Bug 404782

Summary:	Incremental Backup is not of Current Document State
Product:	[Applications] krita	Reporter:	Kenneth Evans <ken>
Component:	Usability	Assignee:	Krita Bugs <krita-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Severity:	grave	CC:	halla
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	4.1.7
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Microsoft Windows
OS:	Microsoft Windows
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Kenneth Evans 2019-02-24 18:01:20 UTC

I had been working on a document and found I had selected the wrong size.  I then:

1. Did an incremental save of the current document.
2. Increased the size.
3. Did an another incremental save.

On looking at the saved versions, both had the same size, the smaller one.  This is disturbing, and it is good I checked.

My next incremental save was the correct size.  I may have done a plain save in between.

I am not sure what it is saving in an incremental save, but it certainly isn't the current state of the document.  The only reason I noticed it was not correct is from the size change.  How else would you tell for sure in the usual case where the size doesn't change.

I submitted another issue #401795 about the date on incrementally-saved documents being wrong.  (Nothing has been done.)  It looks there are several problems with incremental save.  Both issues indicate it is saving some old state, not the current one.

Comment 1 Halla Rempt 2019-02-25 12:39:54 UTC

Do you mean 

"save incremental version"

or 

"save incremental backup" ?

The first creates a new version of the file as it is currently with a numbered filename, the second one copies the file as it was when loaded to a backup and then saves the image under the original filename.

Comment 2 Kenneth Evans 2019-02-25 16:10:10 UTC

What a surprise! Who would ever think incremental backup was backing up with some state from the past.  I don't know of anything else that works that way, and it certainly isn't what I want or thought I was getting.  I want to save a snapshot of my work and continue working on the same file.

I can only speak for myself, but it's really hard for me to see why anyone would want it to work as it does.

And there is no option do do what I want, save a snapshot and continue working on the same file.

The documentation says:

Save incremental version
Save as a new version of the same file with a number attached.

Save incremental Backup
Make a backup file without leaving the working file.

If you insist on the incremental backup not being a backup of your current work, then please make it clear in the documentation what it is doing.

Based on past experience and your reaction here, I don't expect you will fix it, but it really is a gotcha and SHOULD be fixed.

Comment 3 Kenneth Evans 2019-02-25 16:14:15 UTC

(This is the same issue as #401795.)

Comment 4 Halla Rempt 2019-02-25 16:21:50 UTC

Git commit a465dda1744283b74f0a77a6f1e4e63699298c43 by Boudewijn Rempt.
Committed on 25/02/2019 at 16:21.
Pushed by rempt into branch 'master'.

Clarify what "Save Incremental Backup" actually does

M  +1    -1    reference_manual/main_menu/file_menu.rst

https://commits.kde.org/websites/docs-krita-org/a465dda1744283b74f0a77a6f1e4e63699298c43

Comment 5 Kenneth Evans 2019-02-25 19:02:25 UTC

I looked at it.  There is a typo "the your".  I haven't had time to check but hopefully Save, then Incremental Backup will do what I want.  If so, you could add that to the explanation.  It's pretty cryptic as is.  Though technically accurate, it's not especially clear (IMHO) that you will be getting an old state.

The idea after all is to help the user, not just state the facts.

Comment 6 Kenneth Evans 2019-02-25 19:22:18 UTC

And thinking about it, it's probably not when you loaded (opened?) the file.  That could have been a week ago in my case.  I tend to leave Krita up when I'm working on something.  I don't do any loading, just saving.

Comment 7 Halla Rempt 2019-02-25 22:32:05 UTC

We've had this functionality like this since 2013, in response to https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314214 . Since this works as Deevad explained, we're not going to change that.

Comment 8 Kenneth Evans 2019-02-26 00:16:36 UTC

>> Since this works as Deevad explained, we're not going to change that.

That's your choice.

I couldn't follow the #314214 link, so I did my own test:
New Document, Draw A, F4.
Asks for File name, have one file with A.
Erase, Draw B, F4.
Document has B, 000 has A.
Erase, Draw C, F4.
Document has C, 000 has A, 001 has B.
Erase, Draw D, F4.
Document has D, 000 has A, 001 has B, 002 has C.
Erase, Draw E, Ctrl-S
Document has E, 000 has A, 001 has B, 002 has C.
F4
Document has E, 000 has A, 001 has B, 002 has C, 003 has E.

I see you corrected the typo.  My other suggestion is to not say "Backup the original file you loaded".  The meaning of loaded is completely unclear.  What it appears to do is backup from what you last saved.  If you haven't saved, there is no incremental.  (Yes, it's a little hard to explain correctly, but I think you have an obligation to say it correctly in the documentation.)

[I would guess a lot of users assume it works as I originally thought.  It's not readily apparent what it is actually doing.  I've been using it a long time myself, and didn't know until now.  I may have been confused when using backups, but I apparently recovered.  It doesn't happen often, and I don't remember.]

It looks like I can make it do what I want by saving (Ctrl-S), then incremental (F4).  Just have to remember that.