FILE's lock is now always .#FILE and may be a regular file.
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with POSIX ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--without-acl'.
30
31 ** The configure option --with-crt-dir has been removed.
32 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked specially.
33
34 \f
35 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
36
37 \f
38 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
39
40 +++
41 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
42 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
43 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
44 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
45 non-nil, they output the same results.
46
47 +++
48 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
49 if there is one.
50
51 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
52 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
53 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
54
55 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
56 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
57 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
58
59 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
60 initial buffer.
61
62 ** ACL support has been added.
63 +++
64 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
65 +++
66 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
67 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
68 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
69 POSIX ACL interfaces.
70
71 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
72 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
73 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
74 of the buffer is visible).
75
76 \f
77 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
78
79 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
80 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
81
82 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
83 Eg View mode, etc.
84
85 \f
86 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
87
88 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
89 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
90 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more
91 use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
92 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
93
94 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
95
96 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
97 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
98
99 ** Battery
100
101 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
102
103 ** cl-lib
104
105 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
106
107 +++
108 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
109
110 ** Calc
111
112 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
113 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
114 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
115 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
116 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
117
118 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
119 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
120 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
121 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
122 on the given date.
123
124 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
125
126 ** Dired
127
128 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
129
130 ** ERC
131
132 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
133 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
134 amounts of data into the ERC input.
135
136 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
137 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
138 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
139 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
140
141 ** Image mode
142
143 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
144 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
145 directory, respectively.
146
147 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
148 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
149 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
150
151 ---
152 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
153 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
154 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
155 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
156
157 ** Isearch
158
159 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
160 and adds it to the search string.
161
162 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.5.
163 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
164
165 ---
166 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
167 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
168
169 ---
170 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
171 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
172
173 +++
174 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
175
176 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
177 New features include:
178 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
179 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
180 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
181 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
182 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
183 (point) when the function is invoked.
184
185 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
186 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
187 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
188 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
189
190 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
191 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
192 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
193 leave different number of spaces.
194
195 ** Tramp
196
197 +++
198 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
199 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
200 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
201
202 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
203 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
204 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
205 when possible.
206
207 +++
208 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
209 which support POSIX ACLs.
210
211 ** Woman
212
213 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
214 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
215
216 ** Obsolete packages:
217
218 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
219
220 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
221
222 +++
223 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
224
225 ---
226 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
227 has not been relevant for some time.
228
229 \f
230 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
231 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
232 It is layered as:
233 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
234 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
235 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
236 much like `defadvice' does.
237
238 \f
239 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
240
241 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
242
243 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
244 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
245 value when looking up variables.
246
247 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
248 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
249 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
250
251 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
252 special-forms any more.
253
254 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
255 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
256 spurious warnings about an unused var.
257
258 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
259 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
260 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
261 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
262 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
263
264 \f
265 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
266
267 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
268 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
269 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
270 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
271 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
272
273 ** Changes in autorevert.el
274
275 ---
276 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
277 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
278 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
279 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
280 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
281 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
282
283 ---
284 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
285 of remote files when set to non-nil.
286
287 ** Face changes
288
289 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
290 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
291 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
292 property using the supplied face spec.
293
294 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
295 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
296
297 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
298 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
299
300 ** Image API
301
302 +++
303 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
304 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
305 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
306
307 +++
308 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
309 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
310
311 +++
312 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
313 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
314
315 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
316 ** New function special-form-p.
317 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
318 text-property on the first char.
319
320 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
321 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
322
323 ** The lock for 'DIR/FILE' is now 'DIR/.#FILE' and may be a regular file.
324 When you edit DIR/FILE, Emacs normally creates a symbolic link
325 DIR/.#FILE as a lock that warns other instances of Emacs that DIR/FILE
326 is being edited. Formerly, if there was already a non-symlink file
327 named DIR/.#FILE, Emacs fell back on the lock names DIR/.#FILE.0
328 through DIR/.#FILE.9. These fallbacks have been removed, so that
329 Emacs now no longer locks DIR/FILE in that case.
330
331 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
332 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
333
334 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
335 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
336 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
337 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
338
339 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
340 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
341 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
342
343 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
344
345 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
346 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
347 and ACL entries.
348
349 \f
350 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
351
352 +++
353 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
354 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
355 directory where Emacs was running.
356
357 +++
358 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
359 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
360 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
361 modifying it has no effect.
362
363 ---
364 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
365 This allows to avoid losing your edits if the same file is being
366 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
367 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
368 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
369
370 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
371 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
372 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
373 native is the default.
374
375 \f
376 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
377
378 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
379 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
380 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
381 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
382 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
383 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
384
385 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
386 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
387
388 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
389 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
390
391 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
392 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
393 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
394 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
395 the results may be useful to developers.
396
397 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
398 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
399 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
400 check that this option enables.
401
402 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
403 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
404
405 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
406 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
407 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
408 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
409 links between the various manuals.
410
411 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
412 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
413 to "emacs-VERSION".
414
415 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
416
417 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
418 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
419 you want them.
420
421 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
422 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
423 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
424
425 \f
426 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
427
428 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
429 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
430 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
431
432 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
433
434 \f
435 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
436
437 ** Help
438
439 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
440 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
441 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
442 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
443 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
444
445 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
446 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
447 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
448
449 ** ImageMagick
450
451 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
452 :background image specification property.
453
454 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
455 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
456 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
457 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
458
459 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
460 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
461 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
462
463 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
464 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
465 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
466 treated as images.
467
468 ** Minibuffer
469
470 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
471 next and previous path separator, respectively.
472
473 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
474 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
475 non-nil before enabling the mode.
476
477 ** Mode line
478
479 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
480 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
481 that does not have its own specialized help text.
482
483 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
484 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
485
486 ** Server and client
487
488 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
489 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
490 or expression to evaluate.
491
492 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
493
494 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
495 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
496 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
497 that support backtraces.
498
499 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
500 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
501
502 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
503 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
504 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
505
506 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
507 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
508
509 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
510 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
511
512 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
513 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
514 files (use this with caution).
515
516 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
517 variables on remote hosts.
518
519 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
520 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
521
522 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
523 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
524
525 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
526 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
527 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
528 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
529
530 ** Internationalization
531
532 *** New language environment: Persian.
533
534 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
535
536 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
537
538 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
539
540 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
541 menu/toolbar.
542
543 \f
544 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
545
546 ** Search and Replace
547
548 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
549 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
550 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
551 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
552 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
553
554 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
555 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
556
557 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
558 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
559 The default is nil.
560
561 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
562 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
563 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
564
565 ** Navigation commands
566
567 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
568
569 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
570
571 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
572 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
573
574 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
575 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
576 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
577
578 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
579 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
580 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
581
582 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
583
584 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
585 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
586
587 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
588 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
589 accidentally type.
590
591 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
592 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
593
594 ** Registers
595
596 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
597
598 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
599 the text to put between collected texts for use with
600 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
601
602 \f
603 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
604
605 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
606
607 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
608 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
609 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
610 use the "cl--" prefix).
611
612 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
613 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
614 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
615 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
616 rather than `cl-foo*'.
617
618 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
619 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
620
621 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
622 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
623 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
624 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
625
626 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
627 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
628 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
629 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
630 is in use.
631
632 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
633 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
634 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
635
636 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
637 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
638 to nil rather than being made unbound.
639
640 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
641 (use features from gv.el instead):
642 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
643 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
644 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
645 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
646
647 ** Diff mode
648
649 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
650 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
651 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
652 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
653 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
654
655 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
656 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
657 changes in context diffs.
658
659 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
660 whitespace introduced by a diff.
661
662 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
663
664 ** Python mode
665
666 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
667 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
668 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
669 text based shell).
670
671 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
672 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
673 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
674 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
675 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
676
677 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
678
679 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
680
681 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
682 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
683
684 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
685 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
686
687 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
688 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
689
690 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
691 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
692
693 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
694 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
695 No longer relevant.
696
697 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
698 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
699 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
700 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
701 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
702 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
703 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
704 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
705 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
706 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
707 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
708 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
709 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
710 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
711 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
712 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
713 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
714 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
715 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
716 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
717 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
718
719 ** D-Bus
720
721 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
722
723 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
724
725 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
726 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
727
728 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
729 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
730
731 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
732
733 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
734 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
735
736 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
737
738 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
739
740 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
741 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
742
743 ** Dired
744
745 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
746 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
747 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
748
749 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
750 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
751 file at point.
752
753 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
754 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
755 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
756
757 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
758 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
759 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
760
761 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
762 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
763
764 ** ERC
765
766 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
767 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
768
769 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
770 channel keys found.
771
772 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
773 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
774
775 ** reStructuredText mode
776
777 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
778 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
779 and improved.
780
781 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
782
783 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
784 Sphinx support has been improved.
785
786 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
787
788 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
789
790 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
791
792 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
793
794 ** Ruby mode
795
796 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
797 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
798 steps definitions.
799
800 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
801
802 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
803
804 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
805
806 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
807
808 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
809
810 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
811 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
812 and `end-of-defun-function'.
813
814 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
815 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
816
817 ** Shell Script mode
818
819 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
820
821 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
822
823 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
824
825 ** VHDL mode
826
827 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
828
829 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
830
831 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
832
833 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
834
835 ** Apropos
836
837 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
838 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
839 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
840
841 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
842 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
843
844 ** Buffer Menu
845
846 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
847
848 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
849 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
850
851 ** Calc
852
853 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
854 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
855 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
856
857 ** Calendar
858
859 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
860 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
861
862 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
863
864 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
865 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
866
867 ** CEDET
868
869 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
870 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
871 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
872
873 *** EDE
874
875 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
876 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
877
878 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
879
880 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
881
882 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
883
884 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
885
886 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
887
888 *** Semantic
889
890 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
891
892 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
893
894 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
895 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
896 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
897
898 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
899
900 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
901
902 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
903
904 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
905
906 **** Improved tooltip completion.
907
908 *** SRecode
909
910 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
911
912 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
913 include differentiation.
914
915 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
916 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
917 mode (like Java).
918
919 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
920
921 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
922 default -> c++ -> arduino.
923
924 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
925
926 ** Customize
927
928 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
929
930 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
931 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
932 these commands now).
933
934 ** Term
935
936 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
937 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
938
939 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
940 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
941 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
942
943 ** Tramp
944
945 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
946
947 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
948
949 ** URL
950
951 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
952 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
953 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
954 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
955 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
956
957 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
958 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
959 in case that is not properly encoded.
960
961 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
962 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
963 server properties.
964
965 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
966 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
967 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
968
969 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
970 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
971 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
972
973 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
974 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
975
976 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
977 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
978
979 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
980 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
981
982 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
983
984 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
985 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
986 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
987
988 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
989 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
990 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
991 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
992
993 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
994 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
995 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
996
997 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
998 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
999
1000 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
1001 it is enabled.
1002
1003 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
1004 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
1005
1006 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
1007
1008 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
1009 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
1010 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
1011 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
1012 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
1013 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
1014 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
1015 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
1016 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
1017 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
1018 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
1019 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
1020 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
1021 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
1022 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
1023 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
1024 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
1025 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
1026 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
1027 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
1028 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
1029 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
1030 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
1031
1032 ** Obsolete packages
1033
1034 *** assoc.el
1035 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
1036 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
1037 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
1038 *** bruce.el
1039 *** cust-print.el
1040 *** ledit.el
1041 *** mailpost.el
1042 *** mouse-sel.el
1043 *** patcomp.el
1044
1045 \f
1046 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1047
1048 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
1049 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
1050 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
1051 `custom-variable-p'.
1052
1053 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
1054 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
1055 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
1056 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
1057
1058 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
1059 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
1060 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
1061 sequence in later calls.
1062
1063 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
1064 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
1065 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
1066
1067 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
1068 It does so even if the window was selected before.
1069
1070 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
1071 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
1072 depends on the graphical library.
1073
1074 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
1075 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
1076
1077 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
1078
1079 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
1080 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
1081 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
1082 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
1083 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
1084
1085 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
1086 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
1087 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
1088
1089 ** Miscellaneous name changes
1090 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
1091 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
1092
1093 *** Renamed functions
1094 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
1095 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
1096 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
1097 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
1098 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
1099 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
1100 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
1101 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
1102
1103 *** Renamed hooks
1104 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
1105 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1106 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1107 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1108 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1109
1110 *** Renamed variables
1111 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1112 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1113 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1114
1115 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1116 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1117 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1118 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1119 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1120 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1121 *** `set-char-table-default'
1122 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1123 *** `compile-internal'
1124 *** `modeline'
1125 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1126 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1127 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1128 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1129 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1130 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1131 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1132 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1133 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1134 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1135
1136 \f
1137 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1138
1139 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1140 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1141 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1142 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1143
1144 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1145 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1146 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1147 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1148 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1149 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1150 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1151
1152 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1153 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1154 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1155 CPU time or memory allocations.
1156
1157 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1158 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1159
1160 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1161
1162 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1163
1164 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1165 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1166 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1167 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1168 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1169
1170 ** Completion
1171
1172 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1173 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1174
1175 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1176 table, but with a different prefix.
1177
1178 ** Debugger
1179
1180 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1181 These do not trigger the debugger.
1182
1183 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1184 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1185
1186 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1187 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1188 to work out which code is doing something.
1189
1190 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1191 recursive invocations.
1192
1193 ** Window handling
1194
1195 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1196 fit the contents.
1197
1198 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1199 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1200
1201 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1202 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1203
1204 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1205 reused.
1206
1207 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1208 window's point when switching buffers.
1209
1210 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1211 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1212
1213 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1214 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1215
1216 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1217 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1218 selected.
1219
1220 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1221 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1222
1223 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1224 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1225
1226 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1227 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1228
1229 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1230
1231 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1232 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1233 in Emacs 24.1:
1234 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1235 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1236 **** `display-buffer-function'
1237 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1238 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1239 **** `special-display-function'
1240 **** `special-display-regexps'
1241
1242 ** Time
1243
1244 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1245 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1246 by the underlying C implementation.
1247
1248 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1249 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1250 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1251 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1252 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1253 stamps are still accepted.
1254
1255 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1256 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1257 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1258 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1259
1260 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1261 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1262
1263 ** EIEIO
1264
1265 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
1266
1267 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
1268 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
1269 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
1270 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
1271 warning is issued.
1272
1273 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
1274 without evaluation of suspicious code.
1275
1276 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
1277 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
1278
1279 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
1280 of filename support to generated symbols.
1281
1282 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1283 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1284 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1285 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1286 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1287
1288 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1289
1290 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1291
1292 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1293
1294 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1295
1296 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1297
1298 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1299 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1300
1301 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1302
1303 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1304
1305 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1306
1307 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1308
1309 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1310
1311 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1312
1313 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1314
1315 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1316
1317 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1318
1319 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1320 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1321 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1322 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1323 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1324 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1325 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1326 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1327
1328 \f
1329 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1330
1331 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1332 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1333
1334 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1335 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1336 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1337 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1338 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1339
1340 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1341 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1342 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1343
1344 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1345
1346 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1347 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1348
1349 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1350
1351 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1352 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1353
1354 \f
1355 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1356
1357 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1358
1359 \f
1360 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1361
1362 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1363 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1364 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1365 --without-gconf.
1366
1367 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1368 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1369 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1370 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1371
1372 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1373 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1374 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1375 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1376
1377 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1378 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1379 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1380 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1381 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1382
1383 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1384 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1385 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1386 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1387
1388 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1389 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1390
1391 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1392 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1393 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1394 to about 2 GiB.
1395
1396 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1397 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1398 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1399
1400 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1401 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1402 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1403
1404 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1405 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1406
1407 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1408 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1409
1410 \f
1411 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1412
1413 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1414 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1415 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1416
1417 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1418 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1419 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1420 Nextstep builds).
1421
1422 \f
1423 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1424
1425 ** Completion
1426
1427 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1428 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1429
1430 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1431
1432 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1433 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1434
1435 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1436
1437 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1438 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1439
1440 *** New completion style `substring'.
1441
1442 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1443
1444 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1445
1446 ** Mail changes
1447
1448 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1449 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1450 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1451 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1452 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1453 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1454
1455 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
1456 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
1457 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
1458 command.
1459
1460 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1461 and Mail mode changes
1462
1463 ** Emacs server and client changes
1464
1465 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1466
1467 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1468
1469 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1470 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1471
1472 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1473 its exit status is 1.
1474
1475 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1476 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1477 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1478
1479 ** Internationalization changes
1480
1481 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1482 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1483 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1484 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1485 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1486 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1487
1488 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1489 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1490
1491 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1492 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1493 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1494 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1495 paragraph.
1496
1497 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1498 the right window edge.
1499
1500 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1501 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1502 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1503 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1504 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1505
1506 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1507 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1508
1509 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1510 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1511
1512 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1513 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1514 automatically select it.
1515
1516 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1517 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1518 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1519
1520 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1521 selected for installation.
1522
1523 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1524
1525 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1526 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1527 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1528
1529 ** Custom theme changes
1530
1531 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1532 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1533
1534 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1535 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1536 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1537 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1538 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1539 built-in Custom themes.
1540
1541 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1542 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1543 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1544 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1545
1546 ** Improved GTK integration
1547
1548 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1549 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1550
1551 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1552 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1553 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1554
1555 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1556 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1557 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1558 entries for this.
1559
1560 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1561 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1562
1563 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1564 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1565
1566 ** Graphical interface changes
1567
1568 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1569 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1570 displayed as a space.
1571
1572 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1573 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1574
1575 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1576 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1577 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1578
1579 ** Exiting changes
1580
1581 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1582 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1583
1584 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1585 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1586 do the right thing in batch mode.
1587
1588 ** Scrolling changes
1589
1590 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1591 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1592 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1593 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1594
1595 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1596
1597 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1598 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1599
1600 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1601 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1602
1603 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1604 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1605 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1606 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1607 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1608
1609 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1610 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1611 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1612 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1613 margin.
1614
1615 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1616 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1617
1618 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1619 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1620 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1621 now includes the SELinux context.
1622
1623 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1624 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1625
1626 ** Trash changes
1627
1628 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1629 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1630
1631 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1632 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1633
1634 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1635
1636 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1637 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1638 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1639 subdirectories.
1640
1641 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1642 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1643 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1644 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1645 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1646
1647 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1648 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1649
1650 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1651 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1652 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1653 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1654 corresponding way.
1655
1656 ** Window changes
1657
1658 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1659 in the quitted window.
1660
1661 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1662 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1663
1664 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1665
1666 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1667 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1668 for choosing the displaying window).
1669
1670 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1671 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1672
1673 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1674 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1675
1676 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1677 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1678 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1679 from which such space was obtained.
1680
1681 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1682 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1683 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1684 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1685 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1686
1687 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1688 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1689 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1690
1691 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1692 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1693
1694 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1695 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1696 been shown in a specific window.
1697
1698 ** Minibuffer changes
1699
1700 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1701 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1702 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1703
1704 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1705 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1706 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1707
1708 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1709
1710 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1711
1712 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1713 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1714 successful operation.
1715
1716 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1717 for `list-colors-display'.
1718
1719 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1720
1721 \f
1722 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1723
1724 ** Search changes
1725
1726 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1727 `isearch-yank-line'.
1728
1729 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1730 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1731
1732 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1733
1734 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1735
1736 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1737 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1738 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1739 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1740 alias for it.
1741
1742 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1743 also deletes newlines around point.
1744
1745 ** Deletion changes
1746
1747 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1748 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1749 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1750 instead.
1751
1752 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1753 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1754 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1755
1756 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1757 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1758 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1759 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1760
1761 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1762
1763 ** Selection changes.
1764
1765 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1766 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1767 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1768 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1769
1770 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1771 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1772
1773 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1774 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1775 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1776 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1777
1778 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1779 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1780 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1781 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1782 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1783
1784 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1785
1786 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1787 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1788 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1789
1790 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1791
1792 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1793 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1794 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1795
1796 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1797 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1798
1799 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1800 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1801 between applications.
1802
1803 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1804
1805 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1806 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1807 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1808 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1809 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1810
1811 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1812
1813 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1814 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1815
1816 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1817 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1818 number to count from and for a format string.
1819
1820 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1821 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1822 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1823 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1824 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1825
1826 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1827 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1828 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1829 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1830 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1831
1832 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1833 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1834 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1835 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1836 follows `replace-match'.
1837
1838 \f
1839 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1840
1841 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1842
1843 ** BibTeX mode
1844
1845 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1846 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1847 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1848 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1849
1850 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1851
1852 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1853
1854 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1855
1856 ** Browse-url
1857
1858 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1859
1860 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1861 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1862
1863 ** Calc
1864
1865 *** Support for musical notes.
1866
1867 *** Support for logarithmic units.
1868
1869 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
1870 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
1871
1872 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
1873
1874 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
1875
1876 *** New "O" option prefix.
1877
1878 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
1879
1880 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1881
1882 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1883 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1884
1885 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1886 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1887
1888 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1889 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1890 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1891
1892 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1893
1894 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1895 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1896
1897 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1898 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1899 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1900
1901 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1902 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1903 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1904
1905 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1906 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1907
1908 ** CC Mode
1909
1910 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1911 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1912
1913 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1914
1915 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1916 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1917 not the top level.
1918
1919 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1920 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1921 parsed as a statement continuation.
1922
1923 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1924
1925 ** Compilation mode
1926
1927 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1928 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1929
1930 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1931 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1932 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1933
1934 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1935 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1936 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1937 buffer was used.
1938
1939 ** Customize
1940
1941 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1942 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1943 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1944
1945 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1946 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1947
1948 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1949
1950 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1951 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1952
1953 ** D-Bus
1954
1955 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1956 or session bus.
1957
1958 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1959 optionally do not register names.
1960
1961 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1962 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1963
1964 ** Dired-x
1965
1966 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1967 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1968 instead of using the current buffer.
1969
1970 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1971 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1972
1973 ** ERC changes
1974
1975 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1976 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1977
1978 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1979 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1980 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1981 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1982
1983 ** Eshell changes
1984
1985 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1986 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1987 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1988
1989 ** gdb-mi
1990
1991 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1992 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1993 debugging of several threads.
1994
1995 ** Image mode
1996
1997 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1998 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1999
2000 ** Info
2001
2002 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
2003 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
2004 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
2005 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
2006 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
2007
2008 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
2009 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
2010 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
2011 by default.
2012
2013 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
2014
2015 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
2016
2017 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
2018 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
2019 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
2020
2021 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
2022 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
2023
2024 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
2025
2026 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
2027
2028 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
2029 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
2030 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
2031 default), this performs tag completion.
2032
2033 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
2034 See ORG-NEWS for details.
2035
2036 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
2037 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
2038 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
2039
2040 ** Rmail
2041
2042 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
2043 in the Rmail incoming message.
2044
2045 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
2046 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
2047 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
2048
2049 ** Shell mode
2050
2051 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
2052 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
2053 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
2054
2055 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
2056 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
2057
2058 ** SMTPmail
2059
2060 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
2061 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
2062 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
2063 to change this.
2064
2065 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
2066 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
2067 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
2068 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
2069 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
2070 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
2071 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
2072 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
2073
2074 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
2075 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
2076
2077 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
2078
2079 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
2080
2081 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
2082 the credentials file.
2083
2084 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
2085 If you had that set, you need to put
2086
2087 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
2088
2089 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
2090
2091 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
2092 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
2093 to the address you wish to use instead.
2094
2095 ** SQL mode
2096
2097 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
2098 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
2099
2100 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
2101 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
2102 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
2103 connection is established.
2104
2105 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
2106 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
2107
2108 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
2109 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
2110 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
2111 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
2112
2113 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
2114 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
2115 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
2116 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
2117 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
2118 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
2119
2120 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
2121 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
2122
2123 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
2124 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2125 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2126
2127 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2128 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2129
2130 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2131
2132 ** TeX modes
2133
2134 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2135
2136 ** Tramp
2137
2138 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2139
2140 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2141 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2142
2143 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2144 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2145
2146 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2147 default value to "".
2148
2149 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2150 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2151
2152 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2153 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2154 the degree of parallelism.
2155
2156 ** VC and related modes
2157
2158 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2159 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2160 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2161 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2162 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2163
2164 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2165
2166 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2167 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2168 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2169 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2170 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2171
2172 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2173 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2174
2175 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2176 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2177 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2178 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2179 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2180 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2181
2182 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2183 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2184
2185 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2186 this was not advertised at the time.
2187
2188 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2189 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2190 this was not advertised at the time.
2191
2192 ** Obsolete modes
2193
2194 *** abbrevlist.el
2195
2196 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2197
2198 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2199 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2200 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2201 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2202
2203 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2204
2205 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2206
2207 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2208
2209 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2210 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2211
2212 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2213
2214 ** Miscellaneous
2215
2216 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2217 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2218
2219 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2220 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2221
2222 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2223
2224 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2225
2226 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2227
2228 \f
2229 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2230
2231 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2232 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2233
2234 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2235 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2236 matching closing one.
2237
2238 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2239 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2240 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2241 electric-indent-functions.
2242
2243 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2244 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2245 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2246
2247 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2248 from which other modes can be derived.
2249
2250 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2251
2252 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2253 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2254 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2255 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2256 secrets.
2257
2258 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2259 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2260
2261 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2262 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2263
2264 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2265
2266 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2267 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2268 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2269 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2270 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2271 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2272
2273 \f
2274 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2275
2276 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2277 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2278
2279 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2280
2281 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2282 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2283 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2284 command still toggles the minor mode.
2285
2286 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2287 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2288 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2289 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2290 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2291
2292 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2293 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2294 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2295 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2296 argument `bidi-class'.
2297
2298 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2299 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2300 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2301 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2302
2303 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2304 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2305 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2306 of the header line.
2307
2308 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2309 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2310 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2311 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2312 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2313 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2314 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2315
2316 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2317 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2318 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2319 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2320 older Emacsen too.
2321
2322 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2323 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2324 replaced all known uses.
2325
2326 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2327 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2328 major mode is special).
2329
2330 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2331
2332 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2333 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2334 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2335 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2336 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2337 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2338
2339 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2340 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2341
2342 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2343 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2344 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2345 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2346
2347 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2348 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2349 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2350
2351 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2352
2353 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2354 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2355 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2356
2357 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2358 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2359 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2360 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2361 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2362 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2363 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2364 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2365 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2366 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2367 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2368 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2369 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2370 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2371 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2372 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2373 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2374 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2375 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2376 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2377 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2378
2379 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2380 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2381
2382 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2383 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2384 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2385 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2386 *** `e' (`float-e').
2387
2388 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2389 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2390
2391 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2392 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2393 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2394 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2395
2396 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2397 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2398 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2399
2400 \f
2401 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2402
2403 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2404 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2405 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2406 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2407 file.
2408
2409 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2410 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2411
2412 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2413 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2414
2415 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2416
2417 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2418 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2419
2420 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2421 declared as dynamically bound.
2422
2423 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2424
2425 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2426 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2427 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2428
2429 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2430
2431 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2432 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2433
2434 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2435 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2436 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2437 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2438 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2439 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2440
2441 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2442 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2443 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2444
2445 ** Window changes
2446
2447 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2448 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2449 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2450 buffer) in the window tree.
2451
2452 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2453 windows.
2454
2455 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2456 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2457 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2458 act on any window including internal ones.
2459
2460 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2461 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2462 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2463 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2464 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2465
2466 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2467 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2468 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2469 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2470 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2471
2472 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2473 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2474 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2475 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2476 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2477 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2478
2479 *** Window resizing functions.
2480 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2481 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2482 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2483
2484 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2485 live window on that frame instead.
2486
2487 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2488 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2489 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2490 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2491 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2492 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2493
2494 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2495 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2496 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2497 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2498 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2499 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2500
2501 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2502 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2503 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2504 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2505
2506 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2507 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2508 The old names are kept as aliases.
2509
2510 *** Display actions
2511
2512 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2513 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2514 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2515 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2516
2517 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2518
2519 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2520 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2521 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2522 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2523 are user-customizable variables.
2524
2525 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2526
2527 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2528 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2529 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2530
2531 ** Completion
2532
2533 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2534 properties of the current completion:
2535 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2536 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2537
2538 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2539 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2540
2541 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2542
2543 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2544 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2545 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2546 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2547 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2548 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2549 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2550
2551 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2552 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2553 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2554
2555 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2556 behavior of `completing-read'.
2557
2558 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2559 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2560
2561 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2562 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2563
2564 ** New hook types
2565
2566 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2567 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2568 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2569 non-nil return value.
2570
2571 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2572 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2573 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2574 advertised at the time.)
2575
2576 ** Debugger changes
2577
2578 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2579 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2580
2581 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2582
2583 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2584
2585 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2586 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2587 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2588
2589 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2590 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2591
2592 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2593 named Emacs server instances.
2594
2595 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2596 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2597
2598 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2599 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2600
2601 ** New input reading functions
2602
2603 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2604 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2605
2606 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2607 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2608 invalid input.
2609
2610 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2611
2612 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2613 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2614 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2615 obsolete alias.
2616
2617 ** Syntax parsing changes
2618
2619 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2620 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2621 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2622 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2623 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2624 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2625 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2626 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2627 syntactic rules.
2628
2629 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2630
2631 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2632
2633 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2634
2635 ** Major and minor mode changes
2636
2637 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2638 as well as those in the -*- line.
2639
2640 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2641 should be derived.
2642
2643 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2644 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2645 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2646
2647 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2648 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2649
2650 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2651 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2652 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2653
2654 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2655
2656 ** File-handling changes
2657
2658 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2659 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2660 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2661 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2662
2663 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2664
2665 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2666 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2667 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2668
2669 ** Image API
2670
2671 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2672
2673 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2674
2675 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2676
2677 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2678 is being animated.
2679
2680 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2681 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2682
2683 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2684 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2685
2686 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2687 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2688 ImageMagick installation supports.
2689
2690 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2691 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2692 functions.
2693
2694 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2695 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2696
2697 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2698 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2699 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2700 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2701
2702 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2703 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2704 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2705 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2706
2707 ** XML and HTML parsing
2708 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2709 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2710 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2711 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2712
2713 ** Networking and encryption changes
2714
2715 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2716 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2717 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2718 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2719 must also be supplied.
2720
2721 *** New library gnutls.el.
2722 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2723 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2724 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2725 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2726 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2727 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2728 greater than 0.
2729
2730 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2731 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2732 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2733
2734 ** Isearch
2735
2736 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2737
2738 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2739 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2740 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2741 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2742 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2743 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2744
2745 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2746 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2747
2748 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2749 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2750 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2751 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2752 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2753 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2754
2755 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2756
2757 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2758 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2759 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2760 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2761
2762 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2763 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2764
2765 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2766 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2767 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2768 an empty uninterned symbol.
2769
2770 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2771
2772 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2773
2774 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2775 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2776
2777 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2778 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2779
2780 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2781
2782 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2783 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2784
2785 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2786
2787 \f
2788 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2789
2790 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2791 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2792
2793 ** New configure.bat options
2794
2795 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2796
2797 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2798
2799 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2800
2801 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2802
2803 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2804
2805 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2806 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2807
2808 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2809 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2810
2811 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2812 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2813
2814 \f
2815 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2816 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2817
2818 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2819 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2820 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2821 (at your option) any later version.
2822
2823 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2824 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2825 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2826 GNU General Public License for more details.
2827
2828 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2829 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2830
2831 \f
2832 Local variables:
2833 mode: outline
2834 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
2835 end: