1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 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 all necessary updates to the manuals in doc/ are complete.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is needed.
20 When you add a new item, use the appropriate mark if you know it applies,
21 otherwise leave it unmarked.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with 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 `--disable-acl'.
31 ** Emacs can be compiled with file notification support.
32 This happens by default if a suitable system library is found at
33 build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
34 `--with-file-notification-no'. See below for file-notify features.
35 FIXME? This feature is not available for the Nextstep port. (?)
37 ** The configure option --with-crt-dir has been removed.
38 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked
41 ** Directories passed to configure option `--enable-locallisppath' are
42 no longer created during installation.
45 ** Emacs for NS (OSX, GNUStep) can be built with ImageMagick support.
46 pkg-config is required to find ImageMagick libraries.
49 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
52 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
54 ** Key ? also describes prefix bindings like C-h.
57 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
58 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
59 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
60 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
61 non-nil, they output the same results.
64 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
67 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
68 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
69 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
71 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
72 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
73 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
75 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
78 ** `remember-notes' creates a buffer whose content is saved on kill-emacs.
79 You may think of it as a *scratch* buffer whose content is preserved.
80 In fact, it was designed as a replacement for *scratch* buffer and can
81 be used that way by setting `initial-buffer-choice' to `remember-notes'
82 and `remember-notes-buffer-name' to "*scratch*". Without the second
83 change, *scratch* buffer will still be there for notes that do not
86 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
88 ** ACL support has been added.
90 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
92 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
93 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
94 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
97 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
98 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
99 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
100 of the buffer is visible).
102 ** New function `add-face-text-property' has been added, which can be
103 used to conveniently prepend/append new face attributes to text.
105 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
107 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
109 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
110 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
111 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
113 *** The functions `display-pixel-width' and `display-pixel-height' now
114 behave consistently among the platforms: they return the pixel width
115 or height for all physical monitors associated with the given display
116 as just they were on X11. To get information for each physical
117 monitor, use the new functions above. Similar notes also apply to
118 `x-display-pixel-width', `x-display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
119 `display-mm-height', `x-display-mm-width', and `x-display-mm-height'.
121 ** New macro `alternatives-define' can be used to define generic commands.
122 Generic commands are interactive functions whose implementation can be
123 selected among several alternatives, as a matter of user preference.
126 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
128 ** `split-window' is no longer a command, just a non-interactive function.
129 As a command it was a special case of `split-window-below', and as such
130 superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its interactive form
131 was mistakenly retained.
133 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
134 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
136 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
140 ** New option `visual-order-cursor-movement'.
141 If this is non-nil, cursor motion with arrow keys will follow the
142 visual order of characters on the screen: <left> always moves to the
143 left, <right> always moves to the right, disregarding the surrounding
144 bidirectional context.
146 ** New command `kmacro-to-register' to store keyboard macros in registers.
150 *** `sh-mode' now has the mode own `add-log-current-defun-function'.
151 You can pick the name of the function and the variables with `C-x 4 a'.
154 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
156 ** `eshell' now supports visual subcommands and options
157 Eshell has been able to handle "visual" commands (interactive,
158 non-line oriented commands such as top that require display
159 capabilities not provided by eshell) by running them in an Emacs
160 terminal emulator. See `eshell-visual-commands'.
162 This feature has been extended to subcommands and options that make a
163 usually line-oriented command a visual command. Typical examples are
164 "git log" and "git <command> --help" which display their output in a
165 pager by default. See `eshell-visual-subcommands' and
166 `eshell-visual-options'.
168 ** If your Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, you can use the new
169 built-in web browser `eww'.
171 ** `remember' can now store notes in separates files
172 You can use the new function `remember-store-in-files' within the
173 `remember-handler-functions' option.
175 See `remember-data-directory' and `remember-directory-file-name-format'
176 for new options related to this function.
178 ** `ido-use-virtual-buffers' takes a new value 'auto.
179 ** `ido-decorations' has been slightly extended to give a bit more control.
181 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
183 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
184 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
185 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
186 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
187 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
188 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
189 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave replaces ~/.idlwave
190 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
191 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
192 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
193 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
194 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
195 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
196 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
197 Also the following files used by the now obsolete otodo-mode.el:
198 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
199 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
200 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
203 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
204 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
205 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more.
206 Use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
207 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
209 ** Eldoc Mode works properly in the minibuffer.
211 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
213 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
214 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
218 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
222 *** `M-s a C-o' shows lines matching a regexp in marked buffers using Occur.
224 ** Calendar and Diary
227 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
228 `diary-from-outlook'.
232 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
235 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
239 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
240 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
241 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
242 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
243 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
245 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
246 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
247 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
248 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
251 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
255 *** `desktop-auto-save-timeout' defines the number of seconds between
256 auto-saves of the desktop.
258 *** `desktop-restore-frames', enabled by default, allows saving and
259 restoring the window/frame configuration. Additional options
260 `desktop-restore-in-current-display' and
261 `desktop-restoring-reuses-frames' allow further customization.
265 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
269 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
270 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
271 amounts of data into the ERC input.
274 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
276 ** Icomplete is a bit more like Ido.
277 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
278 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
279 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
283 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
284 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
285 directory, respectively.
287 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
288 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
289 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
292 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
293 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
294 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
295 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
299 *** New face `info-index-match' is used to highlight matches in index
300 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
305 *** New option `hi-lock-auto-select-face'. When non-nil, hi-lock commands
306 will cycle through faces in `hi-lock-face-defaults' without prompting.
309 *** New global command `M-s h .' (`highlight-symbol-at-point')
310 highlights the symbol found near point without prompting,
311 using the next face automatically.
313 ** Search and Replace
315 *** New global command `M-s .' (`isearch-forward-symbol-at-point')
316 starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search forward with the
317 symbol found near point added to the search string initially.
319 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
320 and adds it to the search string.
322 *** `M-s i' in Isearch mode toggles the variable `isearch-invisible'
323 between nil and the value of the option `search-invisible' (or `open'
326 *** `query-replace' skips invisible text when `search-invisible' is nil,
327 and opens overlays with hidden text when `search-invisible' is `open'.
330 *** By default, prefix arguments do not now terminate Isearch mode.
331 Set `isearch-allow-prefix' to nil to restore old behavior.
333 *** More Isearch commands accept prefix arguments, namely
334 `isearch-printing-char', `isearch-quote-char', `isearch-yank-word',
337 *** Word search now matches whitespace at the beginning/end
338 of the search string if it contains leading/trailing whitespace.
339 In an incremental word search or when using a non-nil LAX argument
340 of `word-search-regexp', the lax matching can also match part of
341 the first word (in addition to the lax matching of the last word).
342 The same rules are now applied to the symbol search with the difference
343 that it matches symbols, and non-symbol characters between symbols.
345 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.5.
346 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
349 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
350 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
353 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
354 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
357 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
359 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
360 New features include:
361 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
362 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
363 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
364 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
365 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
366 (point) when the function is invoked.
368 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has new types of operation:
369 When its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
370 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
371 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
372 When its arg KEEP-BLANKS is non-nil (when called interactively with
373 C-u C-u C-u), duplicate blank lines are preserved.
375 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
376 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
377 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
378 leave different number of spaces.
380 ** Todo mode has been rewritten and enhanced.
381 New features include:
382 - support for multiple todo files and archive files of done items;
383 - renaming, reordering, moving, merging, and deleting categories;
384 - sortable tabular summaries of categories and the types of items they contain;
385 - cross-category lists of items filtered by specific criteria;
386 - more fine-grained interaction with the Emacs diary, by being able to decide
387 for each todo item whether it appears in the Fancy Diary display;
388 - highly flexible new item insertion and item editing;
389 - moving items between categories, storing done items in their category or in
390 archive files, undoing or unarchiving done items;
391 - reprioritizing items by inputting a numerical priority;
392 - extensive customizability of operation and display, including numerous faces.
393 To support some of these features, a new file format is used, which is
394 incompatible with the old format; however, you can convert old todo and done
395 item files to the new format on initializing the first new todo file, or at any
396 later time with the provided conversion command. The old version of
397 todo-mode.el has been made obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
402 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
403 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
404 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
406 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
407 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
408 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
412 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
413 which support POSIX ACLs.
416 *** Handlers for `file-notify-add-watch' and `file-notify-rm-watch'
417 for remote machines which support filesystem notifications.
421 *** New options: `vhdl-actual-generic-name', `vhdl-beautify-options'.
423 *** New commands: `vhdl-fix-statement-region', `vhdl-fix-statement-buffer'.
427 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
428 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-*' faces instead.
432 *** Added Eshell-Tramp module
433 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
434 Tramp-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
437 ** New term.el option `term-suppress-hard-newline'.
439 ** Obsolete packages:
441 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
446 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
448 *** The previous version of todo-mode.el is obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
453 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
456 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
457 has not been relevant for some time.
460 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
462 ** New `superword-mode' in subword.el
463 `superword-mode' overrides the default word motion commands to treat
464 symbol_words as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does and
465 using the same internal functions.
467 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
469 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
470 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
471 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
472 much like `defadvice' does.
474 ** The package file-notify.el provides an interface for file system
475 notifications. It requires, that Emacs is compiled with one of the
476 low-level libraries gfilenotify.c, inotify.c or w32notify.c.
479 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
481 ** The syntax of ?» and ?« is now punctuation instead of matched parens.
482 Some languages match those as »...« and others as «...» so better stay neutral.
484 ** The default file coding for Emacs Lisp files is now utf-8.
485 (See file-coding-system-alist.) In most cases, this change is transparent, but
486 files that contain unusual characters without specifying an explicit coding
487 system may fail to load with obscure errors.
488 You should either convert them to utf-8 or add an explicit `coding:' cookie.
490 ** overriding-terminal-local-map does not replace the local keymaps any more.
491 It used to disable the minor mode, major mode, and text-property keymaps,
492 whereas now it simply has higher precedence.
494 ** Default process filters and sentinels are not nil any more.
495 Instead they default to a function which does what the nil value used to do.
497 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
498 Just as was the case in Emacs-22 and before, decoding of tty input according to
499 keyboard-coding-system is not performed in read-event any more. But contrary
500 to that past, it is still done before input-decode-map/function-key-map/...
502 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
504 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
505 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
506 value when looking up variables.
508 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
509 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
510 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
512 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
513 special-forms any more.
515 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
516 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
517 spurious warnings about an unused var.
519 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
520 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
521 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
522 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
523 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
525 ** `visited-file-modtime' now returns -1 for nonexistent files.
526 Formerly it returned a list (-1 LOW USEC PSEC), but this was ambiguous
527 in the presence of files with negative time stamps.
529 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
531 ** New hook `tty-setup-hook'.
534 ** New macro with-eval-after-load. Like eval-after-load, but better behaved.
536 ** Obsoleted functions:
539 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
541 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
542 *** `isearch-nonincremental-exit-minibuffer'
543 *** `isearch-filter-visible'
544 *** `generic-make-keywords-list'
546 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
547 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
548 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
549 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
550 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
553 ** `get-upcase-table' is obsoleted by the new `case-table-get-table'.
555 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
556 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
557 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
558 `glib' API, or the 'inotify' API (on GNU/Linux systems only). On
559 MS-Windows systems, this is supported for Windows XP and newer
562 ** Changes in autorevert.el
565 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
566 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
567 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
568 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
569 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
570 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
573 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
574 of remote files when set to non-nil.
578 *** The function `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
579 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
580 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
581 property using the supplied face spec.
583 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
584 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
586 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
587 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
592 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
593 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
594 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
597 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
598 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
601 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
602 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
604 ** Changes in encoding and decoding of text
607 *** New coding-system `prefer-utf-8'.
608 This is like `undecided' but prefers UTF-8 on decoding if the text to
609 be decoded does not contain any invalid UTF-8 sequences. On encoding,
610 any non-ASCII characters are automatically encoded as UTF-8.
613 *** New attributes of coding-systems whose type is `undecided'.
614 Two new attributes, `:inhibit-null-byte-detection' and
615 `:inhibit-iso-escape-detection', determine how to detect encoding of
616 text that includes null bytes and ISO-2022 escape sequences,
617 respectively. Each of these attributes can be either nil, zero, or
618 t. If it is t, decoding text ignores null bytes and, respectively,
619 ISO-2022 sequences. If it is nil, null bytes cause text to be decoded
620 with no-conversion and ISO-2022 sequences cause Emacs to assume the
621 text is encoded in one of the ISO-2022 encodings, such as
622 iso-2022-7bit. If the value is zero, Emacs consults the variables
623 inhibit-null-byte-detection and inhibit-iso-escape-detection, which
625 The new attribute `:prefer-utf-8', if non-nil, causes Emacs to prefer
626 UTF-8 encoding and decoding, whenever possible.
628 These attributes are only meaningful for coding-systems of type
629 `undecided'. (The type of a coding-system is determined by its
630 `:coding-type' attribute and can be accessed by calling the
631 `coding-system-type' function.)
633 ** The function `set-visited-file-modtime' now accepts a 0 or -1 argument
634 with the same interpretation as the returned value of `visited-file-modtime'.
636 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
637 ** New function special-form-p.
638 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
639 text-property on the first char.
641 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
642 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
644 ** The lock for 'DIR/FILE' is now 'DIR/.#FILE' and may be a regular file.
645 When you edit DIR/FILE, Emacs normally creates a symbolic link
646 DIR/.#FILE as a lock that warns other instances of Emacs that DIR/FILE
647 is being edited. Formerly, if there was already a non-symlink file
648 named DIR/.#FILE, Emacs fell back on the lock names DIR/.#FILE.0
649 through DIR/.#FILE.9. These fallbacks have been removed, so that
650 Emacs now no longer locks DIR/FILE in that case.
652 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
653 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
655 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
656 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
657 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
658 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
660 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
661 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
662 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
664 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
666 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
667 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
670 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
672 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
673 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
674 meant to be used by other packages.
677 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
679 ** Emacs for MS-Windows can now be built by running the configure script
680 using the MSYS environment and MinGW development tools.
681 This is from now on the preferred method of building Emacs on
682 MS-Windows. The Windows-specific configure.bat and makefile.w32-in
683 files are deprecated. See the file nt/INSTALL.MSYS for detailed
686 Using the Posix configure script and Makefile's also means a change in
687 the directory structure of the Emacs installation on Windows. It is
688 now the same as on GNU and Unix systems. In particular, the auxiliary
689 programs, such as cmdproxy.exe and hexl.exe, are in
690 libexec/emacs/VERSION/i686-pc-mingw32 (where VERSION is the Emacs
691 version), version-independent site-lisp is in share/emacs/site-lisp,
692 version-specific Lisp files are in share/emacs/VERSION/lisp and in
693 share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, Info docs are in share/info, and data
694 files are in share/emacs/VERSION/etc. (Emacs knows about all these
695 directories and will find the files in there automatically; there's no
696 need to set any variables due to this change.)
699 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
700 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
701 directory where Emacs was running.
704 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
705 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
706 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
707 modifying it has no effect.
710 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
711 This allows to avoid losing your edits if the same file is being
712 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
713 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
714 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
716 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
717 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
718 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
719 native is the default.
722 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
724 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
725 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
726 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
727 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
728 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
729 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
731 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
732 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
734 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
735 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
737 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
738 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
739 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
740 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
741 the results may be useful to developers.
743 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
744 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
745 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
746 check that this option enables.
748 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
749 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
751 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
752 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
753 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
754 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
755 links between the various manuals.
757 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
758 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
761 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
763 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
764 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
767 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
768 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
769 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
772 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
774 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
775 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
776 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
778 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
781 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
785 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
786 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
787 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
788 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
789 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
791 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
792 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
793 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
797 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
798 :background image specification property.
800 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
801 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
802 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
803 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
805 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
806 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
807 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
809 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
810 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
811 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
814 *** ImageMagick images now support the :max-width and :max-height
819 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
820 next and previous path separator, respectively.
822 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
823 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
824 non-nil before enabling the mode.
828 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
829 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
830 that does not have its own specialized help text.
832 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
833 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
837 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
838 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
839 or expression to evaluate.
841 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
843 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
844 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
845 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
846 that support backtraces.
848 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
849 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
851 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
852 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
853 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
855 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
856 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
858 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
859 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
861 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
862 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
863 files (use this with caution).
865 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
866 variables on remote hosts.
868 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
869 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
871 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
872 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
874 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
875 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
876 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
877 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
879 ** Internationalization
881 *** New language environment: Persian.
883 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
885 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
887 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
889 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
893 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
895 ** Search and Replace
897 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
898 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
899 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
900 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
901 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
903 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
904 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
906 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
907 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
910 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
911 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
912 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
914 ** Navigation commands
916 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
918 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
920 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
921 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
923 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
924 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
925 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
927 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
928 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
929 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
931 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
933 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
934 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
936 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
937 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
940 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
941 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
945 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
947 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
948 the text to put between collected texts for use with
949 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
952 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
954 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
956 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
957 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
958 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
959 use the "cl--" prefix).
961 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
962 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
963 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
964 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
965 rather than `cl-foo*'.
967 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
968 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
970 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
971 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
972 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
973 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
975 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
976 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
977 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
978 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
981 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
982 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
983 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
985 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
986 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
987 to nil rather than being made unbound.
989 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
990 (use features from gv.el instead):
991 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
992 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
993 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
994 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
998 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
999 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
1000 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
1001 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
1002 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
1004 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
1005 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
1006 changes in context diffs.
1008 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
1009 whitespace introduced by a diff.
1011 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
1015 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
1016 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
1017 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
1020 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
1021 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
1022 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
1023 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
1024 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
1026 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
1028 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
1030 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
1031 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
1033 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
1034 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
1036 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
1037 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
1039 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
1040 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
1042 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
1043 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
1046 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
1047 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
1048 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
1049 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
1050 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
1051 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
1052 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
1053 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
1054 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
1055 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
1056 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
1057 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
1058 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
1059 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
1060 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
1061 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
1062 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
1063 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
1064 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
1065 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
1066 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
1070 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
1072 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
1074 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
1075 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
1077 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
1078 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
1080 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
1082 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
1083 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
1085 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
1087 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
1089 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
1090 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
1094 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
1095 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
1096 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
1098 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
1099 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
1102 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
1103 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
1104 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
1106 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff') has changed.
1107 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
1108 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
1110 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
1111 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
1115 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
1116 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
1118 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
1121 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
1122 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
1124 ** reStructuredText mode
1126 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
1127 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
1130 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
1132 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
1133 Sphinx support has been improved.
1135 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
1137 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
1139 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
1141 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
1145 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
1146 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
1149 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
1151 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
1153 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
1155 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
1157 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
1159 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
1160 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
1161 and `end-of-defun-function'.
1163 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
1164 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
1166 ** Shell Script mode
1168 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
1170 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
1172 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
1176 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
1178 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
1180 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
1182 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
1186 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
1187 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
1188 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
1190 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
1191 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
1195 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
1197 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
1198 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
1202 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
1203 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
1204 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
1208 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
1209 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
1211 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
1213 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
1214 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
1218 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
1219 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
1220 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
1224 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
1225 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
1227 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
1229 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
1231 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
1233 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
1235 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
1239 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
1241 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
1243 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
1244 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
1245 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
1247 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
1249 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
1251 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
1253 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
1255 **** Improved tooltip completion.
1259 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
1261 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
1262 include differentiation.
1264 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
1265 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
1268 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
1270 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
1271 default -> c++ -> arduino.
1273 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
1277 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
1279 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
1280 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
1281 these commands now).
1285 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
1286 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
1288 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
1289 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
1290 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
1294 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
1296 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
1300 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
1301 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
1302 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
1303 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
1304 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
1306 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
1307 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
1308 in case that is not properly encoded.
1310 *** New command `url-cookie-list' displays all the current cookies, and
1311 allows deleting selected cookies.
1313 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
1314 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
1317 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
1318 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
1319 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
1321 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
1322 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
1323 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
1325 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
1326 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
1328 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
1329 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
1331 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
1332 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
1334 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
1336 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
1337 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
1338 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
1340 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
1341 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
1342 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
1343 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
1345 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
1346 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
1347 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
1349 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
1350 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
1352 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
1355 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
1356 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
1358 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
1360 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
1361 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
1362 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
1363 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
1364 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
1365 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
1366 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
1367 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
1368 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
1369 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
1370 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
1371 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
1372 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
1373 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
1374 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
1375 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
1376 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
1377 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
1378 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
1379 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
1380 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
1381 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
1382 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
1384 ** Obsolete packages
1387 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
1388 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
1389 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
1398 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1400 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
1401 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
1402 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
1403 `custom-variable-p'.
1405 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
1406 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
1407 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
1408 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
1410 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
1411 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
1412 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
1413 sequence in later calls.
1415 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
1416 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
1417 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
1419 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
1420 It does so even if the window was selected before.
1422 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
1423 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
1424 depends on the graphical library.
1426 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
1427 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
1429 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
1431 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
1432 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
1433 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
1434 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
1435 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
1437 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
1438 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
1439 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
1441 ** Miscellaneous name changes
1442 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
1443 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
1445 *** Renamed functions
1446 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
1447 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
1448 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
1449 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
1450 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
1451 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
1452 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
1453 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
1456 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
1457 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1458 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1459 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1460 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1462 *** Renamed variables
1463 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1464 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1465 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1467 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1468 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1469 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1470 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1471 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1472 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1473 *** `set-char-table-default'
1474 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1475 *** `compile-internal'
1477 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1478 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1479 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1480 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1481 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1482 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1483 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1484 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1485 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1486 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1489 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1491 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1492 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1493 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1494 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1496 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1497 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1498 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1499 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1500 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1501 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1502 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1504 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1505 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1506 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1507 CPU time or memory allocations.
1509 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1510 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1512 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1514 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1516 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1517 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1518 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1519 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1520 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1524 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1525 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1527 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1528 table, but with a different prefix.
1532 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1533 These do not trigger the debugger.
1535 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1536 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1538 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1539 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1540 to work out which code is doing something.
1542 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1543 recursive invocations.
1547 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1550 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1551 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1553 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1554 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1556 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1559 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1560 window's point when switching buffers.
1562 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1563 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1565 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1566 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1568 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1569 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1572 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1573 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1575 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1576 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1578 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1579 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1581 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1583 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1584 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1586 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1587 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1588 **** `display-buffer-function'
1589 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1590 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1591 **** `special-display-function'
1592 **** `special-display-regexps'
1596 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1597 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1598 by the underlying C implementation.
1600 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1601 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1602 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1603 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1604 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1605 stamps are still accepted.
1607 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1608 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1609 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1610 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1612 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1613 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1617 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
1619 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
1620 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
1621 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
1622 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
1625 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
1626 without evaluation of suspicious code.
1628 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
1629 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
1631 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
1632 of filename support to generated symbols.
1634 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1635 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1636 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1637 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1638 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1640 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1642 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1644 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1646 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1648 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1650 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1651 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1653 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1655 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1657 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1659 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1661 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1663 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1665 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1667 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1669 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1671 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1672 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1673 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1674 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1675 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1676 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1677 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1678 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1681 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1683 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1684 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1686 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1687 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1688 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1689 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1690 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1692 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1693 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1694 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1696 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1698 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1699 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1701 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1703 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1704 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1707 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1709 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1712 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1714 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1715 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1716 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1719 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1720 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1721 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1722 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1724 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1725 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1726 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1727 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1729 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1730 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1731 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1732 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1733 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1735 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1736 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1737 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1738 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1740 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1741 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1743 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1744 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1745 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1748 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1749 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1750 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1752 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1753 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1754 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1756 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1757 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1759 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1760 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1763 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1765 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1766 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1767 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1769 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1770 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1771 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1775 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1779 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1780 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1782 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1784 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1785 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1787 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1789 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1790 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1792 *** New completion style `substring'.
1794 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1796 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1800 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1801 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1802 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1803 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1804 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1805 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1807 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
1808 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
1809 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
1812 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1813 and Mail mode changes
1815 ** Emacs server and client changes
1817 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1819 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1821 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1822 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1824 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1825 its exit status is 1.
1827 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1828 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1829 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1831 ** Internationalization changes
1833 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1834 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1835 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1836 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1837 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1838 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1840 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1841 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1843 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1844 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1845 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1846 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1849 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1850 the right window edge.
1852 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1853 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1854 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1855 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1856 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1858 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1859 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1861 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1862 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1864 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1865 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1866 automatically select it.
1868 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1869 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1870 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1872 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1873 selected for installation.
1875 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1877 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1878 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1879 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1881 ** Custom theme changes
1883 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1884 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1886 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1887 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1888 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1889 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1890 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1891 built-in Custom themes.
1893 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1894 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1895 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1896 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1898 ** Improved GTK integration
1900 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1901 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1903 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1904 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1905 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1907 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1908 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1909 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1912 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1913 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1915 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1916 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1918 ** Graphical interface changes
1920 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1921 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1922 displayed as a space.
1924 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1925 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1927 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1928 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1929 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1933 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1934 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1936 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1937 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1938 do the right thing in batch mode.
1940 ** Scrolling changes
1942 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1943 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1944 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1945 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1947 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1949 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1950 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1952 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1953 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1955 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1956 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1957 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1958 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1959 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1961 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1962 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1963 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1964 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1967 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1968 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1970 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1971 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1972 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1973 now includes the SELinux context.
1975 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1976 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1980 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1981 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1983 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1984 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1986 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1988 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1989 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1990 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1993 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1994 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1995 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1996 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1997 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1999 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
2000 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
2002 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
2003 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
2004 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
2005 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
2010 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
2011 in the quitted window.
2013 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
2014 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
2016 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
2018 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
2019 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
2020 for choosing the displaying window).
2022 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
2023 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
2025 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
2026 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
2028 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
2029 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
2030 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
2031 from which such space was obtained.
2033 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
2034 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
2035 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
2036 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
2037 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
2039 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
2040 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
2041 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
2043 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
2044 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
2046 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
2047 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
2048 been shown in a specific window.
2050 ** Minibuffer changes
2052 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
2053 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
2054 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
2056 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
2057 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
2058 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
2060 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
2062 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
2064 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
2065 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
2066 successful operation.
2068 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
2069 for `list-colors-display'.
2071 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
2074 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
2078 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
2079 `isearch-yank-line'.
2081 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
2082 `isearch-yank-kill'.
2084 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
2086 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
2088 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
2089 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
2090 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
2091 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
2094 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
2095 also deletes newlines around point.
2099 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
2100 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
2101 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
2104 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
2105 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
2106 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
2108 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
2109 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
2110 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
2111 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
2113 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
2115 ** Selection changes.
2117 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
2118 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
2119 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
2120 mouse commands use the primary selection.
2122 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
2123 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
2125 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
2126 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
2127 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
2128 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
2130 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
2131 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
2132 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
2133 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
2134 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
2136 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
2138 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
2139 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
2140 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
2142 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
2144 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
2145 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
2146 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
2148 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
2149 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
2151 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
2152 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
2153 between applications.
2155 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
2157 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
2158 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
2159 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
2160 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
2161 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
2163 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
2165 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
2166 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
2168 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
2169 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
2170 number to count from and for a format string.
2172 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
2173 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
2174 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
2175 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
2176 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
2178 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
2179 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
2180 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
2181 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
2182 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
2184 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
2185 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
2186 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
2187 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
2188 follows `replace-match'.
2191 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2193 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
2197 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
2198 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
2199 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
2200 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
2202 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
2204 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
2206 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
2210 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
2212 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
2213 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
2217 *** Support for musical notes.
2219 *** Support for logarithmic units.
2221 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
2222 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
2224 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
2226 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
2228 *** New "O" option prefix.
2230 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
2232 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
2234 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
2235 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
2237 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
2238 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
2240 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
2241 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
2242 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
2244 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
2246 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
2247 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
2249 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
2250 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
2251 Use `appt-activate' instead.
2253 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2254 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
2255 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
2257 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2258 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
2262 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
2263 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
2265 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
2267 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
2268 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
2271 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
2272 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
2273 parsed as a statement continuation.
2275 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
2279 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
2280 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
2282 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
2283 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
2284 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
2286 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
2287 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
2288 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
2293 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
2294 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
2295 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
2297 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
2298 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
2300 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
2302 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
2303 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
2307 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
2310 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
2311 optionally do not register names.
2313 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
2314 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
2318 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
2319 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
2320 instead of using the current buffer.
2322 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
2323 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
2327 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
2328 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
2330 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
2331 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
2332 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
2333 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
2337 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
2338 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
2339 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
2343 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
2344 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
2345 debugging of several threads.
2349 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
2350 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
2354 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
2355 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
2356 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
2357 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
2358 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
2360 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
2361 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
2362 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
2365 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
2367 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
2369 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
2370 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
2371 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
2373 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
2374 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
2376 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
2378 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
2380 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
2381 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
2382 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
2383 default), this performs tag completion.
2385 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
2386 See ORG-NEWS for details.
2388 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
2389 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
2390 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
2394 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
2395 in the Rmail incoming message.
2397 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
2398 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
2399 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
2403 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
2404 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
2405 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
2407 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
2408 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
2412 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
2413 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
2414 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
2417 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
2418 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
2419 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
2420 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
2421 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
2422 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
2423 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
2424 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
2426 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
2427 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
2429 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
2431 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
2433 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
2434 the credentials file.
2436 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
2437 If you had that set, you need to put
2439 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
2441 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
2443 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
2444 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
2445 to the address you wish to use instead.
2449 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
2450 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
2452 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
2453 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
2454 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
2455 connection is established.
2457 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
2458 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
2460 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
2461 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
2462 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
2463 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
2465 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
2466 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
2467 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
2468 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
2469 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
2470 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
2472 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
2473 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
2475 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
2476 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2477 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2479 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2480 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2482 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2486 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2490 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2492 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2493 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2495 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2496 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2498 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2499 default value to "".
2501 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2502 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2504 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2505 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2506 the degree of parallelism.
2508 ** VC and related modes
2510 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2511 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2512 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2513 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2514 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2516 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2518 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2519 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2520 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2521 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2522 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2524 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2525 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2527 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2528 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2529 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2530 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2531 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2532 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2534 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2535 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2537 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2538 this was not advertised at the time.
2540 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2541 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2542 this was not advertised at the time.
2548 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2550 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2551 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2552 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2553 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2555 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2557 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2559 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2561 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2562 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2564 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2568 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2569 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2571 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2572 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2574 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2576 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2578 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2581 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2583 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2584 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2586 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2587 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2588 matching closing one.
2590 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2591 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2592 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2593 electric-indent-functions.
2595 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2596 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2597 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2599 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2600 from which other modes can be derived.
2602 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2604 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2605 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2606 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2607 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2610 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2611 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2613 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2614 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2616 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2618 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2619 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2620 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2621 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2622 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2623 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2626 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2628 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2629 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2631 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2633 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2634 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2635 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2636 command still toggles the minor mode.
2638 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2639 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2640 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2641 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2642 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2644 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2645 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2646 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2647 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2648 argument `bidi-class'.
2650 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2651 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2652 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2653 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2655 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2656 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2657 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2660 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2661 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2662 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2663 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2664 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2665 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2666 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2668 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2669 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2670 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2671 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2674 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2675 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2676 replaced all known uses.
2678 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2679 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2680 major mode is special).
2682 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2684 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2685 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2686 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2687 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2688 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2689 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2691 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2692 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2694 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2695 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2696 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2697 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2699 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2700 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2701 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2703 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2705 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2706 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2707 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2709 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2710 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2711 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2712 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2713 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2714 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2715 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2716 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2717 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2718 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2719 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2720 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2721 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2722 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2723 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2724 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2725 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2726 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2727 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2728 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2729 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2731 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2732 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2734 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2735 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2736 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2737 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2738 *** `e' (`float-e').
2740 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2741 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2743 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2744 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2745 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2746 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2748 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2749 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2750 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2753 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2755 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2756 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2757 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2758 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2761 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2762 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2764 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2765 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2767 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2769 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2770 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2772 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2773 declared as dynamically bound.
2775 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2777 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2778 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2779 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2781 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2783 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2784 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2786 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2787 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2788 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2789 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2790 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2791 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2793 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2794 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2795 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2799 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2800 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2801 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2802 buffer) in the window tree.
2804 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2807 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2808 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2809 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2810 act on any window including internal ones.
2812 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2813 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2814 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2815 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2816 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2818 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2819 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2820 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2821 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2822 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2824 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2825 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2826 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2827 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2828 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2829 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2831 *** Window resizing functions.
2832 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2833 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2834 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2836 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2837 live window on that frame instead.
2839 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2840 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2841 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2842 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2843 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2844 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2846 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2847 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2848 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2849 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2850 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2851 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2853 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2854 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2855 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2856 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2858 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2859 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2860 The old names are kept as aliases.
2864 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2865 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2866 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2867 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2869 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2871 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2872 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2873 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2874 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2875 are user-customizable variables.
2877 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2879 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2880 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2881 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2885 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2886 properties of the current completion:
2887 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2888 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2890 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2891 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2893 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2895 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2896 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2897 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2898 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2899 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2900 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2901 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2903 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2904 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2905 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2907 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2908 behavior of `completing-read'.
2910 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2911 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2913 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2914 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2918 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2919 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2920 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2921 non-nil return value.
2923 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2924 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2925 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2926 advertised at the time.)
2930 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2931 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2933 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2935 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2937 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2938 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2939 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2941 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2942 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2944 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2945 named Emacs server instances.
2947 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2948 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2950 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2951 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2953 ** New input reading functions
2955 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2956 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2958 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2959 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2962 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2964 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2965 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2966 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2969 ** Syntax parsing changes
2971 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2972 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2973 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2974 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2975 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2976 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2977 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2978 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2981 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2983 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2985 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2987 ** Major and minor mode changes
2989 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2990 as well as those in the -*- line.
2992 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2995 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2996 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2997 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2999 **** New minor modes `prettify-symbols-mode' and
3000 `global-prettify-symbols-mode' let the user enable symbol
3001 prettification (replacing a string like "lambda" with the Greek lambda
3004 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
3005 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
3007 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
3008 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
3009 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
3011 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
3013 ** File-handling changes
3015 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
3016 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
3017 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
3018 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
3020 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
3022 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
3023 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
3024 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
3028 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
3030 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
3032 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
3034 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
3037 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
3038 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
3040 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
3041 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
3043 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
3044 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
3045 ImageMagick installation supports.
3047 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
3048 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
3051 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
3052 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
3054 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
3055 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
3056 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
3057 `image-transform-set-scale'.
3059 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
3060 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
3061 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
3062 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
3064 ** XML and HTML parsing
3065 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
3066 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
3067 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
3068 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
3070 ** Networking and encryption changes
3072 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
3073 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
3074 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
3075 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
3076 must also be supplied.
3078 *** New library gnutls.el.
3079 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
3080 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
3081 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
3082 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
3083 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
3084 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
3087 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
3088 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
3089 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
3093 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
3095 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
3096 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
3097 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
3098 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
3099 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
3100 displayed with a "spinning bar".
3102 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
3103 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
3105 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
3106 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
3107 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
3108 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
3109 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
3110 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
3112 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
3114 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
3115 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
3116 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
3117 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
3119 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
3120 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
3122 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
3123 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
3124 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
3125 an empty uninterned symbol.
3127 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
3129 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
3131 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
3132 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
3134 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
3135 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
3137 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
3139 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
3140 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
3142 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
3145 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
3147 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
3148 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
3150 ** New configure.bat options
3152 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
3154 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
3156 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
3158 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
3160 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
3162 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
3163 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
3165 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
3166 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
3168 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
3169 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
3172 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3173 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
3175 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
3176 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
3177 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
3178 (at your option) any later version.
3180 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3181 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3182 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3183 GNU General Public License for more details.
3185 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3186 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
3191 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"