Michael Havens wrote:

> I'm trying to do so but every time I try it turns into a tmp file. Do I have 
> to worry about this? I realize that it is saying that the recovery was 
> successful but this happens everytime with every file I edit with vi. What is 
> the problem?
> 
> 	Swap files found:
> 	   Using specified name:
> 	1.    .sources.list.swo
> 	          owned by: root   dated: Thu Dec 11 10:07:54 2003
> 	         file name: /etc/apt/sources.list
> 	          modified: no
> 	         user name: root   host name: bmike1
> 	        process ID: 3043 (still running)
> 	2.    .sources.list.swp
> 	          owned by: root   dated: Thu Dec 11 00:34:23 2003
> 	         file name: /etc/apt/sources.list
> 	          modified: no
> 	         user name: root   host name: bmike1
> 	        process ID: 2162 (still running)
> 	   In directory ~/tmp:
> 	      -- none --
> 	   In directory /var/tmp:
> 	      -- none --
> 	   In directory /tmp:
> 	      -- none --
> 	
> 	Enter number of swap file to use (0 to quit): 2
> 	Using swap file ".sources.list.swp"
> 	Original file "/etc/apt/sources.list"
> 	E308: Warning: Original file may have been changed
> 	Recovery completed. You should check if everything is OK.
> 	(You might want to write out this file under another name
> 	and run diff with the original file to check for changes)
> 	Delete the .swp file afterwards.
> 	
> 	Hit ENTER or type command to continue
> 

The problem is probably how you are exiting vi.

:wq
colon write quit
don't use the ctrl characters to get out.