Emacs link breaking?

[Bill Clarke]

On Tue, 2002-10-29 at 10:40, Michael Still wrote:
> cp -Ral linux-2.5.44 linux-2.5.44-misc_register-004
> cd linux-2.5.44-misc_register-004/drivers/char/
> emacs qtronix.c
> cd /usr/src
> find linux-2.5.44-misc_register-004 -type f -name '*~' -exec rm '{}' ';'
> diff -Nur linux-2.5.44 linux-2.5.44-misc_register-004
> 
> Results in a patch with zero lines in it (because the file wa changed in
> both locations).

weird, this exact process works for me (on a very small test set with
one directory and one file inside the directory).
you could check the inode numbers of the files by using the -i switch to
ls (before and after doing the emacs).

> Perhaps there is something subtle about the cp line which I don't
> understand?

looks okay to me.

another possibility occurs to me: are these linux directories under
version control?  (although if they are, why are you using diff?)  if
so, there perhaps is another emacs variable to do with version control
overriding these ones? (Programming -> Tools -> Vc in customize)  i
can't see any that would matter though.  hmm, a quick test confirms the
problem: files under version control are overwritten, not newly created
if the default Vc-make-backup-files is not set (the default).  so try
setting it to "on".

cheers,
/lib
-- 
/lib: Bill Clarke  ResearchScientist CAPResearch DeptCompSci ANU .au
http://llib.cjb.net llib at computer.org  tel:+61-2-6125x5687 fax:x0010
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