1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.2
26 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
27 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
28 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
29 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
30 may or may not be useful. By default, these warnings are not generated.
33 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
35 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
36 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
37 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
40 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
42 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
43 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
46 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
48 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
49 prompts for a column number.
51 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
52 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
54 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
55 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
58 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
60 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
62 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
63 channel keys found, if any.
72 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
74 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
77 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
78 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
79 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
83 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
85 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
87 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
89 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
93 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
95 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
96 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
97 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
100 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
101 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
102 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
103 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
105 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
106 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
107 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
108 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
110 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
111 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
112 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
113 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
114 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
116 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
117 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
118 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
119 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
121 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
122 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
124 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
125 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
126 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
129 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
130 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
131 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
133 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
134 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
135 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
137 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
138 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
140 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
141 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
144 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
146 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
147 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
148 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
150 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
151 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
152 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
156 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
160 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
161 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
163 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
165 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
166 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
168 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
170 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
171 default completion style in certain circumstances.
173 *** New completion style `substring'.
175 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
177 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
181 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
182 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
183 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
184 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
185 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
186 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
188 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
189 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
190 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
192 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
193 and Mail mode changes
195 ** Emacs server and client changes
197 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
199 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
201 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
202 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
204 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
205 its exit status is 1.
207 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
208 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
209 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
211 ** Internationalization changes
213 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
214 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
215 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
216 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
217 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
218 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
220 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
221 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
223 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
224 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
225 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
226 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
229 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
230 the right window edge.
232 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
233 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
234 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
235 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
236 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
238 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
240 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
243 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
244 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
245 automatically select it.
247 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
248 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
249 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
251 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
252 selected for installation.
254 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
256 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
257 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
258 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
260 ** Custom theme changes
262 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
263 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
265 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
266 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
267 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
268 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
269 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
270 built-in Custom themes.
272 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
273 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
274 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
275 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
277 ** Improved GTK integration
279 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
280 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
282 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
283 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
284 the default is taken from desktop settings.
286 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
287 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
288 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
291 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
292 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
294 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
295 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
297 ** Graphical interface changes
299 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
300 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
301 displayed as a space.
303 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
304 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
306 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
307 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
308 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
312 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
313 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
315 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
316 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
317 do the right thing in batch mode.
321 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
322 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
323 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
324 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
326 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
328 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
329 scroll a line instead of full screen.
331 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
332 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
334 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
335 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
336 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
337 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
338 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
340 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
341 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
342 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
343 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
346 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
347 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
349 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
350 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
351 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
352 now includes the SELinux context.
354 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
355 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
359 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
360 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
362 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
363 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
365 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
367 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
368 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
369 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
372 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
373 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
374 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
375 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
376 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
378 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
379 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
381 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
382 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
383 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
384 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
389 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
390 in the quitted window.
392 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
393 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
395 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
397 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
398 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
399 for choosing the displaying window).
401 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
402 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
404 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
405 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
407 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
408 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
409 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
410 from which such space was obtained.
412 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
413 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
414 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
415 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
416 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
418 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
419 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
420 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
422 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
423 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
425 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
426 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
427 been shown in a specific window.
429 ** Minibuffer changes
431 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
432 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
433 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
435 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
436 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
437 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
439 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
441 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
443 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
444 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
445 successful operation.
447 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
448 for `list-colors-display'.
450 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
453 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
457 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
460 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
463 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
465 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
467 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
468 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
469 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
470 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
473 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
474 also deletes newlines around point.
478 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
479 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
480 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
483 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
484 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
485 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
487 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
488 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
489 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
490 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
492 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
494 ** Selection changes.
496 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
497 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
498 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
499 mouse commands use the primary selection.
501 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
502 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
504 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
505 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
506 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
507 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
509 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
510 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
511 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
512 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
513 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
515 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
517 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
518 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
519 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
521 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
523 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
524 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
525 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
527 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
528 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
530 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
531 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
532 between applications.
534 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
536 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
537 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
538 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
539 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
540 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
542 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
544 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
545 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
547 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
548 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
549 number to count from and for a format string.
551 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
552 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
553 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
554 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
555 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
557 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
558 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
559 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
560 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
561 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
563 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
564 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
565 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
566 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
567 follows `replace-match'.
570 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
572 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
576 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
577 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
578 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
579 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
581 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
583 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
585 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
589 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
591 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
592 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
594 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
596 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
597 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
599 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
600 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
602 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
603 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
604 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
606 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
608 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
609 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
611 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
612 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
613 Use `appt-activate' instead.
615 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
616 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
617 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
619 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
620 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
624 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
625 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
627 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
629 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
630 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
633 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
634 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
635 parsed as a statement continuation.
637 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
641 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
642 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
644 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
645 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
646 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
648 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
649 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
650 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
655 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
656 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
657 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
659 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
660 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
662 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
664 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
665 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
669 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
672 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
673 optionally do not register names.
675 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
676 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
680 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
681 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
682 instead of using the current buffer.
684 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
685 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
689 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
690 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
692 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
693 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
694 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
695 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
699 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
700 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
701 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
705 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
706 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
707 debugging of several threads.
711 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
712 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
716 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
717 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
718 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
719 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
720 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
722 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
723 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
724 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
727 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
729 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
731 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
732 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
733 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
735 ** MH-E has been upgraded to MH-E version 8.3.1.
736 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
738 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
740 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
742 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
743 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
744 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
745 default), this performs tag completion.
747 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
748 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
749 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
753 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
754 in the Rmail incoming message.
756 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
757 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
758 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
762 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
763 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
764 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
766 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
767 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
771 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
772 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
773 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
776 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
777 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
778 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
779 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
780 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
781 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
782 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
783 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
785 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
786 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
788 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
790 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
792 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
793 the credentials file.
795 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
796 If you had that set, you need to put
798 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
800 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
804 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
805 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
807 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
808 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
809 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
810 connection is established.
812 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
813 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
815 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
816 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
817 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
818 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
820 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
821 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
822 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
823 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
824 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
825 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
827 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
828 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
830 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
831 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
832 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
834 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
835 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
837 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
841 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
845 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
847 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
848 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
850 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
851 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
853 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
856 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
857 for remote machines which support SELinux.
859 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
860 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
861 the degree of parallelism.
863 ** VC and related modes
865 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
866 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
867 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
868 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
869 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
871 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
873 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
874 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
875 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
876 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
877 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
879 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
880 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
882 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
883 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
884 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
885 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
886 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
887 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
889 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
890 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
892 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
893 this was not advertised at the time.
895 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
896 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
897 this was not advertised at the time.
903 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
905 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
906 You can get a comparable behavior with:
907 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
908 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
910 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
912 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
914 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
916 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
917 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
919 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
923 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
924 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
926 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
927 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
929 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
931 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
933 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
936 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
938 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
939 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
941 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
942 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
943 matching closing one.
945 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
946 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
947 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
948 electric-indent-functions.
950 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
951 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
952 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
954 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
955 from which other modes can be derived.
957 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
959 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
960 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
961 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
962 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
965 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
966 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
968 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
969 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
971 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
973 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
974 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
975 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
976 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
977 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
978 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
981 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
983 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
984 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
986 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
988 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
989 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
990 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
991 command still toggles the minor mode.
993 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
994 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
995 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
996 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
997 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
999 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1000 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1001 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1002 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1003 argument `bidi-class'.
1005 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1006 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1007 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1008 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1010 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1011 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1012 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1015 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1016 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1017 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1018 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1019 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1020 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1021 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1023 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1024 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1025 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1026 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1029 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1030 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1031 replaced all known uses.
1033 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1034 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1035 major mode is special).
1037 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1039 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1040 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1041 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1042 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1043 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1044 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1046 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1047 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1049 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1050 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1051 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1052 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1054 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1055 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1056 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1058 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1060 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1061 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1062 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1064 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1065 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1066 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1067 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1068 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1069 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1070 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1071 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1072 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1073 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1074 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1075 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1076 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1077 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1078 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1079 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1080 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1081 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1082 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1083 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1084 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1086 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1087 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1089 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1090 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1091 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1092 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1093 *** `e' (`float-e').
1095 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1096 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1098 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1099 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1100 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1101 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1103 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1104 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1105 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1108 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1110 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1111 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1112 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1113 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1116 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1117 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1119 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1120 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1122 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1124 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1125 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1127 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1128 declared as dynamically bound.
1130 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1131 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1132 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1134 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1136 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1137 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1139 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1140 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1141 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1142 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1143 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1144 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1146 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1147 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1148 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1152 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1153 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1154 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1155 buffer) in the window tree.
1157 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1160 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1161 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1162 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1163 act on any window including internal ones.
1165 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1166 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1167 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1168 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1169 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1171 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1172 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1173 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1174 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1175 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1177 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1178 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1179 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1180 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1181 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1182 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1184 *** Window resizing functions.
1185 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1186 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1187 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1189 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1190 live window on that frame instead.
1192 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1193 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1194 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1195 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1196 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1197 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1199 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1200 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1201 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1202 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1203 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1204 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1206 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1207 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1208 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1209 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1211 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1212 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1213 The old names are kept as aliases.
1217 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1218 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1219 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1220 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1222 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1224 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1225 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1226 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1227 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1228 are user-customizable variables.
1230 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1232 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1233 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1234 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1238 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1239 properties of the current completion:
1240 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1241 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1243 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1244 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1246 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1248 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1249 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1250 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1251 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1252 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1253 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1254 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1256 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1257 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1258 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1260 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1261 behavior of `completing-read'.
1263 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1264 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1266 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1267 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1271 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1272 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1273 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1274 non-nil return value.
1276 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1277 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1278 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1279 advertised at the time.)
1283 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1284 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1286 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1288 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1290 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1291 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1292 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1294 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1295 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1297 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1298 named Emacs server instances.
1300 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1301 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1303 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1304 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1306 ** New input reading functions
1308 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1309 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1311 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1312 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1315 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1317 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1318 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1319 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1322 ** Syntax parsing changes
1324 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1325 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1326 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1327 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1328 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1329 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1330 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1331 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1334 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1336 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1338 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1340 ** Major and minor mode changes
1342 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1343 as well as those in the -*- line.
1345 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1348 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1349 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1350 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1352 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1353 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1355 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1356 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1357 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1359 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1361 ** File-handling changes
1363 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1364 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1365 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1366 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1368 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1370 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1371 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1372 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1376 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1378 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1380 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1382 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1385 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1386 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1388 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1389 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1391 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1392 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1393 ImageMagick installation supports.
1395 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1396 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1399 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1400 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1402 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1403 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1404 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1405 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1407 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1408 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1409 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1410 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1412 ** XML and HTML parsing
1413 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1414 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1415 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1416 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1418 ** Networking and encryption changes
1420 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1421 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1422 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1423 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1424 must also be supplied.
1426 *** New library gnutls.el.
1427 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1428 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1429 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1430 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1431 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1432 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1435 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1436 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1437 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1441 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1443 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1444 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1445 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1446 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1447 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1448 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1450 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1451 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1453 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1454 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1455 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1456 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1457 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1458 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1460 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1462 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1463 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1464 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1465 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1467 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1468 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1470 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1471 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1472 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1473 an empty uninterned symbol.
1475 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1477 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1479 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1480 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1482 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1483 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1485 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1487 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1488 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1490 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1493 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1495 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1496 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1498 ** New configure.bat options
1500 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1502 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1504 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1506 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1508 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1510 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1511 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1513 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1514 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1516 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1517 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1520 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1521 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1523 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1524 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1525 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1526 (at your option) any later version.
1528 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1529 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1530 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1531 GNU General Public License for more details.
1533 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1534 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1539 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"