Re: an inconvenient difference in Emacs 22

[Tim X]

Steve Newcomb <srn@coolheads.com> writes:

> "Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:
>
>> > "Steve Newcomb" <srn@coolheads.com> wrote:
>> > 
>> > In older versions of Emacs, C-X C-F ENTER has always re-read the
>> > file associated with the buffer the user was already in.
>> >
>> > In my shiny new Emacs 22, this doesn't happen.  Instead,
>> > what is opened is the directory
>> 
>> I believe that this was done deliberately.
>> 
>> FWIW, you can do `C-x C-f C-n' to get what you want (at the cost of another
>> keystroke). The `C-n' retrieves the default value, which is the name of the
>> current file.
>
> FYI: That didn't work.
>
> From: "Denis Bueno" <dbueno@gmail.com>
>> I believe you can also do `C-c C-v RET'.
>
> FYI:  That didn't work either.
>
> I suspect these things didn't work because of my own .emacs, which
> is old and woolly.
>
>> If you often revert a buffer (e.g. re-read a file), you might consider
>> binding `revert-buffer' to a quick key sequence - I use `S-f1', for
>> instance.
>
> Good idea.  That worked!
>
> Thanks for these suggestions.
>
> In the end, an even better approach, at least for our purposes, may be
> global-auto-revert-mode.  I am chagrined to discover that this mode
> has been around for a while, and I just didn't know it.  Until I read
> your suggestions, I had never understood that, in the jargon of Emacs,
> "revert-buffer", means "update the buffer".  
>
> I'm curious about this usage of the word "revert".  "Revert" normally
> connotes some sort of retrograde motion.  As far as I know, it never
> connotes forward motion at all, much less forward motion undertaken to
> catch up with someone else's forward motion.  But, until I'm
> corrected, that's how I'll understand "revert" in the context of Emacs.
>
> -- Steve

I think the 'revert' terminology is used because what you are doing is
reverting the buffer back to what is on disk. So really, it is a backwards
move - its only that you are actively updating the file on disk that it has
the appearance of being a forward move. In other situations, you may decide
that the changes you have made in the buffer were all wrong and you want to
revert it back to what was in the original disk file. I can't think of
another term that would cover both the situations of reverting back to the
contents in a static file and updating to reflect updates in the original
file (given they both involve essentially the same mechanism). 

Tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au