If the directory is actually called .autosave (note the
dot prefix), did you experiment with emacs or xemacs
one time? Both will create that directory.

If so, and if you actually use emacs for any period iof
time, there will be a subdirectory in there called
hash. .autosaves itself will contain files named
.saves-NNNNN-your.hostname.address, and the hash
directory will contain unsaved versions of files that
you are presently working on that have not been saved,
and also versions of files that were not saved when for
some reason emacs was killed with unsaved buffers. I
just checked mine and found about 10 things in it, some
of which date back two years. I dumped them. There is
also a copy of my unsaved xemacs address file (called
.bbdb), which toggles to unsaved every time I read a
new email.

If this accurately describes the directory you are
concerned about, and you do not use emacs or xemacs,
then you may safely remove this directory.

If it's empty, it's likely you can remove the directory
even if it's not an emacs autosave directory, since you
didn't put it there, meaning some application created
it automatically for you. If you ever use that
application again, it will create the directory for
you.

  >> How does one determine which of these apparently
  >> perpetually empty subdirectories can be
  >> eliminated?

  Alan> Do you have the need to be extra careful about
  Alan> disk space? Why do you care about these empty
  Alan> subdirectories?

It's more a question of neatness, not disk space. I
despise directory clutter and want to know what every
item is in my my home directory. ls -A | wc presently
produces 145 items for me, and I check the directory
every couple of days and meticulously rip out stuff I
don't need.

-- 
Lynn David Newton
Phoenix, AZ
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