MarcSabatella
commented
4 months ago FWIW, given that the main way people manage is to lose a significant work is to literally work for hours and never once ever save the file (because in this case the autosave file ends up getting clobbered by subsequent new scores), the proposal seems seem vastly overkill. The much simpler solution is to not clobber the autosave file for scores that were literally never saved. No need to duplicate basic operating system by building in a versioning scheme when OneDrive, Time Machine, and a host of other systems already do this for all applications automatically.
I recommending starting a discussion in the ƒeature request forum on musescore.org to gather more feedback on how the autosave system could be improved - like where it should be kept for scores that have literally never ever been saved, what naming scheme should be used, etc. I could also imagine a warning dialog popping up after the first 15 minutes or whatever if you’ve literally never saved the score yet, saying “this score hasn’t been saved yet - save now?” And thus reminding you how vitally important actually saving a file is.
TeeDeeY
Your idea
The save a copy function is nice and would be better if it increments a sequence number after it, like copy_005, then copy_006. Then, assigning a function key sequence makes it easy to save without a pop up menu appearing or any additional typing. The save happens and I keep on working. A hidden file can keep track of the next filename to create so it isn’t too difficult to maintain the number sequence, even in the hundreds.
The next step would be setting whole file auto copy every 15 minutes. Each file being worked on would be saved in a hidden directory every 15 minutes so as not to clutter the directory, but is easily found. A “delete older backups” option in the file menu could delete all except the last three auto saves.
The autosave as an initial default helps new users who don’t save often enough.
Problem to be solved
Many users on musescore.org complain that they lost their work. They don’t save their work constantly. Full file auto save as the default helps the program from getting a bad reputation when someone loses many hours of work. Or a file corruption occurs and the current file is no good. Or the cloud upload didn’t really save the file.
I constantly save using revision numbers. Sometimes I forget so auto save is helpful.
I use nightly builds. Having the backups can be helpful since they can crash more often.
Prior art
Apple Logic Pro has a different method. You can save your work under the same name and revert to prior saved copies. I have a setting of 6 versions at one site. You can define how many old copies to save. You don’t need to specify a separate file name to save it under, which is convenient. Separate file names using a number sequence would be better, safety-wise.
Musescore crashes a lot more than Logic Pro.
I’ve never had a corrupt file with either program but the posts for help keep coming up.
Additional context
Musescore files are small. Disk space is cheap. Why not save the whole file repeatedly? Using a new sequence could reduce a file corruption issue from spreading. Currently, if the last two saves in musescore are bad, the backup is bad. If there are many autosaves with different sequence numbers, then it’s likely a good version can be found.
Just don’t autosave during playback, which would cause a noticeable delay.
A common musescore file corruption issue is when a file is mostly all binary zeroes. A quick read back of all files for this type of condition could help detect a corrupt file and possibly cause an alternate save method to be used.
Saving all files with a temporary name, then checking the files for corruption, and then only renaming the files after passing the check could be helpful.
The point is to prevent lost work as much as possible.