+2010-10-03 Michael Albinus <michael.albinus@gmx.de>
+
+ * files.texi (Magic File Names): New defopt
+ remote-file-name-inhibit-cache.
+
2010-10-02 Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
* os.texi (Killing Emacs): Hook now runs in batch mode.
is a good way to come up with one.
@end defun
+@defopt remote-file-name-inhibit-cache
+Whether to use the remote file-name cache for read access.
+
+File attributes of remote files are cached for better performance. If
+they are changed out of Emacs' control, the cached values become
+invalid, and must be reread.
+
+When set to @code{nil}, cached values are always used. This shall be
+set with care. When set to @code{t}, cached values are never used.
+ALthough this is the safest value, it could result in performance
+degradation.
+
+A compromise is to set it to a positive number. This means that
+cached values are used for that amount of seconds since they were
+cached.
+
+In case a remote file is checked regularly, it might be reasonable to
+let-bind this variable to a value less then the time period between
+two checks. Example:
+
+@example
+(defun display-time-file-nonempty-p (file)
+ (let ((remote-file-name-inhibit-cache (- display-time-interval 5)))
+ (and (file-exists-p file)
+ (< 0 (nth 7 (file-attributes (file-chase-links file)))))))
+@end example
+@end defopt
+
@node Format Conversion
@section File Format Conversion