From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Adam Porter Subject: Re: New feature? Remove duplicate subheadings, preserving order Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2018 01:40:45 -0600 Message-ID: <87608jv18i.fsf@alphapapa.net> References: <87a7xxx5c5.fsf@nicolasgoaziou.fr> <87tvw5cu5t.fsf@nicolasgoaziou.fr> <87mv1wvr70.fsf@alphapapa.net> <87r2r8w73n.fsf@alphaville.usersys.redhat.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:43033) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eWdff-0007za-Gn for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Jan 2018 02:41:08 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eWdfa-0007ct-KC for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Jan 2018 02:41:07 -0500 Received: from [195.159.176.226] (port=45058 helo=blaine.gmane.org) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eWdfa-0007b5-DQ for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Jan 2018 02:41:02 -0500 Received: from list by blaine.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1eWddY-0003lq-23 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Jan 2018 08:38:56 +0100 List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Emacs-orgmode" To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Nick Dokos writes: > There be dragons. > > The problem is that some things happen invisibly and far away from > where you are, so you don't know about it and you don't find out for a > couple of weeks. Undo and automatic backups are useless in that case. > > That *has* happened: there have been multiple postings in the ML about > such problems. Whenever it has happened, the devs have always modified > org to make it safer: that is the prudent thing to do and the correct > course of action IMO. > > Hell hath no fury like an orgmode user who lost part of his/her > precious org file because of an errant keystroke a month ago and was > not aware of the loss until it was too late. Indeed. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but having worked with Org code a bit, I still wonder sometimes if I have ever accidentally wiped out a subtree without noticing. Would I ever notice that it's missing? Even if it's stored in git or a backup, how can I restore something that I don't know needs restoring? Some of this is simply the nature of computers, I think--a keystroke here, a blink of the eye there, and poof, the data is gone. If the point is in one buffer when my fingers press C-c C-x C-w, but my eyes are in another buffer, does the subtree still get deleted? :) And despite how great Emacs and Org are, this is one area in which their power may make them more vulnerable to such issues. Their use of global state and special variables also makes unintended consequences easier to achieve. This is why I think we should always be very careful. Org is nothing if we can't trust it to keep our data safe! :)