MySQL workbench is an open source tool for designing databases. As version 6.0.8, it is one of those programs where you need to save often, because the window you are working in will vanish every couple of hours.
Bug #1: Can’t recover files that weren’t saved
I was unlucky enough to have forgotten to save my work when it crashed today, and found this nasty flaw in the auto-recover feature:
Auto-save model interval: An open model that has not been saved will automatically be saved after this period. On loading a model file, MySQL Workbench will notify the user if the file was not previously saved correctly, due to a crash or power failure. MySQL Workbench can then attempt to recover the last auto-saved version. For automatic recovery to be available for a new file, it will have to have been saved at least once by the user.
Uh oh! The file hadn’t been saved yet, so it’s gone right? According to wb_model_file.cpp, this is not the case. The auto-save file is always written, but the recovery process wont be started until you try to use it again (which will never happen if you don’t have an old saved version):
/* Auto-saving
*
* Auto-saving works by saving the model document file (the XML) to the expanded document folder
* from time to time, named as document-autosave.mwb.xml. The expanded document folder is
* automatically deleted when it is closed normally.
* When a document is opened, it will check if there already is a document folder for that file
* and if so, the recovery function will kick in, using the autosave XML file.
*/So under ~/.mysql/workbench/, I found a newmodel.mwbd folder. Workbench files are .zip files in disguise, so I compared it to a test file. It had all the same content, but with a document-autosave.xml, rather than a document.xml (see test file below):
Cool, so I’d just rename the file, compress the whole lot and make it a .mwb? No such luck.
Bug #2: File Roller can’t compress ‘@’ files
Possibly because of the -@ command-line option in the zip command, File Roller refused to work with these files.
Luckily, the document.mwb.xml file alone is enough for the file to be recognised and recovered from the auto-saved files:
The take-away from this? Save your work. In 2014, you still can’t count on auto-save to do this!