Merge from emacs-24, up to 2012-04-10T02:06:19Z!larsi@gnus.org
[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 24.2
25 \f
26 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
27
28 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
29 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
30 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
31
32 \f
33 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
34
35 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
36 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
37
38 \f
39 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
40
41 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
42 prompts for a column number.
43
44 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
45 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
46
47 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
48 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
49
50 \f
51 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
52
53 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
54 channel keys found, if any.
55
56 ** Obsolete packages:
57
58 *** mailpost.el
59
60 *** mouse-sel.el
61
62 \f
63 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
64 \f
65 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
66
67 +++
68 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
69 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
70 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
71 `custom-variable-p'.
72
73 \f
74 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
75 \f
76 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
77
78 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
79
80 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
81 is detected.
82
83 \f
84 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
85
86 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
87 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
88 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
89 --without-gconf.
90
91 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
92 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
93 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
94 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
95
96 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
97 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
98 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
99 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
100
101 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
102 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
103 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
104 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
105 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
106
107 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
108 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
109 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
110 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
111
112 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
113 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
114
115 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
116 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
117 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
118 to about 2 GiB.
119
120 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
121 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
122 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
123
124 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
125 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
126 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
127
128 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
129 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
130
131 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
132 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
133
134 \f
135 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
136
137 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
138 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
139 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
140
141 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
142 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
143 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
144 Nextstep builds).
145
146 \f
147 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
148
149 ** Completion
150
151 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
152 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
153
154 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
155
156 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
157 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
158
159 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
160
161 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
162 default completion style in certain circumstances.
163
164 *** New completion style `substring'.
165
166 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
167
168 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
169
170 ** Mail changes
171
172 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
173 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
174 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
175 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
176 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
177 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
178
179 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
180 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
181 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
182
183 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
184 and Mail mode changes
185
186 ** Emacs server and client changes
187
188 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
189
190 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
191
192 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
193 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
194
195 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
196 its exit status is 1.
197
198 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
199 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
200 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
201
202 ** Internationalization changes
203
204 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
205 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
206 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
207 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
208 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
209 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
210
211 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
212 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
213
214 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
215 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
216 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
217 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
218 paragraph.
219
220 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
221 the right window edge.
222
223 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
224 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
225 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
226 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
227 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
228
229 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
230
231 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
232 (U+2010 and U+2011).
233
234 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
235 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
236 automatically select it.
237
238 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
239 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
240 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
241
242 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
243 selected for installation.
244
245 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
246
247 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
248 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
249 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
250
251 ** Custom theme changes
252
253 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
254 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
255
256 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
257 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
258 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
259 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
260 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
261 built-in Custom themes.
262
263 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
264 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
265 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
266 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
267
268 ** Improved GTK integration
269
270 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
271 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
272
273 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
274 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
275 the default is taken from desktop settings.
276
277 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
278 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
279 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
280 entries for this.
281
282 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
283 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
284
285 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
286 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
287
288 ** Graphical interface changes
289
290 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
291 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
292 displayed as a space.
293
294 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
295 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
296
297 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
298 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
299 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
300
301 ** Exiting changes
302
303 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
304 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
305
306 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
307 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
308 do the right thing in batch mode.
309
310 ** Scrolling changes
311
312 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
313 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
314 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
315 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
316
317 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
318
319 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
320 scroll a line instead of full screen.
321
322 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
323 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
324
325 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
326 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
327 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
328 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
329 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
330
331 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
332 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
333 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
334 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
335 margin.
336
337 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
338 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
339
340 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
341 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
342 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
343 now includes the SELinux context.
344
345 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
346 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
347
348 ** Trash changes
349
350 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
351 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
352
353 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
354 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
355
356 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
357
358 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
359 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
360 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
361 subdirectories.
362
363 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
364 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
365 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
366 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
367 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
368
369 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
370 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
371
372 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
373 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
374 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
375 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
376 corresponding way.
377
378 ** Window changes
379
380 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
381 in the quitted window.
382
383 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
384 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
385
386 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
387
388 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
389 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
390 for choosing the displaying window).
391
392 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
393 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
394
395 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
396 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
397
398 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
399 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
400 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
401 from which such space was obtained.
402
403 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
404 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
405 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
406 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
407 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
408
409 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
410 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
411 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
412
413 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
414 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
415
416 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
417 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
418 been shown in a specific window.
419
420 ** Minibuffer changes
421
422 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
423 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
424 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
425
426 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
427 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
428 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
429
430 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
431
432 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
433
434 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
435 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
436 successful operation.
437
438 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
439 for `list-colors-display'.
440
441 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
442
443 \f
444 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
445
446 ** Search changes
447
448 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
449 `isearch-yank-line'.
450
451 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
452 `isearch-yank-kill'.
453
454 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
455
456 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
457
458 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
459 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
460 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
461 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
462 alias for it.
463
464 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
465 also deletes newlines around point.
466
467 ** Deletion changes
468
469 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
470 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
471 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
472 instead.
473
474 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
475 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
476 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
477
478 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
479 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
480 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
481 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
482
483 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
484
485 ** Selection changes.
486
487 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
488 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
489 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
490 mouse commands use the primary selection.
491
492 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
493 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
494
495 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
496 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
497 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
498 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
499
500 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
501 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
502 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
503 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
504 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
505
506 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
507
508 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
509 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
510 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
511
512 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
513
514 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
515 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
516 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
517
518 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
519 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
520
521 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
522 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
523 between applications.
524
525 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
526
527 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
528 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
529 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
530 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
531 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
532
533 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
534
535 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
536 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
537
538 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
539 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
540 number to count from and for a format string.
541
542 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
543 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
544 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
545 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
546 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
547
548 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
549 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
550 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
551 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
552 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
553
554 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
555 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
556 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
557 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
558 follows `replace-match'.
559
560 \f
561 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
562
563 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
564
565 ** BibTeX mode
566
567 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
568 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
569 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
570 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
571
572 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
573
574 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
575
576 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
577
578 ** Browse-url
579
580 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
581
582 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
583 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
584
585 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
586
587 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
588 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
589
590 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
591 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
592
593 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
594 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
595 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
596
597 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
598
599 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
600 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
601
602 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
603 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
604 Use `appt-activate' instead.
605
606 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
607 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
608 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
609
610 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
611 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
612
613 ** CC Mode
614
615 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
616 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
617
618 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
619
620 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
621 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
622 not the top level.
623
624 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
625 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
626 parsed as a statement continuation.
627
628 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
629
630 ** Compilation mode
631
632 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
633 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
634
635 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
636 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
637 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
638
639 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
640 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
641 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
642 buffer was used.
643
644 ** Customize
645
646 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
647 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
648 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
649
650 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
651 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
652
653 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
654
655 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
656 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
657
658 ** D-Bus
659
660 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
661 or session bus.
662
663 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
664 optionally do not register names.
665
666 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
667 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
668
669 ** Dired-x
670
671 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
672 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
673 instead of using the current buffer.
674
675 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
676 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
677
678 ** ERC changes
679
680 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
681 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
682
683 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
684 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
685 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
686 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
687
688 ** Eshell changes
689
690 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
691 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
692 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
693
694 ** gdb-mi
695
696 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
697 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
698 debugging of several threads.
699
700 ** Image mode
701
702 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
703 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
704
705 ** Info
706
707 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
708 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
709 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
710 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
711 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
712
713 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
714 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
715 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
716 by default.
717
718 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
719
720 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
721
722 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
723 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
724 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
725
726 ** MH-E has been upgraded to MH-E version 8.3.1.
727 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
728
729 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
730
731 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
732
733 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
734 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
735 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
736 default), this performs tag completion.
737
738 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
739 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
740 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
741
742 ** Rmail
743
744 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
745 in the Rmail incoming message.
746
747 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
748 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
749 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
750
751 ** Shell mode
752
753 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
754 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
755 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
756
757 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
758 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
759
760 ** SMTPmail
761
762 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
763 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
764 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
765 to change this.
766
767 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
768 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
769 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
770 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
771 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
772 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
773 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
774 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
775
776 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
777 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
778
779 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
780
781 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
782
783 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
784 the credentials file.
785
786 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
787 If you had that set, you need to put
788
789 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
790
791 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
792
793 ** SQL mode
794
795 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
796 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
797
798 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
799 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
800 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
801 connection is established.
802
803 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
804 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
805
806 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
807 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
808 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
809 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
810
811 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
812 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
813 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
814 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
815 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
816 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
817
818 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
819 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
820
821 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
822 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
823 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
824
825 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
826 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
827
828 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
829
830 ** TeX modes
831
832 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
833
834 ** Tramp
835
836 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
837
838 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
839 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
840
841 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
842 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
843
844 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
845 default value to "".
846
847 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
848 for remote machines which support SELinux.
849
850 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
851 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
852 the degree of parallelism.
853
854 ** VC and related modes
855
856 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
857 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
858 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
859 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
860 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
861
862 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
863
864 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
865 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
866 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
867 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
868 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
869
870 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
871 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
872
873 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
874 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
875 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
876 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
877 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
878 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
879
880 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
881 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
882
883 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
884 this was not advertised at the time.
885
886 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
887 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
888 this was not advertised at the time.
889
890 ** Obsolete modes
891
892 *** abbrevlist.el
893
894 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
895
896 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
897 You can get a comparable behavior with:
898 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
899 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
900
901 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
902
903 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
904
905 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
906
907 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
908 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
909
910 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
911
912 ** Miscellaneous
913
914 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
915 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
916
917 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
918 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
919
920 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
921
922 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
923
924 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
925
926 \f
927 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
928
929 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
930 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
931
932 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
933 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
934 matching closing one.
935
936 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
937 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
938 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
939 electric-indent-functions.
940
941 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
942 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
943 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
944
945 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
946 from which other modes can be derived.
947
948 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
949
950 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
951 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
952 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
953 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
954 secrets.
955
956 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
957 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
958
959 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
960 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
961
962 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
963
964 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
965 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
966 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
967 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
968 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
969 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
970
971 \f
972 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
973
974 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
975 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
976
977 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
978
979 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
980 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
981 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
982 command still toggles the minor mode.
983
984 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
985 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
986 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
987 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
988 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
989
990 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
991 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
992 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
993 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
994 argument `bidi-class'.
995
996 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
997 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
998 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
999 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1000
1001 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1002 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1003 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1004 of the header line.
1005
1006 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1007 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1008 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1009 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1010 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1011 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1012 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1013
1014 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1015 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1016 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1017 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1018 older Emacsen too.
1019
1020 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1021 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1022 replaced all known uses.
1023
1024 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1025 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1026 major mode is special).
1027
1028 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1029
1030 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1031 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1032 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1033 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1034 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1035 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1036
1037 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1038 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1039
1040 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1041 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1042 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1043 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1044
1045 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1046 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1047 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1048
1049 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1050
1051 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1052 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1053 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1054
1055 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1056 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1057 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1058 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1059 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1060 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1061 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1062 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1063 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1064 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1065 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1066 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1067 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1068 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1069 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1070 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1071 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1072 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1073 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1074 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1075 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1076
1077 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1078 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1079
1080 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1081 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1082 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1083 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1084 *** `e' (`float-e').
1085
1086 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1087 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1088
1089 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1090 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1091 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1092 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1093
1094 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1095 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1096 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1097
1098 \f
1099 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1100
1101 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1102 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1103 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1104 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1105 file.
1106
1107 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1108 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1109
1110 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1111 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1112
1113 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1114
1115 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1116 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1117
1118 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1119 declared as dynamically bound.
1120
1121 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1122 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1123 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1124
1125 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1126
1127 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1128 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1129
1130 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1131 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1132 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1133 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1134 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1135 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1136
1137 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1138 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1139 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1140
1141 ** Window changes
1142
1143 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1144 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1145 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1146 buffer) in the window tree.
1147
1148 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1149 windows.
1150
1151 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1152 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1153 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1154 act on any window including internal ones.
1155
1156 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1157 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1158 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1159 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1160 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1161
1162 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1163 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1164 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1165 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1166 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1167
1168 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1169 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1170 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1171 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1172 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1173 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1174
1175 *** Window resizing functions.
1176 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1177 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1178 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1179
1180 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1181 live window on that frame instead.
1182
1183 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1184 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1185 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1186 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1187 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1188 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1189
1190 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1191 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1192 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1193 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1194 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1195 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1196
1197 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1198 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1199 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1200 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1201
1202 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1203 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1204 The old names are kept as aliases.
1205
1206 *** Display actions
1207
1208 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1209 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1210 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1211 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1212
1213 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1214
1215 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1216 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1217 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1218 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1219 are user-customizable variables.
1220
1221 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1222
1223 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1224 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1225 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1226
1227 ** Completion
1228
1229 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1230 properties of the current completion:
1231 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1232 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1233
1234 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1235 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1236
1237 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1238
1239 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1240 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1241 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1242 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1243 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1244 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1245 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1246
1247 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1248 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1249 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1250
1251 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1252 behavior of `completing-read'.
1253
1254 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1255 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1256
1257 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1258 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1259
1260 ** New hook types
1261
1262 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1263 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1264 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1265 non-nil return value.
1266
1267 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1268 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1269 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1270 advertised at the time.)
1271
1272 ** Debugger changes
1273
1274 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1275 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1276
1277 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1278
1279 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1280
1281 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1282 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1283 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1284
1285 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1286 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1287
1288 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1289 named Emacs server instances.
1290
1291 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1292 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1293
1294 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1295 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1296
1297 ** New input reading functions
1298
1299 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1300 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1301
1302 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1303 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1304 invalid input.
1305
1306 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1307
1308 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1309 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1310 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1311 obsolete alias.
1312
1313 ** Syntax parsing changes
1314
1315 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1316 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1317 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1318 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1319 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1320 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1321 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1322 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1323 syntactic rules.
1324
1325 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1326
1327 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1328
1329 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1330
1331 ** Major and minor mode changes
1332
1333 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1334 as well as those in the -*- line.
1335
1336 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1337 should be derived.
1338
1339 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1340 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1341 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1342
1343 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1344 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1345
1346 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1347 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1348 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1349
1350 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1351
1352 ** File-handling changes
1353
1354 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1355 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1356 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1357 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1358
1359 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1360
1361 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1362 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1363 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1364
1365 ** Image API
1366
1367 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1368
1369 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1370
1371 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1372
1373 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1374 is being animated.
1375
1376 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1377 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1378
1379 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1380 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1381
1382 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1383 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1384 ImageMagick installation supports.
1385
1386 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1387 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1388 functions.
1389
1390 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1391 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1392
1393 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1394 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1395 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1396 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1397
1398 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1399 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1400 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1401 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1402
1403 ** XML and HTML parsing
1404 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1405 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1406 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1407 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1408
1409 ** Networking and encryption changes
1410
1411 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1412 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1413 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1414 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1415 must also be supplied.
1416
1417 *** New library gnutls.el.
1418 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1419 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1420 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1421 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1422 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1423 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1424 greater than 0.
1425
1426 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1427 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1428 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1429
1430 ** Isearch
1431
1432 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1433
1434 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1435 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1436 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1437 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1438 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1439 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1440
1441 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1442 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1443
1444 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1445 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1446 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1447 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1448 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1449 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1450
1451 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1452
1453 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1454 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1455 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1456 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1457
1458 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1459 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1460
1461 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1462 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1463 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1464 an empty uninterned symbol.
1465
1466 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1467
1468 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1469
1470 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1471 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1472
1473 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1474 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1475
1476 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1477
1478 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1479 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1480
1481 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1482
1483 \f
1484 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1485
1486 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1487 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1488
1489 ** New configure.bat options
1490
1491 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1492
1493 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1494
1495 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1496
1497 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1498
1499 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1500
1501 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1502 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1503
1504 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1505 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1506
1507 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1508 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1509
1510 \f
1511 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1512 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1513
1514 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1515 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1516 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1517 (at your option) any later version.
1518
1519 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1520 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1521 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1522 GNU General Public License for more details.
1523
1524 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1525 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1526
1527 \f
1528 Local variables:
1529 mode: outline
1530 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
1531 end: