritasCelery thanks for the validation. Losing file edits at seemingly random times was confusing me for weeks before I figured out the pattern.

[ssfrr]

Just to throw out another use case for auto-save on the original file - I sync my org-mode files across different computer using DropBox and the files tend to be actively open on the different machines. I don't always remember to save before I switch computers (e.g. leaving my work computer and going home), so my changes weren't always being propagated between machines and I was getting conflicts.

By auto-saving every 5min things stay better in sync, and by the time I sit at the other computer the changes have propagated to the open buffer (though lock files are still a problem, as in #10347). Maybe there's some other configuration where emacs would do a better job of noticing when an auto-save file is newer than the currently open one, but that wasn't happening.

[dijonkitchen]

Is there some work-around where we can edit how long it takes to auto-save? That might get us a better feedback loop on if there's an error (e.g., you'd see it in your git status faster).

Or even better, save on focus to another window.

[dijonkitchen]

Found some documentation here: https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/blob/master/doc/DOCUMENTATION.org#auto-saving

The original PR implementing it might be useful too: #1484

[hyiltiz]

@wolfv6 Your comment above seem to have resolved the issue; if anything fancy is required, there are packages users can download and configure.

Maybe consider closing this issue?

[wolfv6]

This is no longer an issue. Solution documented at
https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/blob/master/doc/DOCUMENTATION.org#location-of-auto-saved-files