Yoshiki, You need to change: + (if auto-save-list-file-name to + (if auto-save-list-file-prefix But please read my code below too since it replaces this section with a call to a new function. I agree a patch is a good idea because it fixes the problem for most users, but the one provided will not fix it in all cases (see code below that I think does). Your patch addresses the problem if the auto-save-list-file-prefix is set in the user's initialization file. If they later toggle auto-save-list-file-prefix to nil (like Steve did), the auto-save-list-file-name will still be set to the value to which it was initialized in normal-top-level unless the user also sets auto-save-list-file-name to nil. That's the second half of the problem Steve was alluding to I believe. Steve, I was setting auto-save-list-file-prefix to nil in my init file, that's probably why I saw different behavior than the test case you showed (you were exec'ing the setq in the *scratch* buffer I believe). I would propose a more permanent solution by adding the following to startup.el, or maybe files.el. Not sure which is better. One added benefit to this approach is that the user can now define their own auto-save-make-list-file-name in similar fashion to make-auto-save-file-name. Oooohhhhh! I just got a warm fuzzy! More configuration options, that's just what XEmacs needs! I'm no lisp expert... so forgive any style errors, and feel free to change the names as desired. The code does seem to work though. (defconst auto-save-default-list-file-prefix "~/.saves-" "*Default value for auto-save-list-file-prefix.") (defun auto-save-make-list-file-name () "Make a name suitable for auto-save-list-file-name based on auto-save-list-file-prefix. If auto-save-list-file-prefix is nil, returns nil" (if auto-save-list-file-prefix (expand-file-name (format "%s%d-%s" auto-save-list-file-prefix (emacs-pid) (system-name))) nil)) (defun auto-save-disable-list-file () "Turn off creation of auto save list file by clearing the auto-save-list-file-name and auto-save-list-file-prefix. WARNING: Turning off auto save list file creation does not disable auto saving, but will cause recover-session to be unusable for files edited during this session" (setq auto-save-list-file-prefix nil auto-save-list-file-name nil)) (defun auto-save-enable-list-file () "Turn on creation of auto save list file by setting the auto-save-list-file-name and auto-save-list-file-prefix." (setq auto-save-list-file-prefix auto-save-default-list-file-prefix auto-save-list-file-name (auto-save-make-list-file-name))) Then inside normal-top-level you can change: + (if auto-save-list-file-name + (setq auto-save-list-file-name + (expand-file-name + (format "%s%d-%s" + auto-save-list-file-prefix + (emacs-pid) + (system-name))))) to: + (setq auto-save-list-file-name (auto-save-make-list-file-name)) since that code has been moved to the function instead. Troy -----Original Message----- From: Yoshiki Hayashi [mailto:yoshiki＠xemacs.org] Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 2:11 AM To: Steve Youngs Cc: Troy Noble; XEmacs beta; 'Adrian Aichner'; xemacs-patches(a)xemacs.org Subject: Re: auto-save-list-file-name Steve Youngs <youngs(a)xemacs.org&gt; writes: This patch fixes it. Recommended for 21.1. 2000-10-25 Yoshiki Hayashi <yoshiki(a)xemacs.org&gt; * startup.el (normal-top-level): Set up auto-save-list-file-name iff auto-save-list-prefix is non-nil.