* etc/NEWS: Fix paren typo from earlier change
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2014 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 all necessary documentation updates are complete.
19 (This means all relevant manuals in doc/ AND lisp doc-strings.)
20 --- means no change in the manuals is needed.
21 When you add a new item, use the appropriate mark if you are sure it applies,
22 otherwise leave it unmarked.
23
24 \f
25 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
26
27 ---
28 ** Emacs can now be compiled with ACL support.
29 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
30 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
31 configure option `--disable-acl'. See below for related features.
32
33 ---
34 ** Emacs can now be compiled with file notification support.
35 This happens by default if a suitable system library is found at
36 build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
37 `--without-file-notification'. See below for file-notify features.
38 This feature is not available for the Nextstep port.
39
40 ---
41 ** Emacs can now be compiled with zlib support.
42 This happens by default if zlib is present, which it normally is.
43 To prevent this, use the configure option `--without-zlib'.
44 This provides the function `zlib-decompress-region'; see below for details.
45
46 ---
47 ** The configure option `--without-compress-info' has been generalized,
48 and renamed to `--without-compress-install'. It now prevents compression
49 of _any_ files during installation.
50
51 ---
52 ** The configure option `--with-crt-dir' has been removed.
53 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked specially.
54
55 ---
56 ** Directories passed to configure option `--enable-locallisppath' are
57 no longer created during installation.
58
59 ---
60 ** Emacs for NS (Mac OS X, GNUstep) can be built with ImageMagick support.
61 This requires pkg-config to be available at build time.
62
63 \f
64 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
65
66 +++
67 ** When initializing `load-path', an empty element in the EMACSLOADPATH
68 environment variable (either leading, e.g., ":/foo"; trailing, e.g.,
69 "/foo:"; or embedded, e.g., "/foo::/bar") is replaced with the default
70 load-path (the one that would have been used if EMACSLOADPATH was unset).
71 This makes it easier to _extend_ the load-path via EMACSLOADPATH
72 (previously, EMACSLOADPATH had to specify the complete load-path,
73 including the defaults). (In older versions of Emacs, an empty element
74 was replaced by ".", so use an explicit "." now if that is what you want.)
75
76 +++
77 ** The -L option, which normally prepends its argument to load-path,
78 will instead append, if the argument begins with `:' (or `;' on MS Windows;
79 i.e., `path-separator').
80
81 +++
82 ** If you use either site-load.el or site-init.el to customize the dumped
83 Emacs executable, any changes to `load-path' that these files make
84 will no longer be present after dumping. To affect a permanent change
85 to `load-path', use the `--enable-locallisppath' option of `configure'.
86
87 +++
88 ** The user option `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function
89 to set up the initial buffer.
90
91 \f
92 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
93
94 +++
95 ** New function `zlib-decompress-region', which decompresses gzip- and
96 zlib-format compressed data using built-in zlib support, if available.
97
98 +++
99 ** New option `gnutls-verify-error', if non-nil, means that Emacs
100 should reject SSL/TLS certificates that GnuTLS determines as invalid.
101 (This option defaults to nil at present, but this is expected to change
102 in a future release.)
103
104 +++
105 ** Emacs now supports menus on text-mode terminals.
106 If the terminal supports a mouse, clicking on the menu bar, or on
107 sensitive portions of the mode line or header line, will drop down the
108 menu defined at that position. Likewise, clicking C-mouse-2 or
109 C-mouse-2 or C-mouse-3 on the text area will pop up the menus defined
110 for those locations.
111
112 If the text terminal does not support a mouse, you can activate the
113 first menu-bar menu by typing F10, which invokes `menu-bar-open'.
114
115 If you want the previous behavior, whereby F10 invoked `tmm-menubar',
116 customize the option `tty-menu-open-use-tmm' to a non-nil value.
117 (Typing M-` always invokes `tmm-menubar', even if `tty-menu-open-use-tmm'
118 is nil.)
119
120 +++
121 ** The *Messages* buffer is created in `messages-buffer-mode',
122 a new major mode, with read-only status. Any code that might create
123 the *Messages* buffer should call the function `messages-buffer' to do
124 so and set up the mode.
125
126 +++
127 ** Emacs can now support ACLs (access control lists).
128 This requires a suitable support library to be found at build time.
129 On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via libacl.
130 On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the POSIX interface.
131
132 +++
133 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
134 +++
135 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
136 entries of a file.
137
138 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
139
140 +++
141 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
142 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
143 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
144
145 +++
146 *** The functions `display-pixel-width' and `display-pixel-height' now
147 behave consistently among the platforms: they return the pixel width
148 or height for all physical monitors associated with the given display
149 as if they were on X. To get information for each physical
150 monitor, use the new functions above. Similar notes also apply to
151 `x-display-pixel-width', `x-display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
152 `display-mm-height', `x-display-mm-width', and `x-display-mm-height'.
153
154 +++
155 ** The cursor stops blinking after 10 blinks (by default) on X and NS.
156 You can change the default by customizing `blink-cursor-blinks'.
157
158 +++
159 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls forward, S-SPC now scrolls backward.
160 This affects View mode, etc.
161
162 ** Help changes
163
164 +++
165 *** The command `apropos-variable' is renamed to `apropos-user-option'.
166 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
167 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
168 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
169 non-nil, they output the same results.
170
171 +++
172 *** The key `?' now describes prefix bindings, like `C-h'.
173
174 ---
175 *** The command `describe-function' has been extended for EIEIO.
176 Running it on constructors will show a full description of the
177 generated class. For generic functions, it will show all
178 implementations together with links to the source. The old commands
179 `describe-class', `describe-constructor' and `describe-generic' were
180 removed.
181
182 ---
183 *** The function `quail-help' is no longer an interactive command.
184 Use `C-h C-\' (`describe-input-method') instead.
185
186 ** ImageMagick
187
188 +++
189 *** ImageMagick images now support the :max-width and :max-height keywords.
190
191 +++
192 *** When using `create-image' with image data, you can pass a :format
193 attribute (via the property-list argument) in order to help
194 ImageMagick detect the image type. The value should be a MIME
195 content-type that is found in the new variable `image-format-suffixes'.
196
197 ** Frame and window changes
198
199 +++
200 *** The function `window-in-direction' introduced in Emacs 24.1 now
201 takes additional arguments for specifiying a reference point, wrapping
202 selection around frame borders, and specifying ways to select the
203 minibuffer window.
204
205 +++
206 *** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
207 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
208
209 +++
210 *** New hooks `focus-in-hook', `focus-out-hook'.
211 These are normal hooks run when an Emacs frame gains or loses input focus.
212
213 *** Emacs can now change frame sizes in units of pixels, rather than
214 text rows or columns. When maximizing a frame or making it fullscreen,
215 remaining extra pixels are no longer given to the minibuffer, the rightmost
216 fringe, or other unusable space, but are distributed among the text
217 areas of the frame's windows. If the new option `frame-resize-pixelwise'
218 is non-nil, all frame size changes happen pixelwise and set the
219 corresponding size hints for the window manager.
220
221 *** Emacs can now change window sizes in units of pixels.
222 Mouse-dragging a mode line or window divider now changes the size of
223 adjacent windows pixelwise. If the new option `window-resize-pixelwise'
224 is non-nil, functions like `balance-windows-area' and `fit-window-to-buffer'
225 resize windows pixelwise. Most functions for changing or accessing
226 window sizes now have an additional argument that allows changes to apply,
227 or values to be returned, in pixels instead of lines/columns.
228
229 *** Emacs can now draw dividers between adjacent windows. To put
230 dividers between side-by-side/vertically stacked windows customize the
231 frame parameters `right-divider-width' and `bottom-divider-width' to
232 some positive integer. You can drag dividers with the mouse (they show
233 a corresponding cursor when the mouse hovers over them). You can change
234 the appearance of dividers by customizing the faces `window-divider',
235 `window-divider-first-pixel', and `window-divider-last-pixel'. The last
236 two are useful to provide a 3D effect, or to better distinguish dividers
237 from surrounding display objects.
238
239 *** New functions are provided to return the pixel sizes of window
240 components, namely `window-scroll-bar-width', `window-mode-line-height'
241 `window-header-line-height', `window-right-divider-width' and
242 `window-bottom-divider-width'.
243
244 *** The new function `window-text-pixel-size' returns the size of the
245 text of a window's buffer in pixels. This allows functions like
246 `fit-frame-to-buffer' and `fit-window-to-buffer' to accurately fit a
247 window to its buffer as it will be displayed.
248
249 *** `fit-window-to-buffer' can now resize windows horizontally.
250 This behavior is controlled by the new option
251 `fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally'.
252
253 *** `fit-frame-to-buffer' can now fit frames in both directions.
254 This behavior is controlled by the option `fit-frame-to-buffer' which
255 tells in which direction(s) the frame shall be fit. The new options
256 `fit-frame-to-buffer-margins' and `fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes' allow to
257 control the size of the frame and its position on screen.
258
259 *** Temp Buffer Resize Mode can now adjust height and width of windows
260 and frames. `temp-buffer-resize-mode' is now able to adjust the height
261 and the width of a window displaying a temporary buffer. The new option
262 `temp-buffer-max-width' allows to control the width of temporary buffer
263 windows. Moreover, if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil
264 and the buffer appears in the root window of a frame, Temp Buffer Resize
265 Mode will try to adjust width and/or height of the frame.
266
267 ---
268 *** `split-window' is now a non-interactive function, not a command.
269 As a command, it was a special case of `C-x 2' (`split-window-below'),
270 and as such superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its
271 interactive form was mistakenly retained.
272
273 +++
274 *** The functions `window-size' and `window-total-size' now have an
275 optional argument to return a rounded size value.
276
277 +++
278 *** `window-state-put' now allows to put a window state into internal
279 windows too.
280
281 +++
282 *** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
283 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
284 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
285 of the buffer is visible).
286
287 +++
288 *** New basic action function `display-buffer-in-previous-window' has
289 `display-buffer' display a buffer in a window previously showing that
290 buffer.
291
292 +++
293 *** New basic action function `display-buffer-at-bottom' has
294 `display-buffer' choose or make a window at the bottom of the selected
295 frame.
296
297 *** New display action function `display-buffer-no-window' to not
298 display the buffer in a window.
299
300 *** New display action alist entry `allow-no-window' to indicate the
301 caller of `display-buffer' is ready to handle the case of not
302 displaying the buffer in a window.
303
304 ** Lisp evaluation changes
305 +++
306 *** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
307 if there is one.
308
309 +++
310 *** The commands `eval-expression' (`M-:'), `eval-last-sexp' (`C-x C-e'),
311 and `eval-print-last-sexp' (`C-j' in Lisp Interaction mode) can take a
312 zero prefix argument. This disables truncation of lists in the output,
313 equivalent to setting `(eval-expression-)print-length' and
314 `(eval-expression-)print-level' to nil. Additionally, it causes integers
315 to be printed in other formats (octal, hexadecimal, and character).
316
317 ---
318 *** New hook `eval-expression-minibuffer-setup-hook' run by
319 `eval-expression' on entering the minibuffer.
320
321 ---
322 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
323
324 +++
325 ** `cache-long-line-scans' is now non-nil, and renamed to `cache-long-scans',
326 because it affects caching of paragraph scanning results as well.
327 There is no reason to set this to nil except for debugging purposes.
328
329 ---
330 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
331 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
332 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
333
334 ---
335 ** The default value of `comment-use-global-state' is now t,
336 and this variable has been marked obsolete.
337
338 ---
339 ** `emacs-bzr-version' has been renamed to `emacs-repository-version',
340 and works for git too, if you fetch the repository notes.
341
342 +++
343 ** New option `load-prefer-newer' affects how the `load' function chooses
344 the file to load. If this is non-nil, then when both .el and .elc
345 versions of a file exist, and the caller did not explicitly specify
346 which one to load, then the newer file is loaded. The default, nil,
347 means to always load the .elc file.
348
349 \f
350 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
351
352 ** Indentation changes
353
354 +++
355 *** The behavior of `C-x TAB' (`indent-rigidly') has changed.
356 When invoked without a prefix argument, it now activates a transient
357 mode in which typing <left>, <right>, <S-left>, and <S-right> adjusts
358 the text indentation in the region. Typing any other key resumes
359 normal editing behavior.
360
361 *** `electric-indent-mode' is enabled by default.
362
363 +++
364 *** `tab-stop-list' is now implicitly extended to infinity by repeating
365 the last step. Its default value is changed to nil, which means a tab
366 stop every `tab-width' columns.
367
368 +++
369 ** New command `cycle-spacing' acts like a smarter `just-one-space'.
370 When called in succession, it cycles between spacing conventions:
371 one space, no spaces, original spacing.
372
373 +++
374 ** The new function `fill-single-char-nobreak-p' can stop fill from breaking
375 a line after a one-letter word, which is an error in some typographical
376 conventions. To use it, add it to the `fill-nobreak-predicate' hook.
377
378 +++
379 ** Uniquify is enabled by default, with `post-forward-angle-brackets' style.
380
381 +++
382 ** New command `C-x SPC' (`rectangle-mark-mode') makes a rectangular region.
383 Most commands are still unaware of it, but kill/yank do work on the rectangle.
384
385 +++
386 ** New option `visual-order-cursor-movement'.
387 If this is non-nil, cursor motion with arrow keys will follow the
388 visual order of characters on the screen: <left> always moves to the
389 left, <right> always moves to the right, disregarding the surrounding
390 bidirectional context.
391
392 ** Register changes
393
394 +++
395 *** All interactive commands that read a register (`copy-to-register', etc.)
396 now display a temporary window after `register-preview-delay' seconds
397 that summarizes existing registers. To disable this, set that option to nil.
398 Interactive commands that read registers and want to make use of this
399 should use `register-read-with-preview' to read register names.
400
401 +++
402 *** New command `frameset-to-register' bound to `C-x r f', replacing
403 `frame-configuration-to-register'. It offers similar functionality,
404 plus enhancements like the ability to restore deleted frames.
405 (`frame-configuration-to-register' still exists, but no longer has a
406 key binding.)
407
408 +++
409 *** New command `C-x C-k x' (`kmacro-to-register') stores keyboard
410 macros in registers.
411
412 +++
413 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines'.
414 This searches the region for identical lines, and removes all but one
415 copy of each repeated line. The lines need not be sorted.
416
417 \f
418 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
419
420 +++
421 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
422 Affected files:
423 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
424 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
425 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
426 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
427 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
428 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
429 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave/ replaces ~/.idlwave/
430 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
431 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
432 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
433 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
434 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
435 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
436 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
437 Also the following files used by the now obsolete otodo-mode.el:
438 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
439 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
440 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
441
442 ** Backtrace and debugger
443
444 +++
445 *** New Lisp debugger command `v' (`debugger-toggle-locals') toggles the
446 display of local variables of the current stack frame.
447
448 +++
449 *** The Lisp debugger's `e' command (`debugger-eval-expression') now includes
450 the lexical environment when evaluating the code in the context at point
451 (and so allows you to access lexical variables).
452
453 ---
454 *** New minor mode `jit-lock-debug-mode' helps you debug code run via JIT Lock.
455
456 ---
457 ** Battery information can now be retrieved from BSD's `apm' utility.
458
459 ---
460 ** In the Buffer Menu, `M-s a C-o' shows matches for a regexp in marked buffers.
461
462 ** Calendar and Diary
463
464 ---
465 *** New faces `calendar-weekday-header', `calendar-weekend-header',
466 and `calendar-month-header'.
467
468 +++
469 *** New option `calendar-day-header-array'.
470
471 +++
472 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
473 `diary-from-outlook'.
474
475 ---
476 *** The variable `calendar-font-lock-keywords' is obsolete.
477
478 ** Calc
479
480 +++
481 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
482 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
483 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
484 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
485 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
486
487 +++
488 *** The new option `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure if
489 (and when) Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
490
491 +++
492 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
493
494 ** CEDET
495
496 *** EDE
497
498 **** The cpp-root project now supports executing a compile command.
499 It can be set through the new :compile-command slot or the
500 buffer-local variable `compile-command'.
501
502 **** Better selection of include directories for the 'linux' project.
503 Include directories now support out-of-tree build directories and
504 target architecture auto-detection.
505
506 *** Semantic
507
508 **** Improved detection of used namespaces in current scope in C++.
509
510 **** Parsing of default values for variables and function arguments in C/C++.
511 They are also displayed by the summarize feature in the mode line.
512
513 **** Improved parsing of function pointers in C/C++.
514 This also includes parsing of function pointers as function arguments.
515
516 **** Parsing of C/C++ preprocessor macros that open new scope.
517 For example, this enables parsing of macros that open new namespaces.
518
519 **** Support for 'this' pointer in inline member functions in C++.
520
521 ** cl-lib
522
523 +++
524 *** New macro `cl-tagbody'.
525 This executes statements while allowing for control transfer to labels.
526
527 +++
528 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
529
530 ** CUA mode
531
532 +++
533 *** CUA mode now uses `delete-selection-mode' and `shift-select-mode'.
534 Hence, you can now enable it independently from those modes, and from
535 `transient-mark-mode'.
536
537 ---
538 *** `cua-highlight-region-shift-only' is now obsolete.
539 You can disable `transient-mark-mode' to get the same result.
540
541 +++
542 *** CUA's rectangles can now be used without CUA by calling the command
543 `cua-rectangle-mark-mode'.
544
545 ** CFEngine mode
546
547 ---
548 *** Support for completion, ElDoc, and Flycheck has been added.
549
550 ---
551 *** The current CFEngine syntax is parsed from "cf-promises -s json".
552 There is a fallback syntax available if you don't have cf-promises or
553 if your version doesn't support that option. See option `cfengine-cf-promises'.
554
555 ---
556 ** Delete Selection mode can now be used without Transient Mark mode.
557
558 ** Desktop
559
560 +++
561 *** `desktop-save-mode' by default now auto-saves an existing desktop file
562 after `desktop-auto-save-timeout'. To disable this, customize that option
563 to nil (or zero).
564
565 +++
566 *** `desktop-restore-frames', enabled by default, allows saving and
567 restoring the frame/window configuration (frameset). Additional options
568 `desktop-restore-in-current-display', `desktop-restore-reuses-frames'
569 and `desktop-restore-forces-onscreen' offer further customization.
570
571 +++
572 ** New Dired minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' toggles whether details,
573 such as file ownership or permissions, are visible.
574
575 ---
576 ** You can enable ElDoc inside the `eval-expression' minibuffer with:
577 (add-hook 'eval-expression-minibuffer-setup-hook 'eldoc-mode)
578 The results display in the mode line.
579
580 ** Electric Pair mode
581
582 +++
583 *** New option `electric-pair-preserve-balance', enabled by default.
584 If non-nil, pairing/skipping only kicks in when that help the balance
585 of parentheses and quotes, i.e. the buffer should end up at least as
586 balanced as before.
587
588 You can further control this behavior by adjusting the predicates
589 stored in `electric-pair-inhibit-predicate' and `electric-pair-skip-self'.
590
591 +++
592 *** New option `electric-pair-delete-adjacent-pairs', enabled by default.
593 In `electric-pair-mode', the commands `backward-delete-char' and
594 `backward-delete-char-untabify' are now bound to electric variants
595 that delete the closer when invoked between adjacent pairs.
596
597 +++
598 *** New option `electric-pair-open-newline-between-pairs', enabled by default.
599 In `electric-pair-mode', inserting a newline between adjacent pairs
600 opens an extra newline after point, which is indented if
601 `electric-indent-mode' is also set.
602
603 +++
604 *** New option `electric-pair-skip-whitespace', enabled by default.
605 This controls if skipping over closing delimiters should jump over any
606 whitespace slack. Setting it to `chomp' makes it delete this
607 whitespace. See also the variable `electric-pair-skip-whitespace-chars'.
608
609 ---
610 *** New variables control the pairing in strings and comments.
611 You can customize `electric-pair-text-pairs' and
612 `electric-pair-text-syntax-table' to tweak pairing behavior inside
613 strings and comments.
614
615 +++
616 ** New EPA option `epa-mail-aliases'.
617 You can set this to a list of email address aliases that `epa-mail-encrypt'
618 should use to find keys.
619
620 ---
621 ** New ERC option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
622 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally pasting large
623 amounts of data into the ERC input.
624
625 +++
626 ** New ERT macro `skip-unless' allows skipping ERT tests.
627 See the ERT manual for details.
628
629 ** Eshell
630
631 +++
632 *** `eshell' now supports visual subcommands and options.
633 Eshell has been able to handle "visual" commands (interactive,
634 non-line oriented commands such as top that require display
635 capabilities not provided by eshell) by running them in an Emacs
636 terminal emulator. See `eshell-visual-commands'.
637
638 This feature has been extended to subcommands and options that make a
639 usually line-oriented command a visual command. Typical examples are
640 "git log" and "git <command> --help", which display their output in a
641 pager by default. See `eshell-visual-subcommands' and
642 `eshell-visual-options'.
643
644 ---
645 *** New Eshell-Tramp module.
646 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
647 Tramp-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
648 module.
649
650 ---
651 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
652
653 ** Icomplete
654 Icomplete is now more similar to Ido.
655
656 ---
657 *** Icomplete by default now applies to all forms of minibuffer completion.
658 The variable `icomplete-with-completion-tables' (now a user option)
659 controls this. To restore the old behavior, set it back to
660 '(internal-complete-buffer).
661
662 +++
663 *** You can navigate through and select completions using the keys
664 from `icomplete-minibuffer-map'.
665
666 ---
667 *** The string that separates potential completions is now a customizable
668 option (`icomplete-separator'). The default is " | " rather than ",".
669
670 ---
671 *** New face `icomplete-first-match'; and new options
672 `icomplete-hide-common-prefix' and `icomplete-show-matches-on-no-input'.
673
674 ---
675 *** The option `icomplete-show-key-bindings' has been removed.
676
677 ** Ido
678
679 +++
680 *** An Ido user manual is now included.
681
682 ---
683 *** The option `ido-use-virtual-buffers' can now take the value `auto'.
684 This means to use virtual buffers if the current ido input does not match
685 an existing buffer.
686
687 ---
688 *** The variable `ido-decorations' can optionally have two new elements,
689 which are the brackets to use around the sole remaining completion.
690
691 ** Image mode
692
693 +++
694 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
695 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
696 directory, respectively.
697
698 +++
699 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
700 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
701 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
702
703 +++
704 *** New commands to speed up, slow down, or reverse animation.
705 `a +' (`image-increase-speed') and `a -' (`image-decrease-speed') to
706 speed up and slow down the animation. `a r' (`image-reverse-speed')
707 to reverse it and `a 0' (`image-reset-speed') to reset it.
708
709 ---
710 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
711 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
712 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
713 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
714
715 ** Hi-Lock
716
717 +++
718 *** New global command `M-s h .' (`highlight-symbol-at-point') highlights
719 the symbol found near point.
720
721 +++
722 *** New option `hi-lock-auto-select-face'. When non-nil, hi-lock commands
723 will cycle through faces in `hi-lock-face-defaults' without prompting.
724
725 ---
726 ** New Imenu option `imenu-generic-skip-comments-and-strings'.
727
728 ** Info
729
730 ---
731 *** New Info face `info-index-match', used to highlight matches in index
732 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
733 `info-apropos'.
734
735 ---
736 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
737 has not been relevant for some time.
738
739 ** JS Mode
740
741 ---
742 *** New option `js-switch-indent-offset'.
743
744 ---
745 *** Better indentation of multiple-variable declarations.
746 If a declaration spans several lines, variables on the following lines
747 are lined up to the first one.
748
749 ---
750 *** Recognition and better indentation of continuations in array comprehensions.
751
752 +++
753 ** MH-E has been updated to version 8.5 - see separate MH-E-NEWS file.
754
755 +++
756 ** Octave mode
757
758 *** Font locking for Texinfo comments and new keywords.
759
760 *** Completion in Octave file buffers.
761
762 *** ElDoc support.
763
764 *** Jump to definition.
765
766 *** Documentation lookup/search.
767
768 +++
769 ** OPascal mode is the new name for Delphi mode
770
771 ---
772 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
773 Obsolete aliases exist for those likely to have been used externally.
774
775 ---
776 *** The option `delphi-newline-always-indents' has been removed.
777 Use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
778
779 ---
780 *** The TAB key runs the standard `indent-for-tab-command', not `delphi-tab'.
781
782 ** Package
783
784 +++
785 *** In the `list-packages' buffer, you can use `f' (`package-menu-filter')
786 to filter the list of packages by a keyword.
787
788 +++
789 *** In the `describe-package' buffer, there are now buttons listing the
790 keywords related to the package. Click on a button to see other packages
791 related to that keyword.
792
793 ---
794 *** The format of `archive-contents' files, generated by package
795 repositories, has changed to allow a new (fifth) element in the data
796 vectors, containing an associative list with extra properties.
797 (For example, `describe-package' uses the `:url' extra property to
798 display a "Homepage" header.)
799
800 ---
801 ** In Prolog mode, `prolog-use-smie' has been removed,
802 along with the non-SMIE indentation code.
803
804 ** Remember
805
806 +++
807 *** The new command `remember-notes' creates a buffer that is saved on exit.
808 You can use it as a more permanent *scratch* buffer.
809
810 +++
811 *** Remember can now store notes in separate files.
812 To use this, add `remember-store-in-files' to the `remember-handler-functions'
813 option. The files are saved in `remember-data-directory' using
814 names specified by `remember-directory-file-name-format'.
815
816 ** Rmail
817
818 +++
819 *** Customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects of
820 how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
821
822 ---
823 *** The `unrmail' command now converts from BABYL to mboxrd format,
824 rather than mboxo. Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
825
826 ** Ruby mode
827
828 ---
829 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
830
831 ---
832 *** New `electric-indent-mode' integration.
833
834 ---
835 *** New option `ruby-encoding-magic-comment-style'.
836
837 ---
838 *** New option `ruby-custom-encoding-magic-comment-template'.
839
840 ---
841 *** New option `ruby-align-to-stmt-keywords'.
842
843 ---
844 *** New option `ruby-align-chained-calls'.
845
846 ---
847 *** More Ruby file types have been added to `auto-mode-alist'.
848
849 ** Search and Replace
850
851 +++
852 *** New global command `M-s .' (`isearch-forward-symbol-at-point')
853 starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search forward with the
854 symbol found near point added to the search string initially.
855
856 +++
857 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
858 and adds it to the search string.
859
860 +++
861 *** `M-s i' in Isearch mode toggles whether search matches invisible text.
862
863 +++
864 *** `query-replace' skips invisible text when `search-invisible' is nil,
865 and opens overlays with hidden text when `search-invisible' is `open'.
866
867 +++
868 *** A negative prefix arg of replacement commands replaces backward.
869 `M-- M-%' replaces a string backward, `M-- C-M-%' replaces a regexp
870 backward, `M-s w words M-- M-%' replaces a sequence of words backward.
871
872 +++
873 *** By default, prefix arguments do not now terminate Isearch mode.
874 Set `isearch-allow-prefix' to nil to restore old behavior.
875
876 +++
877 *** More Isearch commands accept prefix arguments, namely
878 `isearch-printing-char', `isearch-quote-char', `isearch-yank-word',
879 `isearch-yank-line'.
880
881 +++
882 *** Word search now matches whitespace at the beginning/end
883 of the search string if it contains leading/trailing whitespace.
884 In an incremental word search or when using a non-nil LAX argument
885 of `word-search-regexp', the lax matching can also match part of
886 the first word (in addition to the lax matching of the last word).
887 The same rules are now applied to the symbol search with the difference
888 that it matches symbols, and non-symbol characters between symbols.
889
890 +++
891 ** New SES command `ses-rename-cell' allows assignment of names to SES cells.
892
893 ---
894 ** The shell.el option `explicit-bash-args' includes --noediting by default.
895 All non-ancient Bash versions support this option.
896
897 ** Shell Script mode
898
899 ---
900 *** The SMIE indentation engine is now used by default - see `sh-use-smie'.
901
902 ---
903 *** `sh-mode' now has its own setting for `add-log-current-defun-function'.
904
905 ** SMIE
906
907 +++
908 *** You can customize the SMIE indentation of a mode via `smie-config'.
909 The command `smie-config-guess' can help you derive the appropriate
910 indentation settings, if you provide it with an indented sample file.
911 Use `smie-config-save' to save the result.
912
913 +++
914 *** You can customize the SMIE indentation of a file by adding an entry to
915 the file's local variables of the form: `eval: (smie-config-local '(RULES))'.
916
917 +++
918 *** New commands `smie-config-show-indent' and `smie-config-set-indent'.
919
920 ---
921 ** SQL mode
922
923 *** Improved login monitoring and appropriate response to login failures.
924 New variable `sql-login-delay' defines maximum wait time for a connection.
925
926 *** Oracle support.
927 SQL*Plus script placeholders are properly highlighted and identified
928 in `sql-placeholders-filter'. When starting SQL*Plus, `sql-oracle-options'
929 are passed before the logon parameter, as required. The default now
930 includes `-L', to limit the number of logon attempts per invocation.
931
932 ---
933 ** New Term mode option `term-suppress-hard-newline'.
934
935 +++
936 ** Todo mode has been rewritten and enhanced.
937 The Todo mode user manual describes all commands and most user
938 options. To support some of these features, a new file format is
939 used, which is incompatible with the old format; however, you can
940 convert old todo and done item files to the new format on initializing
941 the first new todo file, or at any later time with the provided
942 conversion command. The previous version of todo-mode.el has been
943 renamed to otodo-mode.el and is now obsolete. New features include:
944
945 *** Support for multiple todo files and archive files of done items.
946
947 *** Renaming, reordering, moving, merging, and deleting categories.
948
949 *** Sortable tabular summaries of categories and the item types they contain.
950
951 *** Cross-category lists of items filtered by specific criteria.
952
953 *** More fine-grained interaction with the Emacs diary, by being able to
954 decide for each todo item whether it appears in the Fancy Diary display.
955
956 *** Highly flexible new item insertion and item editing.
957
958 *** Moving items between categories, storing done items in their category
959 or in archive files, undoing or unarchiving done items.
960
961 *** Reprioritizing items by inputting a numerical priority.
962
963 *** Extensive customizability of operation and display, including many faces.
964
965 ** Trace
966
967 ---
968 *** `trace-function' and `trace-function-background' no longer prompt for
969 the output buffer. Unless you use a prefix argument, they output to
970 `trace-buffer'.
971
972 ---
973 *** With a prefix argument, `trace-function' and `trace-function-background'
974 will prompt for a "context". This is a Lisp expression, whose value at the
975 time the function is entered/exited is printed along with the function's
976 name and arguments.
977
978 ** Tramp
979
980 +++
981 *** The experimental url syntax for remote file names has been removed.
982
983 +++
984 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
985 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
986 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
987
988 +++
989 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
990 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
991 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
992 when possible. See `tramp-use-ssh-controlmaster-options'.
993
994 +++
995 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
996 which support POSIX ACLs.
997
998 +++
999 *** Handlers for `file-notify-add-watch' and `file-notify-rm-watch'
1000 for remote machines which support filesystem notifications.
1001
1002 +++
1003 ** New URL command `url-cookie-list' displays the current cookies,
1004 and allows you to interactively remove cookies.
1005
1006 ** VC and related modes
1007
1008 +++
1009 *** In VC directory mode, `D' displays diffs between VC-controlled
1010 whole tree revisions.
1011
1012 +++
1013 *** In VC directory mode, `L' lists the change log for the current VC
1014 controlled tree in a window.
1015
1016 +++
1017 *** In VC directory mode, `I' shows a log of changes that will be
1018 received with a pull operation.
1019
1020 +++
1021 *** `C-x v G' (globally) and `G' (in VC directory mode) ignores a file
1022 under current version control system. When called with a prefix
1023 argument, you can remove a file from the ignored file list.
1024
1025 ** VHDL mode
1026
1027 ---
1028 *** New options: `vhdl-actual-generic-name', `vhdl-beautify-options'.
1029
1030 ---
1031 *** New commands: `vhdl-fix-statement-region', `vhdl-fix-statement-buffer'.
1032
1033 ---
1034 ** The Woman commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
1035 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-*' faces instead.
1036
1037 ** Obsolete packages
1038
1039 +++
1040 *** iswitchb.el; use icomplete-mode.
1041
1042 ---
1043 *** longlines.el; use visual-line-mode.
1044
1045 ---
1046 *** meese.el.
1047
1048 +++
1049 *** sup-mouse.el.
1050
1051 ---
1052 *** terminal.el; use term.el instead.
1053
1054 ---
1055 *** the old version of todo-mode.el (renamed to otodo-mode.el).
1056
1057 ---
1058 *** xesam.el (owing to the cancellation of the XESAM project).
1059
1060 +++
1061 *** yow.el; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
1062
1063 \f
1064 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
1065
1066 +++
1067 ** New package `eww' is a built-in web browser.
1068 It is only available if Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support.
1069
1070 +++
1071 ** New minor mode `superword-mode'.
1072 This overrides the default word motion commands to treat "symbol_words"
1073 as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does.
1074
1075 +++
1076 ** New package nadvice.el offers lighter-weight advice facilities.
1077 It is layered as:
1078
1079 *** add-function/remove-function, which can be used to add/remove code on any
1080 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
1081
1082 *** advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named
1083 function, much like `defadvice' does.
1084
1085 ** New package frameset.el.
1086 It provides a set of operations to save a frameset (the state of all
1087 or a subset of the existing frames and windows, somewhat similar to a
1088 frame configuration), both in-session and persistently, and restore it
1089 at some point in the future.
1090
1091 +++
1092 ** New package filenotify.el provides an interface for file system
1093 notifications. It requires that Emacs be compiled with one of the
1094 low-level libraries gfilenotify.c, inotify.c or w32notify.c.
1095
1096 \f
1097 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
1098
1099 ---
1100 ** `kill-region' has lost its `yank-handler' optional argument.
1101
1102 +++
1103 ** `(input-pending-p)' no longer runs other timers that are ready to run.
1104 The new optional CHECK-TIMERS parameter allows for the prior behavior.
1105
1106 +++
1107 ** `defvar' and `defcustom' in a let-binding affect the "external" default.
1108
1109 ---
1110 ** The syntax of ?» and ?« is now punctuation instead of matched parens.
1111 Some languages match those as »...«, and others as «...», so it is
1112 better for Emacs to stay neutral by default.
1113
1114 ---
1115 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
1116
1117 +++
1118 ** The default file coding for Emacs Lisp files is now utf-8.
1119 (See `file-coding-system-alist'.) In most cases, this change is
1120 transparent, but files that contain unusual characters without
1121 specifying an explicit coding system may fail to load with obscure
1122 errors. You should either convert them to utf-8 or add an explicit
1123 `coding:' cookie.
1124
1125 +++
1126 ** `overriding-terminal-local-map' no longer replaces the local keymaps.
1127 It used to disable the minor mode, major mode, and text-property keymaps,
1128 whereas now it simply has higher precedence.
1129
1130 +++
1131 ** Default process filters and sentinels are not nil any more.
1132 Instead they default to a function that does what the nil value used to do.
1133
1134 +++
1135 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
1136 As was the case in Emacs 22 and before, the decoding of terminal
1137 input, according to `keyboard-coding-system', is not performed in
1138 `read-event' any more. But unlike in Emacs 22, this decoding is still
1139 done before input-decode-map, function-key-map, etc.
1140
1141 ---
1142 ** The option `inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus' has been removed.
1143
1144 ---
1145 ** Frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
1146 More specifically, redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
1147 value when looking up variables.
1148
1149 +++
1150 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in `symbol-function'.
1151 `symbol-function' does not signal a `void-function' error any more.
1152 To determine if a symbol's function definition is void, use `fboundp'.
1153
1154 +++
1155 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
1156 special-forms any more.
1157
1158 ---
1159 ** `dolist' no longer binds VAR while evaluating the RESULT form,
1160 when lexical binding is enabled. Previously, VAR was bound to nil,
1161 which often led to spurious unused-variable warnings.
1162
1163 +++
1164 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1165 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
1166 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
1167 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
1168 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
1169
1170 +++
1171 ** By default `copy-file' no longer copies file permission bits to an
1172 existing destination; and it sets the file permission bits of a newly
1173 created destination to those of the source, masked by the default file
1174 permissions. To copy the file permission bits, pass t as the
1175 PRESERVE-PERMISSIONS argument of `copy-file'.
1176
1177 +++
1178 ** `visited-file-modtime' now returns -1 for nonexistent files.
1179 Formerly it returned a list (-1 LOW USEC PSEC), but this was ambiguous
1180 in the presence of files with negative time stamps.
1181
1182 +++
1183 ** The cars of the elements in `interpreter-mode-alist' are now
1184 treated as regexps rather than literal strings.
1185
1186 \f
1187 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
1188
1189 +++
1190 ** The second argument of `eval' can now specify a lexical environment.
1191
1192 +++
1193 ** New functions `special-form-p' and `macrop'.
1194
1195 +++
1196 ** New macro `define-alternatives' can be used to define generic commands.
1197 Generic commands are interactive functions whose implementation can be
1198 selected among several alternatives, as a matter of user preference.
1199
1200 +++
1201 ** If you give a symbol a `defalias-fset-function' property, `defalias'
1202 on that symbol will use the associated value as a function to call
1203 in place of `fset'.
1204
1205 +++
1206 ** New variable `enable-dir-local-variables'.
1207 Directory-local variables are ignored if this is nil. This may be
1208 useful for modes that want to ignore directory-locals while still
1209 respecting file-local variables.
1210
1211 +++
1212 ** New function `get-pos-property'.
1213
1214 +++
1215 ** `read-regexp' now uses the new variable `read-regexp-defaults-function'
1216 as a function to call to provide default values.
1217
1218 ** Completion changes
1219
1220 ---
1221 *** The separator used by `completing-read-multiple' is now a regexp.
1222 The default `crm-separator' has been changed to allow surrounding spaces
1223 around the comma.
1224
1225 +++
1226 *** The `common-substring' argument of `display-completion-list',
1227 which has been documented as obsolete since Emacs 23.1, is now _really_
1228 obsolete, and no longer advertised. Instead either call
1229 `completion-hilit-commonality' to add the highlighting; or use
1230 `completion-all-completions', which returns highlighted strings.
1231
1232 +++
1233 *** New function `completion-table-with-cache' is a wrapper for
1234 `completion-table-dynamic' that caches the result of the last lookup.
1235
1236 +++
1237 *** New function `completion-table-merge' to combine several
1238 completion tables by merging their completions.
1239
1240 +++
1241 ** New minor modes `prettify-symbols-mode' and `global-prettify-symbols-mode'
1242 display specified symbols as composed characters. E.g., in Emacs Lisp mode,
1243 this replaces the string "lambda" with the Greek lambda character.
1244
1245 ** Terminal changes
1246
1247 +++
1248 *** Functions to pop up menus and dialogs now work on all terminals,
1249 including TTYs. This includes `x-popup-menu', `x-popup-dialog',
1250 `message-box', `yes-or-no-p', etc.
1251
1252 The function `display-popup-menus-p' will now return non-nil for a
1253 display or frame whenever a mouse is supported on that display or
1254 frame.
1255
1256 +++
1257 *** New hook `tty-setup-hook', run at the end of initializing a text terminal.
1258
1259 +++
1260 *** The hook `term-setup-hook' is obsolete. It is entirely equivalent
1261 to `emacs-startup-hook'. See also the new `tty-setup-hook'.
1262
1263 +++
1264 ** New hook `pre-redisplay-function'.
1265
1266 +++
1267 ** New bool-vector set operation functions
1268 *** `bool-vector-exclusive-or'
1269 *** `bool-vector-union'
1270 *** `bool-vector-intersection'
1271 *** `bool-vector-set-difference'
1272 *** `bool-vector-not'
1273 *** `bool-vector-subsetp'
1274 *** `bool-vector-count-consecutive'
1275 *** `bool-vector-count-population'
1276
1277 +++
1278 ** Comparison functions =, <, >, <=, >= can now take many arguments.
1279
1280 ** Error-handling changes
1281
1282 +++
1283 *** New function `define-error'.
1284
1285 +++
1286 *** `with-demoted-errors' takes an additional argument `format'.
1287
1288 +++
1289 ** New macro `with-eval-after-load'.
1290 This is like the old `eval-after-load', but better behaved.
1291
1292 ---
1293 ** New library subr-x.el with miscellaneous small utility functions
1294 *** `hash-table-keys'
1295 *** `hash-table-values'
1296 *** `string-blank-p'
1297 *** `string-empty-p'
1298 *** `string-join'
1299 *** `string-reverse'
1300 *** `string-trim-left'
1301 *** `string-trim-right'
1302 *** `string-trim'
1303 *** `string-remove-prefix'
1304 *** `string-remove-suffix'
1305
1306 +++
1307 ** Obsoleted functions
1308 *** `log10'
1309 *** `dont-compile'
1310 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
1311 *** `field-complete'
1312 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
1313 *** `isearch-nonincremental-exit-minibuffer'
1314 *** `isearch-filter-visible'
1315 *** `generic-make-keywords-list'
1316 *** `get-upcase-table' (use `case-table-get-table' instead).
1317
1318 +++
1319 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
1320 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
1321 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
1322 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
1323 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
1324
1325 +++
1326 ** `byte-compile-interactive-only-functions' is now obsolete.
1327 To specify that a command should only be called interactively, give it
1328 a non-nil `interactive-only' property.
1329
1330 +++
1331 ** `split-string' now takes an optional argument TRIM.
1332 The value, if non-nil, is a regexp that specifies what to trim from
1333 the start and end of each substring.
1334
1335 +++
1336 ** New function `string-suffix-p'.
1337
1338 ** File-handling changes
1339
1340 +++
1341 *** Support for filesystem notifications.
1342 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
1343 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
1344 `glib' API, or the 'inotify' API (on GNU/Linux systems only). On
1345 MS-Windows systems, this is supported for Windows XP and newer
1346 versions.
1347
1348 +++
1349 *** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
1350 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
1351 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
1352 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
1353
1354 +++
1355 *** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
1356 PRESERVE-PERMISSIONS as it now handles ACL entries and the traditional
1357 Unix file permission bits as well as SELinux context.
1358
1359 +++
1360 *** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
1361 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
1362 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
1363
1364 ---
1365 *** The function `set-visited-file-modtime' now accepts a 0 or -1
1366 argument, with the same interpretation as the returned value of
1367 `visited-file-modtime'.
1368
1369 ** Autorevert changes
1370
1371 ---
1372 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
1373 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
1374 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
1375 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
1376 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
1377 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
1378
1379 ---
1380 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
1381 of remote files when set to non-nil.
1382
1383 ** Face changes
1384
1385 +++
1386 *** The function `face-spec-set' is now like `setq' for face specs.
1387 Its third arg now accepts values specifying a face spec type (defface,
1388 custom, or override spec), and the relevant spec is set accordingly.
1389
1390 +++
1391 *** New function `add-face-text-property', which can be used to
1392 conveniently prepend/append new face properties.
1393
1394 ---
1395 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
1396 rather than inheriting from it. In other words, setting a face via a
1397 theme now behaves like setting it via Customize: you only need to
1398 specify the attributes that you want, you don't need to unset those
1399 that you don't want.
1400
1401 ---
1402 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
1403 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
1404
1405 +++
1406 *** New face spec attribute :distant-foreground
1407 specifies foreground to use if background color is near the foreground
1408 color that would otherwise have been used.
1409
1410 ** Image API
1411
1412 +++
1413 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
1414 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
1415 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
1416
1417 +++
1418 *** New variable `image-default-frame-delay' gives the frame delay for
1419 animated images which do not specify a frame delay.
1420
1421 +++
1422 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
1423 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
1424
1425 ** EIEIO
1426
1427 +++
1428 *** Namespace cleanup by obsolete-aliasing functions to use `eieio-' prefix.
1429 **** object-name -> eieio-object-name
1430 **** object-class -> eieio-object-class
1431 **** object-class-fast -> eieio--object-class
1432 **** object-class-name -> eieio-object-class-name
1433 **** object-name-string -> eieio-object-name-string
1434 **** object-num-slots -> eieio--object-num-slots
1435 **** object-set-name-string -> eieio-object-set-name-string
1436 **** class-of -> eieio-object-class
1437 **** class-name -> eieio-class-name
1438 **** class-parent -> eieio-class-parent
1439 **** class-parents -> eieio-class-parents
1440 **** class-parents-fast -> eieio-class-parents-fast
1441 **** class-children -> eieio-class-children
1442 **** class-num-slots -> eieio--class-num-slots
1443 **** class-precedence-list -> eieio-class-precedence-list
1444 **** class-direct-subclasses -> eieio-class-children
1445 **** class-direct-superclasses -> eieio-class-parents
1446
1447 ** Changes in encoding and decoding of text
1448
1449 ---
1450 *** New coding-system `prefer-utf-8'.
1451 This is like `undecided' but prefers UTF-8 on decoding if the text to
1452 be decoded does not contain any invalid UTF-8 sequences. On encoding,
1453 any non-ASCII characters are automatically encoded as UTF-8.
1454
1455 ---
1456 *** New attributes of coding-systems whose type is `undecided'.
1457 Two new attributes, `:inhibit-null-byte-detection' and
1458 `:inhibit-iso-escape-detection', determine how to detect encoding of
1459 text that includes null bytes and ISO-2022 escape sequences,
1460 respectively. Each of these attributes can be either nil, zero, or
1461 t. If it is t, decoding text ignores null bytes and, respectively,
1462 ISO-2022 sequences. If it is nil, null bytes cause text to be decoded
1463 with no-conversion and ISO-2022 sequences cause Emacs to assume the
1464 text is encoded in one of the ISO-2022 encodings, such as
1465 iso-2022-7bit. If the value is zero, Emacs consults the variables
1466 inhibit-null-byte-detection and inhibit-iso-escape-detection, which
1467 see.
1468 The new attribute `:prefer-utf-8', if non-nil, causes Emacs to prefer
1469 UTF-8 encoding and decoding, whenever possible.
1470
1471 These attributes are only meaningful for coding-systems of type
1472 `undecided'. (The type of a coding-system is determined by its
1473 `:coding-type' attribute and can be accessed by calling the
1474 `coding-system-type' function.)
1475
1476 ---
1477 ** The `time-to-seconds' alias to `float-time' is no longer marked obsolete.
1478
1479 +++
1480 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
1481
1482 ---
1483 ** The spelling of the rx.el category `chinese-two-byte' has been
1484 corrected (the first 'e' was missing).
1485
1486 ---
1487 ** Minor internal changes to the details of lock files.
1488 The lock for DIR/FILE is now _always_ DIR/.#FILE.
1489 If DIR/.#FILE already exists and is not an Emacs lock file,
1490 Emacs makes no attempt to lock DIR/FILE. (Previously, it fell back to
1491 numbered lock files DIR/.#FILE.0...).
1492 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
1493 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
1494
1495 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
1496
1497 +++
1498 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
1499 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
1500 meant to be used by other packages.
1501
1502 \f
1503 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1504
1505 ---
1506 ** The procedure for building Emacs on MS-Windows has changed.
1507 It is now built by running the same configure script as on all other
1508 platforms. This requires the MSYS environment and MinGW development
1509 tools. See the updated instructions in nt/INSTALL for details.
1510
1511 Using the Posix configure script and Makefile's also means a change in
1512 the directory structure of the Emacs installation on Windows. It is
1513 now the same as on GNU and Unix systems. In particular, the auxiliary
1514 programs, such as cmdproxy.exe and hexl.exe, are in
1515 libexec/emacs/VERSION/i686-pc-mingw32 (where VERSION is the Emacs
1516 version), version-independent site-lisp is in share/emacs/site-lisp,
1517 version-specific Lisp files are in share/emacs/VERSION/lisp and in
1518 share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, Info docs are in share/info, and data
1519 files are in share/emacs/VERSION/etc. (Emacs knows about all these
1520 directories and will find the files in there automatically; there's no
1521 need to set any variables due to this change.)
1522
1523 +++
1524 ** Emacs on Windows 2000 and later can now access files and directories
1525 whose names cannot be encoded in the current system codepage.
1526
1527 The new variable `w32-unicode-filenames' controls this feature: if it
1528 is t, Emacs uses Unicode APIs to pass file names to system calls,
1529 which lifts the limitation of file names to the current locale.
1530
1531 +++
1532 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
1533 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
1534 directory where Emacs was running.
1535
1536 +++
1537 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
1538 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
1539 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
1540 modifying it has no effect.
1541
1542 ---
1543 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
1544 This helps to prevent losing your edits if the same file is being
1545 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
1546 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
1547 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
1548
1549 ** New Core Text based font backend for Mac OS X 10.5 and newer.
1550 GNUstep and Mac OS X 10.4 use the old font backend.
1551 To use the old backend by default, do on the command line:
1552 % defaults write org.gnu.Emacs FontBackend ns
1553
1554 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
1555 Emacs supports both native (Mac OS X 10.7 and newer) and "old style" fullscreen.
1556 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change the style.
1557 For Mac OS X 10.7 and newer, native is the default.
1558
1559 ** On Mac OS X 10.7 and newer, Emacs uses sRGB colorspace by default.
1560 Customize `ns-use-srgb-colorspace' to disable this. Note that this
1561 does not apply to images.
1562
1563 \f
1564 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
1565
1566 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
1567 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
1568 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
1569 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
1570 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
1571 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
1572
1573 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
1574 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
1575
1576 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
1577 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
1578
1579 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
1580 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
1581 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
1582 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
1583 the results may be useful to developers.
1584
1585 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
1586 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
1587 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
1588 check that this option enables.
1589
1590 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
1591 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
1592
1593 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
1594 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
1595 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
1596 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
1597 links between the various manuals.
1598
1599 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
1600 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
1601 to "emacs-VERSION".
1602
1603 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
1604
1605 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
1606 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
1607 you want them.
1608
1609 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
1610 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
1611 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
1612
1613 \f
1614 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
1615
1616 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
1617 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
1618 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
1619
1620 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
1621
1622 \f
1623 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
1624
1625 ** Help
1626
1627 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
1628 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
1629 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
1630 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
1631 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
1632
1633 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
1634 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
1635 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
1636
1637 ** ImageMagick
1638
1639 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
1640 :background image specification property.
1641
1642 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
1643 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
1644 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
1645 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
1646
1647 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
1648 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
1649 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
1650
1651 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
1652 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
1653 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
1654 treated as images.
1655
1656 ** Minibuffer
1657
1658 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
1659 next and previous path separator, respectively.
1660
1661 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
1662 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
1663 non-nil before enabling the mode.
1664
1665 ** Mode line
1666
1667 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
1668 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
1669 that does not have its own specialized help text.
1670
1671 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
1672 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
1673
1674 ** Server and client
1675
1676 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
1677 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
1678 or expression to evaluate.
1679
1680 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
1681
1682 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
1683 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
1684 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
1685 that support backtraces.
1686
1687 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
1688 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
1689
1690 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
1691 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
1692 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
1693
1694 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
1695 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
1696
1697 ** If your Emacs was built from a repository checkout, the new variable
1698 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
1699
1700 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
1701 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
1702 files (use this with caution).
1703
1704 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
1705 variables on remote hosts.
1706
1707 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
1708 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
1709
1710 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
1711 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
1712
1713 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
1714 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
1715 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
1716 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
1717
1718 ** Internationalization
1719
1720 *** New language environment: Persian.
1721
1722 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
1723
1724 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
1725
1726 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
1727
1728 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
1729 menu/toolbar.
1730
1731 \f
1732 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
1733
1734 ** Search and Replace
1735
1736 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
1737 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
1738 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
1739 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
1740 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
1741
1742 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
1743 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
1744
1745 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
1746 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
1747 The default is nil.
1748
1749 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
1750 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
1751 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
1752
1753 ** Navigation commands
1754
1755 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
1756
1757 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
1758
1759 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
1760 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
1761
1762 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
1763 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
1764 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
1765
1766 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
1767 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
1768 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
1769
1770 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
1771
1772 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
1773 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
1774
1775 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
1776 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
1777 accidentally type.
1778
1779 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
1780 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
1781
1782 ** Registers
1783
1784 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
1785
1786 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
1787 the text to put between collected texts for use with
1788 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
1789
1790 \f
1791 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
1792
1793 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
1794
1795 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
1796 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
1797 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
1798 use the "cl--" prefix).
1799
1800 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
1801 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
1802 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
1803 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
1804 rather than `cl-foo*'.
1805
1806 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
1807 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
1808
1809 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
1810 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
1811 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
1812 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
1813
1814 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
1815 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
1816 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
1817 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
1818 is in use.
1819
1820 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
1821 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
1822 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
1823
1824 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
1825 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
1826 to nil rather than being made unbound.
1827
1828 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
1829 (use features from gv.el instead):
1830 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
1831 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
1832 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
1833 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
1834
1835 ** Diff mode
1836
1837 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
1838 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
1839 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
1840 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
1841 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
1842
1843 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
1844 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
1845 changes in context diffs.
1846
1847 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
1848 whitespace introduced by a diff.
1849
1850 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
1851
1852 ** Python mode
1853
1854 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
1855 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
1856 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
1857 text based shell).
1858
1859 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
1860 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
1861 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
1862 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
1863 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
1864
1865 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
1866
1867 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
1868
1869 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
1870 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
1871
1872 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
1873 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
1874
1875 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
1876 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
1877
1878 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
1879 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
1880
1881 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
1882 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
1883 No longer relevant.
1884
1885 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
1886 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
1887 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
1888 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
1889 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
1890 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
1891 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
1892 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
1893 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
1894 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
1895 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
1896 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
1897 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
1898 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
1899 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
1900 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
1901 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
1902 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
1903 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
1904 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
1905 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
1906
1907 ** D-Bus
1908
1909 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
1910
1911 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
1912
1913 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
1914 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
1915
1916 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
1917 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
1918
1919 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
1920
1921 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
1922 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
1923
1924 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
1925
1926 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
1927
1928 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
1929 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
1930
1931 ** Dired
1932
1933 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
1934 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
1935 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
1936
1937 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
1938 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
1939 file at point.
1940
1941 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
1942 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
1943 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
1944
1945 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff') has changed.
1946 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
1947 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
1948
1949 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
1950 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
1951
1952 ** ERC
1953
1954 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
1955 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
1956
1957 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
1958 channel keys found.
1959
1960 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
1961 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
1962
1963 ** reStructuredText mode
1964
1965 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
1966 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
1967 and improved.
1968
1969 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
1970
1971 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
1972 Sphinx support has been improved.
1973
1974 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
1975
1976 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
1977
1978 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
1979
1980 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
1981
1982 ** Ruby mode
1983
1984 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
1985 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
1986 steps definitions.
1987
1988 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
1989
1990 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
1991
1992 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
1993
1994 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
1995
1996 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
1997
1998 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
1999 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
2000 and `end-of-defun-function'.
2001
2002 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
2003 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
2004
2005 ** Shell Script mode
2006
2007 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
2008
2009 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
2010
2011 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
2012
2013 ** VHDL mode
2014
2015 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
2016
2017 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
2018
2019 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
2020
2021 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
2022
2023 ** Apropos
2024
2025 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
2026 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
2027 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
2028
2029 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
2030 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', `apropos-label-face',
2031 `apropos-match-face' and `apropos-property-face'.).
2032
2033 ** Buffer Menu
2034
2035 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
2036
2037 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
2038 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
2039
2040 ** Calc
2041
2042 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
2043 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
2044 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
2045
2046 ** Calendar
2047
2048 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
2049 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
2050
2051 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
2052
2053 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
2054 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
2055
2056 ** CEDET
2057
2058 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
2059 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
2060 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
2061
2062 *** EDE
2063
2064 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
2065 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
2066
2067 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
2068
2069 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
2070
2071 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
2072
2073 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
2074
2075 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
2076
2077 *** Semantic
2078
2079 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
2080
2081 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
2082
2083 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
2084 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
2085 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
2086
2087 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
2088
2089 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
2090
2091 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
2092
2093 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
2094
2095 **** Improved tooltip completion.
2096
2097 *** SRecode
2098
2099 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
2100
2101 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
2102 include differentiation.
2103
2104 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
2105 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
2106 mode (like Java).
2107
2108 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
2109
2110 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
2111 default -> c++ -> arduino.
2112
2113 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
2114
2115 ** Customize
2116
2117 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
2118
2119 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
2120 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
2121 these commands now).
2122
2123 ** Term
2124
2125 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
2126 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
2127
2128 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
2129 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
2130 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
2131
2132 ** Tramp
2133
2134 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
2135
2136 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
2137
2138 ** URL
2139
2140 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
2141 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
2142 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
2143 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
2144 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
2145
2146 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
2147 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
2148 in case that is not properly encoded.
2149
2150 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
2151 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
2152 server properties.
2153
2154 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
2155 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
2156 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
2157
2158 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
2159 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
2160 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
2161
2162 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
2163 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
2164
2165 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
2166 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
2167
2168 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
2169 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
2170
2171 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
2172
2173 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
2174 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
2175 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
2176
2177 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
2178 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
2179 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
2180 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
2181
2182 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
2183 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
2184 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
2185
2186 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
2187 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
2188
2189 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
2190 it is enabled.
2191
2192 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
2193 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
2194
2195 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
2196
2197 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
2198 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
2199 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
2200 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
2201 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
2202 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
2203 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
2204 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
2205 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
2206 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
2207 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
2208 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
2209 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
2210 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
2211 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
2212 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
2213 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
2214 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
2215 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
2216 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
2217 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
2218 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
2219 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
2220
2221 ** Obsolete packages
2222
2223 *** assoc.el
2224 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
2225 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
2226 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
2227 *** bruce.el
2228 *** cust-print.el
2229 *** ledit.el
2230 *** mailpost.el
2231 *** mouse-sel.el
2232 *** patcomp.el
2233
2234 \f
2235 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
2236
2237 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
2238 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
2239 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
2240 `custom-variable-p'.
2241
2242 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
2243 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
2244 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
2245 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
2246
2247 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
2248 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
2249 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
2250 sequence in later calls.
2251
2252 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
2253 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
2254 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
2255
2256 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
2257 It does so even if the window was selected before.
2258
2259 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
2260 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
2261 depends on the graphical library.
2262
2263 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
2264 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
2265
2266 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
2267
2268 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
2269 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
2270 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
2271 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
2272 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
2273
2274 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
2275 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
2276 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
2277
2278 ** Miscellaneous name changes
2279 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
2280 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
2281
2282 *** Renamed functions
2283 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
2284 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
2285 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
2286 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
2287 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
2288 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
2289 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
2290 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
2291
2292 *** Renamed hooks
2293 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
2294 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
2295 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
2296 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
2297 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
2298
2299 *** Renamed variables
2300 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
2301 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
2302 deactivate-current-input-method-function
2303
2304 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
2305 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
2306 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
2307 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
2308 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
2309 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
2310 *** `set-char-table-default'
2311 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
2312 *** `compile-internal'
2313 *** `modeline'
2314 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
2315 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
2316 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
2317 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
2318 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
2319 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
2320 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
2321 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
2322 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
2323 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
2324
2325 \f
2326 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
2327
2328 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
2329 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
2330 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
2331 `gv-define-setter', etc.
2332
2333 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
2334 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
2335 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
2336 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
2337 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
2338 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
2339 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
2340
2341 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
2342 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
2343 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
2344 CPU time or memory allocations.
2345
2346 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
2347 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
2348
2349 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
2350
2351 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
2352
2353 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
2354 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
2355 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
2356 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
2357 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
2358
2359 ** Completion
2360
2361 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
2362 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
2363
2364 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
2365 table, but with a different prefix.
2366
2367 ** Debugger
2368
2369 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
2370 These do not trigger the debugger.
2371
2372 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
2373 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
2374
2375 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
2376 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
2377 to work out which code is doing something.
2378
2379 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
2380 recursive invocations.
2381
2382 ** Window handling
2383
2384 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
2385 fit the contents.
2386
2387 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
2388 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
2389
2390 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
2391 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
2392
2393 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
2394 reused.
2395
2396 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
2397 window's point when switching buffers.
2398
2399 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
2400 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
2401
2402 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
2403 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
2404
2405 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
2406 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
2407 selected.
2408
2409 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
2410 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
2411
2412 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
2413 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
2414
2415 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
2416 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
2417
2418 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
2419
2420 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
2421 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
2422 in Emacs 24.1:
2423 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
2424 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
2425 **** `display-buffer-function'
2426 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
2427 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
2428 **** `special-display-function'
2429 **** `special-display-regexps'
2430
2431 ** Time
2432
2433 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
2434 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
2435 by the underlying C implementation.
2436
2437 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
2438 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
2439 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
2440 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
2441 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
2442 stamps are still accepted.
2443
2444 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
2445 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
2446 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
2447 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
2448
2449 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
2450 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
2451
2452 ** EIEIO
2453
2454 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
2455
2456 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
2457 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
2458 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
2459 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
2460 warning is issued.
2461
2462 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
2463 without evaluation of suspicious code.
2464
2465 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
2466 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
2467
2468 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
2469 of filename support to generated symbols.
2470
2471 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
2472 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
2473 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
2474 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
2475 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
2476
2477 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
2478
2479 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
2480
2481 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
2482
2483 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
2484
2485 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2486
2487 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
2488 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
2489
2490 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
2491
2492 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
2493
2494 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
2495
2496 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
2497
2498 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
2499
2500 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
2501
2502 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
2503
2504 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
2505
2506 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
2507
2508 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2509 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
2510 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
2511 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
2512 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
2513 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
2514 *** `query-replace-interactive'
2515 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
2516
2517 \f
2518 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2519
2520 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
2521 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
2522
2523 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
2524 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
2525 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
2526 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
2527 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
2528
2529 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
2530 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
2531 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
2532
2533 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
2534
2535 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
2536 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
2537
2538 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
2539
2540 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
2541 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
2542
2543 \f
2544 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
2545
2546 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
2547
2548 \f
2549 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
2550
2551 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
2552 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
2553 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
2554 --without-gconf.
2555
2556 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
2557 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2558 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2559 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
2560
2561 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
2562 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2563 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2564 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
2565
2566 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
2567 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2568 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2569 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
2570 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
2571
2572 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
2573 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2574 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2575 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
2576
2577 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
2578 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
2579
2580 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
2581 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
2582 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
2583 to about 2 GiB.
2584
2585 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
2586 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
2587 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
2588
2589 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
2590 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
2591 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
2592
2593 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
2594 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
2595
2596 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
2597 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
2598
2599 \f
2600 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
2601
2602 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
2603 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
2604 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
2605
2606 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
2607 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
2608 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
2609 Nextstep builds).
2610
2611 \f
2612 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
2613
2614 ** Completion
2615
2616 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
2617 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
2618
2619 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
2620
2621 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
2622 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
2623
2624 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
2625
2626 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
2627 default completion style in certain circumstances.
2628
2629 *** New completion style `substring'.
2630
2631 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
2632
2633 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
2634
2635 ** Mail changes
2636
2637 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
2638 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
2639 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
2640 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
2641 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
2642 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
2643
2644 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
2645 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
2646 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
2647 command.
2648
2649 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
2650 and Mail mode changes
2651
2652 ** Emacs server and client changes
2653
2654 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
2655
2656 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
2657
2658 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
2659 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
2660
2661 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
2662 its exit status is 1.
2663
2664 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
2665 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
2666 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
2667
2668 ** Internationalization changes
2669
2670 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
2671 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
2672 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
2673 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
2674 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
2675 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
2676
2677 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
2678 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
2679
2680 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2681 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
2682 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
2683 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
2684 paragraph.
2685
2686 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
2687 the right window edge.
2688
2689 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
2690 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
2691 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
2692 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
2693 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
2694
2695 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
2696 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
2697
2698 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
2699 (U+2010 and U+2011).
2700
2701 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
2702 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
2703 automatically select it.
2704
2705 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
2706 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
2707 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
2708
2709 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
2710 selected for installation.
2711
2712 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
2713
2714 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
2715 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
2716 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
2717
2718 ** Custom theme changes
2719
2720 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
2721 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
2722
2723 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
2724 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
2725 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
2726 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
2727 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
2728 built-in Custom themes.
2729
2730 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
2731 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
2732 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
2733 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
2734
2735 ** Improved GTK integration
2736
2737 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
2738 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
2739
2740 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
2741 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
2742 the default is taken from desktop settings.
2743
2744 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
2745 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
2746 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
2747 entries for this.
2748
2749 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
2750 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
2751
2752 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
2753 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
2754
2755 ** Graphical interface changes
2756
2757 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
2758 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
2759 displayed as a space.
2760
2761 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
2762 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
2763
2764 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
2765 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
2766 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
2767
2768 ** Exiting changes
2769
2770 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
2771 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
2772
2773 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
2774 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
2775 do the right thing in batch mode.
2776
2777 ** Scrolling changes
2778
2779 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
2780 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
2781 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
2782 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
2783
2784 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
2785
2786 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
2787 scroll a line instead of full screen.
2788
2789 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
2790 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
2791
2792 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
2793 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
2794 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
2795 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
2796 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
2797
2798 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
2799 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
2800 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
2801 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
2802 margin.
2803
2804 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
2805 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
2806
2807 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
2808 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
2809 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
2810 now includes the SELinux context.
2811
2812 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2813 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
2814
2815 ** Trash changes
2816
2817 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
2818 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
2819
2820 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
2821 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
2822
2823 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
2824
2825 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
2826 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
2827 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
2828 subdirectories.
2829
2830 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
2831 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
2832 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
2833 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
2834 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
2835
2836 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
2837 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
2838
2839 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
2840 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
2841 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
2842 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
2843 corresponding way.
2844
2845 ** Window changes
2846
2847 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
2848 in the quitted window.
2849
2850 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
2851 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
2852
2853 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
2854
2855 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
2856 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
2857 for choosing the displaying window).
2858
2859 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
2860 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
2861
2862 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
2863 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
2864
2865 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
2866 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
2867 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
2868 from which such space was obtained.
2869
2870 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
2871 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
2872 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
2873 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
2874 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
2875
2876 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
2877 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
2878 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
2879
2880 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
2881 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
2882
2883 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
2884 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
2885 been shown in a specific window.
2886
2887 ** Minibuffer changes
2888
2889 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
2890 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
2891 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
2892
2893 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
2894 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
2895 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
2896
2897 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
2898
2899 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
2900
2901 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
2902 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
2903 successful operation.
2904
2905 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
2906 for `list-colors-display'.
2907
2908 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
2909
2910 \f
2911 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
2912
2913 ** Search changes
2914
2915 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
2916 `isearch-yank-line'.
2917
2918 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
2919 `isearch-yank-kill'.
2920
2921 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
2922
2923 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
2924
2925 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
2926 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
2927 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
2928 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
2929 alias for it.
2930
2931 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
2932 also deletes newlines around point.
2933
2934 ** Deletion changes
2935
2936 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
2937 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
2938 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
2939 instead.
2940
2941 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
2942 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
2943 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
2944
2945 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
2946 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
2947 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
2948 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
2949
2950 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
2951
2952 ** Selection changes.
2953
2954 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
2955 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
2956 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
2957 mouse commands use the primary selection.
2958
2959 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
2960 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
2961
2962 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
2963 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
2964 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
2965 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
2966
2967 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
2968 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
2969 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
2970 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
2971 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
2972
2973 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
2974
2975 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
2976 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
2977 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
2978
2979 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
2980
2981 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
2982 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
2983 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
2984
2985 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
2986 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
2987
2988 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
2989 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
2990 between applications.
2991
2992 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
2993
2994 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
2995 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
2996 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
2997 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
2998 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
2999
3000 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
3001
3002 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
3003 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
3004
3005 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
3006 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
3007 number to count from and for a format string.
3008
3009 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
3010 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
3011 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
3012 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
3013 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
3014
3015 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
3016 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
3017 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
3018 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
3019 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
3020
3021 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
3022 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
3023 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
3024 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
3025 follows `replace-match'.
3026
3027 \f
3028 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
3029
3030 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
3031
3032 ** BibTeX mode
3033
3034 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
3035 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
3036 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
3037 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
3038
3039 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
3040
3041 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
3042
3043 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
3044
3045 ** Browse-url
3046
3047 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
3048
3049 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
3050 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
3051
3052 ** Calc
3053
3054 *** Support for musical notes.
3055
3056 *** Support for logarithmic units.
3057
3058 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
3059 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
3060
3061 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
3062
3063 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
3064
3065 *** New "O" option prefix.
3066
3067 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
3068
3069 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
3070
3071 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
3072 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
3073
3074 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
3075 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
3076
3077 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
3078 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
3079 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
3080
3081 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
3082
3083 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
3084 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
3085
3086 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
3087 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
3088 Use `appt-activate' instead.
3089
3090 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
3091 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
3092 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
3093
3094 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
3095 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
3096
3097 ** CC Mode
3098
3099 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
3100 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
3101
3102 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
3103
3104 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
3105 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
3106 not the top level.
3107
3108 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
3109 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
3110 parsed as a statement continuation.
3111
3112 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
3113
3114 ** Compilation mode
3115
3116 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
3117 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
3118
3119 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
3120 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
3121 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
3122
3123 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
3124 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
3125 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
3126 buffer was used.
3127
3128 ** Customize
3129
3130 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
3131 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
3132 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
3133
3134 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
3135 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
3136
3137 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
3138
3139 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
3140 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
3141
3142 ** D-Bus
3143
3144 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
3145 or session bus.
3146
3147 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
3148 optionally do not register names.
3149
3150 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
3151 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
3152
3153 ** Dired-x
3154
3155 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
3156 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
3157 instead of using the current buffer.
3158
3159 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
3160 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
3161
3162 ** ERC changes
3163
3164 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
3165 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
3166
3167 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
3168 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
3169 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
3170 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
3171
3172 ** Eshell changes
3173
3174 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
3175 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
3176 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
3177
3178 ** gdb-mi
3179
3180 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
3181 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
3182 debugging of several threads.
3183
3184 ** Image mode
3185
3186 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
3187 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
3188
3189 ** Info
3190
3191 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
3192 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
3193 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
3194 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
3195 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
3196
3197 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
3198 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
3199 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
3200 by default.
3201
3202 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
3203
3204 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
3205
3206 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
3207 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
3208 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
3209
3210 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
3211 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
3212
3213 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
3214
3215 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
3216
3217 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
3218 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
3219 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
3220 default), this performs tag completion.
3221
3222 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
3223 See ORG-NEWS for details.
3224
3225 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
3226 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
3227 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
3228
3229 ** Rmail
3230
3231 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
3232 in the Rmail incoming message.
3233
3234 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
3235 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
3236 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
3237
3238 ** Shell mode
3239
3240 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
3241 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
3242 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
3243
3244 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
3245 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
3246
3247 ** SMTPmail
3248
3249 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
3250 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
3251 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
3252 to change this.
3253
3254 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
3255 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
3256 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
3257 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
3258 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
3259 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
3260 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
3261 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
3262
3263 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
3264 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
3265
3266 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
3267
3268 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
3269
3270 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
3271 the credentials file.
3272
3273 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
3274 If you had that set, you need to put
3275
3276 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
3277
3278 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
3279
3280 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
3281 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
3282 to the address you wish to use instead.
3283
3284 ** SQL mode
3285
3286 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
3287 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
3288
3289 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
3290 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
3291 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
3292 connection is established.
3293
3294 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
3295 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
3296
3297 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
3298 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
3299 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
3300 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
3301
3302 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
3303 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
3304 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
3305 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
3306 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
3307 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
3308
3309 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
3310 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
3311
3312 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
3313 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
3314 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
3315
3316 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
3317 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
3318
3319 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
3320
3321 ** TeX modes
3322
3323 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
3324
3325 ** Tramp
3326
3327 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
3328
3329 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
3330 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
3331
3332 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
3333 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
3334
3335 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
3336 default value to "".
3337
3338 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
3339 for remote machines which support SELinux.
3340
3341 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
3342 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
3343 the degree of parallelism.
3344
3345 ** VC and related modes
3346
3347 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
3348 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
3349 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
3350 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
3351 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
3352
3353 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
3354
3355 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
3356 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
3357 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
3358 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
3359 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
3360
3361 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
3362 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
3363
3364 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
3365 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
3366 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
3367 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
3368 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
3369 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
3370
3371 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
3372 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
3373
3374 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
3375 this was not advertised at the time.
3376
3377 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
3378 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
3379 this was not advertised at the time.
3380
3381 ** Obsolete modes
3382
3383 *** abbrevlist.el
3384
3385 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
3386
3387 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
3388 You can get a comparable behavior with:
3389 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
3390 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
3391
3392 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
3393
3394 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
3395
3396 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
3397
3398 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
3399 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
3400
3401 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
3402
3403 ** Miscellaneous
3404
3405 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
3406 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
3407
3408 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
3409 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
3410
3411 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
3412
3413 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
3414
3415 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
3416
3417 \f
3418 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
3419
3420 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
3421 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
3422
3423 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
3424 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
3425 matching closing one.
3426
3427 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
3428 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
3429 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
3430 electric-indent-functions.
3431
3432 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
3433 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
3434 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
3435
3436 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
3437 from which other modes can be derived.
3438
3439 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
3440
3441 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
3442 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
3443 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
3444 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
3445 secrets.
3446
3447 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
3448 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
3449
3450 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
3451 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
3452
3453 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
3454
3455 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
3456 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
3457 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
3458 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
3459 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
3460 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
3461
3462 \f
3463 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
3464
3465 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
3466 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
3467
3468 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
3469
3470 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
3471 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
3472 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
3473 command still toggles the minor mode.
3474
3475 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
3476 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
3477 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
3478 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
3479 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
3480
3481 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
3482 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
3483 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
3484 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
3485 argument `bidi-class'.
3486
3487 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
3488 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
3489 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
3490 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
3491
3492 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
3493 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
3494 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
3495 of the header line.
3496
3497 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
3498 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
3499 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
3500 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
3501 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
3502 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
3503 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
3504
3505 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
3506 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
3507 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
3508 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
3509 older Emacsen too.
3510
3511 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
3512 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
3513 replaced all known uses.
3514
3515 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
3516 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
3517 major mode is special).
3518
3519 ** Menu and tool bar changes
3520
3521 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
3522 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
3523 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
3524 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
3525 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
3526 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
3527
3528 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
3529 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
3530
3531 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
3532 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
3533 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
3534 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
3535
3536 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
3537 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
3538 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
3539
3540 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
3541
3542 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
3543 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
3544 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
3545
3546 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
3547 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
3548 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
3549 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
3550 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
3551 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
3552 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
3553 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
3554 *** `x-make-font-bold' and `x-make-font-demibold' (`make-face-bold')
3555 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
3556 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
3557 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
3558 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
3559 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
3560 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
3561 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
3562 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
3563 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
3564 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
3565 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
3566 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
3567
3568 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
3569 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
3570
3571 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
3572 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
3573 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
3574 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
3575 *** `e' (`float-e').
3576
3577 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
3578 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
3579
3580 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
3581 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
3582 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
3583 `finder-keywords-hash'.
3584
3585 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
3586 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
3587 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
3588
3589 \f
3590 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
3591
3592 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
3593 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
3594 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
3595 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
3596 file.
3597
3598 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
3599 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
3600
3601 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
3602 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
3603
3604 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
3605
3606 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
3607 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
3608
3609 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
3610 declared as dynamically bound.
3611
3612 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
3613
3614 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
3615 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
3616 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
3617
3618 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
3619
3620 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
3621 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
3622
3623 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
3624 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
3625 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
3626 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
3627 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
3628 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
3629
3630 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
3631 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
3632 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
3633
3634 ** Window changes
3635
3636 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
3637 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
3638 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
3639 buffer) in the window tree.
3640
3641 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
3642 windows.
3643
3644 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
3645 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
3646 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
3647 act on any window including internal ones.
3648
3649 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
3650 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
3651 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
3652 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
3653 and `window-body-height' are provided.
3654
3655 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
3656 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
3657 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
3658 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
3659 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
3660
3661 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
3662 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
3663 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
3664 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
3665 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
3666 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
3667
3668 *** Window resizing functions.
3669 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
3670 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
3671 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
3672
3673 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
3674 live window on that frame instead.
3675
3676 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
3677 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
3678 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
3679 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
3680 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
3681 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
3682
3683 *** Window-local buffer lists.
3684 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
3685 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
3686 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
3687 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
3688 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
3689
3690 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
3691 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
3692 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
3693 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
3694
3695 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
3696 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
3697 The old names are kept as aliases.
3698
3699 *** Display actions
3700
3701 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
3702 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
3703 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
3704 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
3705
3706 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
3707
3708 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
3709 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
3710 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
3711 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
3712 are user-customizable variables.
3713
3714 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
3715
3716 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
3717 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
3718 frame or window as an Elisp object.
3719
3720 ** Completion
3721
3722 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
3723 properties of the current completion:
3724 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
3725 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
3726
3727 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
3728 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
3729
3730 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
3731
3732 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
3733 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
3734 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
3735 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
3736 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
3737 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
3738 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
3739
3740 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
3741 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
3742 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
3743
3744 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
3745 behavior of `completing-read'.
3746
3747 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
3748 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
3749
3750 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
3751 Instead, the offending function is removed.
3752
3753 ** New hook types
3754
3755 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
3756 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
3757 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
3758 non-nil return value.
3759
3760 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
3761 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
3762 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
3763 advertised at the time.)
3764
3765 ** Debugger changes
3766
3767 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
3768 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
3769
3770 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
3771
3772 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
3773
3774 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
3775 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
3776 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
3777
3778 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
3779 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
3780
3781 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
3782 named Emacs server instances.
3783
3784 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
3785 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
3786
3787 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
3788 for higher-resolution time stamps.
3789
3790 ** New input reading functions
3791
3792 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
3793 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
3794
3795 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
3796 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
3797 invalid input.
3798
3799 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
3800
3801 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
3802 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
3803 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
3804 obsolete alias.
3805
3806 ** Syntax parsing changes
3807
3808 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
3809 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
3810 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
3811 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
3812 Together with this new variable come a new hook
3813 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
3814 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
3815 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
3816 syntactic rules.
3817
3818 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
3819
3820 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
3821
3822 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
3823
3824 ** Major and minor mode changes
3825
3826 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
3827 as well as those in the -*- line.
3828
3829 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
3830 should be derived.
3831
3832 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
3833 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
3834 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
3835
3836 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
3837 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
3838
3839 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
3840 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
3841 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
3842
3843 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
3844
3845 ** File-handling changes
3846
3847 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
3848 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
3849 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
3850 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
3851
3852 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
3853
3854 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
3855 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
3856 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
3857
3858 ** Image API
3859
3860 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
3861
3862 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
3863
3864 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
3865
3866 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
3867 is being animated.
3868
3869 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
3870 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
3871
3872 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
3873 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
3874
3875 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
3876 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
3877 ImageMagick installation supports.
3878
3879 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
3880 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
3881 functions.
3882
3883 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
3884 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
3885
3886 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
3887 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
3888 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
3889 `image-transform-set-scale'.
3890
3891 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
3892 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
3893 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
3894 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
3895
3896 ** XML and HTML parsing
3897 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
3898 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
3899 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
3900 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
3901
3902 ** Networking and encryption changes
3903
3904 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
3905 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
3906 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
3907 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
3908 must also be supplied.
3909
3910 *** New library gnutls.el.
3911 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
3912 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
3913 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
3914 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
3915 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
3916 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
3917 greater than 0.
3918
3919 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
3920 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
3921 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
3922
3923 ** Isearch
3924
3925 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
3926
3927 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
3928 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
3929 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
3930 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
3931 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
3932 displayed with a "spinning bar".
3933
3934 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
3935 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
3936
3937 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
3938 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
3939 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
3940 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
3941 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
3942 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
3943
3944 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
3945
3946 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
3947 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
3948 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
3949 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
3950
3951 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
3952 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
3953
3954 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
3955 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
3956 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
3957 an empty uninterned symbol.
3958
3959 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
3960
3961 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
3962
3963 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
3964 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
3965
3966 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
3967 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
3968
3969 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
3970
3971 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
3972 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
3973
3974 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
3975
3976 \f
3977 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
3978
3979 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
3980 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
3981
3982 ** New configure.bat options
3983
3984 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
3985
3986 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
3987
3988 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
3989
3990 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
3991
3992 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
3993
3994 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
3995 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
3996
3997 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
3998 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
3999
4000 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
4001 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
4002
4003 \f
4004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4005 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
4006
4007 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
4008 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
4009 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
4010 (at your option) any later version.
4011
4012 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
4013 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
4014 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
4015 GNU General Public License for more details.
4016
4017 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
4018 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
4019
4020 \f
4021 Local variables:
4022 mode: outline
4023 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
4024 end: