Relocate NEWS entry from 24.3 section to 24.4 where it belongs
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with POSIX ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--without-acl'.
30
31 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
32 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
33
34 +++
35 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
36 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
37 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
38 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
39 non-nil, they output the same results.
40
41 +++
42 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
43 if there is one.
44
45 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
46 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
47 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
48
49 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
50 initial buffer.
51
52 ** ACL support has been added.
53 +++
54 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
55 +++
56 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
57 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
58 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
59 POSIX ACL interfaces.
60
61 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
62 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
63 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
64 of the buffer is visible).
65
66 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
67
68 *** Improved fullscreen support.
69 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
70 Customize ns-use-native-fullscreen to change style. For >= 10.7
71 native is the default.
72
73 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
74
75 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
76 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
77
78 \f
79 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
80
81 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
82 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
83 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more
84 use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
85 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
86
87 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
88
89 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
90 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
91
92 ** Battery
93
94 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
95
96 ** cl-lib
97
98 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
99
100 +++
101 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
102
103 ** Calc
104
105 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
106 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
107 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
108 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
109 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
110
111 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
112 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
113 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
114 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
115 on the given date.
116
117 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
118
119 ** ERC
120
121 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
122 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
123 amounts of data into the ERC input.
124
125 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
126 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
127 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
128 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
129
130 ** Image mode
131
132 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
133 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
134 directory, respectively.
135
136 ---
137 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
138 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
139 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
140 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
141
142 ** Isearch
143
144 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
145 and adds it to the search string.
146
147 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.4.
148 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
149
150 ---
151 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
152 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
153
154 ---
155 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
156 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
157
158 +++
159 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
160
161 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
162 New features include:
163 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
164 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
165 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
166 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
167 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
168 (point) when the function is invoked.
169
170 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
171 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
172 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
173 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
174
175 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
176 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
177 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
178 leave different number of spaces.
179
180 ** Tramp
181 +++
182 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
183 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-sdk-dir'
184 must be set to the Android SDK installation directory.
185 +++
186 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
187 which support POSIX ACLs.
188
189 ** Woman
190
191 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
192 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
193
194 ** Obsolete packages:
195
196 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
197
198 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
199
200 \f
201 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
202 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
203 It is layered as:
204 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
205 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
206 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
207 much like `defadvice' does.
208
209 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
210
211 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
212 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
213 value when looking up variables.
214
215 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
216 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
217 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
218
219 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
220 special-forms any more.
221
222 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
223 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
224 spurious warnings about an unused var.
225
226 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
227 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
228 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
229 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
230 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
231
232 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.4
233
234 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
235 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
236 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
237 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
238 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
239
240 ** Face changes
241
242 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
243 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
244 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
245 property using the supplied face spec.
246
247 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
248 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
249
250 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
251 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
252
253 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
254 ** New function special-form-p.
255 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
256 text-property on the first char.
257
258 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
259 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
260
261 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
262 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
263 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
264 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
265
266 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
267 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
268 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
269
270 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
271
272 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
273 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
274 and ACL entries.
275
276 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on non-free operating systems
277
278 +++
279 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
280 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
281 directory where Emacs was running.
282
283 \f
284 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
285
286 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
287 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
288 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
289 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
290 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
291 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
292
293 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
294 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
295
296 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
297 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
298
299 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
300 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
301 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
302 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
303 the results may be useful to developers.
304
305 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
306 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
307 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
308 check that this option enables.
309
310 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
311 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
312
313 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
314 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
315 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
316 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
317 links between the various manuals.
318
319 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
320 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
321 to "emacs-VERSION".
322
323 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
324
325 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
326 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
327 you want them.
328
329 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
330 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
331 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
332
333 \f
334 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
335
336 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
337 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
338 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
339
340 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
341
342 \f
343 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
344
345 ** Help
346
347 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
348 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
349 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
350 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
351 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
352
353 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
354 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
355 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
356
357 ** ImageMagick
358
359 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
360 :background image specification property.
361
362 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
363 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
364 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
365 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
366
367 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
368 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
369 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
370
371 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
372 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
373 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
374 treated as images.
375
376 ** Minibuffer
377
378 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
379 next and previous path separator, respectively.
380
381 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
382 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
383 non-nil before enabling the mode.
384
385 ** Mode line
386
387 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
388 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
389 that does not have its own specialized help text.
390
391 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
392 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
393
394 ** Server and client
395
396 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
397 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
398 or expression to evaluate.
399
400 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
401
402 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
403 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
404 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
405 that support backtraces.
406
407 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
408 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
409
410 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
411 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
412 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
413
414 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
415 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
416
417 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
418 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
419
420 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
421 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
422 files (use this with caution).
423
424 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
425 variables on remote hosts.
426
427 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
428 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
429
430 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
431 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
432
433 ** Internationalization
434
435 *** New language environment: Persian.
436
437 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
438
439 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
440
441 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
442
443 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
444 menu/toolbar.
445
446 \f
447 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
448
449 ** Search and Replace
450
451 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
452 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
453 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
454 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
455 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
456
457 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
458 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
459
460 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
461 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
462 The default is nil.
463
464 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
465 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
466 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
467
468 ** Navigation commands
469
470 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
471
472 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
473
474 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
475 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
476
477 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
478 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
479 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
480
481 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
482 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
483 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
484
485 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
486
487 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
488 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
489
490 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
491 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
492 accidentally type.
493
494 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
495 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
496
497 ** Registers
498
499 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
500
501 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
502 the text to put between collected texts for use with
503 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
504
505 \f
506 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
507
508 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
509
510 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
511 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
512 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
513 use the "cl--" prefix).
514
515 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
516 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
517 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
518 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
519 rather than `cl-foo*'.
520
521 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
522 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
523
524 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
525 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
526 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
527 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
528
529 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
530 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
531 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
532 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
533 is in use.
534
535 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
536 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
537 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
538
539 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
540 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
541 to nil rather than being made unbound.
542
543 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
544 (use features from gv.el instead):
545 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
546 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
547 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
548 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
549
550 ** Diff mode
551
552 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
553 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
554 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
555 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
556 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
557
558 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
559 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
560 changes in context diffs.
561
562 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
563 whitespace introduced by a diff.
564
565 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
566
567 ** Python mode
568
569 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
570 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
571 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
572 text based shell).
573
574 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
575 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
576 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
577 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
578 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
579
580 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
581
582 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
583
584 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
585 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
586
587 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
588 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
589
590 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
591 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
592
593 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
594 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
595
596 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
597 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
598 No longer relevant.
599
600 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
601 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
602 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
603 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
604 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
605 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
606 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
607 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
608 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
609 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
610 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
611 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
612 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
613 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
614 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
615 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
616 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
617 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
618 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
619 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
620 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
621
622 ** D-Bus
623
624 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
625
626 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
627
628 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
629 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
630
631 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
632 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
633
634 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
635
636 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
637 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
638
639 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
640
641 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
642
643 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
644 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
645
646 ** Dired
647
648 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
649 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
650 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
651
652 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
653 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
654 file at point.
655
656 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
657 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
658 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
659
660 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
661 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
662 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
663
664 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
665 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
666
667 ** ERC
668
669 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
670 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
671
672 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
673 channel keys found.
674
675 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
676 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
677
678 ** reStructuredText mode
679
680 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
681 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
682 and improved.
683
684 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
685
686 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
687 Sphinx support has been improved.
688
689 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
690
691 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
692
693 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
694
695 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
696
697 ** Shell Script mode
698
699 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
700
701 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
702
703 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
704
705 ** VHDL mode
706
707 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
708
709 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
710
711 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
712
713 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
714
715 ** Apropos
716
717 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
718 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
719 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
720
721 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
722 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
723
724 ** Buffer Menu
725
726 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
727
728 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
729 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
730
731 ** Calc
732
733 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
734 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
735 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
736
737 ** Calendar
738
739 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
740 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
741
742 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
743
744 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
745 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
746
747 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
748
749 ** Customize
750
751 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
752
753 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
754 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
755 these commands now).
756
757 ** Term
758
759 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
760 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
761
762 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
763 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
764 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
765
766 ** Tramp
767
768 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
769
770 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
771
772 ** URL
773
774 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
775 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
776 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
777 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
778 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
779
780 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
781 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
782 in case that is not properly encoded.
783
784 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
785 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
786 server properties.
787
788 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
789 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
790 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
791
792 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
793 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
794 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
795
796 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
797 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
798
799 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
800 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
801
802 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
803 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
804
805 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
806
807 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
808 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
809 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
810
811 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
812 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
813 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
814 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
815
816 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
817 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
818 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
819
820 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
821 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
822
823 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
824 it is enabled.
825
826 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
827 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
828
829 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
830
831 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
832 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
833 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
834 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
835 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
836 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
837 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
838 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
839 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
840 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
841 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
842 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
843 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
844 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
845 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
846 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
847 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
848 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
849 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
850 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
851 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
852 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
853 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
854
855 ** Obsolete packages
856
857 *** assoc.el
858 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
859 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
860 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
861 *** bruce.el
862 *** cust-print.el
863 *** ledit.el
864 *** mailpost.el
865 *** mouse-sel.el
866 *** patcomp.el
867
868 \f
869 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
870
871 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
872 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
873 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
874 `custom-variable-p'.
875
876 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
877 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
878 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
879 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
880
881 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
882 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
883 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
884 sequence in later calls.
885
886 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
887 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
888 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
889
890 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
891 It does so even if the window was selected before.
892
893 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
894 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
895 depends on the graphical library.
896
897 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
898 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
899
900 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
901
902 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
903 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
904 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
905 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
906 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
907
908 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
909 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
910 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
911
912 ** Miscellaneous name changes
913 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
914 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
915
916 *** Renamed functions
917 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
918 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
919 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
920 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
921 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
922 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
923 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
924 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
925
926 *** Renamed hooks
927 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
928 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
929 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
930 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
931 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
932
933 *** Renamed variables
934 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
935 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
936 deactivate-current-input-method-function
937
938 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
939 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
940 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
941 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
942 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
943 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
944 *** `set-char-table-default'
945 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
946 *** `compile-internal'
947 *** `modeline'
948 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
949 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
950 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
951 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
952 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
953 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
954 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
955 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
956 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
957 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
958
959 \f
960 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
961
962 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
963 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
964 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
965 `gv-define-setter', etc.
966
967 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
968 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
969 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
970 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
971 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
972 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
973 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
974
975 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
976 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
977 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
978 CPU time or memory allocations.
979
980 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
981 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
982
983 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
984
985 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
986
987 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
988 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
989 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
990 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
991 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
992
993 ** Completion
994
995 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
996 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
997
998 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
999 table, but with a different prefix.
1000
1001 ** Debugger
1002
1003 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1004 These do not trigger the debugger.
1005
1006 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1007 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1008
1009 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1010 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1011 to work out which code is doing something.
1012
1013 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1014 recursive invocations.
1015
1016 ** Window handling
1017
1018 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1019 fit the contents.
1020
1021 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1022 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1023
1024 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1025 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1026
1027 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1028 reused.
1029
1030 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1031 window's point when switching buffers.
1032
1033 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1034 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1035
1036 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1037 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1038
1039 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1040 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1041 selected.
1042
1043 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1044 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1045
1046 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1047 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1048
1049 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1050 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1051
1052 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1053
1054 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1055 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1056 in Emacs 24.1:
1057 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1058 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1059 **** `display-buffer-function'
1060 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1061 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1062 **** `special-display-function'
1063 **** `special-display-regexps'
1064
1065 ** Time
1066
1067 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1068 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1069 by the underlying C implementation.
1070
1071 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1072 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1073 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1074 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1075 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1076 stamps are still accepted.
1077
1078 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1079 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1080 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1081 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1082
1083 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1084 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1085
1086 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1087 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1088 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1089 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1090 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1091
1092 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1093
1094 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1095
1096 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1097
1098 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1099
1100 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1101
1102 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1103 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1104
1105 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1106
1107 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1108
1109 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1110
1111 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1112
1113 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1114
1115 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1116
1117 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1118
1119 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1120
1121 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1122
1123 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1124 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1125 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1126 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1127 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1128 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1129 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1130 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1131
1132 \f
1133 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
1134
1135 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1136 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1137
1138 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1139 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1140 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1141 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1142 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1143
1144 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1145 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1146 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1147
1148 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1149
1150 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1151 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1152
1153 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1154
1155 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1156 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1157
1158 \f
1159 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1160
1161 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1162
1163 \f
1164 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1165
1166 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1167 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1168 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1169 --without-gconf.
1170
1171 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1172 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1173 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1174 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1175
1176 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1177 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1178 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1179 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1180
1181 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1182 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1183 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1184 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1185 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1186
1187 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1188 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1189 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1190 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1191
1192 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1193 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1194
1195 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1196 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1197 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1198 to about 2 GiB.
1199
1200 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1201 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1202 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1203
1204 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1205 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1206 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1207
1208 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1209 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1210
1211 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1212 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1213
1214 \f
1215 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1216
1217 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1218 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1219 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1220
1221 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1222 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1223 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1224 Nextstep builds).
1225
1226 \f
1227 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1228
1229 ** Completion
1230
1231 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1232 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1233
1234 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1235
1236 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1237 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1238
1239 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1240
1241 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1242 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1243
1244 *** New completion style `substring'.
1245
1246 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1247
1248 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1249
1250 ** Mail changes
1251
1252 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1253 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1254 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1255 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1256 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1257 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1258
1259 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
1260 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
1261 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
1262
1263 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1264 and Mail mode changes
1265
1266 ** Emacs server and client changes
1267
1268 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1269
1270 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1271
1272 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1273 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1274
1275 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1276 its exit status is 1.
1277
1278 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1279 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1280 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1281
1282 ** Internationalization changes
1283
1284 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1285 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1286 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1287 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1288 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1289 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1290
1291 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1292 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1293
1294 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1295 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1296 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1297 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1298 paragraph.
1299
1300 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1301 the right window edge.
1302
1303 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1304 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1305 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1306 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1307 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1308
1309 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1310 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1311
1312 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1313 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1314
1315 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1316 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1317 automatically select it.
1318
1319 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1320 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1321 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1322
1323 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1324 selected for installation.
1325
1326 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1327
1328 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1329 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1330 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1331
1332 ** Custom theme changes
1333
1334 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1335 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1336
1337 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1338 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1339 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1340 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1341 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1342 built-in Custom themes.
1343
1344 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1345 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1346 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1347 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1348
1349 ** Improved GTK integration
1350
1351 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1352 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1353
1354 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1355 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1356 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1357
1358 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1359 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1360 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1361 entries for this.
1362
1363 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1364 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1365
1366 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1367 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1368
1369 ** Graphical interface changes
1370
1371 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1372 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1373 displayed as a space.
1374
1375 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1376 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1377
1378 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1379 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1380 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1381
1382 ** Exiting changes
1383
1384 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1385 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1386
1387 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1388 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1389 do the right thing in batch mode.
1390
1391 ** Scrolling changes
1392
1393 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1394 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1395 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1396 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1397
1398 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1399
1400 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1401 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1402
1403 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1404 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1405
1406 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1407 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1408 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1409 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1410 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1411
1412 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1413 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1414 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1415 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1416 margin.
1417
1418 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1419 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1420
1421 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1422 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1423 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1424 now includes the SELinux context.
1425
1426 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1427 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1428
1429 ** Trash changes
1430
1431 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1432 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1433
1434 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1435 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1436
1437 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1438
1439 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1440 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1441 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1442 subdirectories.
1443
1444 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1445 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1446 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1447 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1448 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1449
1450 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1451 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1452
1453 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1454 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1455 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1456 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1457 corresponding way.
1458
1459 ** Window changes
1460
1461 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1462 in the quitted window.
1463
1464 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1465 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1466
1467 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1468
1469 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1470 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1471 for choosing the displaying window).
1472
1473 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1474 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1475
1476 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1477 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1478
1479 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1480 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1481 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1482 from which such space was obtained.
1483
1484 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1485 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1486 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1487 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1488 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1489
1490 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1491 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1492 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1493
1494 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1495 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1496
1497 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1498 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1499 been shown in a specific window.
1500
1501 ** Minibuffer changes
1502
1503 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1504 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1505 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1506
1507 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1508 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1509 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1510
1511 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1512
1513 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1514
1515 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1516 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1517 successful operation.
1518
1519 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1520 for `list-colors-display'.
1521
1522 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1523
1524 \f
1525 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1526
1527 ** Search changes
1528
1529 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1530 `isearch-yank-line'.
1531
1532 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1533 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1534
1535 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1536
1537 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1538
1539 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1540 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1541 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1542 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1543 alias for it.
1544
1545 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1546 also deletes newlines around point.
1547
1548 ** Deletion changes
1549
1550 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1551 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1552 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1553 instead.
1554
1555 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1556 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1557 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1558
1559 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1560 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1561 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1562 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1563
1564 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1565
1566 ** Selection changes.
1567
1568 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1569 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1570 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1571 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1572
1573 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1574 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1575
1576 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1577 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1578 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1579 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1580
1581 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1582 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1583 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1584 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1585 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1586
1587 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1588
1589 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1590 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1591 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1592
1593 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1594
1595 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1596 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1597 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1598
1599 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1600 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1601
1602 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1603 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1604 between applications.
1605
1606 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1607
1608 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1609 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1610 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1611 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1612 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1613
1614 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1615
1616 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1617 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1618
1619 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1620 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1621 number to count from and for a format string.
1622
1623 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1624 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1625 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1626 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1627 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1628
1629 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1630 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1631 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1632 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1633 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1634
1635 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1636 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1637 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1638 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1639 follows `replace-match'.
1640
1641 \f
1642 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1643
1644 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1645
1646 ** BibTeX mode
1647
1648 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1649 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1650 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1651 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1652
1653 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1654
1655 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1656
1657 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1658
1659 ** Browse-url
1660
1661 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1662
1663 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1664 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1665
1666 ** Calc
1667
1668 *** Support for musical notes.
1669
1670 *** Support for logarithmic units.
1671
1672 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
1673 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
1674
1675 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
1676
1677 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
1678
1679 *** New "O" option prefix.
1680
1681 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
1682
1683 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1684
1685 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1686 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1687
1688 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1689 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1690
1691 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1692 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1693 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1694
1695 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1696
1697 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1698 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1699
1700 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1701 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1702 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1703
1704 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1705 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1706 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1707
1708 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1709 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1710
1711 ** CC Mode
1712
1713 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1714 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1715
1716 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1717
1718 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1719 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1720 not the top level.
1721
1722 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1723 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1724 parsed as a statement continuation.
1725
1726 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1727
1728 ** Compilation mode
1729
1730 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1731 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1732
1733 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1734 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1735 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1736
1737 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1738 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1739 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1740 buffer was used.
1741
1742 ** Customize
1743
1744 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1745 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1746 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1747
1748 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1749 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1750
1751 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1752
1753 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1754 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1755
1756 ** D-Bus
1757
1758 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1759 or session bus.
1760
1761 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1762 optionally do not register names.
1763
1764 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1765 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1766
1767 ** Dired-x
1768
1769 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1770 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1771 instead of using the current buffer.
1772
1773 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1774 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1775
1776 ** ERC changes
1777
1778 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1779 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1780
1781 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1782 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1783 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1784 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1785
1786 ** Eshell changes
1787
1788 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1789 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1790 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1791
1792 ** gdb-mi
1793
1794 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1795 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1796 debugging of several threads.
1797
1798 ** Image mode
1799
1800 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1801 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1802
1803 ** Info
1804
1805 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1806 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1807 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1808 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1809 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1810
1811 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1812 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1813 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1814 by default.
1815
1816 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1817
1818 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1819
1820 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1821 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1822 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1823
1824 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1825 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1826
1827 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1828
1829 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1830
1831 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1832 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1833 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1834 default), this performs tag completion.
1835
1836 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1837 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1838
1839 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1840 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1841 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1842
1843 ** Rmail
1844
1845 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1846 in the Rmail incoming message.
1847
1848 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1849 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1850 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1851
1852 ** Shell mode
1853
1854 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1855 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1856 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1857
1858 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1859 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1860
1861 ** SMTPmail
1862
1863 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1864 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1865 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1866 to change this.
1867
1868 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1869 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1870 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1871 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1872 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1873 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1874 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1875 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1876
1877 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1878 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1879
1880 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1881
1882 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1883
1884 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1885 the credentials file.
1886
1887 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1888 If you had that set, you need to put
1889
1890 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1891
1892 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1893
1894 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1895 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1896 to the address you wish to use instead.
1897
1898 ** SQL mode
1899
1900 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1901 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1902
1903 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1904 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1905 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1906 connection is established.
1907
1908 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1909 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1910
1911 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1912 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1913 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1914 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1915
1916 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1917 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1918 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1919 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1920 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1921 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1922
1923 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1924 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1925
1926 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1927 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1928 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1929
1930 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1931 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1932
1933 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1934
1935 ** TeX modes
1936
1937 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1938
1939 ** Tramp
1940
1941 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1942
1943 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1944 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1945
1946 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1947 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1948
1949 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1950 default value to "".
1951
1952 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1953 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1954
1955 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1956 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1957 the degree of parallelism.
1958
1959 ** VC and related modes
1960
1961 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1962 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1963 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1964 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1965 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1966
1967 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1968
1969 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1970 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1971 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1972 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1973 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1974
1975 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1976 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1977
1978 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1979 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1980 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1981 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1982 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1983 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1984
1985 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1986 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1987
1988 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1989 this was not advertised at the time.
1990
1991 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1992 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1993 this was not advertised at the time.
1994
1995 ** Obsolete modes
1996
1997 *** abbrevlist.el
1998
1999 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2000
2001 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2002 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2003 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2004 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2005
2006 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2007
2008 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2009
2010 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2011
2012 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2013 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2014
2015 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2016
2017 ** Miscellaneous
2018
2019 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2020 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2021
2022 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2023 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2024
2025 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2026
2027 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2028
2029 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2030
2031 \f
2032 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2033
2034 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2035 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2036
2037 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2038 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2039 matching closing one.
2040
2041 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2042 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2043 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2044 electric-indent-functions.
2045
2046 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2047 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2048 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2049
2050 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2051 from which other modes can be derived.
2052
2053 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2054
2055 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2056 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2057 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2058 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2059 secrets.
2060
2061 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2062 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2063
2064 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2065 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2066
2067 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2068
2069 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2070 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2071 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2072 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2073 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2074 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2075
2076 \f
2077 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2078
2079 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2080 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2081
2082 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2083
2084 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2085 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2086 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2087 command still toggles the minor mode.
2088
2089 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2090 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2091 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2092 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2093 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2094
2095 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2096 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2097 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2098 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2099 argument `bidi-class'.
2100
2101 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2102 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2103 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2104 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2105
2106 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2107 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2108 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2109 of the header line.
2110
2111 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2112 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2113 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2114 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2115 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2116 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2117 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2118
2119 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2120 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2121 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2122 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2123 older Emacsen too.
2124
2125 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2126 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2127 replaced all known uses.
2128
2129 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2130 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2131 major mode is special).
2132
2133 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2134
2135 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2136 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2137 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2138 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2139 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2140 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2141
2142 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2143 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2144
2145 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2146 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2147 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2148 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2149
2150 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2151 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2152 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2153
2154 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2155
2156 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2157 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2158 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2159
2160 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2161 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2162 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2163 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2164 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2165 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2166 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2167 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2168 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2169 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2170 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2171 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2172 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2173 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2174 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2175 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2176 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2177 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2178 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2179 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2180 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2181
2182 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2183 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2184
2185 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2186 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2187 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2188 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2189 *** `e' (`float-e').
2190
2191 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2192 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2193
2194 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2195 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2196 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2197 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2198
2199 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2200 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2201 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2202
2203 \f
2204 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
2205
2206 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2207 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2208 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2209 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2210 file.
2211
2212 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2213 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2214
2215 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2216 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2217
2218 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2219
2220 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2221 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2222
2223 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2224 declared as dynamically bound.
2225
2226 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2227
2228 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2229 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2230 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2231
2232 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2233
2234 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2235 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2236
2237 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2238 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2239 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2240 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2241 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2242 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2243
2244 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2245 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2246 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2247
2248 ** Window changes
2249
2250 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2251 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2252 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2253 buffer) in the window tree.
2254
2255 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2256 windows.
2257
2258 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2259 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2260 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2261 act on any window including internal ones.
2262
2263 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2264 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2265 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2266 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2267 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2268
2269 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2270 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2271 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2272 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2273 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2274
2275 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2276 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2277 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2278 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2279 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2280 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2281
2282 *** Window resizing functions.
2283 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2284 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2285 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2286
2287 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2288 live window on that frame instead.
2289
2290 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2291 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2292 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2293 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2294 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2295 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2296
2297 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2298 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2299 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2300 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2301 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2302 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2303
2304 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2305 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2306 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2307 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2308
2309 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2310 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2311 The old names are kept as aliases.
2312
2313 *** Display actions
2314
2315 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2316 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2317 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2318 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2319
2320 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2321
2322 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2323 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2324 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2325 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2326 are user-customizable variables.
2327
2328 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2329
2330 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2331 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2332 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2333
2334 ** Completion
2335
2336 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2337 properties of the current completion:
2338 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2339 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2340
2341 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2342 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2343
2344 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2345
2346 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2347 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2348 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2349 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2350 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2351 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2352 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2353
2354 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2355 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2356 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2357
2358 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2359 behavior of `completing-read'.
2360
2361 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2362 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2363
2364 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2365 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2366
2367 ** New hook types
2368
2369 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2370 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2371 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2372 non-nil return value.
2373
2374 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2375 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2376 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2377 advertised at the time.)
2378
2379 ** Debugger changes
2380
2381 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2382 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2383
2384 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2385
2386 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2387
2388 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2389 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2390 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2391
2392 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2393 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2394
2395 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2396 named Emacs server instances.
2397
2398 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2399 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2400
2401 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2402 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2403
2404 ** New input reading functions
2405
2406 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2407 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2408
2409 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2410 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2411 invalid input.
2412
2413 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2414
2415 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2416 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2417 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2418 obsolete alias.
2419
2420 ** Syntax parsing changes
2421
2422 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2423 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2424 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2425 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2426 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2427 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2428 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2429 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2430 syntactic rules.
2431
2432 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2433
2434 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2435
2436 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2437
2438 ** Major and minor mode changes
2439
2440 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2441 as well as those in the -*- line.
2442
2443 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2444 should be derived.
2445
2446 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2447 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2448 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2449
2450 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2451 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2452
2453 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2454 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2455 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2456
2457 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2458
2459 ** File-handling changes
2460
2461 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2462 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2463 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2464 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2465
2466 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2467
2468 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2469 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2470 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2471
2472 ** Image API
2473
2474 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2475
2476 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2477
2478 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2479
2480 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2481 is being animated.
2482
2483 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2484 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2485
2486 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2487 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2488
2489 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2490 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2491 ImageMagick installation supports.
2492
2493 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2494 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2495 functions.
2496
2497 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2498 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2499
2500 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2501 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2502 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2503 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2504
2505 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2506 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2507 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2508 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2509
2510 ** XML and HTML parsing
2511 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2512 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2513 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2514 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2515
2516 ** Networking and encryption changes
2517
2518 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2519 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2520 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2521 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2522 must also be supplied.
2523
2524 *** New library gnutls.el.
2525 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2526 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2527 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2528 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2529 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2530 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2531 greater than 0.
2532
2533 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2534 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2535 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2536
2537 ** Isearch
2538
2539 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2540
2541 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2542 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2543 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2544 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2545 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2546 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2547
2548 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2549 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2550
2551 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2552 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2553 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2554 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2555 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2556 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2557
2558 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2559
2560 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2561 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2562 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2563 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2564
2565 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2566 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2567
2568 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2569 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2570 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2571 an empty uninterned symbol.
2572
2573 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2574
2575 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2576
2577 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2578 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2579
2580 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2581 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2582
2583 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2584
2585 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2586 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2587
2588 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2589
2590 \f
2591 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2592
2593 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2594 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2595
2596 ** New configure.bat options
2597
2598 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2599
2600 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2601
2602 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2603
2604 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2605
2606 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2607
2608 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2609 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2610
2611 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2612 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2613
2614 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2615 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2616
2617 \f
2618 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2619 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2620
2621 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2622 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2623 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2624 (at your option) any later version.
2625
2626 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2627 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2628 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2629 GNU General Public License for more details.
2630
2631 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2632 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2633
2634 \f
2635 Local variables:
2636 mode: outline
2637 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
2638 end: