Thanks for sharing this. However, after adding this to my ~/.emacs I do not
see anything appearing in my .emacs.d/backup directory.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (setq make-backup-files t)
  (setq backup-directory-alist '(("/home/js/*" . "/home/js/.emacs.d/backup")))
  (setq backup-by-copying t      ; don't use symlinks
        delete-old-versions t    ; don't ask me about deleting backups
        kept-new-versions 20
        kept-old-versions 5
        version-control t)       ; use versioned backups
#+end_src



Regards
Johann


On 2 December 2013 17:37, Alexander Baier <lexi.baier@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 13-12-02 12:21 Rainer Stengele wrote:
> > All,
> >
> > last week I played around with org-indent-mode in my biggest (37.000
> lines) org file.
> > 3 days later I detected that most of the file was corrupted.
> > WHy so late? Using the agenda I only saw the todos and did not recognise
> the corrupted structures.
> > Most "*" items had been placed at the beginning of the line and
> therefore now became headlines.
> > I do not know how this happened. I am not sure if I myself was the
> reason somehow.
> > Anyway I had to spend a fair amount of work to get the old file format
> from
> > subversion and insert the changes since the corruption.
> >
> > This is just a warning to have backups at hand before changing to
> org-indent mode.
> > Then immediately and check often the contents of the file until you are
> sure all is running well.
> >
> > Maybe someone has an idea.
> >
> > I will try to convert again later but then be much more careful.
> >
> > Rainer
> >
> >
>
> FWIW, I have the following snippet in my init file, that uses emacs'
> build-in backup machanism to save me from such things.  As emacs stuffs
> them all in one central location, I do not have to worry about polluting
> my filesystem.
>
> #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>   (setq make-backup-files t)
>   (setq backup-directory-alist '(("/home/delexi/*" .
> "/home/delexi/.emacs.d/backup")))
>   (setq backup-by-copying t      ; don't use symlinks
>         delete-old-versions t    ; don't ask me about deleting backups
>         kept-new-versions 20
>         kept-old-versions 5
>         version-control t)       ; use versioned backups
> #+end_src
>
> If you want to make backups from files under version control, you also
> have to set the following:
>
> #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>   (setq vc-make-backup-files t)
> #+end_src
>
> This already saved me a couple of times.
>
> Regards,
> --
>  Alexander Baier
>
>


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