Re: A *real* auto-save-mode?

[martin rudalics]

> Emacs has an auto-save-mode, which comes useful on rare occasions such
> as crashes. However, what I (and apparently, many others) would like
> is a feature that automatically saves your files for you -- not to
> another file but to the one your buffer is visiting, and such that you
> will not be prompted to save your file on exit.

`auto-save-mode' is based on a timer.  There's no guarantee that the
timer has completed its latest round when you "exit".

> There appears to be a variable auto-save-visited-file-name which is
> documented as
>     "Non-nil says auto-save a buffer in the file it is visiting, when
> practical.
>     Normally auto-save files are written under other names."
> but setting it does not make for a very usable Emacs -- each time one
> tries to edit the buffer after it is (auto-)saved, one is prompted
> with a
>     "file changed on disk; really edit the buffer? (y, n, r, or C-h)"
> message, which gets annoying. [I guess I could turn on auto-revert-
> mode to fix this, but I don't want auto-revert for changes from
> external sources; I only want auto-save to work.]

Setting `auto-save-visited-file-name' can be harmful.  See, for example,

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2003-10/msg00306.html

and

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-emacs/2007-11/msg00077.html

If these threads do not convince you feel free to send a bug report.

Better yet: Help us find out why and how it doesn't work ;-)