Re: tramp (2.0.50); tramp-backup-directory-alist doesn't work as expected

[Michael Albinus]

Sascha Wilde <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi *,

Hi Sascha,

> In my .emacs I use:
>
> ;;; BackUps should be written to ~/.emacs-backup-files
> (add-to-list 'backup-directory-alist 
>              (cons "." (expand-file-name "~/.emacs-backup-files")))
> ;;; for tramp, too
> (setq tramp-backup-directory-alist backup-directory-alist)
>
> which is quite similar to the example from TRAMP.info, however, when
> saving a remote file an error is reported in the mini-buffer:
>
>   "Cannot write backup file; backing up in %backup%~"
>
> The attached tramp buffer pops up and the backup is written only to
> %backup%~, as stated by the error message.
>
> Am I missing something or is this a bug?

You have the following settings:

>  tramp-backup-directory-alist '(("." . "/home/wilde/.emacs-backup-files"))
>  backup-directory-alist '(("." . "/home/wilde/.emacs-backup-files"))

It is not exactly the same as in the Tramp manual, because you have
used `expand-file-name'. This results in writing backup files on the
remote host under "/home/wilde/.emacs-backup-files" - maybe this
directory doesn't exist there, and it will fail, if you login under
another user name. So I recommend NOT to expand the file name in
`backup-directory-alist'; the tilde expansion should work.

> cheers
> sascha

Best regards, Michael.