Atomic write with Vim

Question

Can I configure Vim so it does an atomic write?

The default Vim behavior is:

• move file.txt to file.txt~
• write buffer contents to file.txt

But this causes some problem with compass watch for example

I would like behavior like:

• write buffer contents to file.txt~
• move file.txt~ to file.txt

I've looked at the backup, backupcopy and writebackup options but I can't get Vim configured as I want.

Answer 1

:set backupcopy=yes is probably what you want.

You could also use the `backupskip' option on the paths you are particularly worried about.