Emacs: Turn Off Auto Backup~

disable emacs automatic backup~ file

Emacs by default automatically creates backup files in the same dir, and with filename ending in TILDE ~.

To turn it off, put this in your Emacs Init File:

(setq make-backup-files nil)

Multi Backup (Whenever File is Saved)?

Emacs only make one backup, when file is changed for first time, not every save.

There is no simple config to make emacs do a backup whenever file is saved. You have to add a Hook to save-buffer. [see Emacs: Backup Current File 🚀]

backup into one folder

Put this in your Emacs Init File:

;; backup into one flat dir
(setq backup-directory-alist '(("." . "~/.emacs.d/backup")))
;; example
;; file
;; /A/B/C/ff.txt
;; backup root dir
;; ~/.emacs.d/backup
;; backup at
;; ~/.emacs.d/backup/A!B!C!ff.txt~

stop emacs backup changing the file's creation date of the original file

Put this in your Emacs Init File:

(setq backup-by-copying t)

Explanation: when emacs does a backup, by default it renames the original file into the backup file name, then create a new file and insert new file content into it. This effectively destroys the creation date of your file. (If a file is created in 2001, and you modified it today, the file's creation date will become today.

Note: unixes (including Linux and BSD) do not record file creation date, so this doesn't matter. (ctime is not creation date.) Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X do record file creation date.).

All Configurations for Backup

Here are all configurations for backup.

(setq make-backup-files t)

;; make backup name incremental by number, ending in ~1~ ~2~ etc
;; note: only one backup is made when file is changed for first time, not every save
(setq version-control nil)

;; make sure hard link and creation date, owner, etc is preserved
(setq backup-by-copying t)

;; make backup even in git controlled dir
(setq vc-make-backup-files t)

;; silently delete old backup
(setq delete-old-versions t)

;; (setq kept-old-versions 2) ; default 2
;; (setq kept-new-versions 2) ; default 2

;; function that decide a file should be backed up
;; (setq backup-enable-predicate 'normal-backup-enable-predicate )

;; a alist (regex . dir) to decide where to place backup
;; (setq backup-directory-alist '(("." . "~/.emacs.d/backup")))