If you've ever been saved by an Emacs backup file, you
probably want more of them, not less of them. It is annoying
that they go in the same directory as the file you're editing,
but that is easy to change. You can make all backup files go
into a directory by putting something like the following in your
.emacs
.
(setq backup-directory-alist `(("." . "~/.saves")))
There are a number of arcane details associated with how Emacs
might create your backup files. Should it rename the original
and write out the edited buffer? What if the original is linked?
In general, the safest but slowest bet is to always make backups
by copying.
(setq backup-by-copying t)
If that's too slow for some reason you might also have a look at
backup-by-copying-when-linked
.
Since your backups are all in their own place now, you might want
more of them, rather than less of them. Have a look at the Emacs
documentation for these variables (with C-h v
).
(setq delete-old-versions t
kept-new-versions 6
kept-old-versions 2
version-control t)
Finally, if you absolutely must have no backup files:
(setq make-backup-files nil)
It makes me sick to think of it though.
You can use the command load-file (M-x load-file
, then press return twice to accept the default filename, which is the current file being edited).
You can also just move the point to the end of any sexp and press C-xC-e to execute just that sexp. Usually it's not necessary to reload the whole file if you're just changing a line or two.
Best Answer
You do not need to re-install all packages. The packages itself are likely fine, however, they need to be re-compiled, because Emacs Lisp byte code is generally not compatible across major versions.
To re-compile all packages, type
M-: (byte-recompile-directory package-user-dir nil 'force)
. After restarting Emacs, packages should work fine again.