How do I control how Emacs makes backup files?

by

If you’ve ever been saved by an Emacs backup file, you
probably want more of them, not less of them. It is annoying
that they go in the same directory as the file you’re editing,
but that is easy to change. You can make all backup files go
into a directory by putting something like the following in your
.emacs.

(setq backup-directory-alist `(("." . "~/.saves")))

There are a number of arcane details associated with how Emacs
might create your backup files. Should it rename the original
and write out the edited buffer? What if the original is linked?
In general, the safest but slowest bet is to always make backups
by copying.

(setq backup-by-copying t)

If that’s too slow for some reason you might also have a look at
backup-by-copying-when-linked.

Since your backups are all in their own place now, you might want
more of them, rather than less of them. Have a look at the Emacs
documentation for these variables (with C-h v).

(setq delete-old-versions t
  kept-new-versions 6
  kept-old-versions 2
  version-control t)

Finally, if you absolutely must have no backup files:

(setq make-backup-files nil)

It makes me sick to think of it though.

More Related Contents:

  1. Emacs 24 Package System Initialization Problems
  2. Why does Ctrl+. not work when I bind it to a command in Emacs?
  3. Open file via SSH and Sudo with Emacs
  4. How can I make Emacs start-up faster?
  5. How to intercept a file before it opens and decide which frame
  6. Binding M- / M- in Emacs 23.1.1
  7. How to change size of split screen emacs windows?
  8. How to set the font size in Emacs?
  9. Setting Emacs to Split Buffers Side-by-Side
  10. How to tell emacs to open .h file in C++ mode?
  11. Set 4 Space Indent in Emacs in Text Mode
  12. Emacs: help me understand file/buffer management
  13. How can I more easily switch between buffers in Emacs?
  14. Using tramp with EmacsW32 and cygwin, possible?
  15. What to do if I cannot find my emacs init file?
  16. automatically disable a global minor mode for a specific major mode
  17. Using Emacs to recursively find and replace in text files not already open
  18. What’s in your .emacs?
  19. Pin Emacs buffers to windows (for cscope)
  20. How to achieve code folding effects in Emacs?
  21. A gentle tutorial to Emacs/Swank/Paredit for Clojure
  22. When should Emacs #’function syntax be used?
  23. Emacs: delete whitespaces or a word
  24. How to keep dir-local variables when switching major modes?
  25. Unable to hide welcome screen in Emacs
  26. Emacs behind HTTP proxy
  27. Automatically closing braces in Emacs?
  28. Disable warning about emacs.d in load path
  29. Idiomatic batch processing of text in Emacs?
  30. Emacs: How to use a major mode for non-standard file extension

Leave a Comment