After Fossil deleted its files he informs the maintainer of the bug, giving a clear description of what happened, and decides to switch to a more mainstream SCM.
I don't get why you're giving him so much heat. He seems to me constructive (the bug was fixed) and mature (he went to a more mainstream SCM that is less likely to have some kind of "never seen before" bug while you just "make a branch").
cd ..
cp -R wrkdir backup
cd wrkdir
fossil dickitupUse some automated backup tool that had nothing to do with fossil.
It seems that Zed Shaw does not show Zed Shaw in a good light. That behavior appears to be the only kind he displays. A single bug that did not delete anything and all his work can be recovered with a single undo command and he wants so badly to turn it into drama, while insisting he's the only reason their program exists.
Doesn't seem to be connected to reality. I've heard of Fossil and sqlite, but never of Shaw, who apparently wasn't even a commiter.
That quote you gave is a reaction to the dismissive attitude that non-commiters are somehow second-class citizens; which you've just expressed. It's a bad way of thinking about people.