Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mcnc!gatech!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!wesommer
From: wesommer@athena.mit.edu (William E. Sommerfeld)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: Emacs kills hard links!
Summary: (setq backup-by-copying-when-linked t)
Message-ID: <2301@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 16 Jan 88 11:03:44 GMT
References: <280@expya.UUCP> <400@sol.warwick.ac.uk>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: wesommer@athena.mit.edu (William E. Sommerfeld)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 24

In article <400@sol.warwick.ac.uk> maujf@opal.warwick.ac.uk (Mike Taylor) writes:
>I have been stunned to find that when
>overwriting a linked file, emacs destroys the links, leaving me with only
>one version of the file changed.  

>Maybe something I can put in my .emacs file so
>that it maintains links with edited files?

Ok, how about:

(setq backup-by-copying-when-linked t)

backup-by-copying-when-linked's value is t

Documentation:
*Non-nil means use copying to create backups for files with multiple names.
This causes the alternate names to refer to the latest version as edited.
This variable is relevant only if  backup-by-copying  is nil.

This is even documented in the emacs manual, although it is listed
under "backups", not "saving".

					Bill Sommerfeld
					wesommer@athena.mit.edu