1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
26 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
27 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
29 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
30 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
32 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
33 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
34 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
35 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
38 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
39 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
42 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
43 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
47 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
50 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
51 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
55 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
56 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
59 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
60 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
61 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
63 ** The configuration option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
64 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
65 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
66 check that this option enables.
69 ** The default toolkit has been changed to Gtk+ version 3.
70 If you don't pass --with-x-toolkit to configure or if you pass
71 --with-x-toolkit=gtk or --with-x-toolkit=yes, configure will try to build
72 with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
73 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
74 --with-x-toolkit=gtk2 or --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 to configure.
77 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
79 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
80 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
81 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
84 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
87 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
89 ** Most y-or-n prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
90 Typing C-v or M-v at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
91 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
93 ** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
94 next and previous path separator, respectively.
98 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
99 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
100 that does not have its own specialized help text.
102 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to
103 invokes `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
107 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
108 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
109 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
110 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
111 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
113 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
114 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
115 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
117 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
118 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
119 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
120 automatically at startup, or when customizing a relevant imagemagick-
123 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
124 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
125 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
127 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
128 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
129 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
132 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
133 :background image spec property.
135 ** Server and client changes
137 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
138 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
139 or expression to evaluate.
141 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
143 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
144 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
146 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
147 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
149 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
150 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
151 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
152 that support backtraces.
154 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
155 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
158 ** New variable `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
159 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
160 files (use this with caution).
163 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
164 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
167 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
168 local variables on remote hosts.
171 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
172 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
174 ** Internationalization changes
176 *** New language environment: Persian.
178 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
181 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
184 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
185 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
188 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
189 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
192 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
193 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
194 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
196 ** Search and Replace changes
198 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
199 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
200 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
201 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
202 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch).
204 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
205 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
207 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
208 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
211 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
212 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
213 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
217 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register.
219 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
220 the text to put between collected texts for use with M-x
221 append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
223 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
225 ** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
227 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
228 prompts for a column number.
230 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
231 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
233 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
234 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
235 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
238 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
242 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
243 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
244 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
246 **** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
247 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
250 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
252 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
253 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
257 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
258 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
260 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
261 Customize cal-html-holidays to change this.
265 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
266 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
267 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
270 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
271 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
272 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
273 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
275 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is just a bunch of aliases that
276 provide the old non-prefixed names.
278 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
279 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
281 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
282 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
283 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
284 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
286 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
287 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
288 rather than making them unbound.
292 *** New option `compilation-always-kill'.
296 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
298 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
299 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
304 *** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory. Desktop
305 files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
310 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
313 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
316 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
317 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
320 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
321 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
324 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
327 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
328 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
332 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
335 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
339 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
340 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
341 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition
342 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
343 and `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
345 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
346 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
347 changes in context diffs.
349 *** The new command `diff-remove-trailing-whitespace' fixes trailing
350 whitespace problems introduced by the diff.
354 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
355 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
356 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
358 *** Typing M-n in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
359 `dired-do-chown', `dired-do-touch' pulls the file attributes of the
362 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
363 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
364 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
366 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
367 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
368 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
370 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
371 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
373 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
375 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
376 channel keys found, if any.
378 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
379 See flymake-fringe-indicator-position, flymake-error-bitmap and
380 flymake-warning-bitmap.
384 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
386 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
387 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
391 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
392 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
393 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
397 *** New `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
398 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
400 ** Mouse Avoidance mode
402 The new variable `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to
403 customize Mouse Avoidance mode further.
406 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
407 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
410 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
411 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
415 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
416 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
417 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
420 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
421 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
422 python-indent | python-indent-offset
423 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
424 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
425 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
427 *** Some user options have been removed:
429 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
431 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
432 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
434 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
435 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
437 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
438 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
440 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
441 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
443 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
444 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
447 *** Some commands have been replaced:
448 Old command | New command
449 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
450 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
451 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
452 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
453 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
454 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
455 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
456 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
457 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
458 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
459 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
460 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
461 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
462 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
463 python-shell-switch-to-shell
464 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
465 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
466 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
468 ** reStructuredText mode
470 *** Rebind nearly all keys making room for more keys and complying
471 better to usage in other modes. Describe bindings with C-c C-h.
473 *** Major revision of indentation working very similar to other
474 modes. TAB is your friend.
476 *** Major revision of filling working fine with most of
477 reStructuredText syntax. Support auto-filling.
479 *** Major revision of comment handling.
481 *** Major revision of fontification working with `jit-lock-mode'.
483 *** Cover reStructuredText syntax more closely. Improve
484 the experience for Sphinx users.
486 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
488 *** Extend correct and improve customization.
490 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
492 *** Reset window configuration after displaying TOC.
494 *** Package version in `rst-version'.
496 *** Support `imenu' and `which-func'.
500 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
502 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
504 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
508 *** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies what buffer to use
509 for a new asynchronous shell command when the default output buffer
510 `*Async Shell Command*' is already taken by another running command.
514 *** DB2 added `sql-db2-escape-newlines'
516 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
517 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
518 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
520 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
522 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
523 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
527 The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
528 now deprecated in favor of the `term-face' face, that you can
529 customize. Also, it is now possible to customize how are displayed the
530 ANSI terminal colors and styles by customizing the corresponding
531 `term-color-<COLOR>', `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold'
536 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy
537 definitions. See the manual for details.
539 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
543 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
544 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
545 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
546 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
547 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
549 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
550 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
551 in case that is not properly encoded.
555 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
557 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
559 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
561 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
563 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
566 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
569 ** Obsolete packages:
572 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
573 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
574 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
589 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
591 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
593 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
594 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
595 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
596 sequence in later calls.
598 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
599 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
600 depends on the graphical library.
602 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
603 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
604 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
607 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
608 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
609 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
613 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
614 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, defun and
615 defmacro currently return the name of the newly defined function/macro
616 but this should not be relied upon.
618 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
619 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
622 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
623 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
624 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
627 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
628 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
630 *** Renamed functions
632 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
633 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
634 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
635 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
636 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
637 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
638 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
639 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
642 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
643 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
645 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
646 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
647 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
649 *** Renamed Lisp variables
651 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
652 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
653 deactivate-current-input-method-function
655 ** Some obsolete variables and variable aliases were removed:
657 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
658 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
659 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'.
662 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
664 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
665 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
667 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
668 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
672 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
673 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
675 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
676 table, but with a different prefix.
680 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
681 These do not trigger the debugger.
683 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill'.
685 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
686 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
687 to work out which code is doing something.
689 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
690 recursive invocations.
694 *** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
695 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
696 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via M-n
697 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
698 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
702 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
703 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
705 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
707 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window'.
709 *** New options `temp-buffer-resize-frames' and
710 `temp-buffer-resize-regexps'.
712 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
715 *** New function `fit-frame-to-buffer' and new option
716 `fit-frame-to-buffer-bottom-margin'.
718 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
719 `display-buffer-at-bottom' and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
721 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
722 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
725 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
726 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
728 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
729 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
731 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
732 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
735 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
736 **** `special-display-regexps'
737 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
738 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
739 **** `special-display-function'
740 **** `display-buffer-function'
744 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
745 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
746 by the underlying C implementation.
748 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
749 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
750 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
751 functions that use this format, such as file-attributes and
752 format-time-string, have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
753 stamps are still accepted.
755 *** The format of timers in timer-list and timer-idle-list is now
756 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
757 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
758 accessed via the new timer--psecs accessor.
760 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
761 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args, e.g. (log -1.0).
762 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
763 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
764 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
766 ** Interpreted files are eagerly macro-expanded during load.
767 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
768 but can also bump into harmless and previously unnoticed cyclic
769 dependencies. These should not be fatal: they will simply cause the
770 macro-calls to be left for later expansion (as before), but will also
771 result in a warning describing the cycle.
773 ** Misc new functions:
776 *** `autoload-do-load'.
777 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
778 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
779 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
780 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
781 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary overlay map.
782 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
783 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
784 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
786 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
788 ** New fringe bitmap exclamation-mark.
790 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
791 See the "Face Attributes" section of the Elisp manual.
793 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
795 *** `automount-dir-prefix'
796 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
797 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist').
798 *** `window-system-version'
801 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
803 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
805 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
808 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
809 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
810 mouse-autoselect-window.
812 ** On MS-Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
814 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
816 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
819 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
821 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
822 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
823 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
826 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
827 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
828 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
829 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
831 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
832 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
833 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
834 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
836 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
837 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
838 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
839 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
840 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
842 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
843 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
844 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
845 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
847 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
848 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
850 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
851 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
852 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
855 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
856 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
857 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
859 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
860 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
861 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
863 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
864 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
866 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
867 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
870 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
872 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
873 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
874 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
876 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
877 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
878 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
882 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
886 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
887 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
889 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
891 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
892 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
894 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
896 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
897 default completion style in certain circumstances.
899 *** New completion style `substring'.
901 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
903 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
907 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
908 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
909 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
910 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
911 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
912 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
914 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
915 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
916 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
918 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
919 and Mail mode changes
921 ** Emacs server and client changes
923 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
925 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
927 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
928 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
930 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
931 its exit status is 1.
933 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
934 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
935 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
937 ** Internationalization changes
939 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
940 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
941 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
942 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
943 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
944 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
946 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
947 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
949 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
950 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
951 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
952 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
955 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
956 the right window edge.
958 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
959 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
960 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
961 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
962 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
964 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
965 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
967 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
970 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
971 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
972 automatically select it.
974 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
975 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
976 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
978 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
979 selected for installation.
981 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
983 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
984 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
985 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
987 ** Custom theme changes
989 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
990 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
992 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
993 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
994 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
995 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
996 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
997 built-in Custom themes.
999 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1000 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1001 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1002 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1004 ** Improved GTK integration
1006 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1007 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1009 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1010 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1011 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1013 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1014 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1015 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1018 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1019 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1021 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1022 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1024 ** Graphical interface changes
1026 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1027 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1028 displayed as a space.
1030 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1031 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1033 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1034 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1035 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1039 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1040 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1042 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1043 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1044 do the right thing in batch mode.
1046 ** Scrolling changes
1048 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1049 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1050 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1051 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1053 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1055 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1056 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1058 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1059 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1061 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1062 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1063 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1064 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1065 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1067 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1068 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1069 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1070 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1073 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1074 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1076 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1077 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1078 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1079 now includes the SELinux context.
1081 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1082 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1086 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1087 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1089 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1090 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1092 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1094 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1095 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1096 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1099 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1100 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1101 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1102 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1103 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1105 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1106 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1108 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1109 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1110 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1111 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1116 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1117 in the quitted window.
1119 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1120 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1122 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1124 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1125 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1126 for choosing the displaying window).
1128 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1129 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1131 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1132 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1134 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1135 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1136 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1137 from which such space was obtained.
1139 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1140 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1141 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1142 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1143 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1145 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1146 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1147 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1149 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1150 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1152 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1153 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1154 been shown in a specific window.
1156 ** Minibuffer changes
1158 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1159 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1160 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1162 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1163 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1164 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1166 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1168 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1170 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1171 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1172 successful operation.
1174 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1175 for `list-colors-display'.
1177 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1180 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1184 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1185 `isearch-yank-line'.
1187 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1188 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1190 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1192 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1194 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1195 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1196 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1197 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1200 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1201 also deletes newlines around point.
1205 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1206 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1207 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1210 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1211 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1212 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1214 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1215 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1216 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1217 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1219 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1221 ** Selection changes.
1223 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1224 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1225 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1226 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1228 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1229 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1231 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1232 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1233 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1234 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1236 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1237 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1238 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1239 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1240 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1242 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1244 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1245 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1246 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1248 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1250 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1251 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1252 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1254 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1255 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1257 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1258 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1259 between applications.
1261 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1263 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1264 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1265 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1266 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1267 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1269 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1271 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1272 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1274 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1275 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1276 number to count from and for a format string.
1278 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1279 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1280 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1281 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1282 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1284 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1285 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1286 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1287 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1288 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1290 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1291 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1292 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1293 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1294 follows `replace-match'.
1297 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1299 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1303 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1304 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1305 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1306 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1308 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1310 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1312 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1316 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1318 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1319 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1321 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1323 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1324 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1326 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1327 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1329 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1330 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1331 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1333 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1335 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1336 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1338 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1339 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1340 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1342 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1343 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1344 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1346 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1347 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1351 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1352 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1354 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1356 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1357 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1360 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1361 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1362 parsed as a statement continuation.
1364 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1368 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1369 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1371 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1372 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1373 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1375 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1376 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1377 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1382 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1383 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1384 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1386 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1387 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1389 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1391 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1392 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1396 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1399 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1400 optionally do not register names.
1402 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1403 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1407 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1408 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1409 instead of using the current buffer.
1411 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1412 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1416 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1417 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1419 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1420 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1421 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1422 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1426 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1427 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1428 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1432 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1433 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1434 debugging of several threads.
1438 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1439 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1443 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1444 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1445 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1446 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1447 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1449 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1450 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1451 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1454 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1456 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1458 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1459 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1460 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1462 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1463 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1465 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1467 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1469 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1470 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1471 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1472 default), this performs tag completion.
1474 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1475 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1477 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1478 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1479 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1483 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1484 in the Rmail incoming message.
1486 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1487 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1488 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1492 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1493 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1494 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1496 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1497 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1501 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1502 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1503 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1506 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1507 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1508 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1509 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1510 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1511 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1512 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1513 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1515 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1516 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1518 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1520 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1522 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1523 the credentials file.
1525 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1526 If you had that set, you need to put
1528 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1530 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1532 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1533 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1534 to the address you wish to use instead.
1538 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1539 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1541 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1542 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1543 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1544 connection is established.
1546 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1547 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1549 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1550 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1551 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1552 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1554 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1555 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1556 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1557 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1558 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1559 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1561 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1562 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1564 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1565 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1566 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1568 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1569 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1571 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1575 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1579 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1581 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1582 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1584 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1585 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1587 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1588 default value to "".
1590 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1591 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1593 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1594 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1595 the degree of parallelism.
1597 ** VC and related modes
1599 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1600 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1601 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1602 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1603 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1605 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1607 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1608 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1609 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1610 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1611 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1613 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1614 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1616 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1617 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1618 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1619 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1620 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1621 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1623 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1624 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1626 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1627 this was not advertised at the time.
1629 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1630 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1631 this was not advertised at the time.
1637 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1639 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1640 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1641 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1642 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1644 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1646 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1648 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1650 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1651 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1653 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1657 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1658 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1660 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1661 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1663 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1665 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1667 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1670 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1672 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1673 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1675 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1676 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1677 matching closing one.
1679 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1680 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1681 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1682 electric-indent-functions.
1684 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1685 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1686 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1688 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1689 from which other modes can be derived.
1691 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1693 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1694 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1695 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1696 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1699 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1700 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1702 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1703 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1705 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1707 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1708 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1709 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1710 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1711 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1712 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1715 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1717 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1718 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1720 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1722 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1723 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1724 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1725 command still toggles the minor mode.
1727 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1728 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1729 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1730 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1731 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1733 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1734 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1735 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1736 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1737 argument `bidi-class'.
1739 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1740 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1741 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1742 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1744 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1745 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1746 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1749 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1750 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1751 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1752 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1753 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1754 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1755 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1757 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1758 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1759 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1760 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1763 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1764 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1765 replaced all known uses.
1767 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1768 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1769 major mode is special).
1771 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1773 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1774 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1775 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1776 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1777 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1778 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1780 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1781 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1783 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1784 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1785 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1786 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1788 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1789 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1790 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1792 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1794 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1795 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1796 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1798 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1799 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1800 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1801 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1802 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1803 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1804 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1805 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1806 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1807 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1808 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1809 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1810 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1811 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1812 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1813 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1814 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1815 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1816 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1817 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1818 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1820 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1821 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1823 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1824 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1825 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1826 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1827 *** `e' (`float-e').
1829 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1830 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1832 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1833 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1834 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1835 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1837 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1838 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1839 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1842 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1844 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1845 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1846 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1847 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1850 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1851 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1853 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1854 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1856 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1858 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1859 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1861 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1862 declared as dynamically bound.
1864 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1866 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1867 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1868 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1870 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1872 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1873 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1875 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1876 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1877 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1878 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1879 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1880 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1882 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1883 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1884 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1888 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1889 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1890 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1891 buffer) in the window tree.
1893 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1896 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1897 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1898 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1899 act on any window including internal ones.
1901 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1902 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1903 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1904 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1905 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1907 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1908 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1909 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1910 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1911 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1913 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1914 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1915 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1916 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1917 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1918 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1920 *** Window resizing functions.
1921 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1922 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1923 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1925 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1926 live window on that frame instead.
1928 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1929 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1930 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1931 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1932 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1933 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1935 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1936 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1937 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1938 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1939 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1940 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1942 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1943 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1944 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1945 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1947 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1948 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1949 The old names are kept as aliases.
1953 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1954 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1955 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1956 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1958 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1960 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1961 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1962 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1963 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1964 are user-customizable variables.
1966 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1968 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1969 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1970 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1974 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1975 properties of the current completion:
1976 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1977 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1979 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1980 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1982 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1984 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1985 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1986 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1987 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1988 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1989 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1990 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1992 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1993 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1994 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1996 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1997 behavior of `completing-read'.
1999 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2000 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2002 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2003 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2007 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2008 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2009 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2010 non-nil return value.
2012 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2013 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2014 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2015 advertised at the time.)
2019 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2020 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2022 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2024 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2026 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2027 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2028 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2030 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2031 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2033 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2034 named Emacs server instances.
2036 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2037 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2039 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2040 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2042 ** New input reading functions
2044 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2045 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2047 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2048 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2051 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2053 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2054 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2055 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2058 ** Syntax parsing changes
2060 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2061 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2062 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2063 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2064 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2065 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2066 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2067 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2070 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2072 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2074 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2076 ** Major and minor mode changes
2078 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2079 as well as those in the -*- line.
2081 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2084 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2085 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2086 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2088 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2089 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2091 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2092 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2093 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2095 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2097 ** File-handling changes
2099 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2100 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2101 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2102 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2104 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2106 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2107 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2108 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2112 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2114 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2116 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2118 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2121 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2122 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2124 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2125 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2127 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2128 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2129 ImageMagick installation supports.
2131 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2132 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2135 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2136 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2138 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2139 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2140 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2141 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2143 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2144 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2145 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2146 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2148 ** XML and HTML parsing
2149 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2150 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2151 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2152 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2154 ** Networking and encryption changes
2156 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2157 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2158 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2159 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2160 must also be supplied.
2162 *** New library gnutls.el.
2163 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2164 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2165 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2166 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2167 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2168 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2171 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2172 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2173 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2177 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2179 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2180 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2181 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2182 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2183 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2184 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2186 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2187 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2189 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2190 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2191 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2192 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2193 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2194 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2196 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2198 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2199 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2200 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2201 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2203 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2204 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2206 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2207 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2208 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2209 an empty uninterned symbol.
2211 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2213 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2215 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2216 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2218 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2219 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2221 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2223 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2224 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2226 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2229 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2231 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2232 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2234 ** New configure.bat options
2236 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2238 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2240 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2242 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2244 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2246 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2247 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2249 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2250 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2252 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2253 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2256 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2257 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2259 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2260 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2261 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2262 (at your option) any later version.
2264 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2265 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2266 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2267 GNU General Public License for more details.
2269 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2270 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2275 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"