Subject: Re: bug#38993: 26.3; EBDB saves the database on Emacs exit even when told not to

From: Jorge P. de Morais Neto <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2020 08:53:09 -0300

Em [2020-01-06 seg 13:33:55-0800], Eric Abrahamsen escreveu:

> I suppose I could have it do that (prompt for saving) rather than
> saving silently.  I guess I just assumed that in most cases users
> would want the database saved, rather than discarding changes.  I
> don't have very strong feelings about it, though.

In principle I want consistency with the rest of GNU Emacs.  IIRC, Emacs
generally does not overwrite without asking.  There is the auto-save
functionality, but it saves to *separate* files.  However I should
disclaim that I have never studied human-machine interaction and I too
do not have strong feelings about this.

> This is an error, either in Emacs or EBDB, I'm not sure.  I originally
> implemented the ability for special-mode buffers to offer themselves
> as saveable, but the idea was that, if they saved themselves using
> their own function, Emacs wouldn't then *also* save the buffer itself
> in a file.
>
> Either my code in Emacs or my code in EBDB has a bug, I haven't gone
> and figured out which.  I'll try to do that soon.

Yes, by default Emacs should not ask to save the computer-generated
"*EBDB*" buffer.  Regarding the database, I think that if
`ebdb-save-on-exit' is nil then either:
1. Emacs should not ask to save the database on exit; or
2. The EBDB documentation should explicitly mention that Emacs will ask;
   and the behavior should be altered so that, when the user answers no,
   then Emacs should not save the database.

Oh, and thank you for this great package!  Do you have a mechanism for
accepting donations?  I unfortunately would donate just a little at this
moment, but I intend to donate more in the future when my financial
situation improves and/or the Brazilian Real gains value against the US
dollar.  Also, even very small donations may add up.

Regards

-- 
- <https://jorgemorais.gitlab.io/justice-for-rms/>
- I am Brazilian.  I hope my English is correct and I welcome feedback.
- Please adopt free formats like PDF, ODF, Org, LaTeX, Opus, WebM and 7z.
- Free/libre software for Replicant, LineageOS and Android: https://f-droid.org
- [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html][What is free software?]]