1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
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.
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.
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.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.2
26 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
27 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
28 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
29 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
33 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
36 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
37 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
41 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
42 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
45 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
47 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
48 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
49 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
52 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
54 ** New functions `system-users', `system-groups' return lists of the user
55 name, group names known to the system (where possible).
57 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
58 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
60 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
61 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
62 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
63 automatically at startup or when customizing `imagemagick-types-inhibit'.
65 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
66 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
67 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
69 ** String values for `initial-buffer-choice' also apply to emacsclient
70 frames, if emacsclient is only told to open a new frame without
71 specifying any file to visit or expression to evaluate.
74 ** You can prevent the creation of lock files by setting `create-lockfiles'
75 to nil. Use with caution, and only if you really need to.
78 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
79 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
82 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
84 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
85 prompts for a column number.
87 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
88 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
90 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
91 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
93 ** `goto-char' is now bound to `M-g c'.
96 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
100 Faces for changes now use the same diff color scheme as in modern VCSes
101 where deletions are displayed in red (new faces `diff-refine-removed'
102 and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition of `diff-removed'),
103 insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added' and
104 `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
105 The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use
106 the face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added'
107 to highlight changes in context diffs.
110 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
111 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
112 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
114 ** reStructuredText mode
116 *** Nearly all keys are rebound making room for more keys and comply
117 better to usage in other modes. Bindings are described with C-c C-h.
119 *** Major revision of indentation. Now works very similarly to other modes.
122 *** Major revision of filling. Works fine with most of
123 reStructuredText syntax. Auto-filling is also supported.
125 *** Major revision of comment handling.
127 *** Major revision of fontification. Now works with `jit-lock-mode'.
129 *** reStructuredText syntax is covered more closely in many cases.
130 Among other things this improves the experience for Sphinx users.
132 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts a new list or continues existing lists.
134 *** Customization is extended, corrected and improved.
136 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
138 *** Window configuration is reset after displaying TOC.
140 *** There is a package version in `rst-version'.
142 ** New `derived-mode' filter for Ibuffer, bound to `/ M'.
143 `/ m' is now bound to filter by used-mode, which used to be bound to `/ M'.
147 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
148 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
149 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
151 **** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
152 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
156 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
157 Customize cal-html-holidays to change this.
161 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
163 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
164 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
167 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
168 channel keys found, if any.
172 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
173 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
174 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
178 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
180 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
181 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
183 ** The `server-auth-key' variable can be used to set a permanent
184 shared key for Emacs Server.
186 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
187 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
189 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
191 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
196 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
199 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
202 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
203 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
206 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
207 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
210 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
213 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
214 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
218 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
221 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
224 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
225 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
228 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
230 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
231 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
235 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
236 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
237 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
238 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
239 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
241 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
242 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
243 in case that is not properly encoded.
245 ** Obsolete packages:
248 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
249 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
250 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
261 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
263 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
266 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
267 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
268 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
271 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
272 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
275 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
276 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
277 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
279 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed:
281 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
282 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
285 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
287 ** New function `set-temporary-overlay-map'.
289 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
291 ** New error type and new function `user-error'. Doesn't trigger the debugger.
295 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
296 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
298 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
299 table, but with a different prefix.
303 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
304 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
305 by the underlying C implementation.
307 ** `automount-dir-prefix' is obsolete.
309 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
311 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
313 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
316 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
317 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
318 mouse-autoselect-window.
321 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
323 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
324 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
325 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
328 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
329 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
330 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
331 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
333 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
334 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
335 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
336 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
338 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
339 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
340 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
341 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
342 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
344 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
345 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
346 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
347 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
349 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
350 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
352 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
353 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
354 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
357 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
358 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
359 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
361 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
362 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
363 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
365 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
366 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
368 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
369 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
372 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
374 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
375 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
376 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
378 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
379 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
380 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
384 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
388 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
389 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
391 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
393 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
394 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
396 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
398 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
399 default completion style in certain circumstances.
401 *** New completion style `substring'.
403 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
405 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
409 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
410 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
411 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
412 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
413 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
414 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
416 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
417 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
418 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
420 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
421 and Mail mode changes
423 ** Emacs server and client changes
425 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
427 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
429 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
430 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
432 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
433 its exit status is 1.
435 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
436 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
437 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
439 ** Internationalization changes
441 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
442 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
443 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
444 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
445 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
446 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
448 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
449 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
451 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
452 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
453 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
454 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
457 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
458 the right window edge.
460 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
461 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
462 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
463 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
464 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
466 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
468 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
471 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
472 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
473 automatically select it.
475 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
476 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
477 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
479 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
480 selected for installation.
482 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
484 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
485 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
486 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
488 ** Custom theme changes
490 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
491 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
493 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
494 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
495 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
496 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
497 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
498 built-in Custom themes.
500 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
501 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
502 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
503 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
505 ** Improved GTK integration
507 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
508 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
510 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
511 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
512 the default is taken from desktop settings.
514 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
515 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
516 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
519 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
520 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
522 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
523 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
525 ** Graphical interface changes
527 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
528 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
529 displayed as a space.
531 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
532 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
534 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
535 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
536 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
540 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
541 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
543 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
544 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
545 do the right thing in batch mode.
549 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
550 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
551 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
552 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
554 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
556 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
557 scroll a line instead of full screen.
559 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
560 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
562 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
563 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
564 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
565 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
566 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
568 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
569 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
570 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
571 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
574 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
575 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
577 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
578 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
579 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
580 now includes the SELinux context.
582 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
583 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
587 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
588 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
590 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
591 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
593 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
595 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
596 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
597 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
600 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
601 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
602 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
603 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
604 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
606 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
607 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
609 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
610 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
611 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
612 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
617 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
618 in the quitted window.
620 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
621 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
623 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
625 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
626 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
627 for choosing the displaying window).
629 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
630 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
632 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
633 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
635 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
636 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
637 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
638 from which such space was obtained.
640 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
641 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
642 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
643 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
644 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
646 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
647 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
648 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
650 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
651 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
653 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
654 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
655 been shown in a specific window.
657 ** Minibuffer changes
659 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
660 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
661 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
663 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
664 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
665 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
667 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
669 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
671 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
672 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
673 successful operation.
675 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
676 for `list-colors-display'.
678 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
681 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
685 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
688 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
691 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
693 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
695 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
696 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
697 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
698 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
701 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
702 also deletes newlines around point.
706 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
707 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
708 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
711 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
712 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
713 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
715 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
716 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
717 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
718 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
720 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
722 ** Selection changes.
724 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
725 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
726 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
727 mouse commands use the primary selection.
729 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
730 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
732 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
733 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
734 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
735 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
737 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
738 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
739 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
740 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
741 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
743 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
745 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
746 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
747 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
749 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
751 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
752 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
753 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
755 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
756 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
758 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
759 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
760 between applications.
762 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
764 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
765 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
766 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
767 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
768 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
770 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
772 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
773 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
775 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
776 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
777 number to count from and for a format string.
779 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
780 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
781 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
782 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
783 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
785 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
786 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
787 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
788 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
789 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
791 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
792 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
793 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
794 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
795 follows `replace-match'.
798 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
800 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
804 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
805 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
806 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
807 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
809 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
811 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
813 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
817 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
819 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
820 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
822 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
824 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
825 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
827 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
828 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
830 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
831 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
832 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
834 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
836 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
837 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
839 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
840 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
841 Use `appt-activate' instead.
843 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
844 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
845 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
847 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
848 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
852 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
853 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
855 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
857 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
858 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
861 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
862 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
863 parsed as a statement continuation.
865 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
869 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
870 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
872 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
873 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
874 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
876 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
877 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
878 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
883 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
884 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
885 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
887 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
888 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
890 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
892 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
893 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
897 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
900 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
901 optionally do not register names.
903 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
904 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
908 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
909 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
910 instead of using the current buffer.
912 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
913 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
917 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
918 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
920 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
921 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
922 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
923 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
927 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
928 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
929 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
933 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
934 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
935 debugging of several threads.
939 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
940 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
944 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
945 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
946 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
947 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
948 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
950 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
951 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
952 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
955 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
957 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
959 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
960 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
961 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
963 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
964 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
966 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
968 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
970 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
971 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
972 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
973 default), this performs tag completion.
975 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
976 See ORG-NEWS for details.
978 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
979 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
980 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
984 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
985 in the Rmail incoming message.
987 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
988 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
989 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
993 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
994 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
995 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
997 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
998 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1002 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1003 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1004 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1007 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1008 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1009 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1010 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1011 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1012 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1013 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1014 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1016 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1017 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1019 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1021 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1023 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1024 the credentials file.
1026 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1027 If you had that set, you need to put
1029 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1031 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1035 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1036 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1038 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1039 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1040 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1041 connection is established.
1043 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1044 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1046 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1047 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1048 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1049 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1051 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1052 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1053 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1054 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1055 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1056 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1058 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1059 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1061 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1062 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1063 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1065 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1066 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1068 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1072 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1076 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1078 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1079 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1081 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1082 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1084 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1085 default value to "".
1087 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1088 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1090 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1091 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1092 the degree of parallelism.
1094 ** VC and related modes
1096 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1097 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1098 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1099 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1100 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1102 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1104 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1105 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1106 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1107 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1108 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1110 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1111 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1113 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1114 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1115 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1116 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1117 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1118 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1120 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1121 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1123 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1124 this was not advertised at the time.
1126 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1127 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1128 this was not advertised at the time.
1134 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1136 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1137 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1138 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1139 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1141 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1143 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1145 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1147 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1148 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1150 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1154 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1155 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1157 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1158 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1160 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1162 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1164 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1167 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1169 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1170 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1172 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1173 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1174 matching closing one.
1176 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1177 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1178 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1179 electric-indent-functions.
1181 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1182 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1183 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1185 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1186 from which other modes can be derived.
1188 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1190 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1191 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1192 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1193 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1196 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1197 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1199 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1200 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1202 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1204 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1205 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1206 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1207 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1208 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1209 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1212 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1214 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1215 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1217 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1219 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1220 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1221 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1222 command still toggles the minor mode.
1224 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1225 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1226 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1227 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1228 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1230 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1231 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1232 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1233 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1234 argument `bidi-class'.
1236 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1237 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1238 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1239 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1241 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1242 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1243 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1246 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1247 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1248 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1249 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1250 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1251 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1252 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1254 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1255 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1256 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1257 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1260 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1261 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1262 replaced all known uses.
1264 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1265 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1266 major mode is special).
1268 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1270 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1271 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1272 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1273 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1274 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1275 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1277 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1278 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1280 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1281 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1282 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1283 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1285 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1286 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1287 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1289 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1291 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1292 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1293 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1295 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1296 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1297 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1298 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1299 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1300 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1301 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1302 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1303 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1304 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1305 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1306 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1307 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1308 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1309 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1310 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1311 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1312 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1313 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1314 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1315 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1317 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1318 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1320 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1321 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1322 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1323 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1324 *** `e' (`float-e').
1326 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1327 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1329 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1330 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1331 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1332 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1334 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1335 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1336 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1339 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1341 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1342 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1343 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1344 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1347 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1348 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1350 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1351 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1353 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1355 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1356 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1358 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1359 declared as dynamically bound.
1361 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1363 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1364 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1365 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1367 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1369 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1370 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1372 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1373 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1374 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1375 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1376 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1377 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1379 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1380 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1381 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1385 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1386 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1387 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1388 buffer) in the window tree.
1390 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1393 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1394 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1395 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1396 act on any window including internal ones.
1398 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1399 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1400 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1401 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1402 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1404 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1405 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1406 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1407 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1408 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1410 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1411 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1412 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1413 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1414 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1415 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1417 *** Window resizing functions.
1418 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1419 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1420 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1422 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1423 live window on that frame instead.
1425 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1426 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1427 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1428 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1429 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1430 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1432 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1433 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1434 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1435 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1436 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1437 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1439 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1440 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1441 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1442 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1444 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1445 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1446 The old names are kept as aliases.
1450 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1451 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1452 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1453 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1455 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1457 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1458 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1459 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1460 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1461 are user-customizable variables.
1463 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1465 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1466 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1467 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1471 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1472 properties of the current completion:
1473 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1474 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1476 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1477 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1479 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1481 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1482 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1483 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1484 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1485 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1486 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1487 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1489 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1490 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1491 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1493 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1494 behavior of `completing-read'.
1496 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1497 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1499 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1500 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1504 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1505 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1506 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1507 non-nil return value.
1509 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1510 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1511 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1512 advertised at the time.)
1516 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1517 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1519 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1521 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1523 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1524 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1525 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1527 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1528 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1530 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1531 named Emacs server instances.
1533 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1534 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1536 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1537 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1539 ** New input reading functions
1541 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1542 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1544 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1545 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1548 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1550 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1551 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1552 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1555 ** Syntax parsing changes
1557 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1558 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1559 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1560 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1561 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1562 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1563 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1564 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1567 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1569 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1571 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1573 ** Major and minor mode changes
1575 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1576 as well as those in the -*- line.
1578 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1581 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1582 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1583 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1585 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1586 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1588 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1589 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1590 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1592 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1594 ** File-handling changes
1596 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1597 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1598 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1599 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1601 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1603 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1604 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1605 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1609 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1611 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1613 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1615 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1618 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1619 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1621 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1622 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1624 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1625 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1626 ImageMagick installation supports.
1628 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1629 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1632 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1633 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1635 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1636 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1637 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1638 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1640 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1641 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1642 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1643 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1645 ** XML and HTML parsing
1646 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1647 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1648 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1649 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1651 ** Networking and encryption changes
1653 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1654 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1655 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1656 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1657 must also be supplied.
1659 *** New library gnutls.el.
1660 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1661 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1662 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1663 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1664 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1665 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1668 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1669 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1670 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1674 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1676 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1677 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1678 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1679 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1680 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1681 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1683 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1684 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1686 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1687 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1688 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1689 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1690 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1691 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1693 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1695 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1696 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1697 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1698 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1700 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1701 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1703 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1704 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1705 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1706 an empty uninterned symbol.
1708 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1710 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1712 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1713 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1715 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1716 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1718 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1720 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1721 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1723 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1726 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1728 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1729 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1731 ** New configure.bat options
1733 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1735 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1737 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1739 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1741 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1743 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1744 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1746 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1747 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1749 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1750 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1753 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1754 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1756 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1757 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1758 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1759 (at your option) any later version.
1761 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1762 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1763 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1764 GNU General Public License for more details.
1766 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1767 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1772 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"