Enhancements to handling of externally modified files

[khatchad]

I'm always frustrated when I issue a git pull on the command line that changes the .bib file already opened in JabRef. I see there is a warning about the file being externally altered and asking me whether I want to review it. However, I often ignore this warning as:

• 1. It tends to pop up even when there are no external file changes.
  • largely fixed by AtomicFileOutputStream does not overwrite file if exception occurred during write #9067
  • When saving: The library has been modified by another program - triggered by adding and removing new group #9064 remains, but this edge-case is very unlikely to trigger in a normal workflow.
• 2. It crashes when I do review the external changes.
• 3. I don't have time to review them.

What's worse is that when I ignore the warning and make changes to the older version of the file in memory, the newer data gets overwritten. Then, I have to undo my new changes, reload the file in JabRef, and make the new changes again.

I wish this feature worked more like autoread in Vim where external file changes are automatically read from disk into the open buffer. The exception would be when I have unsaved changes open and the file changes underneath. Then, perhaps a review option would be advantageous.

[Siedlerchr]

Hi,

yes this is a known problem that the change detection and our saving/backup strategy currently have issues. We are aware of this and try to come up with a solution.
For the review crash, try out the latest development version. That issue has been fixed there.

[koppor]

Some links to related issues:

In https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/blob/main/docs/code-howtos/remote-storage-jabdrive.md we desribe our synchronization algorithm with remote storages. Maybe, this also helps to resolve this issue.

At #5669, I began with an implementation solving that issue.

[koppor]

Related issue: https://github.com/koppor/jabref/issues/578