Glyphs on OSX Lion

[Eames]

It’s written in the Blog something about requiring to work only with a copy. I assume it’s because of Autosave function.

I’m planning to upgrade to Lion, so what should I know? Can someone expand?

[bogdan_oancea]

I’m also on Lion, so I switched off the Automatic save from the Preferences : Expert pane by checking “Restore pre-Lion saving behavior”.

[mekkablue (Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer)]

If you open an existing OTF or a TTF, and you save, the system assumes you want overwrite the original file. This is an issue only in some versions, but be careful anyway and always work with a copy.

[Eames]

What about .glyphs files? Does it have classic Save As?

[GeorgSeifert]

I could improve on that a bit. It should work better in version 1.3.19. Can you try this?

[composerjk]

If you open an existing OTF or a TTF, and you save, the system assumes you want overwrite the original file.

As I recall, if you open an existing OTF, make an edit, don't attempt to save and just close the window (the OS X auto-save is causing the actual save, I believe), that the original OTF file will disappear and be replaced by the .glyphs version. When glancing at an OTF, it's safer to make a copy first, right now.

Does it have classic Save As?

Yes, that exists. Press Option while looking at the File menu. Or, just press Option-Shift-Command-S to save as. Without the Option key, that sequence (Shift-Command-S) is "Duplicate."

[DTF]

Preferences: Expert allows you to disable versions style saving in Glyphs. I heartily recommend doing so. I manually increment my files and just don’t use the .glyphs file extension; instead I name the file fontname.1, fontname.2, and so on.

[Eames]

Yes, that exists. Press Option while looking at the File menu. Or, just press Option-Shift-Command-S to save as. Without the Option key, that sequence (Shift-Command-S) is "Duplicate."

From what I heard it doesn't work as old Save As - it applies changes to original copy too?

[GeorgSeifert]

As I recall, if you open an existing OTF, make an edit, don't attempt to save and just close the window (the OS X auto-save is causing the actual save, I believe), that the original OTF file will disappear and be replaced by the .glyphs version. When glancing at an OTF, it's safer to make a copy first, right now.

I fixed this. Can try the latest update (this time correctly labeled as beta).

From what I heard it doesn't work as old Save As - it applies changes to original copy too?

This is true. Apple changed that between 10.7 and 10.8. But I usually deactivate the "Lion auto save". Unfortunately I had to remove this option in the App Store version.

I manually increment my files and just don’t use the .glyphs file extension; instead I name the file fontname.1, fontname.2, and so on.

I usually use a date as file number like "Graublau 130106.glyphs" (YYMMDD). This time I know when I have edited the file the last time (the file creation date is not very reliable).

[composerjk]

composerjk: As I recall, if you open an existing OTF, make an edit, don't attempt to save and just close the window (the OS X auto-save is causing the actual save, I believe), that the original OTF file will disappear and be replaced by the .glyphs version. When glancing at an OTF, it's safer to make a copy first, right now.

I fixed this. Can try the latest update (this time correctly labeled as beta).

I just did the following with Glyphs beta 1.3.19 (452):

1. Open a fontname.otf file using “open fontname.otf” from the Terminal command-line while Glyphs was already open.
2. Selected a glyph in the Font View.
3. Selected Layers → Correct Path Direction
   Undo doesn’t matter here. Even when selecting Undo, the file still shows as “Edited” (though, perhaps that’s to do with the change to a .glyphs file).

At that point (right after Correct Path Direction), the file immediately becomes “fontname.glyphs” (with the original .otf being removed). fyi.