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 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
35 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
36 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
37 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
40 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
42 ** New functions `system-users', `system-groups' return lists of the user
43 name, group names known to the system (where possible).
45 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
46 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
48 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
49 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
50 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
51 automatically when setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit'.
53 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
54 ImageMagick to view images, set
57 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
59 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
60 prompts for a column number.
62 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
63 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
65 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
66 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
68 ** `goto-char' is now bound to `M-g c'.
71 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
73 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
75 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
76 channel keys found, if any.
78 ** The `server-auth-key' variable can be used to set a permanent
79 shared key for Emacs Server.
81 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
82 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
84 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
93 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
95 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
98 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
99 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
100 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
104 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
106 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
108 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
110 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
114 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
116 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
117 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
118 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
121 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
122 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
123 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
124 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
126 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
127 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
128 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
129 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
131 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
132 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
133 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
134 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
135 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
137 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
138 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
139 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
140 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
142 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
143 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
145 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
146 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
147 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
150 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
151 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
152 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
154 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
155 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
156 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
158 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
159 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
161 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
162 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
165 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
167 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
168 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
169 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
171 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
172 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
173 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
177 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
181 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
182 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
184 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
186 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
187 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
189 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
191 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
192 default completion style in certain circumstances.
194 *** New completion style `substring'.
196 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
198 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
202 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
203 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
204 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
205 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
206 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
207 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
209 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
210 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
211 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
213 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
214 and Mail mode changes
216 ** Emacs server and client changes
218 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
220 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
222 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
223 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
225 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
226 its exit status is 1.
228 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
229 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
230 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
232 ** Internationalization changes
234 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
235 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
236 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
237 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
238 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
239 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
241 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
242 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
244 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
245 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
246 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
247 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
250 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
251 the right window edge.
253 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
254 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
255 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
256 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
257 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
259 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
261 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
264 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
265 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
266 automatically select it.
268 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
269 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
270 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
272 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
273 selected for installation.
275 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
277 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
278 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
279 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
281 ** Custom theme changes
283 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
284 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
286 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
287 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
288 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
289 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
290 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
291 built-in Custom themes.
293 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
294 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
295 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
296 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
298 ** Improved GTK integration
300 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
301 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
303 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
304 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
305 the default is taken from desktop settings.
307 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
308 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
309 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
312 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
313 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
315 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
316 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
318 ** Graphical interface changes
320 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
321 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
322 displayed as a space.
324 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
325 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
327 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
328 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
329 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
333 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
334 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
336 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
337 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
338 do the right thing in batch mode.
342 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
343 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
344 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
345 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
347 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
349 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
350 scroll a line instead of full screen.
352 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
353 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
355 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
356 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
357 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
358 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
359 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
361 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
362 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
363 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
364 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
367 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
368 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
370 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
371 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
372 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
373 now includes the SELinux context.
375 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
376 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
380 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
381 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
383 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
384 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
386 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
388 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
389 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
390 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
393 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
394 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
395 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
396 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
397 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
399 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
400 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
402 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
403 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
404 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
405 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
410 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
411 in the quitted window.
413 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
414 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
416 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
418 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
419 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
420 for choosing the displaying window).
422 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
423 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
425 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
426 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
428 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
429 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
430 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
431 from which such space was obtained.
433 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
434 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
435 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
436 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
437 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
439 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
440 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
441 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
443 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
444 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
446 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
447 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
448 been shown in a specific window.
450 ** Minibuffer changes
452 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
453 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
454 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
456 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
457 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
458 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
460 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
462 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
464 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
465 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
466 successful operation.
468 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
469 for `list-colors-display'.
471 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
474 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
478 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
481 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
484 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
486 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
488 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
489 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
490 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
491 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
494 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
495 also deletes newlines around point.
499 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
500 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
501 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
504 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
505 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
506 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
508 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
509 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
510 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
511 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
513 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
515 ** Selection changes.
517 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
518 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
519 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
520 mouse commands use the primary selection.
522 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
523 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
525 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
526 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
527 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
528 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
530 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
531 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
532 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
533 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
534 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
536 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
538 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
539 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
540 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
542 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
544 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
545 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
546 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
548 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
549 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
551 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
552 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
553 between applications.
555 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
557 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
558 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
559 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
560 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
561 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
563 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
565 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
566 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
568 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
569 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
570 number to count from and for a format string.
572 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
573 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
574 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
575 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
576 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
578 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
579 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
580 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
581 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
582 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
584 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
585 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
586 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
587 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
588 follows `replace-match'.
591 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
593 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
597 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
598 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
599 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
600 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
602 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
604 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
606 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
610 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
612 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
613 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
615 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
617 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
618 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
620 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
621 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
623 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
624 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
625 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
627 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
629 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
630 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
632 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
633 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
634 Use `appt-activate' instead.
636 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
637 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
638 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
640 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
641 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
645 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
646 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
648 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
650 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
651 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
654 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
655 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
656 parsed as a statement continuation.
658 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
662 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
663 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
665 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
666 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
667 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
669 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
670 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
671 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
676 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
677 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
678 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
680 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
681 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
683 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
685 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
686 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
690 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
693 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
694 optionally do not register names.
696 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
697 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
701 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
702 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
703 instead of using the current buffer.
705 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
706 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
710 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
711 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
713 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
714 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
715 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
716 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
720 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
721 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
722 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
726 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
727 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
728 debugging of several threads.
732 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
733 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
737 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
738 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
739 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
740 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
741 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
743 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
744 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
745 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
748 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
750 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
752 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
753 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
754 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
756 ** MH-E has been upgraded to MH-E version 8.3.1.
757 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
759 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
761 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
763 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
764 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
765 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
766 default), this performs tag completion.
768 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
769 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
770 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
774 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
775 in the Rmail incoming message.
777 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
778 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
779 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
783 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
784 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
785 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
787 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
788 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
792 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
793 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
794 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
797 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
798 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
799 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
800 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
801 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
802 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
803 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
804 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
806 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
807 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
809 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
811 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
813 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
814 the credentials file.
816 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
817 If you had that set, you need to put
819 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
821 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
825 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
826 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
828 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
829 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
830 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
831 connection is established.
833 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
834 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
836 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
837 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
838 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
839 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
841 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
842 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
843 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
844 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
845 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
846 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
848 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
849 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
851 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
852 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
853 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
855 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
856 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
858 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
862 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
866 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
868 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
869 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
871 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
872 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
874 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
877 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
878 for remote machines which support SELinux.
880 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
881 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
882 the degree of parallelism.
884 ** VC and related modes
886 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
887 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
888 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
889 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
890 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
892 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
894 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
895 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
896 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
897 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
898 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
900 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
901 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
903 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
904 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
905 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
906 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
907 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
908 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
910 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
911 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
913 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
914 this was not advertised at the time.
916 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
917 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
918 this was not advertised at the time.
924 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
926 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
927 You can get a comparable behavior with:
928 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
929 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
931 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
933 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
935 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
937 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
938 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
940 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
944 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
945 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
947 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
948 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
950 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
952 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
954 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
957 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
959 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
960 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
962 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
963 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
964 matching closing one.
966 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
967 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
968 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
969 electric-indent-functions.
971 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
972 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
973 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
975 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
976 from which other modes can be derived.
978 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
980 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
981 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
982 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
983 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
986 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
987 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
989 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
990 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
992 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
994 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
995 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
996 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
997 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
998 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
999 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1002 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1004 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1005 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1007 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1009 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1010 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1011 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1012 command still toggles the minor mode.
1014 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1015 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1016 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1017 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1018 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1020 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1021 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1022 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1023 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1024 argument `bidi-class'.
1026 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1027 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1028 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1029 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1031 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1032 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1033 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1036 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1037 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1038 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1039 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1040 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1041 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1042 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1044 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1045 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1046 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1047 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1050 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1051 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1052 replaced all known uses.
1054 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1055 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1056 major mode is special).
1058 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1060 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1061 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1062 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1063 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1064 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1065 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1067 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1068 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1070 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1071 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1072 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1073 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1075 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1076 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1077 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1079 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1081 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1082 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1083 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1085 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1086 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1087 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1088 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1089 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1090 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1091 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1092 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1093 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1094 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1095 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1096 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1097 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1098 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1099 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1100 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1101 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1102 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1103 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1104 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1105 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1107 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1108 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1110 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1111 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1112 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1113 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1114 *** `e' (`float-e').
1116 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1117 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1119 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1120 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1121 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1122 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1124 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1125 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1126 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1129 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1131 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1132 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1133 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1134 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1137 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1138 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1140 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1141 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1143 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1145 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1146 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1148 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1149 declared as dynamically bound.
1151 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1152 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1153 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1155 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1157 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1158 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1160 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1161 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1162 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1163 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1164 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1165 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1167 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1168 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1169 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1173 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1174 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1175 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1176 buffer) in the window tree.
1178 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1181 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1182 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1183 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1184 act on any window including internal ones.
1186 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1187 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1188 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1189 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1190 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1192 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1193 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1194 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1195 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1196 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1198 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1199 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1200 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1201 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1202 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1203 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1205 *** Window resizing functions.
1206 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1207 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1208 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1210 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1211 live window on that frame instead.
1213 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1214 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1215 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1216 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1217 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1218 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1220 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1221 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1222 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1223 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1224 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1225 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1227 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1228 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1229 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1230 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1232 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1233 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1234 The old names are kept as aliases.
1238 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1239 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1240 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1241 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1243 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1245 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1246 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1247 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1248 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1249 are user-customizable variables.
1251 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1253 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1254 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1255 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1259 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1260 properties of the current completion:
1261 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1262 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1264 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1265 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1267 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1269 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1270 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1271 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1272 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1273 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1274 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1275 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1277 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1278 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1279 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1281 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1282 behavior of `completing-read'.
1284 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1285 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1287 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1288 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1292 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1293 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1294 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1295 non-nil return value.
1297 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1298 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1299 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1300 advertised at the time.)
1304 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1305 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1307 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1309 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1311 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1312 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1313 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1315 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1316 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1318 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1319 named Emacs server instances.
1321 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1322 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1324 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1325 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1327 ** New input reading functions
1329 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1330 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1332 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1333 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1336 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1338 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1339 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1340 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1343 ** Syntax parsing changes
1345 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1346 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1347 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1348 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1349 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1350 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1351 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1352 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1355 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1357 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1359 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1361 ** Major and minor mode changes
1363 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1364 as well as those in the -*- line.
1366 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1369 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1370 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1371 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1373 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1374 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1376 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1377 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1378 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1380 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1382 ** File-handling changes
1384 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1385 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1386 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1387 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1389 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1391 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1392 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1393 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1397 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1399 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1401 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1403 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1406 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1407 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1409 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1410 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1412 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1413 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1414 ImageMagick installation supports.
1416 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1417 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1420 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1421 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1423 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1424 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1425 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1426 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1428 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1429 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1430 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1431 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1433 ** XML and HTML parsing
1434 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1435 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1436 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1437 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1439 ** Networking and encryption changes
1441 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1442 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1443 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1444 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1445 must also be supplied.
1447 *** New library gnutls.el.
1448 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1449 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1450 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1451 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1452 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1453 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1456 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1457 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1458 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1462 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1464 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1465 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1466 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1467 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1468 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1469 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1471 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1472 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1474 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1475 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1476 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1477 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1478 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1479 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1481 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1483 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1484 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1485 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1486 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1488 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1489 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1491 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1492 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1493 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1494 an empty uninterned symbol.
1496 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1498 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1500 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1501 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1503 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1504 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1506 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1508 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1509 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1511 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1514 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1516 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1517 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1519 ** New configure.bat options
1521 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1523 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1525 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1527 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1529 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1531 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1532 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1534 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1535 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1537 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1538 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1541 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1542 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1544 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1545 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1546 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1547 (at your option) any later version.
1549 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1550 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1551 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1552 GNU General Public License for more details.
1554 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1555 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1560 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"