Hi Friends,
This starts out as a problem I'm having setting a clip for some tiled clones. After all the troubleshooting I can think of, still not solved. So I was going to post a topic here asking for help, and set about to upload a sample image. But here's where THIS problem crops up.

I went File > Save a Copy, and saved a copy. But when I open it, there's an object missing! Out of curiousity, I opened the XML Editor of each. And the object which is missing from the copy DOES show up in the xml editor of the copy! And I've tried selecting the path of the missing object in the xml editor, but it causes nothing to be selected in the copy.

I've also tried rubberband select, in case somehow the missing object is there but transparent. (Although the info in xml editor shows the correct fill/stroke data.) But it does't appear to be there.

There's another weird hiccup with this image, which may or may not be related. When I 1st started on this project, I drew a simple diamond shape, changed the fill from the default to green. But in the Stroke/Fill area in the bottom left corner, it shows a blue fill and identical blue stroke, even though the object has no stroke and a green fill. (The blue color is not the default.)

So I guess maybe there's just something corrupt in this image, I don't really know. But my main question is:
What would cause Save a Copy not to save an exact copy? The missing object is a simple ellipse, solid, opaque stroke, no fill, which I'm trying to use as a clipping path in my troubleshooting efforts. Yes, I saved the image with the ellipse before clicking Save a Copy.

Should I just bag it and start all over? Honestly I've had a lot of trouble with Inkscape crashing while I'm using Tiled Clones, so maybe I should forget working with them, until the next stable release.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer

How is it you find all these bugs!?

I'm sure the developers would be very keen to hear about this. I would log a bug and attach both the orginal file and the copied file so they can be compared.

You could post a link to the bug report here so those who are interested can examine the files and discuss it further.

How is it you find all these bugs!?

I don't know, lol!
But perhaps it makes my feelings about buggy version releases more understandable. Sometimes I think I must be jinxed! But if I were to guess, besides just dumb luck (which is probably the real reason), it's because I'm not very familiar with computer graphics or graphics software, and therefore I approach it differently than those who know it well enough to create it. I tend to do things that I can figure out by looking at 1st, rather than the way it's customarily done (which often is not obvious). Although I can't say that would explain this particular problem.

Oky-doky files coming up! Um, I'm assuming SVG uploads would be best.
Here's a screen shot showing the part of the image folks will want to look at. In the hot pink circle, it's the ellipse that stretches across the 2 objects, that doesn't show up in the Copy of the image.

The 2 objects are actually made up of 2 and 3 of the green diamond shapes (like the one that's selected), which as I mentioned are tiled clones of the original.

Since I'm not sure if the weird color glitch is related or not, I've manipulated the screen shot to show that the selected diamond, with green fill and no stroke, shows as having a blue fill and stroke, in the bottom left fill/stroke indicator. Also I've put a red and yellow square around the color I chose from the palette. You can't see the cursor, but the tool tip with the color code shows up, to indicate that the cursor is pointing to the swatch inside the red/yellow square. I might also mention that I chose the color before I tiled and cloned. And I have not tried to change it by editing the original shape/clone. Also, I've used that color in other images, without any problems.

And beyond that, I guess I'll let the svg files stand in place of further verbal explanation. But please feel free to ask if there are any questions Here's a link to the original image:
http://www.petaimg.com/uploads/1219240897.svg
And here's a link to the Copy (as I said, from File > Save a Copy) showing the missing ellipse:
http://www.petaimg.com/uploads/1219270272.svg

Ok then, I'm off to report the bug to the great folks at Launchpad. Thanks for you help micro. I certainly will be interested to follow any discussions and learn where the problem lies...and it may well be that I've done something wrong... But I guess we'll see what happens.

All best,
Brynn