Better seed support for (random).
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
25
26 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
27 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
28
29 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
30 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
31
32 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
33 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
34 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
35 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
36 may be useful.
37
38 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
39 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
40
41 ---
42 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
43 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
44 to emacs-VERSION.
45
46 ---
47 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
48
49 ---
50 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
51 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
52 you want them.
53
54 ---
55 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
56 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
57
58 ---
59 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
60 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
61 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
62
63 ** The configuration option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
64 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
65 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
66 check that this option enables.
67
68 \f
69 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
70
71 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
72 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
73 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
74
75 ---
76 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
77
78 \f
79 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
80
81 ** Help changes
82
83 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
84 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
85 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
86 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
87 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
88
89 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
90 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
91 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
92
93 ** The function `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
94 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC) that use picosecond resolution; the PSEC
95 component is new. PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current
96 machines. Other functions that use this format, such as
97 file-attributes and format-time-string, have been changed accordingly.
98 Old-format time stamps are still accepted.
99
100 ** New functions `system-users', `system-groups' return lists of the user
101 name, group names known to the system (where possible).
102
103 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
104 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
105
106 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
107 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
108 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
109 automatically at startup, or when customizing a relevant imagemagick-
110 option.
111
112 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
113 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
114 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
115
116 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
117 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
118 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
119 treated as images.
120
121 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
122 :background image spec property.
123
124 ** Internationalization changes
125
126 *** New language environment: Persian.
127
128 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
129 See the "Face Attributes" section of the Elisp manual.
130
131 ** New fringe bitmap exclamation-mark.
132
133 ** String values for `initial-buffer-choice' also apply to emacsclient
134 frames, if emacsclient is only told to open a new frame without
135 specifying any file to visit or expression to evaluate.
136
137 +++
138 ** You can prevent the creation of lock files by setting `create-lockfiles'
139 to nil. Use with caution, and only if you really need to.
140
141 +++
142 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
143 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
144
145 ** Mode line changes
146
147 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
148 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
149 that does not have its own specialized help text.
150
151 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to
152 invokes `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
153
154 +++
155 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
156 local variables on remote hosts.
157
158 +++
159 ** `insert-char' is now a command, and `ucs-insert' an obsolete alias
160 for it.
161
162 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
163 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
164
165 \f
166 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
167
168 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
169 It used to kill the current buffer.
170
171 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
172 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
173 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
174
175 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether the M-x
176 delete-trailing-whitespace command should delete trailing lines at the
177 end of the buffer. It defaults to t.
178
179 ** Search changes
180
181 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
182 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
183 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
184
185 *** `search-whitespace-regexp' now acts on ordinary incremental search
186 as well, so that each sequence of spaces in the search string matches
187 any combination of one or more whitespace characters. To change this
188 behavior, you can give `search-whitespace-regexp' a cons cell value,
189 where the car and cdr specify values for ordinary and regular
190 expression incremental search respectively.
191
192 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
193 prompts for a column number.
194
195 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
196 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
197
198 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
199
200 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
201 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
202
203 ** `goto-char' is now bound to `M-g c'.
204
205 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
206 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
207
208 ** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
209
210 \f
211 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
212
213 ** Compilation has a new `compilation-always-kill' configuration variable.
214
215 ** Term changes
216
217 The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
218 now deprecated in favor of the `term-face' face, that you can
219 customize. Also, it is now possible to customize how are displayed the
220 ANSI terminal colors and styles by customizing the corresponding
221 `term-color-<COLOR>', `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold'
222 faces.
223
224 ** CL
225 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
226 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
227 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
228 the "cl--" prefix).
229
230 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
231 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
232 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
233 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
234
235 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is just a bunch of aliases that
236 provide the old non-prefixed names.
237
238 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
239 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
240
241 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
242 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
243 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
244 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
245
246 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
247 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
248 rather than making them unbound.
249
250 ** Desktop
251
252 *** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory. Desktop
253 files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
254
255 ** Python mode
256
257 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
258 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
259 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
260 text based shell).
261
262 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
263 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
264 python-indent | python-indent-offset
265 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
266 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
267 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
268
269 *** Some user options have been removed:
270
271 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
272
273 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
274 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
275
276 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
277 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
278
279 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
280 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
281
282 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
283 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
284
285 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
286 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
287 No longer relevant.
288
289 *** Some commands have been replaced:
290 Old command | New command
291 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
292 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
293 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
294 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
295 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
296 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
297 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
298 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
299 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
300 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
301 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
302 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
303 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
304 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
305 python-shell-switch-to-shell
306 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
307 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
308 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
309
310 ** VHDL mode
311
312 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
313
314 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
315
316 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
317
318 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
319
320 ** Diff mode
321
322 Faces for changes now use the same diff color scheme as in modern VCSes
323 where deletions are displayed in red (new faces `diff-refine-removed'
324 and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition of `diff-removed'),
325 insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added' and
326 `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
327 The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use
328 the face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added'
329 to highlight changes in context diffs.
330
331 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode
332 on high color displays.
333
334 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
335 See flymake-fringe-indicator-position, flymake-error-bitmap and
336 flymake-warning-bitmap.
337
338 ** `sh-script'
339 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
340 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
341 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
342
343 ** reStructuredText mode
344
345 *** Rebind nearly all keys making room for more keys and complying
346 better to usage in other modes. Describe bindings with C-c C-h.
347
348 *** Major revision of indentation working very similar to other
349 modes. TAB is your friend.
350
351 *** Major revision of filling working fine with most of
352 reStructuredText syntax. Support auto-filling.
353
354 *** Major revision of comment handling.
355
356 *** Major revision of fontification working with `jit-lock-mode'.
357
358 *** Cover reStructuredText syntax more closely. Improve
359 the experience for Sphinx users.
360
361 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
362
363 *** Extend correct and improve customization.
364
365 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
366
367 *** Reset window configuration after displaying TOC.
368
369 *** Package version in `rst-version'.
370
371 ** New `derived-mode' filter for Ibuffer, bound to `/ M'.
372 `/ m' is now bound to filter by used-mode, which used to be bound to `/ M'.
373
374 ** Apropos
375
376 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
377 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
378 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
379
380 **** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
381 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
382
383 ** Buffer Menu
384 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
385
386 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
387 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
388
389 ** Calendar
390
391 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
392 Customize cal-html-holidays to change this.
393
394 ** Customize
395
396 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
397
398 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
399 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
400 these commands now).
401
402 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
403 channel keys found, if any.
404
405 ** Dired
406
407 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
408 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
409 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
410
411 ** Shell
412
413 *** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies what buffer to use
414 for a new asynchronous shell command when the default output buffer
415 `*Async Shell Command*' is already taken by another running command.
416
417 ** FFAP
418
419 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
420 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
421 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
422
423 ** Follow mode
424
425 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
426
427 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
428 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
429
430 ** The `server-auth-key' variable can be used to set a permanent
431 shared key for Emacs Server.
432
433 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
434 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
435
436 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
437
438 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
439
440 ** Tramp
441
442 +++
443 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy
444 definitions. See the manual for details.
445
446 +++
447 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
448
449 ** D-Bus
450
451 +++
452 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
453
454 +++
455 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
456
457 +++
458 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
459 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
460
461 +++
462 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
463 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
464
465 +++
466 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
467
468 +++
469 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
470 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
471 details.
472
473 +++
474 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
475
476 +++
477 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
478
479 +++
480 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
481 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
482 server properties.
483
484 ** Package Menu
485
486 *** Newly-available packages are listed in the Package Menu as "new",
487 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
488
489 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
490
491 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
492 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
493
494 ** URL
495
496 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
497 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
498 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
499 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
500 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
501
502 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
503 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
504 in case that is not properly encoded.
505
506 ** Obsolete packages:
507
508 *** assoc.el
509 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
510 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
511 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
512
513 *** bruce.el
514
515 *** ledit.el
516
517 *** mailpost.el
518
519 *** mouse-sel.el
520
521 *** patcomp.el
522
523 *** cust-print.el
524
525 \f
526 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
527 \f
528 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
529
530 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
531 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
532 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
533 sequence in later calls.
534
535 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
536 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
537 depends on the graphical library.
538
539 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
540 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
541 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
542
543 +++
544 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
545 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
546 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
547 `custom-variable-p'.
548
549 +++
550 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
551 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, defun and
552 defmacro currently return the name of the newly defined function/macro
553 but this should not be relied upon.
554
555 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
556 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
557
558 +++
559 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
560 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
561 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
562
563 ** Spelling changes.
564 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
565 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
566
567 *** Renamed functions
568
569 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
570 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
571 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
572 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
573 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
574 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
575 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
576 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
577
578 *** Renamed hooks
579 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
580 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
581
582 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
583 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
584 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
585
586 *** Renamed Lisp variables
587
588 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
589 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
590 deactivate-current-input-method-function
591
592 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed:
593
594 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
595 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
596 *** `last-input-char' and `last-command-char'
597
598 \f
599 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
600
601 ** New minor mode `read-only-mode' to replace toggle-read-only (now obsolete).
602
603 ** New functions `autoloadp' and `autoload-do-load'.
604
605 ** New function `posnp' to test if an object is a `posn'.
606
607 ** `function-get' fetches the property of a function, following aliases.
608
609 ** `toggle-read-only' accepts a second argument specifying whether to
610 print a message, if called from Lisp.
611
612 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
613 `setf' is autoloaded and `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
614
615 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
616 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
617
618 ** `macro-declaration-function' is obsolete, use `macro-declarations-alist'.
619
620 ** New function `set-temporary-overlay-map'.
621
622 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
623
624 ** New error type and new function `user-error'. Doesn't trigger the debugger.
625
626 ** Window changes
627
628 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
629 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
630
631 *** New display action alist `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil, tells
632 display action functions to avoid changing which frame is selected.
633
634 *** New display action alist `pop-up-frame-parameters', if non-nil,
635 specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
636
637 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
638 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
639 in Emacs 24.1:
640
641 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
642 **** `special-display-regexps'
643 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
644 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
645 **** `special-display-function'
646
647 ** Completion
648
649 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
650 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
651
652 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
653 table, but with a different prefix.
654
655 ** Time
656
657 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
658 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
659 by the underlying C implementation.
660
661 ** New function file-name-base.
662
663 ** New function `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
664
665 ** `automount-dir-prefix' is obsolete.
666 ** `buffer-has-markers-at' is obsolete.
667 \f
668 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
669
670 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
671
672 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
673 is detected.
674
675 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
676 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
677 mouse-autoselect-window.
678
679 ** On MS-Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
680 \f
681 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
682
683 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
684
685 \f
686 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
687
688 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
689 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
690 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
691 --without-gconf.
692
693 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
694 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
695 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
696 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
697
698 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
699 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
700 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
701 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
702
703 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
704 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
705 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
706 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
707 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
708
709 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
710 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
711 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
712 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
713
714 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
715 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
716
717 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
718 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
719 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
720 to about 2 GiB.
721
722 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
723 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
724 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
725
726 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
727 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
728 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
729
730 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
731 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
732
733 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
734 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
735
736 \f
737 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
738
739 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
740 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
741 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
742
743 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
744 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
745 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
746 Nextstep builds).
747
748 \f
749 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
750
751 ** Completion
752
753 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
754 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
755
756 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
757
758 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
759 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
760
761 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
762
763 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
764 default completion style in certain circumstances.
765
766 *** New completion style `substring'.
767
768 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
769
770 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
771
772 ** Mail changes
773
774 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
775 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
776 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
777 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
778 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
779 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
780
781 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
782 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
783 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
784
785 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
786 and Mail mode changes
787
788 ** Emacs server and client changes
789
790 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
791
792 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
793
794 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
795 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
796
797 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
798 its exit status is 1.
799
800 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
801 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
802 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
803
804 ** Internationalization changes
805
806 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
807 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
808 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
809 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
810 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
811 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
812
813 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
814 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
815
816 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
817 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
818 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
819 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
820 paragraph.
821
822 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
823 the right window edge.
824
825 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
826 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
827 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
828 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
829 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
830
831 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
832 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
833
834 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
835 (U+2010 and U+2011).
836
837 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
838 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
839 automatically select it.
840
841 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
842 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
843 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
844
845 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
846 selected for installation.
847
848 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
849
850 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
851 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
852 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
853
854 ** Custom theme changes
855
856 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
857 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
858
859 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
860 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
861 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
862 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
863 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
864 built-in Custom themes.
865
866 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
867 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
868 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
869 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
870
871 ** Improved GTK integration
872
873 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
874 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
875
876 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
877 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
878 the default is taken from desktop settings.
879
880 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
881 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
882 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
883 entries for this.
884
885 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
886 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
887
888 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
889 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
890
891 ** Graphical interface changes
892
893 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
894 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
895 displayed as a space.
896
897 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
898 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
899
900 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
901 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
902 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
903
904 ** Exiting changes
905
906 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
907 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
908
909 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
910 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
911 do the right thing in batch mode.
912
913 ** Scrolling changes
914
915 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
916 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
917 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
918 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
919
920 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
921
922 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
923 scroll a line instead of full screen.
924
925 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
926 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
927
928 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
929 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
930 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
931 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
932 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
933
934 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
935 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
936 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
937 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
938 margin.
939
940 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
941 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
942
943 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
944 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
945 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
946 now includes the SELinux context.
947
948 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
949 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
950
951 ** Trash changes
952
953 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
954 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
955
956 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
957 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
958
959 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
960
961 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
962 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
963 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
964 subdirectories.
965
966 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
967 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
968 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
969 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
970 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
971
972 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
973 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
974
975 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
976 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
977 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
978 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
979 corresponding way.
980
981 ** Window changes
982
983 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
984 in the quitted window.
985
986 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
987 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
988
989 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
990
991 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
992 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
993 for choosing the displaying window).
994
995 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
996 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
997
998 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
999 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1000
1001 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1002 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1003 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1004 from which such space was obtained.
1005
1006 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1007 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1008 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1009 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1010 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1011
1012 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1013 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1014 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1015
1016 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1017 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1018
1019 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1020 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1021 been shown in a specific window.
1022
1023 ** Minibuffer changes
1024
1025 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1026 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1027 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1028
1029 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1030 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1031 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1032
1033 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1034
1035 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1036
1037 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1038 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1039 successful operation.
1040
1041 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1042 for `list-colors-display'.
1043
1044 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1045
1046 \f
1047 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1048
1049 ** Search changes
1050
1051 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1052 `isearch-yank-line'.
1053
1054 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1055 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1056
1057 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1058
1059 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1060
1061 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1062 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1063 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1064 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1065 alias for it.
1066
1067 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1068 also deletes newlines around point.
1069
1070 ** Deletion changes
1071
1072 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1073 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1074 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1075 instead.
1076
1077 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1078 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1079 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1080
1081 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1082 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1083 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1084 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1085
1086 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1087
1088 ** Selection changes.
1089
1090 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1091 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1092 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1093 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1094
1095 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1096 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1097
1098 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1099 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1100 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1101 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1102
1103 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1104 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1105 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1106 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1107 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1108
1109 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1110
1111 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1112 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1113 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1114
1115 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1116
1117 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1118 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1119 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1120
1121 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1122 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1123
1124 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1125 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1126 between applications.
1127
1128 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1129
1130 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1131 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1132 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1133 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1134 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1135
1136 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1137
1138 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1139 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1140
1141 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1142 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1143 number to count from and for a format string.
1144
1145 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1146 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1147 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1148 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1149 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1150
1151 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1152 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1153 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1154 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1155 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1156
1157 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1158 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1159 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1160 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1161 follows `replace-match'.
1162
1163 \f
1164 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1165
1166 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1167
1168 ** BibTeX mode
1169
1170 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1171 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1172 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1173 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1174
1175 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1176
1177 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1178
1179 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1180
1181 ** Browse-url
1182
1183 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1184
1185 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1186 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1187
1188 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1189
1190 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1191 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1192
1193 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1194 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1195
1196 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1197 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1198 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1199
1200 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1201
1202 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1203 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1204
1205 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1206 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1207 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1208
1209 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1210 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1211 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1212
1213 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1214 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1215
1216 ** CC Mode
1217
1218 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1219 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1220
1221 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1222
1223 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1224 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1225 not the top level.
1226
1227 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1228 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1229 parsed as a statement continuation.
1230
1231 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1232
1233 ** Compilation mode
1234
1235 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1236 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1237
1238 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1239 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1240 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1241
1242 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1243 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1244 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1245 buffer was used.
1246
1247 ** Customize
1248
1249 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1250 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1251 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1252
1253 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1254 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1255
1256 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1257
1258 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1259 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1260
1261 ** D-Bus
1262
1263 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1264 or session bus.
1265
1266 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1267 optionally do not register names.
1268
1269 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1270 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1271
1272 ** Dired-x
1273
1274 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1275 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1276 instead of using the current buffer.
1277
1278 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1279 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1280
1281 ** ERC changes
1282
1283 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1284 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1285
1286 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1287 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1288 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1289 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1290
1291 ** Eshell changes
1292
1293 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1294 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1295 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1296
1297 ** gdb-mi
1298
1299 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1300 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1301 debugging of several threads.
1302
1303 ** Image mode
1304
1305 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1306 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1307
1308 ** Info
1309
1310 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1311 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1312 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1313 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1314 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1315
1316 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1317 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1318 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1319 by default.
1320
1321 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1322
1323 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1324
1325 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1326 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1327 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1328
1329 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1330 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1331
1332 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1333
1334 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1335
1336 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1337 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1338 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1339 default), this performs tag completion.
1340
1341 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1342 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1343
1344 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1345 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1346 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1347
1348 ** Rmail
1349
1350 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1351 in the Rmail incoming message.
1352
1353 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1354 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1355 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1356
1357 ** Shell mode
1358
1359 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1360 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1361 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1362
1363 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1364 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1365
1366 ** SMTPmail
1367
1368 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1369 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1370 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1371 to change this.
1372
1373 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1374 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1375 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1376 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1377 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1378 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1379 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1380 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1381
1382 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1383 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1384
1385 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1386
1387 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1388
1389 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1390 the credentials file.
1391
1392 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1393 If you had that set, you need to put
1394
1395 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1396
1397 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1398
1399 ** SQL mode
1400
1401 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1402 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1403
1404 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1405 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1406 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1407 connection is established.
1408
1409 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1410 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1411
1412 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1413 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1414 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1415 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1416
1417 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1418 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1419 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1420 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1421 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1422 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1423
1424 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1425 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1426
1427 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1428 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1429 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1430
1431 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1432 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1433
1434 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1435
1436 ** TeX modes
1437
1438 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1439
1440 ** Tramp
1441
1442 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1443
1444 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1445 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1446
1447 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1448 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1449
1450 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1451 default value to "".
1452
1453 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1454 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1455
1456 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1457 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1458 the degree of parallelism.
1459
1460 ** VC and related modes
1461
1462 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1463 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1464 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1465 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1466 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1467
1468 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1469
1470 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1471 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1472 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1473 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1474 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1475
1476 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1477 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1478
1479 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1480 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1481 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1482 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1483 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1484 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1485
1486 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1487 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1488
1489 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1490 this was not advertised at the time.
1491
1492 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1493 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1494 this was not advertised at the time.
1495
1496 ** Obsolete modes
1497
1498 *** abbrevlist.el
1499
1500 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1501
1502 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1503 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1504 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1505 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1506
1507 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1508
1509 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1510
1511 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1512
1513 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1514 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1515
1516 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1517
1518 ** Miscellaneous
1519
1520 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1521 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1522
1523 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1524 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1525
1526 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1527
1528 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1529
1530 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1531
1532 \f
1533 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1534
1535 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1536 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1537
1538 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1539 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1540 matching closing one.
1541
1542 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1543 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1544 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1545 electric-indent-functions.
1546
1547 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1548 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1549 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1550
1551 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1552 from which other modes can be derived.
1553
1554 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1555
1556 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1557 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1558 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1559 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1560 secrets.
1561
1562 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1563 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1564
1565 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1566 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1567
1568 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1569
1570 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1571 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1572 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1573 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1574 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1575 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1576
1577 \f
1578 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1579
1580 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1581 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1582
1583 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1584
1585 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1586 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1587 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1588 command still toggles the minor mode.
1589
1590 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1591 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1592 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1593 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1594 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1595
1596 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1597 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1598 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1599 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1600 argument `bidi-class'.
1601
1602 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1603 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1604 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1605 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1606
1607 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1608 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1609 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1610 of the header line.
1611
1612 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1613 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1614 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1615 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1616 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1617 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1618 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1619
1620 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1621 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1622 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1623 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1624 older Emacsen too.
1625
1626 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1627 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1628 replaced all known uses.
1629
1630 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1631 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1632 major mode is special).
1633
1634 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1635
1636 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1637 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1638 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1639 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1640 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1641 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1642
1643 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1644 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1645
1646 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1647 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1648 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1649 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1650
1651 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1652 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1653 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1654
1655 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1656
1657 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1658 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1659 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1660
1661 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1662 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1663 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1664 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1665 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1666 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1667 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1668 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1669 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1670 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1671 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1672 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1673 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1674 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1675 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1676 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1677 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1678 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1679 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1680 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1681 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1682
1683 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1684 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1685
1686 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1687 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1688 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1689 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1690 *** `e' (`float-e').
1691
1692 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1693 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1694
1695 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1696 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1697 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1698 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1699
1700 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1701 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1702 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1703
1704 \f
1705 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1706
1707 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1708 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1709 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1710 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1711 file.
1712
1713 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1714 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1715
1716 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1717 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1718
1719 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1720
1721 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1722 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1723
1724 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1725 declared as dynamically bound.
1726
1727 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1728
1729 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1730 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1731 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1732
1733 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1734
1735 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1736 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1737
1738 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1739 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1740 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1741 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1742 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1743 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1744
1745 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1746 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1747 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1748
1749 ** Window changes
1750
1751 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1752 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1753 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1754 buffer) in the window tree.
1755
1756 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1757 windows.
1758
1759 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1760 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1761 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1762 act on any window including internal ones.
1763
1764 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1765 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1766 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1767 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1768 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1769
1770 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1771 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1772 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1773 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1774 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1775
1776 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1777 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1778 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1779 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1780 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1781 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1782
1783 *** Window resizing functions.
1784 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1785 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1786 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1787
1788 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1789 live window on that frame instead.
1790
1791 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1792 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1793 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1794 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1795 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1796 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1797
1798 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1799 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1800 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1801 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1802 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1803 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1804
1805 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1806 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1807 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1808 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1809
1810 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1811 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1812 The old names are kept as aliases.
1813
1814 *** Display actions
1815
1816 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1817 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1818 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1819 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1820
1821 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1822
1823 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1824 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1825 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1826 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1827 are user-customizable variables.
1828
1829 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1830
1831 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1832 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1833 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1834
1835 ** Completion
1836
1837 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1838 properties of the current completion:
1839 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1840 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1841
1842 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1843 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1844
1845 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1846
1847 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1848 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1849 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1850 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1851 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1852 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1853 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1854
1855 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1856 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1857 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1858
1859 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1860 behavior of `completing-read'.
1861
1862 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1863 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1864
1865 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1866 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1867
1868 ** New hook types
1869
1870 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1871 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1872 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1873 non-nil return value.
1874
1875 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1876 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1877 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1878 advertised at the time.)
1879
1880 ** Debugger changes
1881
1882 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1883 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1884
1885 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1886
1887 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1888
1889 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1890 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1891 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1892
1893 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1894 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1895
1896 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1897 named Emacs server instances.
1898
1899 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1900 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1901
1902 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1903 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1904
1905 ** New input reading functions
1906
1907 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1908 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1909
1910 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1911 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1912 invalid input.
1913
1914 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1915
1916 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1917 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1918 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1919 obsolete alias.
1920
1921 ** Syntax parsing changes
1922
1923 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1924 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1925 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1926 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1927 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1928 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1929 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1930 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1931 syntactic rules.
1932
1933 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1934
1935 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1936
1937 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1938
1939 ** Major and minor mode changes
1940
1941 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1942 as well as those in the -*- line.
1943
1944 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1945 should be derived.
1946
1947 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1948 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1949 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1950
1951 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1952 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1953
1954 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1955 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1956 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1957
1958 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1959
1960 ** File-handling changes
1961
1962 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1963 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1964 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1965 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1966
1967 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1968
1969 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1970 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1971 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1972
1973 ** Image API
1974
1975 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1976
1977 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1978
1979 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1980
1981 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1982 is being animated.
1983
1984 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1985 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1986
1987 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1988 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1989
1990 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1991 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1992 ImageMagick installation supports.
1993
1994 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1995 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1996 functions.
1997
1998 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1999 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2000
2001 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2002 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2003 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2004 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2005
2006 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2007 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2008 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2009 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2010
2011 ** XML and HTML parsing
2012 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2013 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2014 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2015 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2016
2017 ** Networking and encryption changes
2018
2019 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2020 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2021 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2022 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2023 must also be supplied.
2024
2025 *** New library gnutls.el.
2026 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2027 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2028 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2029 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2030 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2031 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2032 greater than 0.
2033
2034 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2035 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2036 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2037
2038 ** Isearch
2039
2040 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2041
2042 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2043 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2044 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2045 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2046 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2047 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2048
2049 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2050 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2051
2052 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2053 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2054 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2055 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2056 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2057 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2058
2059 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2060
2061 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2062 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2063 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2064 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2065
2066 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2067 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2068
2069 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2070 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2071 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2072 an empty uninterned symbol.
2073
2074 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2075
2076 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2077
2078 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2079 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2080
2081 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2082 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2083
2084 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2085
2086 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2087 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2088
2089 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2090
2091 \f
2092 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2093
2094 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2095 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2096
2097 ** New configure.bat options
2098
2099 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2100
2101 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2102
2103 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2104
2105 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2106
2107 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2108
2109 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2110 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2111
2112 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2113 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2114
2115 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2116 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2117
2118 \f
2119 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2120 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2121
2122 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2123 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2124 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2125 (at your option) any later version.
2126
2127 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2128 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2129 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2130 GNU General Public License for more details.
2131
2132 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2133 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2134
2135 \f
2136 Local variables:
2137 mode: outline
2138 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
2139 end: