Subject: bug#23151: 25.1.50; Emacs should have a convenient command for saving unchanged buffers

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2016 09:30:10 -0700 (PDT)

> During an unrelated discussion on emacs-devel, it turns out that
> virtually everybody

Uh, 3 people?  OK, 3 out of the 3 who bothered to say something about
this.  But "virtually everybody" might be a bit of an exaggeration, no?

> is in the habit of making a change, then deleting
> the change, just to make `C-x C-s' work.
>
> This means that there is a need for Emacs to offer a command to save
> buffers, even if they aren't changed.

No, it does not mean that.

(But I have no objection to your adding such a command.)

> 1) Have the interactive `C-x C-s' command always save the buffer, no
> matter whether it's unchanged or not.  I think many people would object
> to this, as they're used to just `C-x C-s'-ing idly while thinking of
> other things.

I would object, for one.  If you feel you must add a command, add
a command.  But please do not mess with `C-x C-s'.

> 2) Have the prefix to that command save the unchanged buffer.  This
> would be the obvious choice, but:

<yes, a prefix arg already has meaning for `C-x C-s'>

> Eh.  Four `C-u's?  I don't think so.  We could bind `C-x C-s' to a new
> `save-buffer-command' that has different prefix rules.  Does anybody use
> the backup stuff?

Yes, of course they do.  Hard to believe you wonder about this,
or would even consider changing the UI of `C-x C-s'.

> 3) Add a new keystroke.
> 4) Something else.

Just add the command.  Users can bind it themselves, if they like.
Time will then tell whether Emacs should at some point bind a key
for the command by default.

5) Use `C-u C-x C-w RET' instead of `C-x C-s'.  If you like, bind
that to another key.

Much ado about nothing, IMO.