1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.2
26 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
27 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
28 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
29 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
32 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
33 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
36 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
39 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
40 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
44 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
45 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
48 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
50 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
51 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
52 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
55 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
57 ** New functions `system-users', `system-groups' return lists of the user
58 name, group names known to the system (where possible).
60 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
61 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
63 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
64 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
65 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
66 automatically at startup, or when customizing a relevant imagemagick-
69 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
70 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
71 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
73 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
74 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
75 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
78 ** String values for `initial-buffer-choice' also apply to emacsclient
79 frames, if emacsclient is only told to open a new frame without
80 specifying any file to visit or expression to evaluate.
83 ** You can prevent the creation of lock files by setting `create-lockfiles'
84 to nil. Use with caution, and only if you really need to.
87 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
88 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
92 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
93 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
94 that does not have its own specialized help text.
96 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to
97 invokes `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
100 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
104 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
105 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
106 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
108 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
109 prompts for a column number.
111 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
112 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
114 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
115 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
117 ** `goto-char' is now bound to `M-g c'.
120 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
122 ** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
123 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
124 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix.
126 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
127 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
128 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
129 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
131 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is nothing more than a bunch of aliases that
132 provide the old non-prefixed names.
135 - Support for ghdl (free vhdl compiler). Now default.
136 - Add/update support for VHDL-AMS packages.
137 - Update to VHDL'02 standard.
138 - Accept \r and \f as whitespace.
142 Faces for changes now use the same diff color scheme as in modern VCSes
143 where deletions are displayed in red (new faces `diff-refine-removed'
144 and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition of `diff-removed'),
145 insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added' and
146 `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
147 The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use
148 the face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added'
149 to highlight changes in context diffs.
151 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode
152 on high color displays.
155 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
156 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
157 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
159 ** reStructuredText mode
161 *** Rebind nearly all keys making room for more keys and complying
162 better to usage in other modes. Describe bindings with C-c C-h.
164 *** Major revision of indentation working very similar to other
165 modes. TAB is your friend.
167 *** Major revision of filling working fine with most of
168 reStructuredText syntax. Support auto-filling.
170 *** Major revision of comment handling.
172 *** Major revision of fontification working with `jit-lock-mode'.
174 *** Cover reStructuredText syntax more closely. Improve
175 the experience for Sphinx users.
177 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
179 *** Extend correct and improve customization.
181 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
183 *** Reset window configuration after displaying TOC.
185 *** Package version in `rst-version'.
187 ** New `derived-mode' filter for Ibuffer, bound to `/ M'.
188 `/ m' is now bound to filter by used-mode, which used to be bound to `/ M'.
192 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
193 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
194 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
196 **** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
197 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
201 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
202 Customize cal-html-holidays to change this.
206 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
208 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
209 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
212 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
213 channel keys found, if any.
217 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
218 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
219 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
223 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
225 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
226 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
228 ** The `server-auth-key' variable can be used to set a permanent
229 shared key for Emacs Server.
231 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
232 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
234 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
236 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
241 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
244 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
247 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
248 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
251 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
252 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
255 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
258 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
259 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
263 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
266 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
269 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
270 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
273 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
275 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
276 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
280 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
281 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
282 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
283 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
284 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
286 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
287 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
288 in case that is not properly encoded.
290 ** Obsolete packages:
293 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
294 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
295 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
306 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
308 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
311 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
312 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
313 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
316 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
317 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
320 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
321 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
322 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
324 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed:
326 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
327 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
330 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
332 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
333 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
335 ** `macro-declaration-function' is obsolete, use `macro-declarations-alist'.
337 ** New function `set-temporary-overlay-map'.
339 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
341 ** New error type and new function `user-error'. Doesn't trigger the debugger.
345 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
346 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
348 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
349 table, but with a different prefix.
353 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
354 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
355 by the underlying C implementation.
357 ** `automount-dir-prefix' is obsolete.
358 ** `buffer-has-markers-at' is obsolete.
360 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
362 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
364 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
367 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
368 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
369 mouse-autoselect-window.
372 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
374 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
375 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
376 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
379 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
380 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
381 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
382 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
384 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
385 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
386 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
387 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
389 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
390 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
391 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
392 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
393 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
395 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
396 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
397 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
398 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
400 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
401 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
403 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
404 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
405 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
408 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
409 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
410 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
412 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
413 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
414 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
416 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
417 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
419 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
420 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
423 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
425 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
426 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
427 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
429 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
430 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
431 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
435 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
439 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
440 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
442 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
444 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
445 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
447 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
449 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
450 default completion style in certain circumstances.
452 *** New completion style `substring'.
454 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
456 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
460 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
461 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
462 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
463 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
464 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
465 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
467 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
468 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
469 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
471 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
472 and Mail mode changes
474 ** Emacs server and client changes
476 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
478 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
480 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
481 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
483 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
484 its exit status is 1.
486 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
487 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
488 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
490 ** Internationalization changes
492 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
493 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
494 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
495 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
496 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
497 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
499 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
500 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
502 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
503 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
504 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
505 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
508 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
509 the right window edge.
511 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
512 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
513 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
514 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
515 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
517 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
519 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
522 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
523 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
524 automatically select it.
526 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
527 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
528 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
530 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
531 selected for installation.
533 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
535 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
536 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
537 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
539 ** Custom theme changes
541 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
542 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
544 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
545 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
546 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
547 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
548 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
549 built-in Custom themes.
551 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
552 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
553 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
554 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
556 ** Improved GTK integration
558 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
559 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
561 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
562 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
563 the default is taken from desktop settings.
565 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
566 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
567 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
570 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
571 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
573 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
574 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
576 ** Graphical interface changes
578 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
579 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
580 displayed as a space.
582 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
583 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
585 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
586 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
587 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
591 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
592 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
594 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
595 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
596 do the right thing in batch mode.
600 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
601 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
602 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
603 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
605 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
607 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
608 scroll a line instead of full screen.
610 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
611 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
613 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
614 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
615 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
616 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
617 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
619 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
620 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
621 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
622 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
625 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
626 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
628 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
629 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
630 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
631 now includes the SELinux context.
633 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
634 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
638 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
639 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
641 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
642 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
644 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
646 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
647 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
648 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
651 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
652 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
653 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
654 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
655 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
657 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
658 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
660 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
661 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
662 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
663 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
668 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
669 in the quitted window.
671 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
672 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
674 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
676 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
677 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
678 for choosing the displaying window).
680 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
681 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
683 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
684 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
686 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
687 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
688 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
689 from which such space was obtained.
691 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
692 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
693 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
694 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
695 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
697 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
698 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
699 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
701 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
702 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
704 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
705 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
706 been shown in a specific window.
708 ** Minibuffer changes
710 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
711 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
712 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
714 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
715 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
716 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
718 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
720 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
722 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
723 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
724 successful operation.
726 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
727 for `list-colors-display'.
729 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
732 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
736 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
739 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
742 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
744 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
746 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
747 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
748 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
749 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
752 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
753 also deletes newlines around point.
757 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
758 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
759 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
762 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
763 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
764 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
766 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
767 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
768 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
769 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
771 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
773 ** Selection changes.
775 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
776 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
777 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
778 mouse commands use the primary selection.
780 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
781 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
783 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
784 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
785 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
786 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
788 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
789 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
790 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
791 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
792 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
794 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
796 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
797 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
798 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
800 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
802 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
803 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
804 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
806 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
807 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
809 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
810 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
811 between applications.
813 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
815 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
816 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
817 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
818 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
819 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
821 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
823 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
824 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
826 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
827 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
828 number to count from and for a format string.
830 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
831 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
832 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
833 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
834 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
836 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
837 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
838 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
839 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
840 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
842 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
843 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
844 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
845 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
846 follows `replace-match'.
849 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
851 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
855 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
856 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
857 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
858 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
860 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
862 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
864 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
868 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
870 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
871 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
873 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
875 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
876 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
878 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
879 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
881 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
882 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
883 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
885 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
887 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
888 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
890 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
891 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
892 Use `appt-activate' instead.
894 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
895 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
896 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
898 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
899 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
903 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
904 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
906 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
908 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
909 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
912 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
913 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
914 parsed as a statement continuation.
916 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
920 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
921 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
923 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
924 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
925 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
927 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
928 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
929 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
934 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
935 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
936 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
938 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
939 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
941 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
943 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
944 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
948 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
951 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
952 optionally do not register names.
954 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
955 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
959 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
960 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
961 instead of using the current buffer.
963 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
964 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
968 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
969 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
971 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
972 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
973 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
974 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
978 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
979 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
980 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
984 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
985 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
986 debugging of several threads.
990 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
991 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
995 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
996 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
997 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
998 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
999 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1001 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1002 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1003 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1006 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1008 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1010 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1011 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1012 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1014 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1015 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1017 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1019 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1021 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1022 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1023 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1024 default), this performs tag completion.
1026 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1027 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1029 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1030 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1031 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1035 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1036 in the Rmail incoming message.
1038 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1039 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1040 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1044 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1045 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1046 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1048 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1049 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1053 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1054 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1055 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1058 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1059 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1060 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1061 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1062 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1063 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1064 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1065 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1067 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1068 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1070 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1072 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1074 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1075 the credentials file.
1077 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1078 If you had that set, you need to put
1080 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1082 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1086 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1087 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1089 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1090 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1091 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1092 connection is established.
1094 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1095 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1097 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1098 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1099 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1100 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1102 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1103 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1104 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1105 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1106 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1107 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1109 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1110 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1112 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1113 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1114 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1116 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1117 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1119 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1123 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1127 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1129 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1130 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1132 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1133 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1135 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1136 default value to "".
1138 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1139 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1141 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1142 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1143 the degree of parallelism.
1145 ** VC and related modes
1147 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1148 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1149 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1150 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1151 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1153 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1155 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1156 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1157 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1158 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1159 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1161 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1162 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1164 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1165 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1166 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1167 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1168 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1169 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1171 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1172 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1174 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1175 this was not advertised at the time.
1177 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1178 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1179 this was not advertised at the time.
1185 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1187 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1188 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1189 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1190 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1192 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1194 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1196 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1198 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1199 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1201 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1205 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1206 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1208 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1209 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1211 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1213 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1215 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1218 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1220 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1221 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1223 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1224 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1225 matching closing one.
1227 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1228 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1229 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1230 electric-indent-functions.
1232 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1233 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1234 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1236 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1237 from which other modes can be derived.
1239 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1241 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1242 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1243 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1244 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1247 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1248 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1250 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1251 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1253 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1255 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1256 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1257 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1258 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1259 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1260 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1263 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1265 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1266 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1268 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1270 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1271 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1272 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1273 command still toggles the minor mode.
1275 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1276 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1277 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1278 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1279 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1281 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1282 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1283 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1284 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1285 argument `bidi-class'.
1287 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1288 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1289 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1290 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1292 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1293 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1294 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1297 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1298 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1299 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1300 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1301 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1302 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1303 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1305 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1306 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1307 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1308 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1311 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1312 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1313 replaced all known uses.
1315 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1316 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1317 major mode is special).
1319 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1321 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1322 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1323 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1324 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1325 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1326 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1328 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1329 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1331 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1332 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1333 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1334 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1336 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1337 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1338 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1340 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1342 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1343 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1344 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1346 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1347 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1348 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1349 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1350 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1351 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1352 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1353 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1354 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1355 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1356 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1357 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1358 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1359 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1360 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1361 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1362 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1363 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1364 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1365 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1366 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1368 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1369 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1371 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1372 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1373 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1374 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1375 *** `e' (`float-e').
1377 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1378 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1380 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1381 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1382 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1383 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1385 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1386 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1387 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1390 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1392 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1393 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1394 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1395 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1398 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1399 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1401 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1402 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1404 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1406 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1407 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1409 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1410 declared as dynamically bound.
1412 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1414 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1415 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1416 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1418 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1420 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1421 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1423 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1424 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1425 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1426 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1427 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1428 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1430 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1431 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1432 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1436 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1437 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1438 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1439 buffer) in the window tree.
1441 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1444 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1445 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1446 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1447 act on any window including internal ones.
1449 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1450 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1451 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1452 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1453 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1455 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1456 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1457 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1458 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1459 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1461 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1462 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1463 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1464 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1465 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1466 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1468 *** Window resizing functions.
1469 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1470 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1471 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1473 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1474 live window on that frame instead.
1476 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1477 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1478 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1479 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1480 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1481 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1483 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1484 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1485 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1486 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1487 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1488 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1490 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1491 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1492 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1493 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1495 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1496 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1497 The old names are kept as aliases.
1501 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1502 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1503 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1504 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1506 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1508 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1509 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1510 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1511 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1512 are user-customizable variables.
1514 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1516 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1517 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1518 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1522 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1523 properties of the current completion:
1524 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1525 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1527 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1528 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1530 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1532 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1533 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1534 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1535 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1536 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1537 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1538 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1540 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1541 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1542 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1544 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1545 behavior of `completing-read'.
1547 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1548 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1550 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1551 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1555 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1556 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1557 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1558 non-nil return value.
1560 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1561 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1562 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1563 advertised at the time.)
1567 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1568 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1570 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1572 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1574 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1575 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1576 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1578 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1579 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1581 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1582 named Emacs server instances.
1584 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1585 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1587 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1588 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1590 ** New input reading functions
1592 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1593 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1595 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1596 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1599 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1601 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1602 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1603 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1606 ** Syntax parsing changes
1608 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1609 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1610 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1611 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1612 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1613 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1614 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1615 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1618 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1620 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1622 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1624 ** Major and minor mode changes
1626 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1627 as well as those in the -*- line.
1629 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1632 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1633 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1634 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1636 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1637 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1639 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1640 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1641 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1643 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1645 ** File-handling changes
1647 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1648 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1649 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1650 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1652 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1654 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1655 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1656 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1660 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1662 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1664 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1666 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1669 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1670 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1672 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1673 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1675 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1676 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1677 ImageMagick installation supports.
1679 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1680 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1683 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1684 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1686 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1687 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1688 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1689 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1691 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1692 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1693 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1694 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1696 ** XML and HTML parsing
1697 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1698 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1699 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1700 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1702 ** Networking and encryption changes
1704 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1705 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1706 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1707 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1708 must also be supplied.
1710 *** New library gnutls.el.
1711 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1712 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1713 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1714 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1715 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1716 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1719 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1720 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1721 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1725 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1727 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1728 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1729 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1730 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1731 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1732 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1734 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1735 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1737 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1738 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1739 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1740 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1741 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1742 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1744 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1746 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1747 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1748 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1749 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1751 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1752 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1754 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1755 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1756 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1757 an empty uninterned symbol.
1759 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1761 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1763 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1764 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1766 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1767 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1769 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1771 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1772 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1774 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1777 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1779 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1780 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1782 ** New configure.bat options
1784 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1786 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1788 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1790 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1792 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1794 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1795 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1797 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1798 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1800 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1801 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1804 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1805 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1807 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1808 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1809 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1810 (at your option) any later version.
1812 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1813 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1814 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1815 GNU General Public License for more details.
1817 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1818 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1823 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"