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

384 points · 346 comments · jandeboevrie

  1. gchamonlive · · focus · HN ↗
    Am I missing something? Are people using persistent undo as backup?

    This seems however more like of a documentation and UX problem. Neovim should warn and ask before deleting old undo files, or at least back them up, but it's not neovim's fault if people don't use reliable backup and versioning systems. Relying on persistent undo for this is kind of a self inflicted wound.

    Use the proper tools for the job. Saying that neovim developers "had no concept of a duty of care to their users" is really disrespectful. Neovim's Lua API is overflowing with care, you just need to go look.

    1. drfloyd51 · · focus · HN ↗
      Not using it as a backup strategy. But it doesn’t matter. Vim has a feature, persistent undo. People are using it for whatever reason. Under your blessing or not. A different app, neovim, broke vim’s feature.

      They don't get a pass because you disagree with an imagined use case.

      1. gchamonlive · · focus · HN ↗
        Yeah, they could have done better, but to say they "had no concept of a duty of care to their users"... Isn't it a bit much?
        1. tolerance · · focus · HN ↗
          The entire story is a setup for a remark about a Neovim maintainer's refusal to remove a David Heinemeier Hansson quote from the Neovim homepage [0]. So with that in mind the rhetoric makes sense.

          [0]: In spite of the author at Unsung saying that Neovim is "in news" for other reasons. Chisnall's account is being given in the immediate context of that news.

          1. pas · · focus · HN ↗
            the quote was removed in ~2 days.

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;neovim&#x2F;neovim.github.io&#x2F;pull&#x2F;504" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;neovim&#x2F;neovim.github.io&#x2F;pull&#x2F;504 of course with sweet sweet drama!

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;infosec.exchange&#x2F;@david_chisnall&#x2F;117172601365228235" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;infosec.exchange&#x2F;@david_chisnall&#x2F;117172601365228235

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