Re: PR: dired-do-create-files now checks for trailing slashes in the target

[Rudi C]

> how do I rename old_name into new_name so that it overwrites new_name

Overwriting a directory is a highly destructive activity. It would be better to make the user explicitly delete the old directory, and then do the rename IMO.

But we can add a new custom variable. I am all for giving everyone options. I don't think it can integrate with `dired-create-destination-dirs' though; `dired-create-destination-dirs-trailing-slash-special'?

On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 4:39 PM Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:

> From: Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>
> Cc: rudiwillalwaysloveyou@gmail.com, stefankangas@gmail.com,
>  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2021 06:46:04 +0200
>
> > So the behavior will now differ depending on whether new_name already
> > exists or not?
>
> Right.  And also `dired-create-destination-dirs' has to be non-nil for
> the new behavior which conforms to its documentation.  I have that set
> to 'ask, and when I apply Rudi's patch and do the recipe, it'll ask if a
> new directory new_name/ should be created.
>
> > because if the user types
> >
> >   R /new_ TAB
> >
> > Emacs will complete it to "/new_name/", including the trailing slash.
>
> But only if it exists, and then the patch makes no difference in
> behavior.

Isn't that exactly the problem?  If both old_name and new_name exist,
how do I rename old_name into new_name so that it overwrites new_name
instead of becoming its subdirectory?  I must carefully type new_name
RET so as to avoid having a slash at its end.

I would support such a change only if it had an explicit defcustom to
control it.  (It could be a new value of
dired-create-destination-dirs, if that makes sense.)