Thread

On caring for user data: NeoVim caused Vim undo files to be deleted

384 points · 346 comments · jandeboevrie

RVuRnvbM2e · 1790528069 · focus · HN ↗
Undo files and persistent undo are not meant to work that way. They are just persistent across process restarts. That's all.
They live in ~/.cache which is defined as "user-specific non-essential (cached) data".
Despite this user's impressive résumé, they simply misunderstood the feature.
1. kazinator · 1790528836 · focus · HN ↗
  In what way is it not a process restart if I stop the process, install/upgrade NeoVim and start a new process?
  1. RVuRnvbM2e · 1790530500 · focus · HN ↗
    It's the part where you upgraded and apparently failed to read the release notes.
    Or in the OPs case, installed a totally different application and was surprised by an incompatibility.
    kazinator · 1790537440 · focus · HN ↗
    Nobody should have to read release notes to avoid data loss; there should never be a change such that someone who hasn't read the release notes (or missed a detail in reading them) to avoid such a problem.
    soraminazuki · 1790546916 · focus · HN ↗
    You're holding others to a standard that you yourself haven't adhered to. Please go read the release notes. No mention anywhere that old undo data will be deleted.
    <a href="https://neovim.io/news/2021/07/" rel="nofollow">https://neovim.io/news/2021/07/
    Differences from Vim are also documented, but this issue isn't mentioned there either.
    <a href="https://neovim.io/doc/user/vim_diff/" rel="nofollow">https://neovim.io/doc/user/vim_diff/
    Also, what's up with people claiming that the undo files are stored under ~/.cache? That's completely made up. Or that persistent undo doesn't persist edit history, against what the docs say. Utter nonsense.
    <a href="https://neovim.io/doc/user/undo/#_5.-undo-persistence" rel="nofollow">https://neovim.io/doc/user/undo/#_5.-undo-persistence
    Users don't expect their editor to cause data loss after a routine `brew update`. Blaming users for that is unreasonable.

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