Re: loop in backup-copy-buffer

[Stefan Monnier]

>     You added the (potentially infinite) loop in backup-buffer-copy a few
>     years ago. Looks like it was adapted from make-temp-name. I can see it
>     might make sense to loop while trying to make a tempfile name, but was
>     there ever a case where this was found to be necessary when backing
>     up?

> In make-temp-name, this is needed because of possible race conditions.
> I think there is also a possible race condition for making backup files,
> and that's why I put something similar here.

The problem with make-temp-name is not just a race-condition but that the
race-condition introduces a security hole.  I don't think the same holds for
backup files since they must have predicate names.


        Stefan