* NEWS: Add "synce" connection method of Tramp.
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
10
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 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
18 Temporary note:
19 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
20 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
21 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
22 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
23
24 \f
25 * Changes in Emacs 23.2
26
27 ** The default value of `trash-directory' has changed to nil, which
28 means that `move-file-to-trash' trashes files according to
29 freedesktop.org specifications, the same method used by the Gnome,
30 KDE, and XFCE desktops. (This change has no effect on Windows, which
31 uses `system-move-file-to-trash' for trashing.)
32
33 \f
34 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
35
36 +++
37 ** New connection methods in Tramp.
38 On systems which support GVFS-Fuse, Tramp offers the new connection
39 methods "dav", "davs", "obex" and "synce".
40
41 ** VC and related modes
42
43 *** When a file is not found, VC will not try to check it out of RCS anymore.
44
45 \f
46 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
47
48 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
49 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
50 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
51
52 ** New font code.
53 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
54 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
55
56 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
57 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
58
59 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
60 where Emacs is running).
61
62 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
63
64 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
65 OpenType fonts.
66
67 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
68
69 ** Changes to image support
70
71 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
72 a GIF library.
73
74 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
75
76 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
77
78 ** New NeXTSTEP-based port
79 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
80 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
81
82 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
83 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
84 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
85 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
86
87 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
88 Use the NeXTSTEP port, described above.
89
90 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
91 bindings for Emacs.
92
93 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
94 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
95
96 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
97
98 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
99
100 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
101
102 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
103 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
104 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
105
106 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
107
108 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
109 executable format.
110
111 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
112
113 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
114
115 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
116
117 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
118
119 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
120 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
121
122 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
123 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
124 you need control over which C compiler is used.
125
126 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
127
128 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
129 or any later version.
130
131 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
132 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
133 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
134 \f
135 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
136
137 ** Improved X Window System support
138
139 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
140 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
141 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
142 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
143 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
144 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
145 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
146
147 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
148 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
149
150 *** Emacs starts in the background, as a daemon, when given the
151 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
152 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
153 terminal frames using emacsclient.
154
155 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
156 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
157 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
158 emacs server.
159
160 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
161 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
162
163 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
164 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
165 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
166 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
167 for details about XEmbed.
168
169 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
170 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
171 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
172 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
173 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
174
175 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
176 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
177 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
178 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
179
180 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
181 opacity; the default is 20.
182
183 ** Internationalization changes
184
185 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
186 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
187
188 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
189 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs' (`emacs-internal' is an alias
190 for this). This encoding is backward-compatible with Unicode's UTF-8
191 encoding. The internal encoding previously used by Emacs,
192 `emacs-mule', is still available for reading and writing files.
193
194 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
195 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
196 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
197 or 22 are loaded correctly as `emacs-mule' (whether or not they
198 contain multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it
199 may be worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be
200 shared with older Emacsen.
201
202 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
203
204 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
205 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
206 as tables of unicodes.
207
208 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
209 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
210 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
211
212 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
213 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
214
215 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
216 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
217 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
218
219 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
220 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
221 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
222 and others.
223
224 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
225 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
226 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
227 the mode-line mouse menu.
228
229 ** Menu Bar changes
230
231 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
232 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
233 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
234 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
235 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
236
237 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
238 "Save Options" item is used.
239
240 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
241 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
242 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
243
244 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
245 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
246 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
247 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
248
249 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
250 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
251 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
252
253 ** Mode-line changes
254
255 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
256 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
257
258 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
259 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
260
261 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
262 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
263
264 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
265
266 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
267 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
268
269 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
270 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
271 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
272 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
273
274 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
275 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
276 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
277 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
278
279 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
280 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
281 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
282 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
283
284 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
285
286 \f
287 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
288
289 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
290 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
291 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
292 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
293 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
294
295 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
296 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
297 file or directory.
298
299 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
300 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
301 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
302 following arguments.
303
304 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
305
306 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
307 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
308 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
309 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
310 documented.)
311 \f
312 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
313
314 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
315 on the regexp command prefix map.
316
317 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
318 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
319 the history list.
320
321 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
322 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
323 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
324 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
325 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
326 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
327
328 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
329 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
330 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
331 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
332 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
333 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
334
335 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound from
336 `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the global
337 prefix map `M-o', which is intended for such formatting commands.
338
339 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
340 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
341 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
342 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
343 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
344 identical.
345
346 \f
347 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
348
349 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
350 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
351 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
352 behavior (i.e., motion by logical lines based on buffer contents
353 alone).
354
355 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
356 invokes `suspend-frame'. These changes are for compatibility with the
357 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
358
359 ** Mark changes
360
361 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
362
363 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
364
365 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
366 activating it.
367
368 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
369 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
370
371 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
372 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
373 word at point.
374
375 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
376 region is active.
377
378 *** The variable `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty
379 active region in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on
380 that empty region.
381
382 ** Temporarily active regions
383
384 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
385 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
386 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
387 region, similar to mouse-selection.
388
389 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
390 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
391 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
392 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
393 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
394 buffer).
395
396 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
397
398 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
399 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
400 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
401 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
402 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
403 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
404 to create the file or buffer.
405
406 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
407 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
408 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
409 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
410
411 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
412 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
413 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
414 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
415 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
416 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
417 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
418 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
419 performing completion.
420
421 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
422 favorite completion style.
423
424 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
425 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
426 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
427 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
428 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
429 searching minibuffer completion items.
430
431 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
432
433 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
434 name of the current buffer.
435
436 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
437 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
438 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
439 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
440 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
441
442 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
443 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
444 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
445 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
446
447 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
448 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
449 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
450 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
451 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
452
453 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
454 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
455 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
456 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
457 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
458 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
459 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
460
461 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
462 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
463
464 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
465 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
466
467 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
468 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
469
470 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
471 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
472 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
473
474 ** Face changes
475
476 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
477 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
478 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
479
480 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
481 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
482 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
483 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
484
485 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
486 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
487 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
488 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
489
490 *** The commands buffer-face-mode and buffer-face-set can be used to
491 remap the default face in the current buffer. See "Buffer Face mode",
492 under New Modes and Packages.
493
494 ** Primary selection changes
495
496 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, setting the mark automatically
497 makes the new region into the primary selection (for interaction with
498 other window applications). If you enable this, you might want to
499 bind `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
500
501 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
502 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
503
504 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
505 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
506 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
507 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
508 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
509 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
510 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
511 New Modes and Packages, below.
512
513 ** Window management changes
514
515 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
516 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
517 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
518
519 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
520 vertically and horizontally.
521
522 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
523 is on a different frame.
524
525 ** Miscellaneous changes:
526
527 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
528 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
529 successive invocations.
530
531 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
532
533 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
534 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
535 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
536
537 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
538 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
539 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
540
541 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
542 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
543 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
544 run processes remotely.
545
546 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
547 matches a regexp.
548
549 *** The value of comment-style now defaults to `indent'.
550 Thefore, comment-start markers are inserted at the current indentation
551 of the region to comment, rather than the leftmost column.
552
553 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
554 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
555
556 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
557 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
558 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
559 convenience alias for this function.
560
561 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
562 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
563 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
564
565 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
566 kill into the password.
567
568 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
569 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
570
571 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
572 \f
573 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
574
575 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
576 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
577 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
578
579 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
580
581 ** Buffer Face mode is a minor mode for remapping the default face in
582 the current buffer. The variable `buffer-face-mode-face' specifies
583 the face to remap to. The command `buffer-face-set' prompts for a
584 face name, sets `buffer-face-mode-face' to it, and enables
585 buffer-face-mode. See "Face changes", under Editing Changes, for a
586 description of face remapping.
587
588 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
589 See http://xkcd.com/378/
590
591 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
592
593 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
594 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
595 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
596
597 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
598 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
599 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
600
601 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
602
603 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
604 the postscript file.
605
606 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
607 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
608 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
609 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
610
611 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
612 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
613
614 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
615 current buffer.
616
617 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
618 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
619 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
620 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
621 Maildir/MH setups.
622
623 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
624
625 ** nXML Mode
626 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
627 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
628 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
629
630 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
631 any invalid parts of your document.
632
633 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
634 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
635 allowed by the schema in that context.
636
637 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
638 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
639 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
640 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
641 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
642 MS-Windows and Solaris.
643
644 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
645 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
646 Manual.
647
648 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
649
650 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
651
652 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
653 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
654 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
655 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
656 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
657 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
658
659 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
660 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
661 requires D-Bus for communication.
662
663 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
664 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
665 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
666 which have installed this software.
667
668 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
669 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
670 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
671 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
672 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
673 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
674 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
675 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
676 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
677
678 \f
679 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
680
681 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
682
683 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
684 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
685
686 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
687
688 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
689 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
690
691 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
692
693 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
694
695 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
696 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
697
698 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
699 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
700 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
701
702 ** Apropos
703
704 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
705
706 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
707
708 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
709 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
710 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
711
712 ** BibTeX mode
713
714 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
715
716 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
717 `string', disabled by default.
718
719 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
720 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
721
722 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
723
724 ** Calendar and diary
725
726 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
727 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
728 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
729 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
730
731 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
732 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
733 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
734 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
735 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
736 using the new names.
737
738 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
739 See the variables:
740 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
741 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
742
743 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
744 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
745
746 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
747 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
748
749 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
750 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
751
752 ** Change Log mode
753
754 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
755 associated with the current log entry.
756
757 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
758 source code associated with a log entry.
759
760 ** Compile and grep modes
761
762 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
763 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
764 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
765
766 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
767 the first error encountered during compilations.
768
769 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
770 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
771
772 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
773 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
774 C++ sources and headers.
775
776 ** Copyright
777
778 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
779 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
780 considered for update.
781
782 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
783 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
784
785 ** Custom
786
787 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
788 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
789
790 ** Diff mode
791
792 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
793 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
794 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
795
796 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
797 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
798 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
799
800 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
801 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
802
803 ** Dired
804
805 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
806 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
807 saving changes.
808
809 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
810 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
811 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
812 Command*'.
813
814 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
815 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
816 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
817 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
818 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
819 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
820 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
821 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
822
823 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
824 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
825 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
826
827 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
828 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
829 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
830 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
831 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
832 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
833 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
834
835 ** Fortran
836
837 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
838 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
839
840 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
841 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
842
843 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
844
845 ** Gnus
846
847 *** The Gnus package has been updated
848 There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
849 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
850
851 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
852 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
853 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
854 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
855
856 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
857 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
858 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
859 authentication respectively.
860
861 ** Help mode
862
863 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
864 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
865
866 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
867 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
868
869 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
870 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
871
872 ** Isearch
873
874 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
875 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
876 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
877 while Isearch is active.
878
879 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
880 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
881 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
882 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
883 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
884
885 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
886 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
887 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
888
889 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
890 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
891 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
892 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
893 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
894
895 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
896 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
897 `M-s a M-C-s'.
898
899 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
900 `isearch-fail' face.
901
902 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
903 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
904 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
905 documentation of Isearch mode. All the rest Help commands exit Isearch mode
906 and execute their global definitions.
907
908 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
909 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
910
911 ** MH-E
912
913 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.2. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
914
915 ** Python
916 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
917 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
918
919 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
920 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
921 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
922 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
923
924 ** Recentf
925
926 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
927 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
928 corresponding remote host.
929
930 ** Rmail
931
932 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
933 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
934 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
935
936 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
937 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
938 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
939 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
940 Rmail usage unaltered.
941
942 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
943 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
944 mbox-format file.
945
946 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
947 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
948 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
949 instead.
950
951 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
952 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
953 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
954 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
955 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
956 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
957 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
958 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
959 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
960 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
961
962 You may find the following functions useful:
963
964 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
965 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
966
967 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
968 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
969 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
970
971 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
972 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
973 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
974 to save attachments.
975
976 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
977 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
978 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
979 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
980
981 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
982 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
983 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
984 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
985 copies the full headers of the message.
986
987 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
988 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
989
990 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
991 Previously, this information was hidden.
992
993 ** TeX modes
994
995 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
996 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
997 by escaped parens.
998
999 ** T-mouse Mode
1000
1001 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1002 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1003 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1004 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1005 minibuffer.
1006
1007 ** Tramp
1008
1009 *** New connection methods.
1010 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1011 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1012 "tunnel" and "socks".
1013
1014 *** IPv6 addresses.
1015 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1016 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1017
1018 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1019 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1020 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1021
1022 *** More default settings.
1023 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1024 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1025
1026 *** Connection information is cached.
1027 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1028 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1029 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1030
1031 *** Control of remote processes.
1032 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1033 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1034
1035 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1036 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1037 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1038
1039 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1040 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1041 necessary.
1042
1043 ** VC and related modes
1044
1045 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1046 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1047 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1048 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1049 a single changeset.
1050
1051 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1052 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1053 directory or a set of files/directories.
1054
1055 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1056 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1057 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1058 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1059 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1060 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1061 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1062
1063 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1064
1065 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1066
1067 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1068 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1069
1070 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1071 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1072 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1073 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1074
1075 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1076
1077 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1078 the current line.
1079
1080 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1081 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1082 active.
1083
1084 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1085 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1086 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1087
1088 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1089 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1090 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1091
1092 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1093
1094 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1095
1096 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1097 to update it to the new VC.
1098
1099 ** Miscellaneous
1100
1101 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1102 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1103 on the corresponding remote system.
1104
1105 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1106 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1107
1108 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1109 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1110 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1111
1112 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1113 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1114
1115 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1116 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1117
1118 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1119
1120 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1121 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1122
1123 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1124 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1125
1126 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1127
1128 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1129 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1130
1131 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1132 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1133
1134 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1135
1136 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1137
1138 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1139 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1140 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1141
1142 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1143
1144 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1145 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1146 several time zones.
1147
1148 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1149 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1150 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1151 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1152
1153 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1154 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1155
1156 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1157 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1158
1159 \f
1160 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1161
1162 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1163 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1164 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1165 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1166 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1167
1168 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1169 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1170 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1171 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1172 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1173
1174 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1175 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1176 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1177
1178 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1179 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1180 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1181 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1182 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1183
1184 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1185 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1186 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1187 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1188 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1189
1190 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1191 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1192 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1193 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1194 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1195 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1196
1197 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1198 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1199 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1200 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1201 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1202 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1203 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1204 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1205 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1206
1207 \f
1208 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1209
1210 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1211
1212 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1213 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1214
1215 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1216 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1217 that range have the same value.
1218
1219 ** Process changes
1220
1221 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1222
1223 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1224 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1225 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1226 obsolete.
1227
1228 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1229 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1230 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1231 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1232 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1233 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1234 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1235
1236 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1237 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1238
1239 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1240 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1241
1242 ** Internationalization changes
1243
1244 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1245
1246 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1247 have been removed.
1248
1249 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1250 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1251 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1252
1253 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1254 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1255 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1256
1257 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1258 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1259
1260 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1261 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1262
1263 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1264 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1265
1266 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1267 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1268
1269 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1270 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1271 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1272
1273 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1274 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1275 default fontset.
1276
1277 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
1278 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
1279 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
1280 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
1281 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
1282 of `kill-buffer'.
1283
1284 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1285 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1286 temporary-file-directory instead.
1287
1288 ** The COUNT and SYSTEM-FLAG arguments to define-abbrev have been
1289 removed. The function now takes extra arguments for specifying
1290 arbitrary abbrev properties.
1291
1292 ** end-of-defun-function is now guaranteed to work only when called
1293 from the start of a defun. It must now leave point exactly at the end
1294 of defun, since `end-of-defun' now itself moves forward over
1295 whitespace after calling it.
1296
1297 \f
1298 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1299
1300 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1301 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1302 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1303 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1304 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1305 respectively.
1306
1307 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1308 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1309 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1310 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1311 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1312
1313 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1314 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1315
1316 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1317 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1318 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1319
1320 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1321 the selected frame.
1322
1323 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1324 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1325 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1326 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1327
1328 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1329
1330 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1331 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1332 strings on the kill ring.
1333
1334 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1335 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1336 like this:
1337
1338 (condition-case nil
1339 (foo bar)
1340 ((debug error) nil))
1341
1342 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1343
1344 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count given to
1345 `beginning-of-defun'. (N.B. `end-of-defun-function' doesn't take any
1346 arguments.)
1347
1348 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1349 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1350 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1351 remote connection has been established already.
1352
1353 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1354 undefined functions.
1355
1356 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1357
1358 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1359 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1360 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1361
1362 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1363 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1364 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1365
1366 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1367 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1368 interactive forms to subroutines.
1369
1370 ** Region changes
1371
1372 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1373 an active region that they should operate on.
1374
1375 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1376 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
1377 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
1378 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
1379 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
1380
1381 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
1382 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
1383 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
1384 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
1385 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
1386
1387 ** Emacs session information
1388
1389 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
1390 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
1391
1392 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
1393
1394 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
1395 Emacs initialization.
1396
1397 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
1398
1399 *** display-buffer tries to be smarter when splitting windows.
1400 The new option split-window-preferred-function lets you specify your own
1401 function to pop up new windows. Its default value split-window-sensibly
1402 can split a window either vertically or horizontally, whichever seems
1403 more suitable in the current configuration. You can tune the behavior
1404 of split-window-sensibly by customizing split-height-threshold and the
1405 new option split-width-threshold. Both options now take the value nil
1406 to inhibit splitting in one direction. Setting split-width-threshold to
1407 nil inhibits horizontal splitting and gets you the behavior of Emacs 22
1408 in this respect. In any case, display-buffer may now split the largest
1409 window vertically even when it is not as wide as the containing frame.
1410
1411 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
1412 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
1413
1414 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have a new optional
1415 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
1416 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
1417
1418 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
1419 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
1420 individual windows.
1421
1422 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
1423 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
1424
1425 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1426
1427 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
1428 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
1429 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
1430 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
1431 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
1432
1433 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
1434 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
1435 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
1436
1437 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
1438 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
1439
1440 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
1441 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
1442
1443 ** Search and replacement changes
1444
1445 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
1446
1447 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
1448 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
1449
1450 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
1451 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
1452 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
1453 argument is nil.
1454
1455 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
1456 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
1457 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
1458 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
1459 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
1460
1461 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
1462 for search related commands.
1463
1464 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
1465 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
1466
1467 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
1468 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
1469
1470 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
1471 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
1472 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
1473 unless it ends in whitespace.
1474
1475 ** File handling changes
1476
1477 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
1478 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
1479
1480 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
1481 variables defined in the current buffer.
1482
1483 ** Face-remapping
1484
1485 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
1486 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
1487 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
1488 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
1489 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
1490
1491 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
1492 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
1493 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
1494 Editing Changes, above).
1495
1496 *** New functions:
1497
1498 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
1499 current buffer.
1500
1501 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
1502 the current buffer.
1503
1504 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
1505
1506 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
1507
1508 ** Process changes
1509
1510 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
1511 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
1512 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
1513 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
1514 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
1515
1516 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
1517 returns its output as a list of lines.
1518
1519 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
1520
1521 *** In multibyte buffers and strings, characters are represented by
1522 UTF-8 byte sequences. The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF
1523 with no gap; code points 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the
1524 same code points, while code points 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit
1525 bytes.
1526
1527 *** Generic characters no longer exist.
1528
1529 *** The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may
1530 belong to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
1531 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
1532
1533 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
1534 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
1535
1536 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
1537 characters for display.
1538
1539 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
1540 positional codes instead of just 2.
1541
1542 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
1543
1544 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
1545 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
1546
1547 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
1548 priorities of charsets.
1549
1550 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
1551 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
1552 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
1553 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
1554 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
1555 `titlecase'.
1556
1557 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
1558 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
1559 entries in that range of characters.
1560
1561 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
1562 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
1563 internal representation of characters.
1564
1565 *** New functions:
1566
1567 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
1568 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
1569
1570 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
1571
1572 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
1573
1574 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
1575
1576 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
1577
1578 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
1579
1580 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
1581
1582 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
1583 a character code property.
1584
1585 *** New variables:
1586
1587 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
1588 search for a word boundary.
1589
1590 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
1591
1592 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
1593
1594 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
1595 property on printing a string.
1596
1597 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
1598
1599 ** Code conversion changes
1600
1601 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
1602 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
1603
1604 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
1605 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
1606 conversion should go.
1607
1608 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
1609 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
1610 of conversion.
1611
1612 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
1613 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
1614 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
1615 bytes.
1616
1617 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
1618
1619 *** New functions:
1620
1621 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
1622 coding system priority order.
1623
1624 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
1625 encodable by the specified coding systems.
1626
1627 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
1628
1629 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
1630 by a coding system.
1631
1632 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
1633 ordered by their priorities.
1634
1635 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
1636
1637 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
1638 the argument name.
1639
1640
1641 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
1642 It has three functionalities:
1643 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
1644 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
1645 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
1646 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
1647
1648 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
1649
1650 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
1651
1652 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
1653 as an input method.
1654
1655 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
1656 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
1657 character.
1658
1659 ** Changes related to the new font backend
1660
1661 *** Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource
1662 "FontBackend". For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
1663
1664 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
1665
1666 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
1667 available on your graphic device.
1668
1669 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
1670 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
1671 currently `x' and `xft'.
1672
1673 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
1674 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
1675 set the font.
1676
1677 *** New functions:
1678
1679 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
1680
1681 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
1682
1683 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
1684
1685 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
1686
1687 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
1688
1689 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
1690
1691 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
1692
1693 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
1694
1695 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
1696 entity, or font object.
1697
1698 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
1699
1700 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
1701
1702 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
1703 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
1704
1705 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
1706
1707 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
1708 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
1709 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
1710 takes a frame argument.
1711
1712 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
1713 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
1714
1715 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
1716 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
1717
1718 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
1719 session.
1720
1721 *** A new `terminal' data type.
1722 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
1723 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
1724
1725 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
1726 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
1727 which is not used directly any more.
1728
1729 *** New hooks:
1730
1731 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
1732 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
1733 file-local variables.
1734
1735 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
1736 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
1737 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
1738 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
1739
1740 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
1741 deleting a terminal.
1742
1743 *** New functions:
1744
1745 **** `delete-terminal'
1746
1747 **** `suspend-tty'
1748
1749 **** `resume-tty'.
1750
1751 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
1752
1753 ** Redisplay changes
1754
1755 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
1756 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
1757
1758 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
1759 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
1760 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
1761 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
1762
1763 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
1764
1765 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
1766 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
1767 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
1768 times the default column width.
1769
1770 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
1771 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
1772 instead.
1773
1774 *** The new variables `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' specify display
1775 specs which are appended at display-time to every continuation line
1776 and non-continuation line, respectively. In addition, Emacs
1777 recognizes the `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' text or overlay
1778 properties; these have the same effects as the variables of the same
1779 name, but take precedence.
1780
1781 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
1782
1783 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1784
1785 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
1786
1787 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
1788 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
1789
1790 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
1791 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
1792 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
1793 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
1794
1795 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
1796 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
1797
1798 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
1799 attributes of a given face.
1800
1801 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
1802 string of days, hours, etc.
1803
1804 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
1805 specification.
1806
1807 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
1808 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
1809 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
1810
1811 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
1812
1813 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
1814 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
1815
1816 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
1817 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
1818 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
1819
1820 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
1821 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
1822 the match data.
1823
1824 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
1825 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
1826 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
1827
1828 ** Miscellaneous new variables
1829
1830 *** `read-circle', if nil, disables the reading of recursive Lisp
1831 structures using the #N= and #N# syntax.
1832
1833 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
1834 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
1835
1836 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
1837 marker used for window-point.
1838
1839 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
1840 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
1841 relevant data.
1842
1843 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
1844 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
1845
1846 \f
1847 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
1848
1849 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
1850
1851 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
1852 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
1853
1854 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
1855
1856 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
1857 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
1858 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
1859 of multiple buffers. Top-level commands `multi-isearch-buffers',
1860 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
1861 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
1862 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
1863
1864 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
1865 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
1866
1867 \f
1868 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1869 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1870
1871 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1872 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1873 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1874 (at your option) any later version.
1875
1876 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1877 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1878 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1879 GNU General Public License for more details.
1880
1881 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1882 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1883
1884 \f
1885 Local variables:
1886 mode: outline
1887 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
1888 end:
1889
1890 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2