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Index of Subjects Edward Dyer wrote: > > On Wed, 27 Oct 1999, Michael Smith wrote: > > > On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Christopher Majka wrote: > > > > > Also, I'm ashamed to say I can't recall what the purpose of the *.html~ > > > files is. They seem to linger for inordinate periods of time these days. > > > > Yes, they're backups created the first time a file is initiated into RCS, > > but I don't think any of the cronjobs deletes them. > > I believe they are created every time a file is edited online or > reinstalled in an IP site. At least that is the way they used to > be. I'm not sure if they are created at the start of the edit or > end of it, but they were the previous version of the file in the > case of editing. > > I suspect you may be right that there is no current job to delete > them. There used to be one, it ran about every 48 hours as I > recall, but I suspect it didn't make the transition from > previous-generation-phoenix to halifax. We have been getting > complaints about three or four times a year. > > Having said that, it would seem a trivial script to implement (find > all ~ files, if older than oldest of owner's current sessions then > delete) Ed, A script that runs a day later to delete the tildes is of no value unless you are the kind who FTPs files every two weeks. I may FTP 10, 20, 30 a day to one directory, FTPing several times on busy days. It makes FTP very weak to use as a file managemnt tool. The problem is that with them you cannot easily glance directly back-and-forth between the files already in the IP directory, and those waiting on my computer to be uploaded. If the file is one that was last uploaded a few hours ago, it is pushed down off the current IP files screen, because there may be 15 or 20 other useless tilde files in between. They simply take up lines of screen space. It is especially non-useful when at the end of a session I usually try to visually compare the two lists to be sure the save times are both identical. I know there are work-arounds that would reduce the problem somewhat but they still take time etc., as well. I think we should simply dispense with the tildes. We don't need a change to make them disappear, We need a change that will cause them not to be created in the first place. There must be a little subroutine somewhere that causes them to be created, that could easily be eliminated altogether. Need for tilde files has long ago disappeared. They serve the same as a backup file on your computer. They were once necessary in the era when many CCN (and Lynx) users operated from universities and government offices using dumb terminals. They had no disk drive of any kind, so for editing, the system was made to make a duplicate backup copy. If you blotted out or messed up the file, you could exit without saving, and load up the tilde version to resume editing where you were before. I am around Saint Mary's and Dal quite often and have not seen a dumb terminal in years. You still see the occasional one, all dusty, sitting unsold on the floor at a surplus store. I have asked around CCN for years and could find no-one who ever uses the tilde files. However, I once had a trainee who built an entire site (NS Snipe I think) at the Halifax library using a CCN text terminal in 30-minute bookings. They had disk drives in them, but the drives had been disengaged, the reason given being protection of the file system. So I imagine that IP had occasion to use the tilde files. That was early 1996. I have never heard of any others. Bob Adams 464-9258 > > Ed Dyer aa146@chebucto.ns.ca (902) H 826-7496 CCN Postmaster > http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~aa146/ W 426-4894 CSuite Technical Workshop > Religion Page Editor, Chebucto Community Network http://www.chebucto.ns.ca
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