- GNU Emacs FAQ: Introduction
-
-[To find what has changed, see the "Changes" posting.]
-
-[Joe Wells (me) has quit as FAQ coordinator. Steven Byrnes is taking over this
- responsibility. Let's give him a big round of applause! More volunteers are
- still needed to help by taking charge of a section of the FAQ list. Send
- e-mail if you are interested. - jbw]
-
-[First, I'd like to thank Joe for all of the work he's done on the FAQ to
- date. Second: due to a hectic schedule, getting up to speed with
- maintaining the FAQ, and trying to fix up some loose ends, this release of
- the FAQ is coming out a bit late. (Ok, a lot late. :) I hope to get
- another release, fixing up some lose ends, by the end of the month.
- - sbyrnes]
-
-This is the introduction to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about
-GNU Emacs with answers. This article contains a listing of the questions;
-subsequent articles contain the questions and answers.
-
-The FAQ list is posted to reduce the noise level in the `gnu.emacs.help'
-newsgroup (which is also the `help-gnu-emacs' mailing list) which results from
-the repetition of frequently asked questions, wrong answers to these questions,
-corrections to the wrong answers, corrections to the corrections, debate, name
-calling, etc. Also, it serves as a repository of the canonical "best" answers
-to these questions. However, if you know a better answer or even a slight
-change that improves an answer, please tell us!
-
-If you know the answer of a question is in the FAQ list, please reply to the
-question by e-mail instead of posting. Help reduce noise!
-
-The FAQ list is crossposted to `comp.emacs' because some sites do not receive
-the `gnu.*' newsgroups. The FAQ list is also crossposted to `news.answers'.
-
-Please suggest new questions, answers, wording changes, deletions, etc. The
-most helpful form for suggestions is a context diff (ie., the output of `diff
--c'). Include `FAQ' in the subject of messages sent to us about the FAQ list.
-
-Please do not send questions to us just because you do not want to disturb a
-lot of people and you think we would know the answer. We do not have time to
-answer questions individually. :-(
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-These ideas have already been suggested, but we have not had time to
-implement them:
-
- * A Texinfo version.
- * Marking questions in the table of contents that have been changed
- recently.
-
---
-Steven Byrnes <sbyrnes@rice.edu> (and Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>)
-
-E-mail lpf@uunet.uu.net for details about the League for Programming Freedom.
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Table of Contents
-
-Notation Used in FAQ
-
-1: What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
-2: What does "M-x command" mean?
-3: How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
-4: What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
-5: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
-
-General Questions
-
-6: What is the LPF and why should I join it?
-7: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
-8: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
- comp.emacs, etc.?
-9: Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
-10: Where should I report bugs and other problems with GNU Emacs?
-11: How do I unsubscribe to this mailing list?
-12: What is the current address of the FSF?
-
-On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help
-
-13: I'm just starting GNU Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
-14: How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs?
-15: How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual?
-16: Where can I get documentation on GNU Emacs Lisp?
-17: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
-18: How do I print a Texinfo file?
-19: Can I view Info files without using GNU Emacs?
-20: What informational files are available for GNU Emacs?
-21: Where can I get help in installing GNU Emacs?
-22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
-
-Status of Emacs
-
-23: Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
-24: What is the latest version of GNU Emacs?
-25: When will GNU Emacs 19 be available?
-26: What is different about GNU Emacs 19?
-27: What variants of GNU Emacs exist?
-
-Common Things People Want To Do
-
-28: How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
-29: How do I debug a .emacs file?
-30: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
-31: How do I turn on Abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
-32: How do I turn on Auto-Fill mode by default?
-33: How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
-34: How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
- characters?
-35: How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
-36: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
-37: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
-38: Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
-39: How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
-40: How do I change load-path?
-41: How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
-42: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
-43: How do I indent switch statements like this?
-44: How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
-45: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
-46: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
-47: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
-48: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
- indentation of the previous line?
-49: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
-50: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
- commands are handled by the compiler?
-51: Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
-52: What are the valid X resource settings (ie., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
-53: How do I execute a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
-54: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
-55: How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
-56: How do I insert `_^H' before each character in a paragraph to get an
- underlined paragraph?
-57: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
-58: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor
- should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
-59: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
-60: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
-61: How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
-62: Where is the documentation for `etags'?
-
-Bugs/Problems
-
-63: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
-64: Why can't Emacs find files in current directory on startup?
-65: How do I get rid of the ^M junk in my Shell buffer?
-66: Why do I get `Process shell exited abnormally with code 1'?
-67: Why can't I cut from Emacs and paste in other X programs?
-68: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type `emacs'?
-69: Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying `I-search:' and beeping?
-70: Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
-71: Why does Emacs say `Error in init file'?
-72: Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
-73: Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
-74: How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
-75: Why does Shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
-76: Why doesn't my change to load-path work?
-77: Why does the cursor always go to the wrong column when I move up or
- down one line?
-78: Why does Emacs hang with message `Unknown XMenu error' with X11R4?
-79: Why doesn't display-time show the load average in the mode line
- anymore?
-80: Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary?
-81: Why does Ispell treat each line as a single word?
-82: Are there any security risks in GNU Emacs?
-
-Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs
-
-83: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
-84: How do I stop Emacs from failing when the executable is stripped?
-85: Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
-86: Why does Emacs 18.55 say `Fatal error (6).Abort' under SunOS 4.1?
-
-Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages
-
-87: Where can I get GNU Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
-88: How do I find a GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
-89: Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
-90: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
-91: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
-92: Where can I get an Emacs with better mouse and X window support?
-93: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Epoch?
-94: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Lucid GNU Emacs?
-95: Where can I get the "unofficial HP GNU Emacs"?
-96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
-97: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running Windows?
-98: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
-99: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
-100: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
-101: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
-102: Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support?
-103: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
-104: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne Shell, Csh, C++,
- Objective C, Pascal, Awk?
-105: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
-
-Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs
-
-106: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs
-107: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
-108: GNUS -- news reader within Emacs
-109: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
-110: Calendar/Diary -- calendar manager within Emacs
-111: Ange-FTP -- transparent FTP access for Emacs's file access routines
-112: VIP -- vi emulation for Emacs
-113: Dired -- better directory editor for Emacs
-114: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
-115: Hyperbole -- extensible hypertext management system within Emacs
-116: Byte Compiler -- enhanced version of Emacs's byte compiler
-117: comint -- hugely enhanced shell mode and other derived modes
-118: BBDB -- personal info rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
-119: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
-120: Epoch -- enhanced GNU Emacs with better X interface
-121: Lucid GNU Emacs -- alternative Emacs 19 with better X interface
-122: Demacs -- GNU Emacs altered to run on MS-DOS on 386/486 machines
-123: Freemacs -- a small Emacs for MS-DOS
-124: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
-
-Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems
-
-125: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
-126: Why does Emacs say `Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters'?
-127: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
- .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
-128: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
-129: How do I tell what characters my function or arrow keys emit?
-130: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
-131: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
-132: How do I use commands bound to C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys
- are filtered out?
-133: Why does the `BackSpace' key invoke help?
-134: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
-135: Why don't the arrow keys work?
-136: How do I "swap" two keys?
-137: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
-138: What if I don't have a Meta key?
-139: What if I don't have an Escape key?
-140: How do I type DEL on PC terminal emulators?
-141: Can I make my `Compose Character' key behave like a Meta key?
-142: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
-143: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
-144: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0?
-145: Where can I get key bindings to make Emacs emulate WordStar?
-146: Where can I get an XEDIT emulator for Emacs?
-
-Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets
-
-147: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
-148: How do I input 8-bit characters?
-149: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle kanji characters?
-150: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle Chinese?
-151: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
-
-Mail and News
-
-152: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
-153: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
-154: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
-155: Why does RMAIL think all my saved messages are one big message?
-156: How can I sort the messages in my RMAIL folder?
-157: Why does RMAIL need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
-158: How do I recover my mail files after RMAIL munges their format?
-159: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
-160: How do I read news under Emacs?
-161: Why does `rnews' say "No News is good news" when there is news?
-162: Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP?
-163: How do I view text with embedded underlining (eg., ClariNews)?
-164: When I try to post a long article in GNUS (about 10K or longer), I get
- the error, "Writing to process: no more processes, nntpd"
-165: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in GNUS?
-166: Why does GNUS put the subjects in replies beyond the 80th column?
-167: Why is GNUS so slow to start up?
-168: How do I catch up all newsgroups in GNUS?
-169: Why can't I kill in GNUS on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control line?
-170: How do I get rid of flashing messages in GNUS for slow connections?
-171: Why is catch up slow in Gnews/GNUS?
-172: Why does GNUS hang for a long time when posting?
-173: Why don't my news postings in GNUS get past the local machine?
-174: Why is the GNUS-generated `Date:' header invalid?
-175: Why doesn't GNUS generate the `Lines:' header?
-176: Why do I get "Cannot open load file" "nntp" when compiling GNUS?
-177: How do I kill all articles in GNUS but those matching a pattern?
-
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes
-
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Introduction
-
-[To find what has changed, see the "Changes" posting.]
-
-[Joe Wells (me) has quit as FAQ coordinator. Steven Byrnes is taking over this
- responsibility. Let's give him a big round of applause! More volunteers are
- still needed to help by taking charge of a section of the FAQ list. Send
- e-mail if you are interested. - jbw]
-
-[First, I'd like to thank Joe for all of the work he's done on the FAQ to
- date. Second: due to a hectic schedule, getting up to speed with
- maintaining the FAQ, and trying to fix up some loose ends, this release of
- the FAQ is coming out a bit late. (Ok, a lot late. :) I hope to get
- another release, fixing up some lose ends, by the end of the month.
- - sbyrnes]
-
-This is the introduction to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about
-GNU Emacs with answers. This article contains a listing of the questions;
-subsequent articles contain the questions and answers.
-
-The FAQ list is posted to reduce the noise level in the `gnu.emacs.help'
-newsgroup (which is also the `help-gnu-emacs' mailing list) which results from
-the repetition of frequently asked questions, wrong answers to these questions,
-corrections to the wrong answers, corrections to the corrections, debate, name
-calling, etc. Also, it serves as a repository of the canonical "best" answers
-to these questions. However, if you know a better answer or even a slight
-change that improves an answer, please tell us!
-
-If you know the answer of a question is in the FAQ list, please reply to the
-question by e-mail instead of posting. Help reduce noise!
-
-The FAQ list is crossposted to `comp.emacs' because some sites do not receive
-the `gnu.*' newsgroups. The FAQ list is also crossposted to `news.answers'.
-
-Please suggest new questions, answers, wording changes, deletions, etc. The
-most helpful form for suggestions is a context diff (ie., the output of `diff
--c'). Include `FAQ' in the subject of messages sent to us about the FAQ list.
-
-Please do not send questions to us just because you do not want to disturb a
-lot of people and you think we would know the answer. We do not have time to
-answer questions individually. :-(
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-These ideas have already been suggested, but we have not had time to
-implement them:
-
- * A Texinfo version.
- * Marking questions in the table of contents that have been changed
- recently.
-
---
-Steven Byrnes <sbyrnes@rice.edu> (and Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>)
-
-E-mail lpf@uunet.uu.net for details about the League for Programming Freedom.
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Table of Contents
-
-Notation Used in FAQ
-
-1: What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
-2: What does "M-x command" mean?
-3: How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
-4: What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
-5: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
-
-General Questions
-
-6: What is the LPF and why should I join it?
-7: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
-8: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
- comp.emacs, etc.?
-9: Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
-10: Where should I report bugs and other problems with GNU Emacs?
-11: How do I unsubscribe to this mailing list?
-12: What is the current address of the FSF?
-
-On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help
-
-13: I'm just starting GNU Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
-14: How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs?
-15: How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual?
-16: Where can I get documentation on GNU Emacs Lisp?
-17: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
-18: How do I print a Texinfo file?
-19: Can I view Info files without using GNU Emacs?
-20: What informational files are available for GNU Emacs?
-21: Where can I get help in installing GNU Emacs?
-22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
-
-Status of Emacs
-
-23: Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
-24: What is the latest version of GNU Emacs?
-25: When will GNU Emacs 19 be available?
-26: What is different about GNU Emacs 19?
-27: What variants of GNU Emacs exist?
-
-Common Things People Want To Do
-
-28: How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
-29: How do I debug a .emacs file?
-30: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
-31: How do I turn on Abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
-32: How do I turn on Auto-Fill mode by default?
-33: How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
-34: How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
- characters?
-35: How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
-36: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
-37: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
-38: Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
-39: How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
-40: How do I change load-path?
-41: How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
-42: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
-43: How do I indent switch statements like this?
-44: How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
-45: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
-46: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
-47: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
-48: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
- indentation of the previous line?
-49: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
-50: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
- commands are handled by the compiler?
-51: Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
-52: What are the valid X resource settings (ie., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
-53: How do I execute a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
-54: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
-55: How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
-56: How do I insert `_^H' before each character in a paragraph to get an
- underlined paragraph?
-57: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
-58: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor
- should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
-59: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
-60: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
-61: How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
-62: Where is the documentation for `etags'?
-
-Bugs/Problems
-
-63: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
-64: Why can't Emacs find files in current directory on startup?
-65: How do I get rid of the ^M junk in my Shell buffer?
-66: Why do I get `Process shell exited abnormally with code 1'?
-67: Why can't I cut from Emacs and paste in other X programs?
-68: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type `emacs'?
-69: Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying `I-search:' and beeping?
-70: Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
-71: Why does Emacs say `Error in init file'?
-72: Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
-73: Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
-74: How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
-75: Why does Shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
-76: Why doesn't my change to load-path work?
-77: Why does the cursor always go to the wrong column when I move up or
- down one line?
-78: Why does Emacs hang with message `Unknown XMenu error' with X11R4?
-79: Why doesn't display-time show the load average in the mode line
- anymore?
-80: Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary?
-81: Why does Ispell treat each line as a single word?
-82: Are there any security risks in GNU Emacs?
-
-Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs
-
-83: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
-84: How do I stop Emacs from failing when the executable is stripped?
-85: Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
-86: Why does Emacs 18.55 say `Fatal error (6).Abort' under SunOS 4.1?
-
-Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages
-
-87: Where can I get GNU Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
-88: How do I find a GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
-89: Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
-90: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
-91: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
-92: Where can I get an Emacs with better mouse and X window support?
-93: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Epoch?
-94: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Lucid GNU Emacs?
-95: Where can I get the "unofficial HP GNU Emacs"?
-96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
-97: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running Windows?
-98: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
-99: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
-100: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
-101: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
-102: Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support?
-103: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
-104: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne Shell, Csh, C++,
- Objective C, Pascal, Awk?
-105: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
-
-Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs
-
-106: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs
-107: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
-108: GNUS -- news reader within Emacs
-109: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
-110: Calendar/Diary -- calendar manager within Emacs
-111: Ange-FTP -- transparent FTP access for Emacs's file access routines
-112: VIP -- vi emulation for Emacs
-113: Dired -- better directory editor for Emacs
-114: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
-115: Hyperbole -- extensible hypertext management system within Emacs
-116: Byte Compiler -- enhanced version of Emacs's byte compiler
-117: comint -- hugely enhanced shell mode and other derived modes
-118: BBDB -- personal info rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
-119: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
-120: Epoch -- enhanced GNU Emacs with better X interface
-121: Lucid GNU Emacs -- alternative Emacs 19 with better X interface
-122: Demacs -- GNU Emacs altered to run on MS-DOS on 386/486 machines
-123: Freemacs -- a small Emacs for MS-DOS
-124: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
-
-Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems
-
-125: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
-126: Why does Emacs say `Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters'?
-127: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
- .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
-128: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
-129: How do I tell what characters my function or arrow keys emit?
-130: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
-131: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
-132: How do I use commands bound to C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys
- are filtered out?
-133: Why does the `BackSpace' key invoke help?
-134: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
-135: Why don't the arrow keys work?
-136: How do I "swap" two keys?
-137: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
-138: What if I don't have a Meta key?
-139: What if I don't have an Escape key?
-140: How do I type DEL on PC terminal emulators?
-141: Can I make my `Compose Character' key behave like a Meta key?
-142: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
-143: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
-144: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0?
-145: Where can I get key bindings to make Emacs emulate WordStar?
-146: Where can I get an XEDIT emulator for Emacs?
-
-Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets
-
-147: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
-148: How do I input 8-bit characters?
-149: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle kanji characters?
-150: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle Chinese?
-151: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
-
-Mail and News
-
-152: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
-153: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
-154: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
-155: Why does RMAIL think all my saved messages are one big message?
-156: How can I sort the messages in my RMAIL folder?
-157: Why does RMAIL need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
-158: How do I recover my mail files after RMAIL munges their format?
-159: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
-160: How do I read news under Emacs?
-161: Why does `rnews' say "No News is good news" when there is news?
-162: Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP?
-163: How do I view text with embedded underlining (eg., ClariNews)?
-164: When I try to post a long article in GNUS (about 10K or longer), I get
- the error, "Writing to process: no more processes, nntpd"
-165: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in GNUS?
-166: Why does GNUS put the subjects in replies beyond the 80th column?
-167: Why is GNUS so slow to start up?
-168: How do I catch up all newsgroups in GNUS?
-169: Why can't I kill in GNUS on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control line?
-170: How do I get rid of flashing messages in GNUS for slow connections?
-171: Why is catch up slow in Gnews/GNUS?
-172: Why does GNUS hang for a long time when posting?
-173: Why don't my news postings in GNUS get past the local machine?
-174: Why is the GNUS-generated `Date:' header invalid?
-175: Why doesn't GNUS generate the `Lines:' header?
-176: Why do I get "Cannot open load file" "nntp" when compiling GNUS?
-177: How do I kill all articles in GNUS but those matching a pattern?
-
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes
-
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Notation/General/Help/Status
-
-If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to
-get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text
-of the answers, just type "C-x $".
-
-To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if
-that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search.
-
-A `+' in the 78th column means something was inserted on the line. A `-' means
-something was deleted and a `!' means some combination of insertions and
-deletions occurred.
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-
-
-Notation Used in FAQ
-
- Skip this section and then come back if you don't understand some of the
- later answers.
-
-1: What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
-
- C-x means press the `x' key while holding down the Control key. M-x means
- press the `x' key while holding down the Meta key. M-C-x means press the
- `x' key while holding down both the Control key and the Meta key. C-M-a
- is a synonym for M-C-a. RET, LFD, DEL, ESC, and TAB respectively refer to
- pressing the Return, Linefeed (aka Newline), Delete, Escape, and Tab keys
- and are equivalent to C-m, C-j, C-?, C-[, and C-i. SPC means press the
- Space bar.
-
- I put any key sequence that is longer than one key (and some single-key
- sequences) inside double quotes or on a line by itself. Any real spaces
- in such a key sequence should be ignored; only SPC really means press the
- space key.
-
- The ASCII code sent by C-x (except for C-?) is the value that would be
- sent by pressing just `x' minus 96 (or 64 for uppercase `X') and will be
- from 0 to 31. The ASCII code sent by M-x is the sum of 128 and the ASCII
- code that would be sent by pressing just the `x' key. Essentially, the
- Control key turns off bits 5 and 6 and the Meta key turns on bit 7.
-
- For further information, see `Characters' and `Keys' in the online manual.
-
- NOTE: C-? (aka DEL) is ASCII code 127. It is a misnomer to call C-? a
- "control" key, since 127 has both bits 5 and 6 turned ON. Also, on very
- few keyboards does Control-? generate ASCII code 127.
-
-2: What does "M-x command" mean?
-
- "M-x command" means type M-x, then type the name of the command, then
- type RET.
-
- M-x (by default) invokes the command `execute-extended-command'. This
- command allows you to run any Emacs command if you can remember the
- command's name. If you can't remember the command's name, you can type
- TAB and SPC for completion, and "?" for a list of possibilities. An Emacs
- "command" is any "interactive" Emacs function.
-
- NOTE: Your system administrator may have bound other key sequences to
- invoke execute-extended-command. A function key labeled `Do' is a good
- candidate for this.
-
- To run non-interactive Emacs functions, see question 53.
-
-3: How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
-
- When I refer you to topic XXX in the on-line manual, you can read this
- manual node inside Emacs (assuming nothing is broken) by typing this:
-
- C-h i m emacs RET m XXX RET
-
- This invokes the Info facility. If you don't already know how to use
- Info, type "?" from within Info.
-
- If I refer you to topic XXX:YYY, you need to type this:
-
- C-h i m emacs RET m XXX RET m YYY RET
-
- WARNING: Your system administrator may not have installed the Info files,
- or may have installed them properly. In this case you should complain.
-
-4: What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
-
- These are files that come with GNU Emacs. The GNU Emacs distribution is
- divided into subdirectories; the important ones are `etc', `lisp', and
- `src'.
-
- If you use GNU Emacs, but don't know where it is kept on your system,
- start Emacs, then type "C-h v exec-directory RET". The directory name
- displayed by this will be the full pathname of the installed `etc'
- directory.
-
- Some of these files are available individually via FTP or e-mail, see
- question 20. All are available in the source distribution.
-
-5: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
-
- FSF == Free Software Foundation
- LPF == League for Programming Freedom
- OSF == Open Software Foundation
- GNU == GNU's Not Unix
- RMS == Richard Matthew Stallman
- FTP == File Transfer Protocol
- GPL == GNU General Public Licence
-
- NOTE: Avoid confusing the FSF, the LPF, and the OSF. The LPF opposes
- look-and-feel copyrights and software patents. The FSF aims to make high
- quality free software available for everyone. The OSF is a commercial
- organization which wants to provide an alternative, standardized version
- of Unix not controlled by AT&T.
-
- NOTE: The word "free" in the title of the Free Software Foundation refers
- to "freedom", not "zero dollars". Anyone can charge any price for
- GPL-covered software that they want to. However, in practice, the freedom
- enforced by the GPL leads to low prices, because you can always get the
- software for less money from someone else, because everyone has the right
- to resell or give away GPL-covered software.
-
-
-
-General Questions
-
-6: What is the LPF and why should I join it?
-
- The LPF opposes the expanding danger of software patents and look-and-feel
- copyrights. To get more information, feel free to contact the LPF via
- e-mail or otherwise. {You may also contact me, jbw@cs.bu.edu; I will be
- happy to talk with you about the LPF.} Here is the contact information:
-
- E-mail address: league@prep.ai.mit.edu
- Phone number: (617) 243-4091
- Postal address:
- League for Programming Freedom
- 1 Kendall Square, Number 143
- Post Office Box 9171
- Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
-
- Papers describing the LPF's views are available on the internet and also
- from the LPF:
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/lpf/
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/lpf/
- Anonymous UUCP:
- osu-cis!~/lpf/*
-
-7: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
-
- The real legal meaning of the GNU General Public Licence (copyleft) is
- however it is interpreted by a judge. There has never been a copyright
- infringment case involving the GPL to set any precedents. Please take any
- discussion regarding this issue to the newsgroup gnu.misc.discuss, which
- was created to hold the extensive flame wars on the subject.
-
- RMS writes:
-
- The legal meaning of the GNU copyleft is less important than the spirit,
- which is that Emacs is a free software project and that work pertaining
- to Emacs should also be free software. "Free" means that all users have
- the freedom to study, share, change and improve Emacs. To make sure
- everyone has this freedom, pass along source code when you distribute
- any version of Emacs or a related program, and give the recipients the
- same freedom that you enjoyed.
-
-8: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
- comp.emacs, etc.?
-
- The file etc/MAILINGLISTS discusses the purpose of each GNU mailing-list.
- (See question 20 on how to get a copy.) For those which are gatewayed
- with newsgroups, it lists both the newsgroup name and the mailing list
- address.
-
- comp.emacs is for discussion of Emacs programs in general. This
- includes GNU Emacs along with various other implementations like JOVE,
- MicroEmacs, Freemacs, MG, Unipress, CCA, Epsilon, etc.
-
- Many people post GNU Emacs questions to comp.emacs because they don't
- receive any of the gnu.* newsgroups. Arguments have been made both for
- and against posting GNU-Emacs-specific material to comp.emacs. You have
- to decide for yourself.
-
- Messages advocating "non-free" software are considered unacceptable on any
- of the gnu.* newsgroups except for gnu.misc.discuss, which was created to
- hold the extensive flame-wars on the subject. "non-free" software
- includes any software for which the end user can't freely modify the
- source code and exchange enhancements. Be careful to remove the gnu.*
- groups from the `Newsgroups:' line when posting a followup that recommends
- such software.
-
- gnu.emacs.bug is a place where bug reports appear, but avoid posting bug
- reports to this newsgroup, instead see question 10.
-
-9: Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
-
- The FSF has maintained archives of all of the GNU mailing lists for many
- years, although there may be some unintentional gaps in coverage. The
- archive is not particularly well organized or easy to retrieve individual
- postings from, but pretty much everything is there.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/MailingListArchives/ !
- !
- There is a WAIS database named `comp.emacs' on wais.oit.unc.edu that !
- makes available the last few days of articles in comp.emacs. !
-
-10: Where should I report bugs and other problems with GNU Emacs?
-
- The correct way to report GNU Emacs bugs is by e-mail to
- bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu. Anything sent here also appears in the
- newsgroup gnu.emacs.bug, but please use e-mail instead of news to submit
- the bug report. This way a reliable return address is available so you
- can be contacted for further details.
-
- RMS explains:
-
- Sending bug reports to help-gnu-emacs (which has the effect of posting
- on gnu.emacs.help) is undesirable because it takes the time of an
- unnecessarily large group of people, most of whom are just users and
- have no idea how to fix these problem. bug-gnu-emacs reaches a much
- smaller group of people who are more likely to know what to do and have
- expressed a wish to receive more messages about Emacs than the others.
-
- However, RMS says there are circumstances when it is okay to post to
- gnu.emacs.help:
-
- If you have reported a bug and you don't hear about a possible fix, then
- after a suitable delay (such as a week) it is okay to post on
- gnu.emacs.help asking if anyone can help you.
-
- If you are unsure whether you have a bug, RMS describes how to tell:
-
- ... if Emacs crashes, that is a bug. If Emacs gets compilation errors
- while building, that is a bug. If Emacs crashes while building, that is
- a bug. If Lisp code does not do what the documentation says it does,
- that is a bug.
-
-11: How do I unsubscribe to this mailing list?
-
- If you are receiving a GNU mailing list named `XXX', you might be able
- to unsubscribe to it by sending a request to the address
- `XXX-request@prep.ai.mit.edu'. However, this will not work if you are
- not listed on the main mailing list, but instead recieve the mail from a
- distribution point. In that case, you will have to track down at which
- distribution point you are listed. Inspecting the `Received:' headers
- on the mail messages may help, along with liberal use of the `EXPN' or
- `VRFY' sendmail commands through `telnet <site-address> smtp'. Ask your
- postmaster for help.
-
-12: What is the current address of the FSF?
-
- E-mail address: gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu
- Phone number: (617) 876-3296
- Postal address:
- Free Software Foundation, Inc.
- 675 Massachusetts Avenue
- Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
-
-
-
-On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help
-
-13: I'm just starting GNU Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
-
- Type "C-h t" to invoke the self-paced tutorial. Typing just C-h is
- how to enter the help system.
-
- WARNING: Your system administrator may have changed C-h to act like DEL to
- deal local keyboards. You can use M-x help-for-help instead to invoke
- help. To discover what key (if any) invokes help on your system, type
- "M-x where-is RET help-for-help RET". This will print a comma-separated
- list of key sequences in the echo area. Ignore the last character in each
- key sequence listed. Each of the resulting key sequences invokes help.
-
- NOTE: Emacs's help facility works best if help is invoked by a single key
- whose value should be stored in the variable help-char. Andrew
- Arensburger <arensb@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov> wrote a patch that allows the help
- facility to work properly when invoked by multiple character sequences.
-
-14: How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs?
-
- There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.
-
- * The complete text of the Emacs manual is available online via the Info
- hypertext reader. Type "C-h i" to invoke Info.
-
- * You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. See question 15.
-
- * You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to invoke
- them. You can order one from the FSF for $1 (or 10 for $5), or you can
- print your own from the etc/refcard.tex file in the Emacs distribution.
- {Are PostScript versions of this available for FTP?}
-
- * You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word
- (actually which match a regular expression) using "C-h a"
- (M-x command-apropos).
-
- * You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a
- certain word using M-x apropos.
-
- * There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and information.
- To get a list of these commands, type "C-h C-h C-h".
-
- NOTE: You may find that command-apropos and apropos are extremely slow
- on your system. This will be fixed in Emacs 19. If you can't wait that
- long, there is a fast-apropos.el file available in the Emacs Lisp
- Archive (see question 89) that contains the fix.
-
-15: How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual?
-
- You can order a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual from the FSF for
- $20. For 6 or more manuals the price is $13 each. The price may be
- tax-deductible as a business expense.
-
- The full TeX source for the manual also comes in the `man' directory of
- the Emacs distribution, if you're daring enough to try to print out this
- 300 page manual yourself (see question 18).
-
- If you absolutely have to print your own copy, and you don't have TeX, you
- can get a PostScript version via anonymous FTP:
-
- /cs.ubc.ca:src/gnu/manuals_ps/emacs-18.57.ps.Z
-
- which site requests that you please CONFINE ANY MAJOR FTPING TO LATE
- EVENINGS OR EARLY MORNINGS OUR TIME (pacific time zone, GMT-8)). A DVI
- version is also available via FTP:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/emacs-manual-6.0.dvi.Z
-
- If you don't have TeX you can convert the Texinfo sources into
- {t,n,ps}roff format with the `texi2roff' program, which is available via
- anonymous FTP:
-
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/texi2roff/texi2roff.shar.Z
-
- See also question 14 for how to view the manual online.
-
-16: Where can I get documentation on GNU Emacs Lisp?
-
- Within Emacs, you can type "C-h f" to get the documentation for a
- function, "C-h v" for a variable.
-
- For more information, obtain the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual for Emacs
- 18 under Unix. It is available from the FSF for $50 (or 5 for $200). The
- latest revision available for FTP is edition 1.03 dated 28 January 1991.
-
- For online use, a set of pregenerated Info files is available with the
- Texinfo source for the Emacs Lisp manual via anonymous FTP:
-
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/elisp-manual-1.03.tar.Z
-
- (You can also create the Info files from the Texinfo source.) See
- question 17 for details on how to install these files online.
-
- If you are daring enough to try to print this 550 page manual out
- yourself, for instructions see question 18.
-
- Also, as a popular USENET saying goes, "Use the Force, Read the Source".
-
-17: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
-
- First create Info files from the Texinfo files with the `makeinfo'
- program. makeinfo is available as part of the latest Texinfo package:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/texinfo-2.14.tar.Z
-
- For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual which
- comes with Emacs. This manual also comes installed in Info format, so you
- can read it online.
-
- Neither texinfo-format-buffer nor the makeinfo program install the
- resulting Info files in Emacs's Info tree. To install Info files:
-
- 1. Move the files to the `info' directory in the installed Emacs
- distribution. See question 4 if you don't know where that
- is.
-
- 2. Edit the file info/dir in the installed Emacs distribution, and add a
- line for the top level node in the Info package that you are
- installing. Follow the examples are already in this file. The format
- is:
-
- * Topic: (relative-pathname). Short description of topic.
-
- If you want to install Info files and you don't have the necessary
- privileges, you have several options:
-
- * Info files don't actually need to be installed before being used. You
- can feed a file name to the Info-goto-node command (invoked by pressing
- "g" in Info mode) by typing the name of the file in parentheses. This
- goes to the node named `Top' in that file. For example, to view a Info
- file named `XXX' in your home directory, you can type this:
-
- C-h i g (~/XXX) RET
-
- * You can create your own Info directory. You can tell Emacs where the
- Info directory is by setting the value of the variable Info-directory
- to its pathname. For example, to use a private Info directory which
- is a subdirectory of your home directory named `Info', you could do
- this:
-
- (setq Info-directory (expand-file-name "~/Info"))
-
- You will need a top-level Info file named `dir' in this directory.
- You can include the system-wide Info directory in your private Info
- directory with symbolic links or by copying it.
-
- * You can use an enhanced version of lisp/info.el that handles multiple
- Info directories. Then you can more easily use a mix of private and
- shared Info files. Dave Gillespie <daveg@synaptics.com,
- daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> has written one such enhancement and I
- believe there are others. Dave's info.el also handles compressed Info
- files.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:modes/info.el.Z
- /cs.umn.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/info.el.Z
-
- According to Jay Bourland <jayb@math.stanford.edu>, a version of Dave's
- info.el comes with `xinfo' (see question 19).
-
-18: How do I print a Texinfo file?
-
- NOTE: You can't get nice printed output from Info files; you must still
- have the original Texinfo source file for the manual you want to print.
-
- 1. Make sure the first line of the Texinfo file looks like this:
-
- \input texinfo
-
- You may need to alter `texinfo' to the full pathname of the
- texinfo.tex file, which comes with Emacs as man/texinfo.tex (or copy
- or link it into the current directory).
-
- 2. tex XXX.texinfo
-
- 3. texindex XXX.??
-
- The `texindex' program comes with Emacs as man/texindex.c.
-
- 4. tex XXX.texinfo
-
- 5. Print the DVI file XXX.dvi in the normal way for printing DVI files
- at your site.
-
- To get more general instructions, retrieve the latest Texinfo package
- mentioned in question 17.
-
-19: Can I view Info files without using GNU Emacs?
-
- Yes, the `info', `xinfo', and `ivinfo' programs do this. info uses
- curses, xinfo uses standard X11 libraries, and ivinfo uses InterViews.
- You can get info as part of the latest Texinfo package (see question
- 17). xinfo is available separately:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/xinfo-1.01.01.tar.Z
- /export.lcs.mit.edu:
-
- ivinfo is available in a comp.sources.misc archive or from Tom Horsley
- <tom@ssd.csd.harris.com>. For ivinfo, you need Stanford's InterViews C++
- X library, available via anonymous FTP (interviews.stanford.edu).
-
-20: What informational files are available for GNU Emacs?
-
- This isn't a frequently asked question, but it should be! A variety of
- informational files about GNU Emacs and relevant aspects of the GNU
- project are available for you to read.
-
- The following files are available in the `etc' directory of the GNU
- Emacs distribution, and also the latest versions are available
- individually via anonymous FTP (prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/):
-
- APPLE -- Why the FSF doen't support GNU Emacs on Apple computers
- DISTRIB -- GNU Emacs Availability Information,
- including the popular "Free Software Foundation Order Form"
- FTP -- How to get GNU Software by Internet FTP or by UUCP
- GNU -- The GNU Manifesto
- INTERVIEW -- Richard Stallman discusses his public-domain
- UNIX-compatible software system
- with BYTE editors
- MACHINES -- Status of GNU Emacs on Various Machines and Systems
- MAILINGLISTS -- GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists
- SERVICE -- GNU Service Directory
- SUN-SUPPORT -- including "Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs"
-
- These files are available in the `etc' directory of the GNU Emacs
- distribution:
-
- DIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and Twenex Emacs
- CCADIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and CCA Emacs
- GOSDIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and Gosling (Unipress??) Emacs
- COPYING -- GNU Emacs General Public License
- NEWS -- GNU Emacs News, a history of user-visible changes
- LPF -- Why you should join the League for Programming Freedom
- FAQ -- GNU Emacs Frequently Asked Questions (You're reading it)
- OPTIONS -- a complete explanation of startup option handling
-
- These files are available via anonymous FTP (prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/):
-
- tasks -- GNU Task List
- standards.text -- GNU Coding Standards
-
- In addition, all of the above files are available directly from the FSF
- via e-mail. Of course, please try to get them from a local source
- first.
-
- These additional files are available from the FSF via e-mail:
-
- * GNU's Bulletin, June, 1991 -- this file includes:
- GNU'S Who
- What Is the Free Software Foundation?
- What Is Copyleft?
- A Small Way to Help Free Software
- GNUs Flashes (important recent developments for project GNU)
- Free Software Support (and how to get it!)
- Copyrighted Programming Languages
- AT&T Threatens Users of X Windows (and other software patent threats)
- Project Gutenberg
- GNU Project Status Report
- GNU in Japan
- GNU Wish List
- Help Keep Government Software Free
- GNU Software Available Now
- Contents of the Emacs Tape
- Contents of the Compiler Tape
- Contents of the X11 Tapes
- VMS Emacs and Compiler Tapes
- GNU Documentation
- How to Get GNU Software
- Free Software for Microcomputers
- GNU Software on Apple computers
- GNU Software on the Amiga
- GNU Software on the Atari
- GNUish MS-DOS project
- Freemacs, an Extensible Editor for MS-DOS
- GNU in Japan
- FSF Order Form
- Thank GNUs
- * Legal issues about contributing code to GNU
- * GNU Project Status Report
-
- A collection of past GNU's Bulletins is available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /ftp.funet.fi:pub/gnu/Bulletins/
-
-21: Where can I get help in installing GNU Emacs?
-
- Look in etc/SERVICE for names of companies and individuals who will sell
- you this type of service. An up-to-date version of the SERVICE file is
- available on prep.ai.mit.edu (also see question 20).
-
-22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
-
- The GNU Emacs FAQ is available in several ways:
-
- * Via USENET. If you can read news, the FAQ should be available in your
- news spool, in both the gnu.emacs.help and comp.emacs newsgroups. Every
- news reader of which I know will allow you to read any news article that
- is still in the news spool, even if you have read the article before.
- You may need to read the instructions for your news reader to discover
- how to do this. In `rn', this command will do this for you at the
- article selection level:
-
- ?GNU Emacs FAQ?rc:m
-
- In GNUS, you should type "C-u G" from the *Subject* buffer or "C-u SPC"
- from the *Newsgroup* buffer to view all articles in a newsgroup.
-
- The FAQ articles' message IDs are:
-
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-0.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-1.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-2.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-3.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-4.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
- <GNU-Emacs-FAQ-5.1993.01.05.171933@rice.edu> !
-
- If you are viewing this in the GNUS *Article* buffer, you can move point
- within one of the above message IDs and type "r" to fetch the referenced
- article. Type "o" in the *Article* buffer to restore the previous
- contents. If this text is not in the GNUS *Article* buffer, use M-r
- from the *Subject* buffer instead.
-
- If the FAQ articles have expired and been deleted from your news spool,
- it might (or might not) do some good to complain to your news
- administrator, because the most recent FAQ should not expire before
- March 6, 1993. !
-
- * Via anonymous FTP. You can fetch the FAQ articles via anonymous FTP
-
- /rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/ part*
-
- * Via e-mail. You can send the following magical incantation in the body
- of a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu:
-
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part0
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part1
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part2
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part3
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part4
- send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part5
-
- * Via WAIS. The GNU Emacs FAQ is available via WAIS indexed on a
- per-question basis from the `faq' database on bigbird.bu.edu on the
- non-standard IP port number of 2210. This is probably the best way to
- find out if there is something in the FAQ related to your question. I
- use this myself to answer questions I see posted on gnu.emacs.help.
-
- The articles of the GNU Emacs FAQ are also available from the `usenet'
- database on rtfm.mit.edu (on the standard IP port: 210), along with a
- lot of other FAQ articles. However, these are all indexed at the whole
- article level instead of at the question level. This is a better place
- to look if you want to fetch the entire FAQ.
-
- * In the GNU Emacs distribution. Since GNU Emacs 18.56, the latest
- available version of the FAQ at the time of release has been part of the
- GNU Emacs distribution as file etc/FAQ. 18.59 is the latest version, !
- and it was released in October 1992. !
-
- * There is an old version of the FAQ list available for FTP in the GNU
- archives at MIT:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/GNUinfo/FAQ.emacs
-
- * As the very last resort, you can e-mail a request to
- gnu-emacs-faq-maintainers@bigbird.bu.edu. Don't do this unless you have
- made a serious effort to obtain the FAQ list via one of the methods
- listed above.
-
-
-
-Status of Emacs
-
-23: Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
-
- Emacs originally was an acronym for Editor MACroS. RMS says he "picked
- the name `Emacs' because `E' was not in use as an abbreviation on ITS at
- the time.". The first Emacs was a set of macros written in 1976 at MIT by
- RMS for the editor TECO (Text Editor and COrrector (originally Tape Editor
- and COrrector)) under ITS on a PDP-10. RMS had already extended TECO with
- a "real-time" full screen mode with active keys. Emacs was started by Guy
- Steele <gls@think.com> as a project to unify the many divergent TECO
- command sets and keybindings at MIT.
-
- Many people have told me that TECO code looks a lot like line noise. See
- alt.lang.teco if you are interested. I think someone has written a TECO
- implementation in Emacs Lisp. It would be an interesting project to run
- the original TECO Emacs inside of GNU Emacs.
-
-24: What is the latest version of GNU Emacs?
-
- GNU Emacs 18.59 is the current version. Fixes from 18.57 include better !
- mail address parsing, an X visual bell speedup, a call-process
- enhancement, a regexp matching change, the ability to apply a numeric
- argument to a self-inserting digit, getting X resource values from the
- RESOURCE_MANAGER property, more reliable shell mode job control, and a
- change to copy-keymap. Also, support has been added for many new system
- types. Fixes from 18.55 include the removal of arbitrary limits on the
- undo facility.
-
- According to the January 1992 GNU's Bulletin, "Emacs 18 maintenance
- continues for simple bug fixes.".
-
- To visit a file with information about what has changed in recent
- versions, type "C-h n".
-
-25: When will GNU Emacs 19 be available?
-
- There are strong indications that Emacs 19 will be available in 1992. The
- FSF has recently gone through a spate of copyright disclaimer checking,
- which is a good sign.
-
- Lucid has released Lucid GNU Emacs 19.3, which is based on an early !
- unreleased version of GNU Emacs 19. This will be similar to Emacs 19 when
- it finally arrives, but they are not the same. See question 121.
-
- Work has begun on features for Emacs 20.
-
-26: What is different about GNU Emacs 19?
-
- From the January 1992 GNU's Bulletin:
-
- Version 19 will enter beta test late this year. Among its new features
- are: before and after change hooks, source-level debugging of Emacs Lisp
- programs, X selection processing (including clipboard selections),
- scrollbars, support for European character sets, floating point numbers,
- per-buffer mouse commands, X resource manager interfacing,
- mouse-tracking, Lisp-level binding of function keys, multiple X windows
- (`screens' to Emacs), a new input system, and buffer allocation, which
- uses a new mechanism capable of returning storage to the system when a
- buffer is killed.
-
- The input stream is now a sequence of Lisp objects, instead of a
- sequence of characters. This allows a reasonable representation for
- mouse clicks, function keys, menu selections, etc.
-
- Thanks go to Alan Carroll and the people who worked on Epoch for
- generating initial feedback to a multi-windowed Emacs, and to Eric
- Raymond for help in polishing the Emacs 19 Lisp libraries.
-
- The June 1991 GNU's bulletin had this to say about future plans for Emacs:
-
- Features being considered for later releases of Emacs include:
- associating property lists with regions of text in a buffer; multiple
- fonts, color, and pixmaps defined by those properties; different
- visibility conditions for the regions, and for various windows showing
- one buffer; hooks to be run if point or mouse moves outside a certain
- range; incrementally saving undo history in a file; static menu bars;
- and better pop-up menus.
-
- Mention of this feature disappeared in the January 1992 GNU's bulletin:
-
- Emacs 19 supports two styles of multiple windows, one with a separate
- screen for the minibuffer, and another with a minibuffer attached to
- each screen.
-
- Mention of these two proposed features disappeared in the January 1991
- GNU's bulletin:
-
- * Incremental syntax analysis for various programming languages (Leif).
- * A more sophisticated emacsclient/server model, which would provide
- network transparent Emacs widget functionality.
-
-27: What variants of GNU Emacs exist?
-
- * Nemacs (Nihongo Emacs), which can handle Japanese text, is derived from
- GNU Emacs 18.55. See question 149.
-
- * Demacs, which can run under MS-DOS on 386 machines, is derived from
- Nemacs. See question 122.
-
- * Epoch, which has better X support, is derived from GNU Emacs 18.58.
- See question 120 and 92.
-
- * Nepoch (Nihongo Epoch), which can handle Japanese text, is derived from
- Epoch.
-
- * Mule (the MULtilingual Enhancement of GNU Emacs) can handle many
- character sets simultaneously. It is derived from Emacs 18.58. It is
- available for FTP:
-
- /sh.wide.ad.jp:/JAPAN/mule/
- /etlport.etl.go.jp:/pub/mule/
-
- * Lucid GNU Emacs is derived from an early unreleased version of GNU Emacs
- 19. See question 121 and 92.
-
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------- +
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells +
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes +
- +
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers +
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other +
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new +
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as +
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice +
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining +
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and +
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including +
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these +
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary +
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution. +
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Common Requests/Problems
-
-If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to
-get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text
-of the answers, just type "C-x $".
-
-To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if
-that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search.
-
-A `+' in the 78th column means something was inserted on the line. A `-' means
-something was deleted and a `!' means some combination of insertions and
-deletions occurred.
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-
-
-Common Things People Want To Do
-
-28: How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
-
- See `Init File' in the on-line manual.
-
- WARNING: In general, new Emacs users should not have .emacs files, because
- it causes confusing non-standard behavior. Then they send questions to
- help-gnu-emacs asking why Emacs isn't behaving as documented. :-)
-
-29: How do I debug a .emacs file?
-
- First start Emacs with the `-q' command line option. Then, in the
- *scratch* buffer, type the following:
-
- (setq debug-on-error t) LFD
- (load-file "~/.emacs") LFD
-
- (Type LFD by pressing C-j.)
-
- If you have an error in your .emacs file, this will invoke the debugger
- when the error occurs. If you don't know how to use the debugger do
- (setq stack-trace-on-error t) instead.
-
- WARNING: this will not discover errors caused by trying to do something
- that requires the terminal/window-system initialization code to have
- been loaded. See question 127.
-
-30: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
-
- To find out what line of the buffer you are on right now, do "M-x
- what-line". Use "M-x goto-line" to go to a specific line. To find the
- current column number, type "M-ESC (current-column)".
-
- Typing "C-x l" will also tell you what line you are on, provided the
- buffer isn't separated into "pages" with C-l characters. In that case, it
- will only tell you what line of the current "page" you are on. WARNING:
- "C-x l" gives the wrong value when point is at the beginning of a line.
-
- There is no "correct" way to constantly display the current (or total)
- line (or column) number on the mode line in Emacs 18, or to display the
- line numbers next to the lines like vi can. Emacs is not a line-oriented
- editor, and really has no idea what "lines" of the buffer are displayed in
- the window. It would require a lot of work at the C code level to make
- Emacs keep track of this. It would not be that hard to get the column
- number, but it would still require changes at the C code level.
-
- None of the vi emulation modes provide the `set number' capability of vi
- (as far as I know).
-
- Emacs 19 will probably be able to show the line number on the mode-line,
- but probably very inefficiently.
-
- People have written various kludges to display line numbers. One is
- `display-line-numbers' by Wayne Mesard <wmesard@tofu.oracle.com,
- Mesard@bbn.com>. Look in the Lisp Code Directory. (See question
- 88.)
-
-31: How do I turn on Abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
-
- Put this in your .emacs file:
-
- (condition-case ()
- (read-abbrev-file nil t)
- (file-error nil))
-
- (setq XXX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq abbrev-mode t))))
-
-32: How do I turn on Auto-Fill mode by default?
-
- To turn on Auto-Fill mode just once for one buffer, use "M-x
- auto-fill-mode". To turn it on for every buffer in, for example, Text
- mode, do this:
-
- (setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
-
- If you want Auto-Fill mode on in all major modes, do this:
-
- (setq-default auto-fill-hook 'do-auto-fill)
-
-33: How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
-
- If you want to use XXX mode for all files which end with the extension
- `.YYY', this will do it for you:
-
- (setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.YYY\\'" . XXX-mode) auto-mode-alist))
-
- Otherwise put this somewhere in the first line of any file you want to
- edit in XXX mode:
-
- -*-XXX-*-
-
-34: How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
- characters?
-
- To search for a single character that appears in the buffer as, for
- example, `\237', you can type "C-s C-q 2 3 7". (This assumes the value of
- search-quote-char is 17 (ie., C-q).) Searching for ALL unprintable
- characters is best done with a "regexp" search. The easiest regexp to use
- for the unprintable chars is the complement of the regexp for the
- printable chars.
-
- Regexp for the printable chars: [\t\n\r\f -~]
-
- Regexp for the unprintable chars: [^\t\n\r\f -~]
-
- To type some of these special characters in an interactive argument to
- isearch-forward-regexp or re-search-forward, you need to use C-q. (`\t',
- `\n', `\r', and `\f' stand respectively for TAB, LFD, RET, and C-l.) So,
- to search for unprintable characters using re-search-forward:
-
- M-x re-search-forward RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET
-
- Using isearch-forward-regexp:
-
- M-C-s [^ TAB RET C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~]
-
- To delete all unprintable characters, simply use a replace-regexp:
-
- M-x replace-regexp RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET RET
-
- Replacing is similar to the above. {I need to write the text for this
- part of the answer!}
-
- Notes:
-
- * With isearch, you can type RET to get a quoted LFD (not a quoted RET).
-
- * You don't need to quote TAB with either isearch or typing something in
- the minibuffer.
-
- Here are the Emacs Lisp forms of the above regexps:
-
- ;; regexp matching all printable characters:
- "[\t\n\r\f -~]"
-
- ;; regexp matching all unprintable characters:
- "[^\t\n\r\f -~]"
-
-35: How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
-
- There are ways to get highlighting (reverse video, inverse video) in GNU
- Emacs 18.59, but either they require patching the C code of Emacs and !
- rebuilding, or they are slow and the highlighting disappears if you scroll
- or redraw the screen and it can not follow the point. Howard Gayle's
- patches for 8-bit output appear to allow highlighting (see question
- ^8-bit-output). Another patch for highlighting is by Kenichi Handa
- <handa@etl.go.jp>. There is a patch for use with X by Andy Norman
- <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com> (and modified for 18.57 by Matthieu Herrb
- <matthieu@laas.fr>), which is available for FTP:
-
- /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-X11-18.55 !
- /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-X11-18.57 !
-
- You can highlight regions in a variety of ways in Epoch and Lucid Emacs.
- GNU Emacs 19 may not be able to just temporarily highlight a region.
-
- Similar comments apply to displaying text in different fonts, except that
- it is even harder.
-
-36: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
-
- For searching, the value of the variable case-fold-search determines
- whether they are case sensitive:
-
- (setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
- (setq case-fold-search t) ; make searches case insensitive
-
- Similarly, for replacing the variable case-replace determines whether
- replacements preserve case.
-
- To change the case sensitivity just for one major mode, use the major
- mode's hook. For example:
-
- (setq XXX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq case-fold-search nil))))
-
-37: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
-
- M-x auto-fill-mode. The default maximum line width is 74, determined by
- the variable fill-column. To find how to turn this on automatically see
- question 32.
-
-38: Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
-
- Use Ispell. See question 119.
-
-39: How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
-
- If you want to spell-check TeX or *roff documents with Ispell, you need to
- arrange for a filter program that understands how to strip TeX or *roff
- formatting commands to be run. In the TeX distribution, there are several
- different programs named `detex', all with incompatible options, and a
- very old pair of programs named `detex' and `delatex', which should
- probably be avoided. The most useful one for Ispell is `detex' by Daniel
- Trinkle. A more recent version is available via FTP:
-
- /arthur.cs.purdue.edu:pub/trinkle/detex-2.4.tar !
-
- Raphael Cerf <cerf@clipper.ens.fr> recently released a program for this
- named `xetal':
-
- /spi.ens.fr:pub/unix/tex/
-
- There is a program that comes with Unix named `deroff' for stripping
- formatting commands from *roff files.
-
- Here is an example of code you can put in a .emacs file to use these
- programs:
-
- ;; Based on suggestions by David G. Grubbs <dgg@ksr.com> and Paul Palmer
- ;; <palmerp@math.orst.edu>.
-
- ;; Assuming the use of detex 2.3 by Daniel Trinkle:
- ;; -w means one word per line.
- ;; -n means don't expand \input or \include commands.
- ;; -l means force LaTeX mode.
-
- (require 'ispell) ; for the make-variable-buffer-local statements
- (setq plain-TeX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq ispell-filter-hook "detex")
- (setq ispell-filter-hook-args '("-nw")))))
- (setq LaTeX-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq ispell-filter-hook "detex")
- (setq ispell-filter-hook-args '("-lnw")))))
- (setq nroff-mode-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (setq ispell-filter-hook "deroff")
- (setq ispell-filter-hook-args '("-w")))))
-
- You will have to adjust the arguments for programs other than Trinkle's
- detex or for other versions of deroff. Experiment running the command
- from the shell to find the correct options. If you don't have a filter
- that knows how to output one word per line, you must pipe its output
- through another filter to break up the output.
-
-40: How do I change load-path?
-
- In general, you should only *add* to the load-path. You can add
- directory /XXX/YYY to the load path like this:
-
- (setq load-path (append load-path '("/XXX/YYY/")))
-
- To do this relative to your home directory:
-
- (setq load-path (append load-path (list (expand-file-name "~/YYY/"))))
-
-41: How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
-
- The `emacsclient' program is for editing a file using an already running
- Emacs rather than starting up a new Emacs. It does this by sending a
- request to the already running Emacs, which must be expecting the request.
-
- * Setup
-
- Emacs must have executed the `server-start' function for emacsclient to
- work. This can be done either by a command line option:
-
- emacs -f server-start
-
- or by invoking server-start from the .emacs file:
-
- (if (some conditions are met) (server-start))
-
- When this is done, Emacs starts a subprocess running a program called
- `server'. `server' creates a Unix domain socket in the user's home
- directory named `.emacs_server'.
-
- To get your news reader, mail reader, etc., to invoke emacsclient, try
- setting the environment variable EDITOR (or sometimes VISUAL) to the
- value `emacsclient'. You may have to specify the full pathname of the
- emacsclient program instead. Examples:
-
- # csh commands:
- setenv EDITOR emacsclient
- setenv EDITOR /usr/local/emacs/etc/emacsclient # using full pathname
-
- # sh command:
- EDITOR=emacsclient export EDITOR
-
- * Normal use
-
- When emacsclient is run, it connects to the `.emacs_server' socket and
- passes its command line options to `server'. When `server' receives
- these requests, it sends this information on the the Emacs process,
- which at the next opportunity will visit the files specified. (Line
- numbers can be specified just like with Emacs.) The user will have to
- switch to the Emacs window by hand. When the user is done editing a
- file, the user can type "C-x #" to indicate this. This will switch to
- another buffer created at the request of emacsclient if there are any.
- When "C-x #" has been invoked on all of the files that the emacsclient
- requested to be edited, Emacs will send notification of this to `server'
- which will pass this on to the emacsclient, which will then exit.
-
- NOTE: `emacsclient' and `server' must be running on machines which share
- the same filesystem for this to work. The pathnames that emacsclient
- specifies should be correct for the filesystem that the Emacs process
- sees. The Emacs process should not be suspended at the time emacsclient
- is invoked. emacsclient should either be invoked from another X window or
- from a shell window inside Emacs itself.
-
- There is an enhanced version of emacsclient/server called `gnuserv' by
- Andy Norman <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com> which is available in the Emacs Lisp
- Archive. gnuserv uses Internet domain sockets, so it can work across most
- network connections. It also supports the execution of arbitrary Emacs
- Lisp forms and also does not require the client program to wait for
- completion. It is available via anonymous FTP (Emacs Lisp Archive:
- packages/gnuserv.shar).
-
-42: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
-
- Write a program which runs the compiler as a child and filters its output,
- rearranging as necessary. Install with same name as compiler somewhere in
- path.
-
- Keith Moore <moore@cs.utk.edu> wrote one such for a C compiler under AIX.
- Available via FTP:
-
- /cs.utk.edu:readonly/aixcc.lex
-
- Jim Frost <jimf@saber.com> wrote another for the IBM xlc compiler on the
- RS/6000. (I don't know if these are both for the same compiler.)
- Johnathan Vail <vail@tegra.COM> wrote something for a High C compiler
- (`hc', which is one of the compilers on the RS/6000, although I think
- Johnathan wrote his program for hc on a different computer).
-
-43: How do I indent switch statements like this?
-
- Many people want to indent their switch statements like this:
-
- f()
- {
- switch(x) {
- case A:
- x1;
- break;
- case B:
- x2;
- break;
- default:
- x3;
- }
- }
-
- I don't believe there is any way to do this exactly without modifying the
- Lisp code in c-mode.el. You can set c-indent-level to 4 and
- c-label-offset to -2, but this has bad effects elsewhere. {Anyone have a
- solution?}
-
-44: How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
-
- There is no completely correct way of doing this that does not involve
- rewriting all commands or writing your own top-level command loop (not a
- completely bad idea). Wayne Mesard <wmesard@pescadero.stanford.edu> has
- written a particularly advanced kludge called `hscroll.el' that checks
- once a second to make sure point is visible.
-
-45: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
-
- M-x overwrite-mode (a minor mode).
-
-46: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
-
- Martin R. Frank <martin@cc.gatech.edu> writes:
-
- Tell Emacs to use the 'visible bell' instead of the audible bell, and
- set the visible bell to nothing.
-
- Put this in your TERMCAP environment variable:
-
- ... :vb=: ...
-
- And evaluate this:
-
- (setq visible-bell t)
-
-47: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
-
- Under versions of Emacs before 18.58, the bell volume was annoying loud
- and difficult to turn off. So upgrading to 18.58 or higher will reduce +
- the volume. If you want to turn it off completely, use `xset'. There is
- no way to turn the bell off just for Emacs without affecting all other
- programs.
-
- Under Epoch you can do:
-
- (setq epoch::bell-volume 20)
-
- Stu Grossman <grossman@sunburn.stanford.edu> wrote a patch that allows the
- bell volume to be adjusted from inside Emacs just for Emacs.
-
-48: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
- indentation of the previous line?
-
- One solution is Indented Text Mode (M-x indented-text-mode).
-
- If you have Auto-Fill mode on (a minor mode, see question 32), you can
- tell Emacs to prefix every line with a certain character sequence, the
- "fill prefix". Type the prefix at the beginning of a line, position point
- after it, and then type "C-x ." (set-fill-prefix) to set the fill prefix.
- Thereafter, auto-filling will automatically put the fill prefix at the
- beginning of new lines, and M-q (fill-paragraph) will maintain any fill
- prefix when refilling the paragraph.
-
- NOTE: If you have paragraphs with different levels of indentation, you
- will have to set the fill prefix to the correct value each time you move
- to a new paragraph. To avoid this hassle, try one of the many packages
- available from the Emacs Lisp Archive. Look up `fill' and `indent' in the
- Lisp Code Directory for guidance.
-
-49: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
-
- If you're looking at a right parenthesis (or brace or bracket) you can
- delete it and reinsert it. Emacs will blink the cursor on the matching
- parenthesis.
-
- M-C-f (forward-sexp) and M-C-b (backward-sexp) will skip over balanced
- parentheses, so you can see which parentheses match. (You can train it to
- skip over balanced brackets and braces at the same time by modifying the
- syntax table.)
-
- Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the % key show the matching
- parenthesis, like in vi. In addition, if the cursor isn't over a
- parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal.
-
- ;; By an unknown contributor
-
- (global-set-key "%" 'match-paren)
-
- (defun match-paren (arg)
- "Go to the matching parenthesis if on parenthesis otherwise insert %."
- (interactive "p")
- (cond ((looking-at "\\s\(") (forward-list 1) (backward-char 1))
- ((looking-at "\\s\)") (forward-char 1) (backward-list 1))
- (t (self-insert-command (or arg 1)))))
-
-50: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
- commands are handled by the compiler?
-
- M-x hide-ifdef-mode. (This is a minor mode.)
-
- You may have to (load "hideif") first. If you want to do this regularly,
- put this in your .emacs file:
-
- (autoload 'hide-ifdef-mode "hideif" nil t)
-
- {Yes, I know, this should be in lisp/loaddefs.el already.}
-
-51: Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
-
- (`.' is the redo command in vi. It redoes the last insertion/deletion.)
-
- No, not really.
-
- You can type "C-x ESC" (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke commands that
- used the minibuffer to get arguments. In repeat-complex-command you can
- type M-p and M-n to scan through all the different complex commands you've
- typed.
-
- To repeat something on each line I recommend using keyboard macros.
-
-52: What are the valid X resource settings (ie., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
-
- See the Emacs man page, or the etc/OPTIONS file. Ignore the information
- in etc/XDOC which is way out of date.
-
-53: How do I execute a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
-
- There are a number of ways to execute (called "evaluate") an Emacs Lisp
- "form":
-
- * If you want it evaluated every time you run Emacs, put it in a file
- named `.emacs' in your home directory.
-
- * You can type the form in the *scratch* buffer, and then type LFD (or
- C-j) after it. The result of evaluating the form will be inserted in
- the buffer.
-
- * In Emacs-Lisp mode, typing M-C-x evaluates a top-level form before or
- around point.
-
- * Typing "C-x C-e" in any buffer evaluates the Lisp form immediately
- before point and prints its value in the echo area.
-
- * Typing M-ESC or M-x eval-expression allows you to type a Lisp form in
- the minibuffer which will be evaluated.
-
- * You can use M-x load-file to have Emacs evaluate all the Lisp forms in
- a file. (To do this from Lisp use the function `load' instead.)
-
- These functions are also used for evaluating Lisp forms:
-
- load-library, eval-region, eval-current-buffer, require, autoload
-
-54: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
-
- Example: (setq default-tab-width 10).
-
-55: How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
-
- Type "M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET > RET".
-
- To do this only in the region, type "C-x n M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET
- > RET C-x w".
-
- WARNING: The command narrow-to-region (C-x n) is disabled by default
- because it can be very confusing (ie., "Oh no! Where did my file go?").
-
-56: How do I insert `_^H' before each character in a paragraph to get an
- underlined paragraph?
-
- M-x underline-region.
-
-57: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
-
- Use "C-x (" and "C-x )" to make a keyboard macro that invokes the command
- and then type "M-0 C-x e".
-
- WARNING: any messages your command prints in the echo area will be
- suppressed.
-
-58: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor
- should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
-
- M-x picture-mode. (This is a minor mode, in theory anyway ...)
-
-59: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
-
- You need to modify C source and recompile. Either that or get Epoch or
- Lucid Emacs instead. Patches have been written by Robert Forsman
- <thoth@reef.cis.ufl.edu> and Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> to allow Emacs to
- iconify itself and by Matt Wette <mwette@mr-ed.jpl.nasa.gov> and
- Manavendra K. Thakur <thakur@zerkalo.harvard.edu> (for 18.57, plus icon
- geometry) to allow Emacs to start up iconified. I don't know which of
- these patches work together.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /csi.jpl.nasa.gov:pub/emax.patch1 (Matt Wette) !
- /ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-Xfun.Z (Johan Vromans)
- /ftp.urc.tue.nl:/pub/tex/emacs/FP-Xfun (Johan Vromans) +
-
-60: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
-
- See `Regexps' in the online manual.
-
- WARNING: The "or" operator is `\|', not `|', and the grouping operators
- are `\(' and `\)'. Also, the string syntax for a backslash is "\\".
- Thus, the string syntax for a regular expression like xxx\(foo\|bar\) is
- "xxx\\(foo\\|bar\\)". Notice the duplicated backslashes!
-
- WARNING: Unlike in Unix grep, sed, etc., a complement character set
- ([^...]) can match a newline character (LFD aka C-j aka \n), unless
- newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to match.
-
- WARNING: The character syntax regexps (eg. `\sw') are not meaningful
- inside character set regexps (eg. `[aeiou]'). (This is actually typical
- for regexp syntax.)
-
-61: How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
-
- The "tags" feature of Emacs includes the command tags-query-replace which
- performs a query-replace across all the files mentioned in the TAGS file.
- See `Tags:Tags Search' in the online manual.
-
- In addition, Martin Boyer has written a package named global-replace which
- will perform a query-replace across all the files mentioned in the
- *compilation* buffer (usually done after a `grep'), which is available via
- anonymous FTP:
-
- /ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca:pub/emacs/lisp/compile.el.Z
- /ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca:pub/emacs/lisp/global-replace.el.Z
- /ireq-robot.hydro.qc.ca:pub/emacs/lisp/query.el.Z
-
-62: Where is the documentation for `etags'?
-
- `etags' takes options just like a prior version of ctags, so your ctags
- manual (if any) may be useful. {Can someone send me the details on this?}
-
-
-
-Bugs/Problems
-
-63: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
-
- Most installed versions of GNU Emacs will use 24-bit signed integers (and
- 24-bit pointers) internally. This limits the file size that Emacs can
- handle to 8,388,607 bytes (2^23 - 1).
-
- Leonard N. Zubkoff <lnz@lucid.com> suggests putting the following two
- lines in src/config.h before compiling Emacs to allow for 26-bit integers
- and pointers (and thus filesizes of up to 33,554,431 bytes):
-
- #define VALBITS 26
- #define GCTYPEBITS 5
-
- WARNING: This method may result in `ILLEGAL DATATYPE' and other random
- errors on some machines.
-
- David Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> gives an explanation of why
- Emacs uses 24 bit integers and pointers:
-
- Emacs is largely written in a dialect of Lisp; Lisp is a freely-typed
- language in the sense that you can put any value of any type into any
- variable, or return it from a function, and so on. So each value must
- carry a "tag" along with it identifying what kind of thing it is, eg.,
- integer, pointer to a list, pointer to an editing buffer, and so on.
- Emacs uses standard 32-bit integers for data objects, taking the top 8
- bits for the tag and the bottom 24 bits for the value. So integers (and
- pointers) are somewhat restricted compared to true C integers and
- pointers.
-
- Emacs uses 8-bit tags because that's a little faster on byte-oriented
- machines, but there are only really enough tags to require 6 bits.
-
-64: Why can't Emacs find files in current directory on startup?
-
- The PWD bug has been fixed as of GNU Emacs 18.59. Read on if you are +
- running an older version of Emacs. +
-
- Most likely, you have an environment variable named PWD that is set to a
- value other than the name of your current directory. This is most
- likely caused by using two different shell programs. `ksh' and (some
- versions of) `csh' set and maintain the value of the PWD environment
- variable, but `sh' doesn't. If you start sh from ksh, change your
- current directory inside sh, and then start Emacs from inside sh, PWD
- will have the wrong value but Emacs will use this value. An invalid +
- setting for PWD can also be a problem if you use X Windows and csh on an +
- RS/6000. See the etc/OPTIONS file for more details. +
-
- Perhaps an easier solution is not to use two shells. The `chsh' program
- can often be used to change one's default login shell.
-
- You may have PWD set for other reasons. Another possibility is that you
- are setting default-directory from your .emacs file.
-
- Here is a fix by Jim Blandy <jimb@occs.cs.oberlin.edu>:
-
- >--- emacs/jjj/emacs-18.58/lisp/startup.el Tue Jan 15 23:19:04 1991
- >+++ startup.el Mon Apr 20 00:21:01 1992
- >@@ -81,5 +81,7 @@
- > ;; In presence of symlinks, switch to cleaner form of default directory.
- > (if (and (not (eq system-type 'vax-vms))
- >- (getenv "PWD"))
- >+ (getenv "PWD")
- >+ (equal (nthcdr 10 (file-attributes default-directory))
- >+ (nthcdr 10 (file-attributes (getenv "PWD")))))
- > (setq default-directory (file-name-as-directory (getenv "PWD"))))
- > (unwind-protect
-
-65: How do I get rid of the ^M junk in my Shell buffer?
-
- For tcsh, put this in your `.cshrc' (or `.tcshrc') file:
-
- if ($?EMACS) then
- if ("$EMACS" == t) then
- if ($?tcsh) unset edit
- stty nl
- endif
- endif
-
- Or put this in your .emacs_tcsh file:
-
- unset edit
- stty nl
-
- Alternatively, use csh in your Shell buffers instead of tcsh. One way
- is:
-
- (setq explicit-shell-file-name "/bin/csh")
-
- and another is to do this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:
-
- setenv ESHELL /bin/csh
-
- (You must start Emacs over again with the environment variable properly
- set for this to take effect.)
-
-66: Why do I get `Process shell exited abnormally with code 1'?
-
- The most likely reason for this message is that the `env' program is not
- properly installed. This program should be compiled (for the correct
- architecture!) and installed with execute permission for everyone in
- Emacs's program directory, which is normally /usr/local/emacs/etc. You
- can find what this directory is at your site by inspecting the value of
- the variable exec-directory by typing "C-h v exec-directory RET". `env'
- should also be for the correct architecture (check using `file' command).
-
- You should also check for other programs named `env' in your path (eg.,
- SunOS has a program named /usr/bin/env). I don't understand why this can
- cause a failure and I don't know a general solution for working around the
- problem in this case.
-
- The `make clean' command will remove `env' and other vital programs, so be
- careful when using it.
-
- It has been reported that this sometimes happened when Emacs was started
- as an X client from an xterm window (ie. had a controlling tty) but the
- xterm was later terminated.
-
- See also etc/PROBLEMS for other possible causes of this message.
-
-67: Why can't I cut from Emacs and paste in other X programs?
-
- Emacs stores things you "cut" in the X "cut buffers". It also pastes from
- the cut buffer `CUT_BUFFER0'. This is obsolete. Most modern X programs
- now expect to work with "selections" instead of cut buffers, although some
- like `xterm' will try to use the cut buffers if the selection is null.
-
- Emacs 18.58 contains a "fix" that makes xterm work by default. This
- "fix" is that Emacs clears the `PRIMARY' selection when it stores
- something in the cut buffer. By making the selection null, xterm will
- then fetch from the cut buffer when you try to paste.
-
- For versions of Emacs prior to 18.58, you can make pasting from Emacs into
- xterm work with the following X resources:
-
- ! Solution by Thomas Narten, should work under X11R3 and later GNU
- ! Emacs only copies to CUT_BUFFER0. xterm by default wants to paste
- ! from the PRIMARY selection.
- XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \
- ~Meta <Btn2Up>: insert-selection(CUT_BUFFER0,PRIMARY)
-
- You may have problems copying between Emacs and programs other than xterm
- that won't store cut text in the cut buffers or look in the cut buffers
- for text to paste (for backwards compatibility with obsolete applications
- like Emacs :-). The best workaround is to use the `xcutsel' program as an
- intermediary.
-
- This problem does not exist for Epoch or Lucid Emacs.
-
-68: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type `emacs'?
-
- The termcap entry for terminal type `emacs' is ordinarily put in the
- TERMCAP environment variable of subshells. It may help in certain
- situations (eg., using rlogin from shell buffer) to add an entry for
- `emacs' to the system-wide termcap file. Here is a correct termcap entry
- for `emacs':
-
- emacs:tc=unknown:
-
- To make a terminfo entry for `emacs', use `tic' or `captoinfo'. You need
- to generate /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs. It may work to simply copy
- /usr/lib/terminfo/d/dumb to /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs.
-
- Having a termcap/terminfo entry will not enable the use of full screen
- programs in shell buffers. Use M-x terminal-emulator for that instead.
-
- A workaround to the problem of missing termcap/terminfo entries is to
- change terminal type `emacs' to type `dumb' or `unknown' in your shell
- start up file. `csh' users could put this in their .cshrc files:
-
- if ("$term" == emacs) set term=dumb
-
-69: Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying `I-search:' and beeping?
-
- Your terminal (or something between your terminal and the computer) is
- sending C-s and C-q for flow control, and Emacs is receiving these
- characters and interpreting them as commands. (The C-s character normally
- invokes the isearch-forward command.) For possible solutions, see
- question 131.
-
-70: Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
-
- The problem may be that Emacs is linked with a wimpier version of
- gethostbyname than the rest of the programs on the machine. This is often
- manifested as a message on startup of `X server not responding. Check
- your DISPLAY environment variable.' or a message of `Unknown host' from
- open-network-stream.
-
- On a Sun, this may be because Emacs had to be linked with the static C
- library. The version of gethostbyname in the static C library may only
- look in /etc/hosts and the NIS (YP) maps, while the version in the dynamic
- C library may be smart enough to check DNS in addition to or instead of
- NIS. On a Motorola Delta running System V R3.6, the version of
- gethosbyname in the standard library works, but the one that works with
- NIS doesn't (the one you get with -linet). Other operating systems have
- similar problems.
-
- Try these options:
-
- * Explicitly add the host you want to communicate with to /etc/hosts.
-
- * Relink Emacs with this line in src/config.h:
-
- #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv
-
- * Replace gethostbyname and friends in libc.a with more useful versions
- such as the ones in libresolv.a. Then relink Emacs.
-
- * If you are actually running NIS, make sure that `ypbind' is properly
- told to do DNS lookups with the correct command line switch.
-
- * Use tcp.el and tcp.c from GNUS. This has the additional advantage that
- you can use numeric IP addresses instead of names. open-network-stream
- currently can't handle numeric addresses. Brian Thomson
- <thomson@hub.toronto.edu> has a enhancement to open-network-stream to
- allow it to handle numeric addresses.
-
-71: Why does Emacs say `Error in init file'?
-
- An error occurred while loading either your .emacs file or the system-wide
- lisp/default.el file. For information on how to debug your .emacs file,
- see question 29.
-
- It may be the case that you may need to load some package first, or use a
- hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded. A common case of
- this is explained in question 127.
-
-72: Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
-
- * Try compiling Emacs with the XBACKWARDS macro defined. There is a bug
- in some implementations of XGetDefault, which do not correspond to the
- documentation or the header files.
-
- * Make sure you are either using the class name of `Emacs' (oops,
- apparently this is buggy in Emacs 18.58!) or the correct instance name.
- The instance name is normally the same as the name of the file Emacs is
- in (ie., the last part of argv[0]), but this can be overridden by -rn
- command line option or the WM_RES_NAME environment variable.
-
- WARNING: Reports say using the class name fails in Emacs 18.58.
-
- WARNING: The advice the man page gives to use `emacs' is often wrong.
-
- WARNING: Older versions of Emacs got the class name wrong.
-
- * Emacs currently ignores the -xrm command line argument.
-
- * Emacs does not yet handle X11R5 screen-specific resources.
-
- * Emacs has a bug where it ignores color specifications if running on a
- 1-bit display (ie. a non-color display).
-
- * I don't think Emacs will use either of the application-specific resource
- files. Thus these environment variables don't affect it: XAPPLRESDIR,
- XUSERFILESEARCHPATH, XFILESEARCHPATH. {Correct?}
-
-73: Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
-
- The usual cause is that the master lock file, `!!!SuperLock!!!' has been
- left in the lock directory somehow. Delete it.
-
- Mark Meuer <meuer@geom.umn.edu> says that NeXT NFS has a bug where an
- exclusive create succeeds but returns an error status. This can cause the
- same problem. Since Emacs's file locking doesn't work over NFS anyway,
- the best solution is to recompile Emacs with CLASH_DETECTION undefined.
-
-74: How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
-
- When entering a filename in the minibuffer, Emacs will attempt to expand
- a `$' followed by a word as an environment variable. To suppress this
- behavior, type "$$" instead.
-
-75: Why does Shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
-
- Emacs has no way of knowing when the shell actually changes its directory.
- This is an intrinsic limitation of Unix. So it tries to guess by
- recognizing `cd' commands. If you type `cd' followed by a directory name
- with a variable reference (`cd $HOME/bin') or with a shell metacharacter
- (`cd ../lib*'), Emacs will fail to correctly guess the shell's new current
- directory. A huge variety of fixes and enhancements to Shell mode for
- this problem have been written to handle this problem. Check the Lisp
- Code Directory (see question 88).
-
-76: Why doesn't my change to load-path work?
-
- If you added a directory name containing a tilde (~) to your load-path,
- expecting the tilde to be interpreted as your home directory, then you
- need to do something like this:
-
- (setq load-path (mapcar 'expand-file-name load-path))
-
-77: Why does the cursor always go to the wrong column when I move up or
- down one line?
-
- You have inadvertently typed "C-x C-n" (set-goal-column) which sets the
- "goal column" to the column where the cursor was. To undo this type
- "C-u C-x C-n".
-
- If you make this mistake frequently, you might want to unbind or disable
- this command by doing one of these two:
-
- (define-key ctl-x-map "\C-n" nil)
- (put 'set-goal-column 'disabled t)
-
-78: Why does Emacs hang with message `Unknown XMenu error' with X11R4?
-
- Many different X errors can produce this message. Here is the solution
- to one problem:
-
- X11 Release 4 (and later, including OpenWindows) enforces some conditions
- in the X protocol that were previously allowed to pass unnoticed. You
- need to put the X11R4 server into X11R3 bug compatibility mode for Emacs's
- Xmenu code to work. You can do this with the command `xset bc'.
-
-79: Why doesn't display-time show the load average in the mode line
- anymore?
-
- In GNU Emacs 18.56, a change was made in the display-time code.
- Formerly, in version 18.55, Emacs used a program named `loadst' to
- notify Emacs of the change in time every minute. loadst also sent Emacs
- the system load average if it was installed with sufficient privilege to
- get that information (or was on a system where no such privilege was
- needed). Emacs then displayed this information in the mode line.
-
- In version 18.56, this code was changed to use a program named `wakeup'.
- wakeup doesn't send Emacs any information, it's only purpose is to send
- Emacs *something* every minute, thus invoking the filter function in
- Emacs once a minute. The filter function in Emacs does all the work of
- finding the time, date, and load average. However, getting the load
- average requires the privilege to read kernel memory on most systems.
- Since giving Emacs this privilege would destroy any security a system
- might have, for almost everyone this is not an option. In addition,
- Emacs does not have the code built into it to get this information on
- the systems which have special system calls for this purpose, even
- though loadst had code for this.
-
- The solution I use is to get the files lisp/display-time.el and
- etc/loadst.c from version 18.55 and use those with 18.58. (I have heard
- a rumor that loadst disappeared because of the legal action Unipress
- threatened against IBM.)
-
- WARNING: Do not install Emacs setgid kmem unless you wish to destroy
- any security your system might have!!!!!!!!!!
-
- If you are using Emacs 18.55 or earlier, or already using the solution I
- describe above, read further:
-
- The most likely cause of the problem is that `loadst' can't read the
- special file /dev/kmem. To properly install loadst, it should be either
- setuid to the owner of /dev/kmem, or is should be setgid to the group to
- which /dev/kmem belongs. In either case, /dev/kmem should be readable by
- its owner or its group, respectively. Assuming the existence of a group
- named `kmem', here is an example of how to do this:
-
- chgrp kmem /dev/kmem
- chmod g+r /dev/kmem
- chgrp kmem /usr/local/emacs/etc/loadst
- chmod g+s /usr/local/emacs/etc/loadst
-
- Another possibility is that your version of Unix doesn't have the load
- average data available in /dev/kmem. Your version of Unix might have a
- special system call to retrieve this information (eg., inq_stats under
- UMAX), and loadst might not have been enhanced to cope with this.
-
-80: Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary?
-
- You need to update the version of Ispell to 2.0.02. (Or you can switch to
- version 3.0 which is still in beta-testing.) A patch is available via
- anonymous FTP:
-
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/ispell/patch2.Z
-
- You also need to change a line in ispell.el from:
-
- (defconst ispell-version "2.0.01") ; Check against output of "ispell -v".
-
- to:
-
- (defconst ispell-version "2.0.02") ; Check against output of "ispell -v".
-
-81: Why does Ispell treat each line as a single word?
-
- Ispell expects to get its input one word per line. The ispell filter,
- which is specified by the variables ispell-filter-hook and
- ispell-filter-hook-args, should output at most one word per line.
-
-82: Are there any security risks in GNU Emacs?
-
- * the `movemail' incident (No, this is not a risk.)
-
- Cliff Stoll in his book `The Cuckoo's Egg' describes this in chapter 4.
- The site at LBL had installed the `etc/movemail' program setuid root.
- Since `movemail' had not been designed for this situation, a security
- hole was created and users could get root priveleges.
-
- `movemail' has since been changed so that even if it is installed setuid
- root this security hole will not be a result.
-
- I have heard unverified reports that the Internet worm took advantage of
- this configuration problem.
-
- * the file-local-variable feature (Yes, a risk, but easy to change.)
-
- There is an Emacs feature that allows the setting of local values for
- variables when editing a file by including specially formatted text near
- the end of the file. This feature also includes the ability to have
- arbitrary Emacs Lisp code evaluated when the file is visited.
- Obviously, there is a potential for Trojan horses to exploit this
- feature.
-
- If you set the variable inhibit-local-variables to a non-nil value,
- Emacs will display the special local variable settings of a file that
- you visit and ask you if you really want them. This variable is not
- mentioned in the manual.
-
- It is wise to do this in lisp/site-init.el before building Emacs:
-
- (setq inhibit-local-variables t)
-
- If Emacs has already been built, the expression can be put in
- lisp/default.el instead, or an individual can put it in their own .emacs
- file.
-
- The ability to exploit this feature by sending e-mail to an RMAIL user
- was fixed sometime after Emacs 18.52. However, any new package that
- uses find-file or find-file-noselect has to be careful about this.
-
- For more information, see `File Variables' in the online manual (which,
- incidentally, does not describe how to disable the feature).
-
- There is a new variable in Emacs 18.58 named ignore-local-eval which
- turns out to be useless as currently implemented. Ignore it.
-
- * synthetic X events (Yes, a risk, use MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 or better.)
-
- Emacs accepts synthetic X events generated by the SendEvent request as
- though they were regular events. As a result, if you are using the
- trivial host-based authentication, other users who can open X
- connections to your X workstatation can make your Emacs process do
- anything, including run other processes with your priveleges.
-
- The only fix for this is to prevent other users from being able to open
- X connections. The standard way to prevent this is to use a real
- authentication mechanism, such as MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1. If using the
- `xauth' program has any effect, then you are probably using
- MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1. Your site may be using a superior authentication
- method; ask your system administrator.
-
- If real authentication is not a possibility, you may be satisfied by
- just allowing hosts access for brief intervals while you start your X
- programs, then removing the access. This reduces the risk somewhat by
- narrowing the time window when hostile users would have access, but DOES
- NOT ELIMINATE THE RISK.
-
- Lucid GNU Emacs does not accept synthetic X events unless you set a
- variable.
-
- * autosave file permissions (Yes, a risk, hard to work around.)
-
- The file permissions for autosave files are determined solely by the
- Emacs process's `umask' value. The permissions of the file being
- autosaved are not used. The easiest workaround is to keep sensitive
- files in protected directories. Sebastian Kremer has written an
- enhanced version of the autosave file name picking code that can avoid
- this problem by keeping autosave files in a protected directory. {FTP
- information please?} This problem will be fixed in Emacs 19.
-
-
-
-Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs
-
-83: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
-
- First look in the file etc/PROBLEMS to see if there is already a solution
- for your problem. Next check the FAQ (you're reading it). If you don't
- find a solution, then report your problem via e-mail to
- bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu. Please do not post it to gnu.emacs.help or
- e-mail it to help-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu. For further guidelines, see
- question 8.
-
-84: How do I stop Emacs from failing when the executable is stripped?
-
- Don't do that.
-
- This problem has been reported on SGI Indigo machines running Irix 4.0.*
- and RS/6000 machines. Scott Henry <scotth@hoshi.corp.SGi.COM> posted a
- patch that fixes the problem for Irix.
-
-85: Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
-
- Emacs needs to be linked with the static version of the X11 library,
- libX11.a. This may be missing.
-
- Under OpenWindows, you may need to use `add_services' to add the
- `OpenWindows Programmers' optional software category from the CD-ROM.
-
- Under HP-UX 8.0, you may need to run `update' again to load the
- X11-PRG `fileset'. This may be missing even if you specified `all
- filesets' the first time. If libcurses.a is missing, you may need to load
- the `Berkeley Development Option' {???}.
-
- If you are building the MIT X11 sources, you may need to modify your
- `site.cf' file to get static versions of the libraries. (Info from David
- Zuhn <zoo@cygnus.com>.)
-
- Other systems may have similar problems. You can always define
- CANNOT_DUMP and link with the shared libraries instead.
-
- To get the Xmenu stuff to work, you need to find a copy of MIT's
- liboldX.a.
-
-86: Why does Emacs 18.55 say `Fatal error (6).Abort' under SunOS 4.1?
-
- I had hoped this question would go away after Emacs 18.57 was released,
- but people continue to compile 18.55. Easiest solution: upgrade.
-
- This is a result of the SunOS localtime/tzsetwall malloc bug, which was
- (finally!) fixed in SunOS 4.1.2. If you actually need the full
- explanation, send me e-mail. If you absolutely must compile Emacs 18.55
- (eg., you are compiling Nemacs), the easiest workaround was to put
- `#define SYSTEM_MALLOC' in src/config.h.
-
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------- +
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells +
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes +
- +
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers +
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other +
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new +
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as +
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice +
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining +
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and +
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including +
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these +
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary +
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution. +
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Getting Emacs/Packages
-
-If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to
-get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text
-of the answers, just type "C-x $".
-
-To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if
-that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search.
-
-A `+' in the 78th column means something was inserted on the line. A `-' means
-something was deleted and a `!' means some combination of insertions and
-deletions occurred.
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-
-
-Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages
-
-87: Where can I get GNU Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
-
- Look in the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for information on nearby
- archive sites. If you don't already have GNU Emacs, see question 20
- for how to get these two files.
-
- The latest version is always available via anonymous FTP at MIT:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/emacs-18.59.tar.Z !
-
- See question 91.
-
-88: How do I find a GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
-
- A listing of Emacs Lisp packages, called the Lisp Code Directory, is being
- maintained by Dave Brennan <brennan@hal.com> and Dave Sill <de5@ornl.gov>.
- You can search through this list to find if someone has written something
- that fits your needs.
-
- This list is file LCD-datafile.Z in the Emacs Lisp Archive. (See
- question 89 for methods for getting this file.) The files lispdir.el.Z
- and lispdir.doc.Z in the archive contain information to help you use the
- list. Once you have installed lispdir.el and LCD-datafile, then you can
- use the "M-x lisp-dir-apropos" command to look things up in the database.
- For example, the command "M-x lisp-dir-apropos RET ange-ftp RET" produces
- this (outdated) output:
-
- GNU Emacs Lisp Code Apropos -- "ange-ftp"
-
- ange-ftp (3.112) 91-08-12
- Andy Norman, <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
- archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:
- /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/as-is/ange-ftp.el.Z
- transparent FTP Support for GNU Emacs
-
-89: Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
-
- First, check the Lisp Code Directory to find the name of the package you
- are looking for. (See question 88). Then check local archives and
- the Emacs Lisp Archive to find a copy of the relevant files. Then, if
- you still haven't found it, you can send e-mail to the author asking for
- a copy.
-
- You can access the Emacs Lisp Archive via anonymous FTP:
-
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
-
- Fetch the file README first.
-
- NOTE: The archive maintainers do not have time to answer individual
- requests for packages or the list of packages in the archive. If you
- cannot use FTP or UUCP to access the archive yourself, try to find a
- friend who can, but please don't ask the maintainers.
-
- NOTE: Any files with names ending in `.Z' are compressed, and you should
- use `binary' mode in FTP to retrieve them. You should also use binary
- mode whenever you retrieve any files with names ending in `.elc'.
-
-90: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
-
- Submissions should be mailed to elisp-archive@cis.ohio-state.edu. The
- lispdir.el package has a function named submit-lcd-entry which will help
- you with this. Mail messages (submissions) are automatically saved and
- periodically archived. Urgent mail may be sent directly to Dave Sill
- <de5@ornl.gov> or Dave Brennan <brennan@hal.com> or should contain the
- string `urgent' in the subject. The incoming ftp directory is no longer
- available at the request of Ohio State. {Is this still true?}
-
- However, if someone has a submission with multiple files (which would be
- archived as a tar file) or binary files, then FTP transfer is preferred
- and can be arranged via an anonymous FTP site. This is faster than
- uudecoding, unsharing, etc., and re-packaging files.
-
- Before submitting anything, please read the file guidelines.Z, which is
- available in the archive. Whenever possible, submissions should contain a
- complete LCD entry since this helps reduce administrative overhead for the
- maintainers. You can include an entry in this format:
-
- ;; LCD Archive Entry:
- ;; package name|author's name|email address
- ;; |description
- ;; |date|version|archive path
-
- For example:
-
- ;; LCD Archive Entry:
- ;; tex-complete|Sebastian Kremer|sk@thp.Uni-Koeln.DE
- ;; |Minibuffer name completion for editing [La]TeX.
- ;; |91-03-26|$Revision: 19.4 $|~/packages/tex-complete.el.Z !
-
- Dave Brennan has software which automatically looks for data in this
- format. The format is fairly flexible. The entry ends when a line is
- reached with a different prefix or the seventh field terminator is
- seen.
-
- If you are submitting a multi-file submission you should include a file
- named "LCD-entry" which contains the archive entry, instead of placing
- it in one or more of the individual files.
-
-91: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
-
- The most up-to-date official GNU stuff is normally kept on prep.ai.mit.edu
- and is available for anonymous FTP in the pub/gnu directory. See the
- files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for more information. (To get copies of
- these files, see question 20.)
-
- The following sites are all mirror images of the GNU distribution area:
-
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/
- /ftp.uu.net:packages/gnu/
- /src.doc.ic.ac.uk:gnu/ (available via FTP, NIFTP, FTAM)
- /ftp.win.tue.nl:pub/gnu/
- /utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:ftpsync/prep/
- /nic.funet.fi:pub/gnu/
-
- The directory at ftp.uu.net is a mirror of prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu,
- except that files larger than 1 megabyte {right?} are automatically
- split into multiple parts. If you have trouble transferring large
- files, you should try here. A file normally named `XXX' is split into
- files XXX-split/part[0-9][0-9], and there will be a file named
- XXX-split/README which contains the list of parts (especially helpful
- when FTP-ing by e-mail), their checksums, and reassembly instructions.
- Some of the other mirror sites may have the same property. {Can someone
- check this out? Thanks!}
-
- Information was provided by Lee McLoughlin <lmjm@doc.ic.ac.uk>, Jonathan
- R. Ferro <jf41+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU>, Arjan de Vet <devet@win.tue.nl>, and
- Simon Marshall <S.Marshall@sequent.cc.hull.ac.uk>.
-
-92: Where can I get an Emacs with better mouse and X window support?
-
- Emacs 18 has some limited X Window System support, but there are
- problems. Emacs 19 will have amazing mouse and window support. Right
- now, there are Epoch which is derived from GNU Emacs 18.58 and Lucid GNU
- Emacs which is derived from an early unreleased version of GNU Emacs 19,
- both of which have greatly improved mouse and window support. See
- questions 120 and 121.
-
- The HP unofficial GNU Emacs also has nice mouse support. See question
- 95.
-
- There are numerous Emacs Lisp packages that have been written to extend
- Emacs 18's mouse handling capabilities. Some of these packages also have
- patches to the C code to provide enhanced capabilities. Look up `mouse'
- in the Lisp Code Directory (see question 88).
-
- There is a package called BAM (Born Again Menus) which provides menus for
- GNU Emacs via an external C program. It does not provide mouse support in
- the Emacs window such as scrollbars, cut-and-paste, etc.
-
- NOTE: Epoch only works with the X Window System; it works on ordinary
- terminals by invoking regular GNU Emacs. Lucid Emacs does not currently
- work on ordinary terminals, although there are plans to fix this.
-
-93: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Epoch?
-
- Marc Andreessen <marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu> writes:
-
- Epoch is GNU Emacs on steroids: an adaptation of GNU Emacs with lots of
- additional support for features made possible by the X11 windowing
- system. These features include multiple editing windows, arbitrary
- colors and fonts (fixed-width and proportional), selectable zones per
- buffer with arbitrary display styles (font, color, underline, stipple,
- pixmap), an optional separate minibuffer window, improved keyboard and
- mouse handling, full 8-bit character set support, and more.
-
-94: What is the difference between GNU Emacs and Lucid GNU Emacs?
-
- This information is condensed from the release notice:
-
- Lucid GNU Emacs is based on an early version of GNU Emacs version 19
- with many enhancements. It currently requires X Windows to run. For
- information on where to get Lucid GNU Emacs see 121. X Windows support
- is greatly enhanced over GNU Emacs version 18, including support for
- multiple X Windows (a.k.a. screens in Emacs), Zmacs/Lispm style region
- highlighting, a customizable, Motif-like menubar, more powerful keymap
- support (allowing different actions to be associated with Backspace,
- Control-h, etc.), flexible text attribute (e.g. font, color) support on
- regional and screen-local basis through X resources and/or lisp, and
- support for the X11 selection mechanism. Some other features include
- run-time computation of the load-path, support for floating point
- numbers, native timer support, and sound file support on Sun
- SPARCstations. To build Lucid GNU Emacs, an ANSI C compiler (e.g. gcc)
- is required.
-
-95: Where can I get the "unofficial HP GNU Emacs"?
-
- The unofficial HP GNU Emacs is available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /ee.utah.edu:HUGE/ (PLEASE FTP DURING NON-WORK HOURS!!!) -
-
- and takes about 35 megabytes of disk space to build. It is useful for
- non-HP machines, but some of the added features will only work under
- HP-UX.
-
- You will need to get patches to work with HP-UX 8.0 or on 700 series
- machines via e-mail from Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com>.
-
-96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
-
- * Demacs
-
- For 386 or 486 PCs running MS-DOS, there is a version of GNU Emacs
- called Demacs. To get Demacs see question 122.
-
- From the announcement message:
-
- Demacs is almost a full set of GNU Emacs but does not support some
- features: asynchronous process, locking a file, etc.
-
- Demacs provides following DOS specific features:
-
- * File type: text or binary file translation.
- * "8-bit clean" display mode.
- * 8086 software interrupt call by int86 lisp function.
- * Machine specific features such as function key support.
- * File name completion with drive name.
- * Child process (suspend-emacs, call-process).
- * Enhanced dired mode which can work without 'ls.exe'.
-
- To our regret `shell-mode' does not work, but `compile' command works
- properly.
-
- Demacs was developed using an MS-DOS version of gcc called djgpp by
- D. J. Delorie <dj@ctron.com> which can compile and run large programs
- under MS-DOS, but not under MS Windows. Demacs was derived from Nemacs
- rather than straight from GNU Emacs.
-
- There are a variety of other Emacses for MS-DOS including among them the
- following.
-
- * Freemacs
-
- Russ Nelson <nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, the author, describes
- Freemacs:
-
- * Freemacs is free, and it was designed from the start to be
- programmable.
- * Freemacs is the only IBM-PC editor that tries to be like GNU Emacs.
- * Freemacs can only edit files less than 64K in length.
- * Freemacs doesn't have undo.
-
- Carl Witty <cwitty@cs.stanford.edu> reviews Freemacs:
-
- Better is Freemacs, which follows the tradition of ITS and GNU Emacs
- by having an full, turing-complete extension language which is
- incompatible with everything else. In fact, it's even closer to ITS
- Emacs than GNU Emacs is, because Mint (Freemacs' extension language)
- is absolutely illegible without weeks of study, much like TECO.
-
- To get Freemacs see question 123.
-
- * MicroEmacs
-
- MicroEmacs is a descendant of Microemacs {originally by Dave Conroy?}.
- It is programmable in a BASIC-like language. Many of the keybindings
- are different from GNU Emacs. It is rumored that MicroEmacs can not
- correctly edit files larger than memory. The author is Daniel Lawrence
- <dan@mdbs.uucp, mdbs!dan@ee.ecn.purdue.edu>. The latest version is 3.11 !
- and it is available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/uemacs/ !
-
- * JOVE
-
- Another Emacs for small machines is JOVE (Jonathan's Own Version of
- Emacs). The latest official version is 4.14. There appears to be a
- newer version. People rumored to be working on JOVE include Mark Moraes
- <moraes@cs.toronto.edu> and Bill Marsh <bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil>. It is
- available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /cs.toronto.edu:/pub/moraes/jove4.14.7.tar.Z !
-
- * MG
-
- MG is another descendant of Microemacs. MG used to stand for
- MicroGNUEmacs, but now just stands for MG. The look-and-feel of MG is
- intended to be close to that of GNU Emacs. It is rumored that MG can
- not correctly edit files larger than memory. The current version is
- rumored to be 2. There is a version 3 in beta which works on the Amiga.
- It is also available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /ftp.white.toronto.edu:pub/mg/
- /wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/unix-c/editors/
- /procyon.cis.ksu.edu: (source and executable)
-
-97: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running Windows?
-
- I believe that no version of GNU Emacs runs under Windows. Pierre Perret
- <pap@myths.az05.bull.com> has ported MicroEMACS 3.11c to Windows.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /ftp.cica.indiana.edu:pub/pc/win3/util/mewin10.zip
- /ftp.cica.indiana.edu:pub/pc/win3/util/mewin10s.zip
- /ftp.cica.indiana.edu:pub/pc/win3/util/mewri.zip
-
-98: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
-
- From the OS/2 Programmer's FAQ:
-
- GNU Emacs 18.58 is available. It requires you to have EMX installed
- on your machine, but it comes with all the EMX files you will need.
- Emacs is available on ftp-os2 in /pub/os2/2.0/gnu/emacs. (If you want
- to recompile emacs, you will need the full EMX distribution see
- question 1.2.)
-
- The above quote may be out of date. See the latest OS/2 Programmer's FAQ
- {perhaps in comp.os.os2.misc?} for the latest news. Anonymous FTP info:
-
- /ftp-os2.nmsu.edu:pub/os2/2.0/gnu/emacs/
- ("ftp-os2" was formerly named "hobbes")
-
- Thanks go to Stephen Simpson <simpson@symcom.math.uiuc.edu>, Jonathan
- Miller <jem+@andrew.cmu.edu>, Terry Kane <terryk@cc.gatech.edu>, J. D.
- Baldwin <baldwin@csservera.usna.navy.mil>, and Ken Bass
- <kbass@gmuvax2.gmu.edu>.
-
-99: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
-
- Emacs 18.57 is the latest version for TOS. Stefan Mueller-Pfeiffer
- <iff327@zam001.zam.kfa-juelich.de> says:
-
- There is also a version for MiNT, the multitasking enhancement for
- ATARI's TOS, which behaves almost like EMACS on a "real computer". This
- port was done by Erling Henanger <erlingh@idt.unit.no>.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /atari.archive.umich.edu:atari/gnustuff/tos/ (TOS Emacs 18.57)
- /atari.archive.umich.edu:atari/new/mntemacs.zoo (MiNT Emacs)
- /cs.uni-sb.de:/pub/atari/emacs/
-
-100: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
-
- All of the files are lharc-ed.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /oes.orst.edu:/pub/almanac/comp/amiga/software/gnuemacs-1.10/
-
- Via e-mail:
- To: almanac@oes.orst.edu
- body:
- mode uuencode
- send computer amiga software gnuemacs <file>
- <file> is replaced by one of the following:
- Required: d1.lzh d2.lzh
- Recommended: d3_info.lzh d3_infolisp.lzh
- Optional: d3_autoloaded.lzh d3_entertainmentetc.lzh
- d3_entertainmentlisp.lzh d4_src.lzh d5_languagelisp.lzh
- d5_viclone.lzh d6_gnulibsrc.lzh d6_mailpackage.lzh
- d6_mathpackage.lzh d6_misc.lzh d6_textformat.lzh
- The `d#' at the beginning of each file is its disk number, which is
- referred to by the documentation.
-
-101: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
-
- The FSF is a participant in a boycott of Apple because of Apple's "look
- and feel" copyright suits. See the file etc/APPLE for more details.
- Because of this boycott, the FSF doesn't include support in GNU software
- for Apple computers such as the Macintosh.
-
- Please don't help people port or develop software for Apple computers.
-
-102: Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support?
-
- Chris Maio's NeWS support package for GNU Emacs is available via anonymous
- FTP:
-
- /columbia.edu:pub/ps-emacs.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/ps-emacs.tar.Z
-
- and via e-mail:
-
- To: archive-server@columbia.edu
- body: send NeWS emacs-support
-
-103: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
-
- Hal R. Brand <BRAND@addvax.llnl.gov> is said to have a VMS save set with a
- ready-to-run VMS version of Emacs 18.55 for X Windows. It is available
- via anonymous FTP (addvax.llnl.gov). It is possible that the VMS versions
- of Emacs at other sites have X support compiled in. See etc/FTP for
- locations.
-
- Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> writes:
-
- Getting Emacs to run on VMS with DECwindows requires a number of changes
- to the sources. Fortunately this has been done already. Joshua Marantz
- <josh@viewlogic.com> did most of the work for Emacs 18.52, and the mods
- were ported to 18.55 by Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl>. Also included is the
- handling of DEC's LK201 keyboard. You need to apply the changes to a
- fresh Emacs 18.55 distribution on a Unix system, and then you can copy
- the sources to VMS to perform the compile/link/build.
-
- The set of changes have been posted a number of times three times the
- last 12 months, so they should be widely available.
-
- Richard Levitte <levitte@e.kth.se> tells us that there are patches for
- Emacs 18.57 and 18.58 available via e-mail:
-
- To: fileserv@ttt.kth.se
- body: SEND EMACS-1857-PATCHES
- or: SEND EMACS-1858-PATCHES
-
-104: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne Shell, Csh, C++,
- Objective C, Pascal, Awk?
-
- As usual, look in the Lisp Code Directory (see question 88). For C++,
- if you use lisp-dir-apropos, you must specify the pattern like this:
-
- M-x lisp-dir-apropos RET c\+\+ RET
-
-105: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
-
- If you are at a site with a deficient nameserver, you may need to know
- the IP address of a host to FTP files from it. You can get this
- information in two ways:
-
- * By telnet:
-
- telnet nic.ddn.mil hostnames (or `telnet 192.112.36.5 101')
- hname XXX.YYY.ZZZ
-
- * By e-mail:
-
- To: service@nic.ddn.mil
- Subject: host XXX.YYY.ZZZ
- or: whois XXX.YYY.ZZZ
- or: help
-
- or:
-
- To: resolve@cs.widener.edu
- body: site XXX.YYY.ZZZ
-
- Information from Brendan Kehoe <brendan@cs.widener.edu>.
-
-
-
-
-Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs
-
- This section lists version numbers, FTP sites, mailing lists, newsgroups,
- and other information for many important packages, extensions, and related
- programs. There is some overlap with the Lisp Code Directory, but these
- entries give more detailed information.
-
- If you know of any other packages that are so substantial that they
- deserve to be mentioned here, please tell me. Having its own mailing list
- or newsgroup or more than half a megabyte of source code are good signs.
-
-106: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs
-
- Author: Kyle Jones <kyle@uunet.uu.net>
- Latest released version: 4.41
- Beta test version: 5.32
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/vm-4.41.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/as-is/timer.shar.Z
- /ftp.uu.net:mail/vm-4.41.tar.Z
- /ftp.uu.net:mail/vm-5.32beta.tar.Z
- Newsgroups and mailing lists:
- Info-VM:
- gnu.emacs.vm.info
- info-vm-request@uunet.uu.net (for subscriptions)
- info-vm@uunet.uu.net (for submissions)
- Bug-VM:
- gnu.emacs.vm.bug
- bug-vm-request@uunet.uu.net (for subscriptions)
- bug-vm@uunet.uu.net (for submissions)
-
-107: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
-
- Author: Barry Warsaw <bwarsaw@cen.com>
- Mailing list: supercite-request@anthem.nlm.nih.gov (for subscriptions)
- supercite@anthem.nlm.nih.gov (for submissions)
- Latest version: 2.2
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/sc-2.2.tar.Z
- /ftp.cme.nist.gov:pub/gnu/sc2.2.tar.Z
- Via e-mail:
- To: library@cme.nist.gov
- Subject: help
- NOTE: Superyank is an old version of Supercite.
-
-108: GNUS -- news reader within Emacs
-
- Author: Masanobu Umeda <umerin@mse.kyutech.ac.jp>
- Latest official version: 3.13
- Unofficial test version: 3.14.1
- Anonymous FTP:
- /cs.umn.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z.
- /aun.uninett.no:pub/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /wnoc-fuk.wide.ad.jp:pub/GNU/etc/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /liasun3.epfl.ch:pub/gnu/emacs/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /aix370.rrz.uni-koeln.de:/pub/gnu/emacs/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /funet.fi:/networking/news/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/gnu/EmacsBits/gnus/gnus-3.14.1.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/gnus-3.13.tar.Z
- Newsgroups and mailing lists:
- English-only:
- gnu.emacs.gnus
- info-gnus-english-request@cis.ohio-state.edu (for subscriptions)
- info-gnus-english@cis.ohio-state.edu (for submissions)
- Japanese (and some English):
- info-gnus-request@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (for subscriptions)
- info-gnus@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (for submissions)
-
-109: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
-
- Author: Dave Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu>
- Latest released version: 2.02
- Anonymous FTP:
- /csvax.cs.caltech.edu:pub/calc-2.02.tar.Z
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/calc-2.02.tar.Z
- NOTE: Unlike Wolfram Research, Dave has never threatened to sue anyone
- for having a program with a similar command language to Calc. :-)
-
-110: Calendar/Diary -- calendar manager within Emacs
-
- Author: Edward M. Reingold <reingold@cs.uiuc.edu>
- Latest version: 4.02
- Anonymous FTP:
- /emr.cs.uiuc.edu:pub/emacs/calendar {???}
- Via e-mail:
- To: reingold@cs.uiuc.edu
- Subject: send-emacs-cal
- Put your best internet e-mail address in the body.
-
-111: Ange-FTP -- transparent FTP access for Emacs's file access routines
-
- Author: Andy Norman <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
- Latest official version: 4.20
- Anonymous FTP:
- /alpha.gnu.ai.mit.edu:ange-ftp/ange-ftp.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/ange-ftp.tar.Z
- /ugle.unit.no:pub/gnu/emacs-lisp/ange-ftp.tar.Z +
- Mailing lists:
- ange-ftp-lovers-request@anorman.hpl.hp.com (for subscriptions)
- Ange-FTP Lovers:
- ange-ftp-lovers@anorman.hpl.hp.com (for submissions)
- /ftp.reed.edu:pub/mailing-lists/ange-ftp/ (archives)
- Ange-FTP Announcements:
- ange-ftp-lovers-announce@anorman.hpl.hp.com
- NOTE: now with support for accessing VMS, CMS, and MTS systems
-
-112: VIP -- vi emulation for Emacs
-
- Author: Aamod Sane <sane@cs.uiuc.edu>
- Latest released version: 4.3
- Anonymous FTP:
- /cs.uiuc.edu:pub/vip4.3.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/modes/vip-mode.tar.Z
- NOTE: This version much more closely emulates vi than the one
- distributed with Emacs.
-
-113: Dired -- better directory editor for Emacs
-
- Author: Sebastian Kremer <sk@thp.uni-koeln.de>
- Latest released version: 5.239
- Anonymous FTP: /ftp.cs.buffalo.edu:pub/Emacs/diredall.tar.Z
- /ftp.uni-koeln.de:pub/gnu/emacs/diredall.tar.Z
- NOTE: This is a huge improvement over the Dired distributed with Emacs.
- This version will be in Emacs 19.
-
-114: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
-
- Author: Kresten Krab Thorup <krab@iesd.auc.dk>
- Latest released version: 6.1 {???}
- Anonymous FTP:
- /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auctex_6_1d.tar.Z !
- /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auctex.tar.Z !
- Mailing list:
- auc-tex-request@iesd.auc.dk (for subscriptions)
- auc-tex@iesd.auc.dk (for submissions)
- auc-tex_mgr@iesd.auc.dk (auc-tex development team)
-
-115: Hyperbole -- extensible hypertext management system within Emacs
-
- Author: Bob Weiner <rsw@cs.brown.edu>
- Anonymous FTP:
- /wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/hyperbole/ h*.tar.Z
- Mailing lists:
- hyperbole-announce -- Hyperbole release announcements only.
- Subscriptions:
- To: hyperbole-request@cs.brown.edu
- Subject: Add <mailbox@domain.name> to hyperbole-announce
- hyperbole -- Hyperbole discussion.
- Subscriptions:
- To: hyperbole-request@cs.brown.edu
- Subject: Add <mailbox@domain.name> to hyperbole
- Submissions:
- hyperbole@cs.brown.edu
- NOTE: Any member of the hyperbole mailing list is automatically a
- member of the hyperbole-announce mailing list.
- NOTE: No .UUCP or ! addresses are allowed on these mailing lists.
-
-116: Byte Compiler -- enhanced version of Emacs's byte compiler
-
- Author: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@lucid.com>,
- Hallvard B. Furuseth <hallvard@ifi.uio.no>
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/bytecomp.tar.Z
- /ftp.uu.net:languages/elisp/packages/bytecomp.tar.Z
- /src.doc.ic.ac.uk:gnu/EmacsBits/elisp-archive/packages/bytecomp.tar.Z
-
-117: comint -- hugely enhanced shell mode and other derived modes
-
- Author: Olin Shivers <Olin.Shivers@cs.cmu.edu>
- Anonymous FTP:
- /cs.cmu.edu:/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/shivers/lib/emacs/
- {comint,cmu{tex,shell,scheme,lisp},ml}.el
- (anonymous password must contain `@',
- cannot cd to intermediate directories)
-
-118: BBDB -- personal info rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
-
- Author: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@lucid.com>
- Latest released version: 1.47
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/bbdb.tar.Z
- Mailing list:
- info-bbdb-request@lucid.com (for subscriptions)
- info-bbdb@lucid.com
- bbdb-announce-request@lucid.com (to be informed of new releases)
- Note: BBDB does not work with VM 4. It does work with VM 5, RMAIL, GNUS,
- and MH-E.
-
-119: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
-
- Author: Geoff Kuenning <geoff@itcorp.com>
- Latest released version: 2.0.02
- Beta test version: 3.0 (9 patches)
- Anonymous FTP:
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:/pub/gnu/ispell/ (version 2.0.02)
- /ftp.cs.ucla.edu:/pub/ispell/ (version 3.0, patches, dictionaries)
- /argus.math.orst.edu:pub/ispell/ (version 3.0, patches, dictionaries)
- /ftp.th-darmstadt.de:pub/dicts/ispell/ (mirror of argus)
- NOTE: Do not send mail to Geoff asking him to send you the latest
- version of Ispell. He does not have free e-mail.
-
-120: Epoch -- enhanced GNU Emacs with better X interface
-
- Latest released version: 4.2
- Anonymous FTP:
- /cs.uiuc.edu:pub/epoch-files/epoch/epoch-4.2.tar.Z
- /cs.uiuc.edu:pub/epoch-files/epoch/epoch-diff-4.1-4.2.tar.Z
- /src.doc.ic.ac.uk:gnu/epoch/
- /aix370.rrz.uni-koeln.de:gnu/emacs/epoch/
- Newsgroup and mailing lists:
- Epoch:
- gnu.emacs.epoch
- epoch-request@cs.uiuc.edu (for subscriptions)
- epoch@cs.uiuc.edu (for submissions)
- Epoch-Design:
- epoch-design-request@cs.uiuc.edu (for subscriptions)
- epoch-design@cs.uiuc.edu (for submissions)
- FAQ list:
- Maintainer: Marc Andreessen <marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu>
- Anonymous FTP:
- /rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/epoch-faq
- /ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:outgoing/marca/epoch/Epoch.FAQ
-
-121: Lucid GNU Emacs -- alternative Emacs 19 with better X interface
-
- Primary Maintainer: Jamie Zawinski <jwz@lucid.com>
- Other Developers: Eric Benson <eb@lucid.com>
- Matthieu Devin <devin@lucid.com>
- Harlan Sexton <hbs@lucid.com>
- Latest released version: 19.3
- Anonymous FTP:
- /labrea.stanford.edu:pub/gnu/lucid/lemacs-19.3.tar.Z (source)
- /labrea.stanford.edu:pub/gnu/lucid/lemacs-19.3-sun4.tar.Z (Sun4binaries)
- Newsgroup and mailing lists:
- Bugs:
- bug-lucid-emacs-request@lucid.com (for subscriptions)
- bug-lucid-emacs@lucid.com (for submissions)
- Help:
- help-lucid-emacs-request@lucid.com (for subscriptions)
- help-lucid-emacs@lucid.com (for submissions)
-
-122: Demacs -- GNU Emacs altered to run on MS-DOS on 386/486 machines
-
- Authors: Manabu Higashida <manabu@sigmath.osaka-u.ac.jp>
- HIRANO Satoshi <hirano@tkl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
- Latest released version: 1.2.0
- Anonymous FTP:
- /utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:GNU/demacs/ (nearest to U.S.A.)
- /ftp.sigmath.osaka-u.ac.jp:pub/Msdos/Demacs/
- /wnoc-fuk.wide.ad.jp:pub/msdos/Demacs/
- /ftp.3com.com:pub/gnu/msdos/demacs/
- /mindseye.berkeley.edu:pub/kanji/demacs/
- /ftp.hawaii.edu:pub/editors/demacs.tar.Z
- /ftp.math.ksu.edu:pub/pc/demacs/
- /wsmr-simtel20.army.mil:pd1:<msdos.demacs> {ange-ftp syntax?}
- /ftp.uni-koeln.de:msdos/gnuprogs/dem120e.zip (executables, lisp-code, doc)
- (PLEASE USE ONLY OUTSIDE WORKING HOURS!)
- /ftp.uni-koeln.de:msdos/gnuprogs/dem120s.zip (sources, diffs)
- (PLEASE USE ONLY OUTSIDE WORKING HOURS!)
- /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/msdos/gnu/emacs/
- /mizar.docs.uu.se:pub/gnu/demacs/
- /iamsun.unibe.ch:PC/demacs/
- /flop.informatik.tu-muenchen.de:outgoing/demacs.tar
- /ftp.funet.fi:pub/gnu/emacs/demacs/
- /garbo.uwasa.fi:pc/editor/dem120e.zip
- /garbo.uwasa.fi:pc/editor/dem120s.zip
- /ftp.win.tue.nl:pub/gnu/demacs/
- /ugle.unit.no:pub/gnu/Demacs/
- {Does anyone know which sites have the Kanji version?}
- Via e-mail:
- From garbo.uwasa.fi:
- To: mailserv@garbo.uwasa.fi
- Subject: garbo-request
- Body: send pc/editor/dem120e.zip
- send pc/editor/dem120s.zip
- quit
- Downloading:
- EXEC-PC (Milwaukee, WI) 414-789-4210 (2400 bps)
- in the Mahoney MS-DOS file area in its Editors/wordprocessors
- library (F), named GNUEMACS.ZIP
- Channel 1 (Cambridge, MA) 617-345-8873 (9600 bps)
- in the New Uploads file area, named GNUEMACS.ZIP
- NOTE: Use the -d option of [pk]unzip for all .zip archives. Some sites
- have Demacs lharc'ed. If you need to find programs to unpack lharc and
- zip format archives, Chris Dean <ctdean@talaris.com> points out that you
- should see the comp.compression FAQ, available for FTP:
- /rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.compression/
- Mailing list:
- NOTE: There is no mailing list for Demacs. However, there is a list
- for DJGPP, which is the environment that Demacs runs in. Many
- Demacs problems are actually issues with DJGPP.
- DJGPP:
- Subscriptions:
- To: listserv@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- body: add <your-address> djgpp
- or put `help' in the body.
- If this fails, mail to djgpp-request@sun.soe.clarkson.edu.
- Submissions:
- djgpp@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- FAQ list:
- Maintainer: Dave Steibel <steibel@cs.umbc.edu>
- Anonymous FTP: algol.cs.umbc.edu:pub/demacs/demacs.faq
-
-123: Freemacs -- a small Emacs for MS-DOS
-
- Author: Russ Nelson <nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>
- Latest released version: 1.6a
- Anonymous FTP:
- /simtel20.army.mil:PD:<MSDOS.FREEMACS> {ange-ftp syntax?}
- /grape.ecs.clarkson.edu:pub/msdos/freemacs/
- Via e-mail:
- To: archive-server@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- body: help
- Via snail mail:
- address: Russell Nelson, 11 Grant St., Potsdam, NY 13676
- Send $15 copying fee, and specify preferred floppy disk format:
- 5.25", 360K, or 3.50", 720K
- Mailing lists:
- Subscriptions:
- To: listserv@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- body: add <your-address> <name-of-list>
- or put `help' in the body.
- List distribution addresses:
- freemacs-announce@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- freemacs-help@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
- freemacs-workers@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (send bug reports here)
-
-124: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
-
- Author: Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>
- Latest version: 2.0 patchlevel 12u8
- (This is the version that supports the new unified diff format.)
- Anonymous FTP:
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/patch-2.0.12u8.tar.Z
- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/patch-2.0.12g8.tar.Z (GNU version)
-
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------- +
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells +
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes +
- +
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers +
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other +
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new +
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as +
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice +
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining +
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and +
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including +
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these +
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary +
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution. +
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Keybindings/Output
-
-If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to
-get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text
-of the answers, just type "C-x $".
-
-To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if
-that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search.
-
-A `+' in the 78th column means something was inserted on the line. A `-' means
-something was deleted and a `!' means some combination of insertions and
-deletions occurred.
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-
-
-Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems
-
-125: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
-
- 1. Find out what character sequence is generated by the keystroke sequence
- you wish to bind to a command. See question 129 for how to do this.
- Keep in mind that the character sequences generated by a keystroke
- sequence varies from one terminal to another. You may also get
- different results depending on what type of machine you are running on
- (see question 128). For example, these keystrokes may generate these
- character sequences:
-
- F1 ---> ESC [ 2 2 4 z
- Shift-R10 ---> ESC O t
- L7 ---> ESC [ 3 1 ~
- Remove ---> C-@
-
- 2. Figure out what the Emacs Lisp syntax is for this character sequence.
- Inside an Emacs Lisp string, RET, LFD, DEL, ESC, SPC, and TAB are
- specified with `\r', `\n', `\C-?', `\e', ` ', and `\t'. C-x is
- specified by `\C-x'. M-x is specified the same was as "ESC x".
- (Control characters may also be specified as themselves, but I don't
- recommend it.) An Emacs Lisp string begins and ends with the double
- quote character, `"'. Here are some examples:
-
- ESC [ D ---> "\e[D"
- ESC [ 2 2 7 z ---> "\e[227z"
- ESC [ 1 8 ~ ---> "\e[18~"
- C-M-r ---> "\e\C-r"
-
- 3. If some prefix of the character sequence is already bound, you must
- unbind it by binding it to `nil'. For example:
-
- (global-set-key "\e[" nil)
-
- 4. Pick a command to bind your key sequence to. A command can be a
- "symbol" with a function definition, or a "lambda list", or a string
- (which is treated as a macro). For example:
-
- (global-set-key "\e[D" 'backward-char)
- (global-set-key "\e[227~" "\exgoto-line\r") ; macro
-
- See `Key Bindings' and `Rebinding' in the online manual.
-
- In Emacs 19 (including Lucid Emacs), you can bind function key F24 like
- this:
-
- (global-set-key 'f24 'some-command)
-
-126: Why does Emacs say `Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters'?
-
- A prefix of the character sequence you were trying to bind was already
- bound. Usually, the sequence is "ESC [", in which case you should
- evaluate this form first:
-
- (define-key esc-map "[" nil)
-
- NOTE: By default, "ESC [" is bound to backward-paragraph, and if you do
- this you will lose this key binding. For most people, this is not a
- problem.
-
- See question 125.
-
-127: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
- .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
-
- This is because you're trying to do something in your .emacs file that
- needs to be postponed until after the terminal/window-system setup code
- is loaded. This is a result of the order in which things are done
- during the startup of Emacs. For more details see question 135.
-
- In order to postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after the
- terminal/window-system setup, set the value of the variable
- term-setup-hook or window-setup-hook to be a function which does what
- you want.
-
- See etc/OPTIONS for a complete explanation of what Emacs does every time
- it is started.
-
- Here is a simple example of how to set term-setup-hook:
-
- (setq term-setup-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (cond ((string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
- ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
- (define-key CSI-map "29~" 'execute-extended-command))
- ))))
-
-128: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
-
- This depends on whether you are running Emacs inside a terminal emulator
- window, or whether you are allowing Emacs to create its own X window.
- You can tell which you are doing by noticing whether Emacs creates a new
- window when you start it.
-
- If you are running Emacs inside a terminal emulator window, then it
- behaves exactly as it does on any other tty. In this case, for function
- keys to be useful, they must generate character sequences that are sent
- to the programs running inside the window as input. The `xterm' program
- has two different sets of character sequences that it generates when
- function keys are pressed, depending on the sunFunctionKeys X resource
- and the -sf and +sf command line options. (To find out what these key
- sequences are, see question 129.) In addition, with xterm,
- you can override what key sequence a specific function key (or any other
- key) will generate with the `translations' resource. This, for example:
-
- XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
- <KeyPress>F1: string(0x1b) string("[xyzzy")
-
- makes the function key F1 generate the character sequence "ESC [xyzzy".
-
- On the other hand, if Emacs is managing its own X window, the following
- description applies. Emacs receives `KeyPress' events from the X server
- when a key is pressed while the keyboard focus is in its window. The
- KeyPress event contains an X "keysym" code, which is simply an arbitrary
- number corresponding to the name of the keysym, and information on which
- "modifiers" such as `control' and `shift' are active. For example, the
- `Tab' keysym is 0xff09. (Generally, a key on the keyboard will generate a
- keysym whose name is the same as the label on the key, ie. the `Tab' key
- will normally generate the `Tab' keysym. This can be changed with the
- xmodmap program.) Emacs recognizes all the keysyms that correspond to
- standard ASCII characters and internally uses the ASCII character instead.
-
- (WARNING: I am about to describe a gross, disgusting hack to you, have
- your barf bag ready.)
-
- When Emacs receives the X keysym of one of the arrow keys, it behaves
- the same as if it had received a letter key with the control modifier
- down as follows (this is hard-coded):
-
- Up becomes C-p
- Down becomes C-n
- Right becomes C-f
- Left becomes C-b
-
- The way Emacs treats other keysyms depends on what kind of machine it was
- compiled on. The type of the display machine is irrelevant! Function
- keys are mapped internally to escape sequences, while other keys are
- completely ignored.
-
- 1. If compiled on a Sun, Emacs recognizes these X keysyms that
- are normally on a Sun keyboard:
-
- F1 through F9
- L1 through L10 (same as F11 through F20)
- R1 through R15 (same as F21 through F35)
- (The keys labelled R8, R10, R12, and R14 usually are mapped to the
- X keysyms Up, Left, Right, and Down.)
- Break (the `Alternate' key is given this keysym)
-
- These keys work like Sun function keys. When Emacs recieves the
- keysym, it will internally use character sequences that look like "ESC
- [ ### z", where ### is replaced by a number. The character sequences
- are identical to those generated by Sun's keyboard under SunView. Any
- function key not listed above generates "ESC [ - 1 z".
-
- In order to use these key sequences, they should be bound to commands
- using the standard key binding methods, just as if Emacs were running
- on a regular terminal.
-
- WARNING: F11 and L1 are the same keysym in X, as are F12 and L2, etc.
- {Yes, this is stupid. Complain to the X consortium.}
-
- 2. If not compiled on a Sun, the function keys will appear to Emacs in a
- way remarkably similar to the keys of a DEC LK201 keyboard (used on
- some VT series terminals). These X keysyms will be recognized:
-
- F1 through F20
- Help (treated same as F15)
- Menu (treated same as F16, is the LK201 `Do' key)
- Find
- Insert (LK201 `Insert Here' key)
- Select
- Prior (LK201 `Prev Screen' key *** ONLY IN 18.58 AND LATER ***)
- Next (LK201 `Next Screen' key *** ONLY IN 18.58 AND LATER ***)
-
- And finally, the LK201 key labelled `Remove' (or `Delete') is often
- mapped to the Delete keysym which generates the DEL character (C-?)
- instead of the key sequence given by the LK201 `Remove' key. It may
- also be mapped to some other keysym, such as `_Remove', in which case
- you can't use it from within Emacs at all.
-
- Each function key will be internally converted to a character sequence
- that looks like "ESC [ ## ~", where ## is replaced by a number. The
- character sequences are identical to those generated by a LK201
- keyboard. Any function key not listed above generates "ESC [ - 1 ~".
-
- For the complete list of the numbers which are generated by the function
- keys, look in the file src/x11term.c at the definitions of the function
- stringFuncVal.
-
- If you are running Emacs on a Sun machine, even if your X display is
- running on a non-Sun machine (eg., an X terminal), you get the setup
- described above for Suns. The determining factor is what type of
- machine Emacs is running (was compiled) on, not what type of machine
- your X display is on.
-
- If you have function keys not listed above on your keyboard, you can use
- `xmodmap' to change their keysym assignments to get keys that Emacs will
- recognize, but that may screw up other programs.
-
- X resources are not used by Emacs to affect the key sequences generated.
- In particular, there are no X key "translations" for Emacs.
-
- If you have function keys not listed above and you don't want to use
- xmodmap to change their names, you might want to make a modification to
- your Emacs. Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> has made available a patch for Emacs
- that adds the x-rebind-key function of Epoch to Emacs 18.58. This allows
- another layer of key rebinding before Emacs even sees the keys, and in
- this layer you can rebind all of the keys and modifier combinations as
- well.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-Xfun.Z
- /ftp.urc.tue.nl:pub/tex/emacs/FP-Xfun
-
- Johan Vromans explains what this buys for you:
-
- After implementing this, all keyboard keys can be configured to send
- user definable sequences, eg.,
-
- (x-rebind-key "KP_F1" 0 "\033OP")
-
- This will have the keypad key PF1 send the sequence "ESC O P", just like
- an ordinary VT series terminal.
-
-129: How do I tell what characters my function or arrow keys emit?
-
- Use this function by Randal L. Schwartz <merlyn@iwarp.intel.com>:
-
- (defun see-chars ()
- "Displays characters typed, terminated by a 3-second timeout."
- (interactive)
- (let ((chars "")
- (inhibit-quit t))
- (message "Enter characters, terminated by 3-second timeout.")
- (while (not (sit-for 3))
- (setq chars (concat chars (list (read-char)))
- quit-flag nil)) ; quit-flag maybe set by C-g
- (message "Characters entered: %s" (key-description chars))))
-
- Alternatively, use the "C-h l" view-lossage command, which will display
- the last 100 characters Emacs has seen in its input stream. Kevin
- Gallagher <kgallagh@digi.lonestar.org> suggests typing some unique string
- like "wxyz", typing the key in question, then typing "C-h l". The
- characters that appear between "wxyz" and "C-h l" were generated by the
- key.
-
-130: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
-
- Sorry, you can't; there are no "translations" to be set. Emacs is not
- written using the Xt library. The only way to affect the behavior of keys
- within Emacs is through `xmodmap' (outside Emacs) or `define-key' (inside
- Emacs).
-
-131: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
-
- C-s and C-q are used in the XON/XOFF flow control protocol. This screws
- up Emacs because it binds these characters to commands. Also, by default
- Emacs will not honor them as flow control characters and may overwhelm
- output buffers. Sometimes, intermediate software using XON/XOFF flow
- control will prevent Emacs from ever seeing C-s and C-q.
-
- Possible solutions:
-
- * Disable the use of C-s and C-q for flow control.
-
- You need to determine what is the cause of the flow control.
-
- * your terminal
-
- Your terminal may use XON/XOFF flow control to have time to display
- all the characters it receives. For example, VT series terminals do
- this. It may be possible to turn this off from a setup menu. For
- example, on a VT220 you may select `No XOFF' in the setup menu. This
- is also true for some terminal emulation programs on PCs.
-
- When you turn off flow control at the terminal, you will also need to
- turn it off at the other end, which might be at the computer you are
- logged in to or at some terminal server in between.
-
- If you turn off flow control, characters may be lost; using a printer
- connected to the terminal may fail. You may be able to get around
- this problem by modifying the `termcap' entry for your terminal to
- include extra NUL padding characters.
-
- * a modem
-
- If you are using a dialup connection, the modems may be using XON/XOFF
- flow control. I don't know how to get around this.
-
- * a router or terminal server
-
- Some network box between the terminal and your computer may be using
- XON/XOFF flow control. It may be possible to make it use some other
- kind of flow control. You will probably have to ask your local
- network experts for help with this.
-
- * tty and/or pty devices
-
- If your connection to Emacs goes through multiple tty and/or pty
- devices, they may be using XON/XOFF flow control even when it is not
- necessary.
-
- Eirik Fuller <eirik@theory.tn.cornell.edu> writes:
-
- Some versions of `rlogin' (and possibly telnet) do not pass flow
- control characters to the remote system to which they connect. On
- such systems, Emacs on the remote system cannot disable flow control
- on the local system. Sometimes `rlogin -8' will avoid this problem.
-
- One way to cure this is to disable flow control on the local host
- (the one running rlogin, not the one running rlogind) using the stty
- command, before starting the rlogin process. On many systems, `stty
- start u stop u' will do this.
-
- Some versions of `tcsh' will prevent even this from working. One
- way around this is to start another shell before starting rlogin,
- and issue the stty command to disable flow control from that shell.
-
- Use `stty -ixon' instead of `stty start u stop u' on some systems.
-
- * Make Emacs speak the XON/XOFF flow control protocol.
-
- You can make Emacs treat C-s and C-q as flow control characters by
- evaluating this form:
-
- (set-input-mode nil t)
-
- If you are fixing this for yourself, simply put the form in your .emacs
- file. If you are fixing this for your entire site, the best place to
- put it is unclear. I don't know if this has any effect when used in
- lisp/site-init.el when building Emacs; I've never tried that. {Can
- someone tell me whether it works?} Putting things in users' .emacs files
- has a number of problems.
-
- Putting this form in lisp/default.el has the problem that if the user's
- .emacs file has an error, this will prevent lisp/default.el from being
- loaded and Emacs may be unusable for the user, even for correcting their
- .emacs file (unless they're smart enough to move it to another name). A
- possible solution is to initially disable C-s and C-q by setting
- keyboard-translate-table in lisp/site-init.el, either with swap-keys
- (see question 136) or with the following form:
-
- ;; by Roger Crew <crew@cs.stanford.edu>:
- (setq keyboard-translate-table
- "\C-@\C-a\C-b\C-c\C-d\C-e\C-f\C-g\C-h\C-i\C-j\C-k\C-l\C-m\C-n\C-o\C-p\C-^\C-r\C-\\\C-t\C-u\C-v\C-w\C-x\C-y\C-z\C-[\C-s\C-]\C-q\C-_")
-
- This will at least prevent Emacs from being confused by the flow control
- characters, even if lisp/default.el cannot be loaded. Then, in
- lisp/default.el, enable XON/XOFF flow control with set-input-mode.
-
- For further discussion of this issue, read the file PROBLEMS in the
- Emacs distribution.
-
-132: How do I use commands bound to C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys
- are filtered out?
-
- I suggest swapping C-s with C-\ and C-q with C-^:
-
- (swap-keys ?\C-s ?\C-\\)
- (swap-keys ?\C-q ?\C-^)
-
- See question 136 for the implementation of swap-keys. This method
- has the advantage that it simultaneously swaps the characters everywhere
- throughout Emacs, while just switching the keybindings will miss important
- places where the character codes are stored (eg., the search-repeat-char
- variable, major mode keymaps, etc.).
-
- To do this for an entire site, you may want to swap the keys in
- lisp/default.el. If only some of your users are connecting through
- XON/XOFF flow-controlled connections, you will want to do this
- conditionally. I suggest pre-swapping them in lisp/site-init.el when
- Emacs is built, and then in lisp/default.el, if it is determined to be
- safe, they can be reenabled (being careful not to screw up any other key
- mappings users might have established using keyboard-translate-table).
- See question 131 for an easy way to pre-swap these keys.
-
- WARNING: If you do this for an entire site, the users will be confused by
- the disparity between what the documentation says and how Emacs actually
- behaves.
-
-133: Why does the `BackSpace' key invoke help?
-
- The BackSpace key (on every keyboard I've used) generates ASCII code 8.
- C-h sends the same code. In Emacs by default C-h invokes help-command.
- This is intended to be easy to remember since the first letter of "help"
- is "h". The easiest solution to this problem is to use C-h (and
- BackSpace) for help and DEL (the Delete key) for deleting the previous
- character.
-
- For many people this solution may be problematic:
-
- * They normally use BackSpace outside of Emacs for deleting the previous
- character typed. This can be solved by making DEL be the command for
- deleting the previous character outside of Emacs. This command will do
- this on many Unix systems:
-
- stty erase '^?'
-
- * The person may prefer using the BackSpace key for deleting the previous
- character because it is more conveniently located on their keyboard or
- because they don't even have a separate Delete key. In this case, the
- BackSpace key should be made to behave like Delete. There are several
- methods.
-
- * Under X Windows, the easiest solution is to change the BackSpace key
- into a Delete key like this:
-
- xmodmap -e "keysym BackSpace = Delete"
-
- * Some terminals (eg., VT3## terminals) allow the character generated by
- the BackSpace key to be changed from a setup menu.
-
- * You may be able to get a keyboard that is completely programmable.
-
- * Under X or on a dumb terminal, it is possible to swap the BackSpace
- and Delete keys inside Emacs:
-
- (swap-keys ?\C-h ?\C-?)
-
- See question 136 for the implementation of swap-keys.
-
- * Another approach is to switch keybindings and put help on "C-x h"
- instead:
-
- (global-set-key "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)
- (global-set-key "\C-xh" 'help-command) ; override mark-whole-buffer
-
- Other popular key bindings for help are M-? and "C-x ?".
-
- WARNING: Don't try to bind DEL to help-command, because there are many
- modes that have local bindings of DEL that will interfere.
-
-134: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
-
- Good question!
-
-135: Why don't the arrow keys work?
-
- When Emacs starts up, it doesn't know anything about arrow keys at all
- (except when running under X, see question 128). During the process of
- starting up, Emacs will load a terminal-specific initialization file for
- your terminal type (as determined by the environment variable TERM), if
- one exists. This file has the responsibility for enabling the arrow keys.
-
- There are several things that can go wrong:
-
- 1. There is no initialization file for your terminal.
-
- You can determine this by looking in the lisp/term directory. If your
- terminal type (as determined by the TERM environment variable) is
- xxx-yy-z, then the first of these files in the lisp/term directory will
- be loaded as the terminal-specific initialization file: xxx-yy-z.el,
- xxx-yy.el, or xxx.el.
-
- There are two major cases of this problem:
-
- * Your terminal type is very similar to one that has an init file.
-
- In this case, there are several techniques suggested by Colin Jensen
- <cjensen@ampex.com>, Ben Liblit <Liblit@cs.psu.edu>, and Marc
- Auslander <marc@watson.ibm.com>:
-
- A. Add a symbolic link in lisp/term for your terminal type that
- points to the similar type. For example, you could make VT102
- terminals work with this command:
-
- ln -s vt100.el vt102.el
-
- This fixes things for everyone on the system who uses the terminal
- type.
-
- B. If you can't do the solution in part A, you can add code to your
- term-setup-hook that loads the correct file like this:
-
- (setq term-setup-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (cond ((equal "vt102" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
- (load (concat term-file-prefix "vt100")))
- (;; Code for other terminal types goes here ...
- )))))
-
- C. If you use `tset' to set your TERM environment variable when you
- login, you can use the `-m' switch to tell tset to use a terminal
- type known by Emacs instead of another similar one. For example,
- specifying this:
-
- tset ... -m 'dec-vt220:vt220' ...
-
- will make tset say you are on a `vt220' instead of a `dec-vt220'.
-
- D. Interactively, you can type "M-x load-library RET term/vt100" to
- load the terminal-specific initialization files for VT100
- terminals.
-
- * Your terminal type is not similar to one that has an init file.
-
- One can be made for your terminal, or you can just add code to your
- own .emacs to handle this problem for yourself. For example, if your
- terminal's arrow keys send these character sequences:
-
- Up: ESC [ A
- Down: ESC [ B
- Right: ESC [ C
- Left: ESC [ D
-
- then you can bind these keys to the appropriate commands with code in
- your .emacs like this:
-
- (setq term-setup-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (cond ((string-match "\\`xyzzy" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
- ;; First, must unmap the binding for left bracket
- (or (keymapp (lookup-key global-map "\e\["))
- (define-key global-map "\e\[" nil))
- ;; Enable terminal type xyzzy's arrow keys:
- (define-key global-map "\e\[A" 'previous-line)
- (define-key global-map "\e\[B" 'next-line)
- (define-key global-map "\e\[C" 'forward-char)
- (define-key global-map "\e\[D" 'backward-char))
- ((string-match "\\`abcde" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
- ;; Do something different for terminal type abcde
- ;; .....
- )))))
-
- NOTE: You may have to restart Emacs to get changes to take effect.
-
- NOTE: Your arrow keys may send sequences beginning with "ESC O" when
- Emacs is running, even if they send sequences beginning with "ESC [" at
- all other times. This is because Emacs uses any command there may be
- in your terminal's termcap entry for putting the terminal into
- "Application Keypad Mode". Just map these sequences the same way as
- above.
-
- The next two cases are problems even if there is a initialization file for
- your terminal type.
-
- 2. The initialization file for your terminal doesn't bind arrow keys.
-
- If your terminal type is `xterm', you will have to bind the arrow keys
- as in part 1 above, since the xterm.el file doesn't do anything useful.
- There may be other terminal types with the same problem.
-
- 3. Your terminal's arrow keys send individual control characters.
-
- For example, the arrow keys on an ADM-3 send C-h, C-j, C-k, and C-l.
-
- There is not much Emacs can do in this situation, since all the control
- characters except for C-^ and C-\ are already used as Emacs commands.
- It may be possible to convince the terminal to send something else when
- you press the arrow keys; it is worth investigating.
-
- You have to make the hard choices of how to rebind keys to commands to
- make things work the way you want. Another alternative is to start
- learning the standard Emacs keybindings for moving point around: C-b,
- C-f, C-p, and C-n. Personally, I no longer use the arrow keys when
- editing because I have switched keyboards so many times.
-
- 4. Your terminal's arrow keys send sequences beginning with "ESC [".
-
- Due to an extremely poor design decision (ie., these sequences are ANSI
- standard), none of the the terminal-specific initialization files that
- are distributed with Emacs will bind these character sequences to the
- appropriate commands by default. (This also applies to any other
- function keys which generate character sequences starting with "ESC
- [".) This is because it was deemed far more important to preserve the
- binding of M-[ to the backward-paragraph command. It appears that this
- will change in Emacs 19.
-
- Some of the terminal-specific initialization files that come with Emacs
- provide a command enable-arrow-keys that will fix this problem. To get
- this automatically invoked, put this in your .emacs:
-
- (setq term-setup-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (if (fboundp 'enable-arrow-keys) (enable-arrow-keys)))))
-
- We put this in our lisp/default.el file, so users don't have to worry
- about it:
-
- ;; don't override a user's term-setup-hook
- (or term-setup-hook
- (setq term-setup-hook
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (and (fboundp 'enable-arrow-keys)
- ;; don't override a user key mapping
- (eq 'backward-paragraph (lookup-key esc-map "["))
- (enable-arrow-keys))))))
-
- If your terminal type is `sun', you should put this in your .emacs
- instead (or in addition to the above):
-
- (setq sun-esc-bracket t)
-
- It is possible that the terminal-specific initialization file for your
- terminal type was written locally and does not follow the rule
- mentioned above. In this case you may need to inspect it to find out
- how to enable the arrow keys. (Actually, if it was written locally, it
- probably enables the arrow keys by default.)
-
-136: How do I "swap" two keys?
-
- When Emacs receives a character, you can make Emacs behave as though it
- received another character by setting the value of
- keyboard-translate-table. The following Emacs Lisp will do this for you,
- allowing you to "swap" keys. After arranging for this Lisp to be
- evaluated by Emacs, you can evaluate `(swap-keys ?A ?B)' to swap A and B.
-
- (defun swap-keys (key1 key2)
- "Swap keys KEY1 and KEY2 using map-key."
- (map-key key1 key2)
- (map-key key2 key1))
-
- (defun map-key (from to)
- "Make key FROM behave as though key TO was typed instead."
- (setq keyboard-translate-table
- (concat keyboard-translate-table
- (let* ((i (length keyboard-translate-table))
- (j from)
- (k i)
- (str (make-string (max 0 (- j (1- i))) ?X)))
- (while (<= k j)
- (aset str (- k i) k)
- (setq k (1+ k)))
- str)))
- (aset keyboard-translate-table from to)
- (let ((i (1- (length keyboard-translate-table))))
- (while (and (>= i 0) (eq (aref keyboard-translate-table i) i))
- (setq i (1- i)))
- (setq keyboard-translate-table
- (if (eq i -1)
- nil
- (substring keyboard-translate-table 0 (1+ i))))))
-
- NOTE: You must evaluate the definition of these functions before calling
- them! For example, list the function definitions before their use in your
- .emacs file.
-
- NOTE: These functions take two numbers as arguments. The example above,
- `(swap-keys ?A ?B)' is actually `(swap-keys 65 66)', because `?A' is
- merely notation for 65, the ASCII value of `A'.
-
- NOTE: These functions only work for single characters. You cannot swap
- two multi-character sequences.
-
-137: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
-
- For C-@ and C-^, often you can just type Control-2 and Control-6. For
- C-_, you may have to hold down the shift key, typing Control-Shift-Hyphen.
- C-@ can often be generated by typing Control-Space. C-@ is often called
- the NUL character, and has ASCII value 0. C-_ can often be generated by
- typing Control-7 or Control-/. C-? (aka DEL) may be generated by typing
- Shift-BackSpace or Control-BackSpace or a key labelled Delete or Del.
-
- Try Control with all of the digits on your keyboard to see what gets
- generated.
-
-138: What if I don't have a Meta key?
-
- Instead of typing M-a, you can type "ESC a" instead. In fact, Emacs
- converts M-a internally into "ESC a" anyway (depending on the value of
- meta-prefix-char).
-
-139: What if I don't have an Escape key?
-
- Type C-[ instead. This should send ASCII code 27 just like an Escape
- key would. Try also C-;.
-
-140: How do I type DEL on PC terminal emulators?
-
- Some IBM PC compatibles do not have a key labeled `Del' or `Delete' {is
- this true?}. Those that do generally have it in an inconvenient location.
- (Also, in some terminal emulators, the `Del' key does not transmit DEL.)
- The result is the standard "BackSpace invoking help" problem (see question
- 133).
-
- The usual solution, suggested by Michael Covington
- <mcovingt@aisun1.ai.uga.edu>, is to somehow tell the terminal emulator
- program that BackSpace should transmit DEL. Read the program's manual.
- Shift-BackSpace or Control-BackSpace may send DEL. The `Del' key may only
- send DEL if the NumLock key hasn't been pressed.
-
-141: Can I make my `Compose Character' key behave like a Meta key?
-
- On a dumb terminal such as a VT220, no. It is rumored that certain VT220
- clones could have their Compose key configured this way. If you're using
- X, you might be able to do this with the `xmodmap' program (this is
- what I do).
-
-142: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
-
- Unless you're using Emacs under emacstool (or xvetool?), have a working
- version of x-rebind-key (see question 128), or are using Emacs 19 (Lucid
- Emacs), you can't do this with Emacs alone.
-
- If you are using emacstool, Emacs sees different character sequences for
- the combination of a modifier and a function key from what it sees for the
- function key alone. See etc/emacstool.1 for more information. Since
- Emacs sees different character sequences, you can bind these different
- sequences to different commands.
-
- If you are running Emacs inside a terminal emulator window like xterm, you
- can modify its translation tables to make it generate different character
- sequences for the combination of a modifier and a function key. For
- example, this X resource setting:
-
- XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
- Shift<KeyPress>F1: string(0x1b) string("[xyzzy")
-
- makes Shift-F1 generate the character sequence "ESC [ xyzzy". You can
- bind these character sequences in Emacs as normal. Nick Ruprecht
- <ruprecht@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> has written an extensive X
- translation mapping for xterm that does this. {Does this have an FTP
- site?}
-
- If you have x-rebind-key, you can have any arbitrary combination of
- modifiers with a key replaced by any sequence of "normal" characters. For
- example, this makes Shift-Return behave as though you had typed "C-x C-e"
- (example from Jerry Graves):
-
- (x-rebind-key "Return" 'shift "\C-x\C-e")
-
- In Emacs 19 (Lucid Emacs), you can bind Meta-Left-Arrow like this (example
- from Jamie Zawinski):
-
- (global-set-key '(meta left) 'backward-word)
-
- With the last two methods, use `xmodmap' and `xev' to discover the keysym
- and modifier names.
-
-143: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
-
- Try all of these methods before asking for further help:
-
- * You may have big problems using `mwm' as your window manager. {Does
- anyone know a good generic solution to allow the use of the Meta key in
- Emacs with mwm?}
-
- * For X11R4: Make sure it really is a Meta key. Use `xev' to find out
- what keysym your Meta key generates. It should be either Meta_L or
- Meta_R. If it isn't, use xmodmap to fix the situation.
-
- * Make sure the pty the xterm is using is passing 8 bit characters.
- `stty -a' (or `stty everything') should show `cs8' somewhere. If it
- shows `cs7' instead, use `stty cs8 -istrip' (or `stty pass8') to fix
- it.
-
- * If there is an rlogin connection between the xterm and the Emacs, the
- `-8' argument may need to be given to rlogin to make it pass all 8
- bits of every character.
-
- * If the Emacs is running under Ultrix, it is reported that evaluating
- (set-input-mode t nil) helps.
-
- * If all else fails, you can make xterm generate "ESC W" when you type
- M-W, which is the same conversion Emacs would make if it got the M-W
- anyway. In X11R4, the following resource specification will do this:
-
- XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false
-
- (This changes the behavior of the insert-eight-bit action.)
-
- With older xterms, you can specify this behavior with a translation:
-
- XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
- Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()
-
- You might have to replace `Meta' with `Alt'.
-
-144: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0?
-
- This is a result of an internationalization extension in X11R4 and the
- fact that HP is now using this extension. Emacs assumes that
- XLookupString returns the same result regardless of the Meta key state
- which is no longer necessarily true. Until Emacs is fixed, the temporary
- kludge is to run this command after each time the X server is started but
- preferably before any xterm clients are:
-
- xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'
-
- NOTE: This will disable the use of the extra keysyms systemwide, which
- may be undesirable if you actually intend to use them.
-
-145: Where can I get key bindings to make Emacs emulate WordStar?
-
- There is a package `wordstar' by Jim Frost <jimf@saber.com> and
- `ws-mode.el' by Juergen Nickelsen <nickel@cs.tu-berlin.de>. Check in the
- Emacs Lisp Archive (see question 89).
-
-146: Where can I get an XEDIT emulator for Emacs?
-
- This question comes up once every couple of months. I have never seen a
- positive reply, so I presume no one has ever written one.
-
-
-
-Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets
-
-147: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
-
- There is a patch called the `8-bit ctl-arrow patch' that allows Emacs to
- display characters with codes from 128 to 255. {The original appears to
- have been by Kenneth Cline <cline@proof.ergo.cs.cmu.edu>.} Partially based
- on Johan Widen's earlier work, Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> has updated this
- patch for Emacs 18.58 along with some other 8-bit improvements.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-EightBit.Z
- /ftp.urc.tue.nl:/pub/tex/emacs/FP-EightBit +
- /cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cemacs.tar.Z:cemacs/8bit-patch-18.57
- /sics.se:archive/emacs-18.55-8bit-diff
- /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-8bit-18.55
- /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-8bit-18.57
-
- Via e-mail:
- To: mail-server@sics.se
- body: send emacs-18.55-8bit-diff
-
- Anders Edenbrandt <anderse@dna.lth.se> has produced a more comprehensive
- patch for Emacs 18.59 that allows for 8-bit input and output. !
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /ftp.efd.lth.se:pub/gnu/emacs_8-bit.patch !
- !
- In the words of the author: !
- !
- With these patches, Emacs becomes fully 8-bit operational. There is !
- support for displaying 8-bit characters, as well as for entering such !
- characters from the keyboard. In addition, upcase/lowcase tranlatsion !
- is supported, accented characters are recognized as "letters" (important !
- when doing 'forward-word', for example), and text with 8-bit characters !
- can be sorted correctly. !
- !
- A Meta-shift key can still be used, provided that you run in an !
- environment where it is possible to distinguish between a character !
- entered using the Meta-shift key and one entered directly. The diffs !
- include patches to make this work under SunView (with emacstool) as !
- well as under X. If you can't use a Meta-shift key, you have to enter !
- Meta-commands with the ESC-prefix. !
-
- The most comprehensive patches for 8-bit output are by Howard Gayle
- (originally for Emacs 18.55. These patches allow displaying any arbitrary
- string for a given 8-bit character (except TAB and C-j). Also supported
- is defining the sorting order and the uppercase and lowercase
- translations. It is reported that the 8-bit character support in Emacs 19
- is largely based on these patches. Thomas Bellman
- <Bellman@lysator.liu.se> has updated these patches for Emacs 18.59. !
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /sics.se:archive/emacs-gayle.tar.Z (patches for 18.55)
- /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/gayle-18.58.diff.tar.Z (patches) !
- /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/emacs-18.59-gayle.tar.Z (patched Emacs) !
-
- Epoch's 8-bit character support is based on Anders Edenbrandt's patches. !
- Lucid Emacs has the ctl-arrow patch installed. Nemacs displays 8-bit
- characters, and it may be useful for displaying the 8-bit ISO-8859
- alphabet, but I don't know for sure (see question 149).
-
-148: How do I input 8-bit characters?
-
- Minor modes for ISO Latin-1 that allow one to easily input this character
- set have been written by several people. Such modes have been written by
- Matthieu Herrb <matthieu@laas.fr> (laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/iso-latin-1.el),
- Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> {FTP site??}, and Marc Shapiro
- <shapiro@sor.inria.fr> {FTP site??}.
-
- These approaches differ from the one taken by Anders Edenbrandt in that
- his method uses direct 8-bit input, while these methods use a compose
- sequence for 8-bit characters. {I have heard conflicting reports on
- whether this results in losing the Meta key. Perhaps this depends on
- whether Emacs is running under X. Can someone resolve this?}
-
- Karl Heuer <karl@haddock.ima.isc.com> is said to have a patch to allow
- 8-bit input. Georg-Wilhelm Koltermann <gwk@crmunich0.cray.com> also has a
- patch for either 18.57 or 18.58 that allows 8-bit input.
-
- Epoch comes with a patch that allows it to input 8-bit characters, but it
- is not enabled by default. {Is this right?}
-
- Jamie Zawinski says:
-
- Lucid GNU Emacs allows the input of any ISO-8859/1 keysyms that your
- keyboard generates (see xmodmap), and contains a package that implements
- a DEC/OpenWindows-like "Compose" key for systems which don't have one.
-
-149: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle kanji characters?
-
- Nemacs 3.3.2 (Nihongo GNU Emacs) is a modified version of GNU Emacs 18.55
- that handles kanji characters. It is available via anonymous FTP:
-
- /crl.nmsu.edu:pub/misc/nemacs-3.3.2.tar.Z
- /miki.cs.titech.ac.jp:JAPAN/nemacs/nemacs-3.3.2.tar.Z -
-
- You might also need files for "wnn", a kanji input method
- (wnn-4.0.3{-README,.tar.Z} {on which machine?}). You need a terminal (or
- terminal emulator) that can display text encoded in JIS, Shift-JIS, or EUC
- (Extended Unix Code), or the ability to run Nemacs as a direct X Window
- client.
-
-150: Where can I get an Emacs that can handle Chinese?
-
- `cemacs' by Stephen G. Simpson <simpson@math.psu.edu> is a patch to Emacs
- 18.57 (the ctl-arrow patch) and some Emacs Lisp code that combined with
- Cxterm allows using Chinese characters. It is available via anonymous
- FTP:
-
- /crl.nmsu.edu:pub/chinese/cemacs.tar.Z
- /cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cemacs.tar.Z
-
- Cxterm is available from the same place:
-
- /cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cxterm-11.5.1.tar.Z
-
-151: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
-
- Joel M. Hoffman <joel@wam.umd.edu> writes:
-
- A couple of years ago a wrote a hebrew.el file that allows right-to-left
- editing of Hebrew. I relied on the hardware to display the Hebrew
- letters, given the right codes, but not for any right-to-left support;
- the hardware also doesn't have to send any specific char. codes. Emacs
- keeps track of when the user is typing Hebrew vs. English. (The VT-*
- terminals in Israel contain built-in support for Hebrew.)
-
- To get it to work I had to modify only a few lines of GNU Emacs's source
- code --- just enough to make it 8-bit clean.
-
- [and in a separate message:]
-
- It doesn't produce time-order ["sefer" format] (I wouldn't recommend
- trying that with emacs, because converting time-order to screen-order
- with arbitrarily long lines is a bit tricky), but I also concocted a
- quick filter to convert screen-order into time-order. I'll be happy to
- send you the requisite files if you want them. If you're using it for
- anything large, however, you'll want something that works better.
-
- Joel Hoffman has also written a "bi-directional bi-lingual Emacs-like"
- editor for MS-DOS named Ibelbe (Itty Bitty Emacs-Like Bidirectional
- Editor). Ibelbe is written in Turbo Pascal and comes with source code.
- Here is the description:
-
- Ibelbe looks like emacs (it even has a minibuffer and filename
- completion), and fully supports both right-to-left and left-to-right
- editing. Other than an EGA monitor or better, no special hardware is
- required. You will need an EGA Hebrew font to use Ibelbe with Hebrew.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /israel.nysernet.org:israel/msdos/ibelbe.zip
- /israel.nysernet.org:israel/msdos/hebfont.zip
-
- Joseph Friedman <yossi@deshaw.com, yossi@Neon.Stanford.EDU> has written
- patches for Emacs 18.55 and 18.58 that provide Semitic language support
- under X Windows.
-
- Warren Burstein <warren@itex.jct.ac.il> says he has mapped 7-bit keys by
- modifying self-insert-command "for Hebrew input on 7-bit keyboards".
-
- A good suggestion is to query archie for files named with `hebrew'.
-
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------- +
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells +
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes +
- +
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers +
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other +
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new +
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as +
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice +
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining +
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and +
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including +
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these +
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary +
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution. +
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Mail and News
-
-This portion of the GNU Emacs FAQ list is cross-posted to `gnu.emacs.gnus'
-because many of the questions herein deal with GNUS. See `gnu.emacs.help' for
-the rest of the FAQ list.
-
-If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to
-get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text
-of the answers, just type "C-x $".
-
-To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if
-that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search.
-
-A `+' in the 78th column means something was inserted on the line. A `-' means
-something was deleted and a `!' means some combination of insertions and
-deletions occurred.
-
-Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22. Also see the
-`Introduction to news.answers' posting in the `news.answers' newsgroup, or send
-e-mail to `mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu' with `help' on a body line, or use FTP,
-WAIS, or Prospero to rtfm.mit.edu.
-
-
-
-Mail and News
-
-152: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
-
- Many people want Emacs to prefix included text with something like ` > '
- instead of with three spaces. One way is to change the code of the
- function `mail-yank-original' in lisp/sendmail.el that prefixes with
- spaces. A more flexible solution is to use Supercite, which provides wide
- configurability in how you format included text in replies. See question
- 107. Both of these solutions work for RMAIL and GNUS.
-
- A related problem is how to prevent Emacs from including various headers
- of the replied-to message. For this, you should set the value of
- mail-yank-ignored-headers, which takes a regexp value.
-
-153: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
-
- Two methods:
-
- 1. (setq mail-self-blind t) will result in a `BCC:' header line with your
- address being added to mail composition buffers. This will cause the
- mail system to send a copy of the mail back to you.
-
- 2. (setq mail-archive-file-name (expand-file-name "~/outgoing")) will
- result in an `FCC:' header line with the pathname of ~/outgoing being
- added to mail composition buffers. When you send the mail, Emacs will
- save a copy of the mail in the file ~/outgoing and then strip off the
- `FCC:' line before actually sending.
-
- WARNING: There is a bug in Emacs 18.58 that prevents mail readers such
- as RMAIL from reading the saved mail messages individually. See
- question 155.
-
- WARNING: If you are visiting the file ~/outgoing at the time you send
- the mail, this can cause a variety of horrible problems. Jamie
- Zawinski has written a solution for this.
-
- It does not work to put `set record filename' in the .mailrc file.
-
-154: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
-
- * You must separate multiple addresses in the headers of the mail buffer
- with commas. This is because Emacs supports RFC822 standard addresses
- like this one:
-
- To: Willy Smith <wks@xpnsv.lwyrs.com>
-
- However, you do not need to separate addresses with commas in your
- .mailrc file.
-
- WARNING: Emacs breaks up aliases in the .mailrc file into multiple
- addresses both on commas and on whitespace, regardless of any use of
- quotes. This is probably a bug. You can get around this by directly
- setting the value of mail-aliases.
-
- * Emacs normally only reads the `.mailrc' file once per session, when you
- start to compose your first mail message. If you edit .mailrc, you can
- type "M-ESC (build-mail-aliases) RET" to make Emacs reread .mailrc.
- (You have to include the parentheses where they are shown!)
-
- * Emacs does not interpret vendor-specific additions to the format of the
- .mailrc file such as the `source' command. It also ignores any `set'
- commands. The only commands it looks at are `alias' and `group'
- commands.
-
-155: Why does RMAIL think all my saved messages are one big message?
-
- There is a bug for FCC-ed messages in Emacs 18.58 where it adds a timezone
- on the "From " line after the year instead of before the year. (Before it
- didn't add the timezone at all.) This is incompatible with the standard
- format for the "From " line, and RMAIL in particular can no longer
- distinguish between the messages. Karl Berry <karl@cs.umb.edu>, Felix Lee
- <flee@cs.psu.edu>, Nick Gianniotis <nico@japan.sbi.com> and many
- others have all posted patches for this. Karl's is the simplest and just
- stops Emacs from adding the timezone:
-
- >*** ./ORIG/sendmail.el Tue Jan 28 16:22:56 1992
- >--- ./sendmail.el Thu May 14 18:23:48 1992
- >***************
- >*** 285,287 ****
- > (insert "\nFrom " (user-login-name) " "
- >! (current-time-string) " " timezone "\n")
- > (insert-buffer-substring rmailbuf)
- >--- 285,287 ----
- > (insert "\nFrom " (user-login-name) " "
- >! (current-time-string) "\n")
- > (insert-buffer-substring rmailbuf)
-
-156: How can I sort the messages in my RMAIL folder?
-
- Use rmailsort.el by Masanobu Umeda.
-
-157: Why does RMAIL need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
-
- This is the behavior of the `movemail' program which RMAIL uses. This
- indicates that movemail is configured to use lock files.
-
- RMS writes:
-
- Certain systems require lock files to interlock access to mail files.
- On these systems, movemail must write lock files, or you risk losing
- mail. You simply must arrange to let movemail write them.
-
- Other systems use the flock system call to interlock access. On these
- systems, you should configure movemail to use flock.
-
-158: How do I recover my mail files after RMAIL munges their format?
-
- Users who just want to try RMAIL out to see how it works end up trapped
- using it because saved mail in their `mbox' file has been converted into
- an incompatible format (BABYL) that only RMAIL understands. RMAIL
- provides no obvious way to reverse this transformation. Kyle Jones has
- aptly named this "the great Emacs Mail Eating Monster". To convert a mail
- file back to standard Unix format, there are several methods:
-
- * Use the rmail-output ("C-o") command within RMAIL on each message in the
- file. First use M-x rmail or M-x rmail-input to visit the RMAIL file in
- Rmail mode. Type "1 j" to go to the first message. Use the C-o command
- to output the message to a Unix format file. Type "n" to go to the next
- message. Repeat.
-
- * If the file contains hundreds of messages, you may not want to repeat
- this for all of them. Instead of the above, after getting to the first
- message type this (where "mbox" is the file you want to put the messages
- in):
-
- C-x ( C-o mbox RET M-s ^From: RET M-0 C-x )
-
- (The rmail-search command ("M-s") is used instead of just "n" because it
- is the only command which will cause an error when it reaches the last
- message in the file, which is necessary to terminate the keyboard macro.
- This will fail if there are messages in the file that don't have a
- `From:' header. This assumes rmail-delete-after-output is nil.)
-
- It is wise to save a copy of the RMAIL file first, in case you make a
- mistake.
-
- * There are software packages available for converting files or even
- entire directories of BABYL files to standard Unix format. These are
- helpful in this situation, but are intended mainly for people who have
- used RMAIL for a long time and are converting to some other mail reader.
- Lookup `rmail', `vm', and `babyl' in the Emacs Lisp Archive (see
- question 89).
-
- You may wish to disable RMAIL to avoid accidentally destroying your mbox
- file (I have this in my .emacs):
-
- (put 'rmail 'disabled t) ; avoid mbox destruction
-
-159: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
-
- Example:
-
- emacs -f gnus
-
- Also:
-
- alias gnus 'emacs -f gnus'
-
- It is probably unwise to automatically start your mail or news reader from
- your .emacs file. This would cause problems if you needed to run two
- copies of Emacs at one time. Also, this would make it difficult for you
- to start Emacs quickly when you needed to.
-
-160: How do I read news under Emacs?
-
- There are at least three news reading packages that operate inside Emacs.
- `rnews' comes with Emacs. GNUS and Gnews come separately. rnews will
- be replaced by GNUS in Emacs 19.
-
- rnews works only with a local news spool directory. Both GNUS and Gnews
- handle reading news remotely via NNTP in addition to reading from a local
- news spool. GNUS supports reading mail stored in MH folders or articles
- saved by GNUS.
-
- Gnews is styled after `rn' and seems to work like RMAIL. GNUS feels more
- like VM. People have complained that GNUS uses a lot of CPU time (it
- does). Some people have complained that Gnews is slower than GNUS.
-
- For more information about GNUS, see question 108.
-
- Gnews was written by Matthew P. Wiener <weemba@libra.wistar.upenn.edu>.
- The latest version seems to be 2.0, posted October 3, 1988. Matthew
- posted some fixes on October 26, 1988. Gnews does not appear to have been
- supported after this date. In particular, it has been reported that Gnews
- does not work with Emacs 18.57. There is a newsgroup for Gnews called
- gnu.emacs.gnews.
-
-161: Why does `rnews' say "No News is good news" when there is news?
-
- rnews doesn't speak NNTP. You may need to use GNUS or Gnews.
-
-162: Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP?
-
- There is a bug in NNTP version 1.5.10, such that when multiple requests
- are sent to the NNTP server, the server only handles the first one before
- blocking waiting for more input which never comes. NNTP version 1.5.11
- claims to fix this.
-
- You can work around the bug inside Emacs like this:
-
- (setq nntp-maximum-request 1)
-
- I also have a patch for NNTP 1.5.10 by Mike Pelletier
- <stealth@engin.umich.edu> that is based on the timeout code that was in
- 1.5.9. However, please try to upgrade to 1.5.11 first.
-
- You can find out what version of NNTP your news server is running by
- telnetting to the NNTP port (usually 119) on the news server machine (ie.,
- `telnet server-machine 119'). The server should give its version number
- in the welcome message. Type `quit' to get out.
-
-163: How do I view text with embedded underlining (eg., ClariNews)?
-
- Underlining appears like this:
-
- _^Hu_^Hn_^Hd_^He_^Hr_^Hl_^Hi_^Hn_^Hi_^Hn_^Hg
-
- You can destructively remove underlining with M-x ununderline-region.
-
- For ClariNews articles, clari-clean.el by David N. Blank-Edelman
- <dnb@meshugge.media.mit.edu> will remove both underlining and overstriking
- automatically.
-
-164: When I try to post a long article in GNUS (about 10K or longer), I get
- the error, "Writing to process: no more processes, nntpd"
-
- Upgrade to Emacs 18.58 or higher. +
-
-165: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in GNUS?
-
- Use gnus-mark.el by Jamie Zawinski <jwz@lucid.com>.
-
-166: Why does GNUS put the subjects in replies beyond the 80th column?
-
- This is a feature. If you set gnus-thread-hide-subject to non-nil, GNUS
- will only display the subject of the first posting in a thread, even if
- some of the replies use different subjects. It hides the subjects by
- putting them past the edge of the window and setting truncate lines to t.
-
- If your screen looks messed up, then for some reason truncate-lines in
- your `*Subject*' buffer has been set to nil. It should be set to t.
-
- (I have an enhancement to GNUS 3.13 that will make it only hide the subject
- of a posting when it is unchanged from the followed-up-to posting. Thus,
- you can use the subject hiding feature and still know when someone changes
- the subject. (I have forgotten who originally gave me the idea for this.))
-
-167: Why is GNUS so slow to start up?
-
- GNUS does several things that take quadratic time of the number of
- newsgroups that are listed in .newsrc. The quick fix for this is to
- remove all the newsgroups in which you have no interest from your .newrc
- file by using GNUS's C-k command in the `*Newsgroup*' buffer after
- displaying all newsgroups with the L command. If you were to directly
- edit your .newsrc to remove the newsgroups, GNUS would add them back.
-
- GNUS uses a quadratic algorithm to check for duplicates when the .newsrc
- file is newer than the .newsrc.el file (ie., you edited your .newsrc).
- GNUS uses a quadratic algorithm to check for new newsgroups every time it
- connects to the news server. {There may be other quadratic algorithms
- that I am not aware of.}
-
- You can speed up GNUS by using the C-k command in the *Newsgroup* buffer
- to remove newsgroups from your .newsrc file.
-
- Of course, GNUS will run faster if you make sure it is byte-compiled.
-
- Felix Lee wrote some enhancements called `gnus-speedups.el' that fix some
- of the problems. See the Emacs Lisp Archive.
-
-168: How do I catch up all newsgroups in GNUS?
-
- In the `*Newsgroup*' buffer, type the following magical incantation:
-
- M-< C-x ( C-@ c y C-u C-@ C-e C-f C-f M-0 C-x )
-
- Leave off the "M-<" if you only want to catch up from point to the end of
- the `*Newsgroup' buffer.
-
-169: Why can't I kill in GNUS on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control line?
-
- GNUS 3.14.1 will complain that the `Newsgroups:', `Keywords:', and
- `Control:' headers are `Unknown header field's.
-
- For the `Newsgroups:' header, there is an easy workaround: kill on the
- `Xref' header instead, which will be present on any cross-posted article.
-
- If you really want to kill on one of these headers, you can do it like
- this:
-
- (gnus-kill nil "^Newsgroups: .*\\(bad\\.group\\|worse\\.group\\)")
-
- Various people (eg., Greg Holley <holley@acuson.com>) have posted
- solutions to allow more efficient killing on these headers than the
- preceding solution. Masanobu Umeda plans to fix this problem.
-
-170: How do I get rid of flashing messages in GNUS for slow connections?
-
- GNUS outputs "NNTP: Reading..." message and then clears them, over and
- over. In version 3.14.1 there is a variable named nntp-debug-read that
- can help. Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> wrote a fix. Others have also written
- fixes.
-
-171: Why is catch up slow in Gnews/GNUS?
-
- Because GNUS is marking crosspostings read. {I think it should do this at
- the time the article is read to spread out the load. Maybe someone will
- write the code to do this.}
-
-172: Why does GNUS hang for a long time when posting?
-
- David Lawrence <tale@uunet.uu.net> explains:
-
- The problem is almost always interaction between NNTP and C News. NNTP
- POST asks C News's inews to not background itself but rather hang around
- and give its exit status so it knows whether the post was successful.
- (That wait will on some systems not return the exit status of the
- waited for job is a different sort of problem.) It ends up taking a
- long time because inews is calling relaynews, which often waits for
- another relaynews to free the lock on the news system so it can file the
- article.
-
- My preferred solution is to change inews to not call relaynews, but
- rather use newsspool. This loses some error-catching functionality, but
- is for the most part safe as inews will detect a lot of the errors on
- its own. The C News folks have sped up inews, too, so speed should look
- better to most folks as that update propagates around.
-
-173: Why don't my news postings in GNUS get past the local machine?
-
- Three possible reasons: local distribution, C News date problem (see
- question 174, and the path problem. This piece of code may fix the path
- problem for you:
-
- (setq gnus-use-generic-path t)
-
-174: Why is the GNUS-generated `Date:' header invalid?
-
- GNUS generates `Date:' headers without time zones. C-News's `inews'
- doesn't replace it with a valid header, but will generate it if not
- already there. If it is invalid, the article will not be forwarded
- properly. Quick fix:
-
- (defun gnus-inews-date () nil)
-
- This is not fixed as of GNUS 3.14.1. !
-
-175: Why doesn't GNUS generate the `Lines:' header?
-
- GNUS was written for B news, which would generate the `Lines:' header. C
- news doesn't. There is a comment in C news's `inews' that you can
- uncomment to enable this functionality. Or you can have GNUS generate the
- header, for example:
-
- ;; idea by jbryans@beach.csulb.edu (Jack Bryans)
- (defun add-lines-header ()
- ;; Count the number of lines in the current posting and insert the
- ;; header line Lines into the message.
- (save-excursion
- (goto-char (point-min))
- (if (search-forward "\n\n") ;; ***** I suspect this is wrong *****
- (let ((lines (count-lines (point) (point-max))))
- (forward-line -1)
- (insert-string "Lines: " lines "\n")))))
-
- Mike Williams <mike-w@cs.aukuni.ac.nz> has written something similar.
-
- Ronald Florence <ron@mlfarm.com> has a patch for GNUS that makes it
- calculate the `Lines:' header for incoming articles when necessary that
- works for sites with local news spools.
-
- David Lawrence <tale@uunet.uu.net> says that GNUS 3.14.1 generates Lines
- if gnus-news-system is Cnews.
-
-176: Why do I get "Cannot open load file" "nntp" when compiling GNUS?
-
- Specifically, the error message is this:
-
- Error occurred processing gnus.el: File error (("Cannot open load file" "nntp"))
-
- This means that nntp.el is not in Emacs's load-path, which is easy to
- happen when compiling using the Makefile.
-
- Easiest solution: set EMACSLOADPATH in Makefile (idea from Glenn Gribble
- <glenn@netcom.com>):
-
- EMACSLOADPATH=/usr/local/emacs/lisp:.
- ELC= env EMACSLOADPATH=$(EMACSLOADPATH) emacs -batch -f batch-byte-compile
-
- Another solution, in hack.el put this:
-
- (defun gross-hack () (setq load-path (cons "/directory" load-path)))
-
- Then in Makefile:
-
- ELC= emacs -batch -l hack.el -f gross-hack -f batch-byte-compile
-
-177: How do I kill all articles in GNUS but those matching a pattern?
-
- Example:
-
- ;; kill everything
- (gnus-kill "subject" "" nil nil)
- ;; then restore stuff by our favorite poster
- (gnus-kill "from" "good-guy"
- (function
- (lambda ()
- (if (eq ?X (char-after (save-excursion
- (beginning-of-line 1)
- (point))))
- (gnus-Subject-clear-mark-forward 1))))
- t)
-
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------- +
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells +
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes +
- +
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers +
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other +
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new +
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as +
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice +
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining +
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and +
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including +
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these +
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary +
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution. +
-
-
- GNU Emacs FAQ: Changes
-
-The latest version of the GNU Emacs FAQ has changed from the previous version.
-This article shows the changed text. The contents of this article are from the
-output of `diff -wu2'. Since the question numbers are generated automatically
-and can change, these are stripped from both versions before comparing them.
-After generating the differences for each part, they were concatenated and then
-edited to remove as much noise as possible. You can't use this as a patch.
-
---
-Steven Byrnes <sbyrnes@rice.edu> (and Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>)
-
-E-mail lpf@uunet.uu.net for details about the League for Programming Freedom.
-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-@@ -225,9 +225,8 @@
-
- Anonymous FTP:
-- /prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/emacs/MailingListArchives/
-+ /prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/MailingListArchives/
-
-- {There was a WAIS database named `comp-emacs' on lambada.oit.unc.edu that
-- makes available the last 10 days of articles in comp.emacs. It appears to
-- have died. Anyone know if it moved?}
-+ There is a WAIS database named `comp.emacs' on wais.oit.unc.edu that
-+ makes available the last few days of articles in comp.emacs.
-
- QQQ: Where should I report bugs and other problems with GNU Emacs?
-
-@@ -612,5 +611,5 @@
- it might (or might not) do some good to complain to your news
- administrator, because the most recent FAQ should not expire before
-- November 21, 1992.
-+ March 6, 1993.
-
- * Via anonymous FTP. You can fetch the FAQ articles via anonymous FTP
-@@ -642,6 +641,6 @@
- * In the GNU Emacs distribution. Since GNU Emacs 18.56, the latest
- available version of the FAQ at the time of release has been part of the
-- GNU Emacs distribution as file etc/FAQ. 18.58 is the latest version,
-- and it was released in February 1992.
-+ GNU Emacs distribution as file etc/FAQ. 18.59 is the latest version,
-+ and it was released in October 1992.
-
- * There is an old version of the FAQ list available for FTP in the GNU
-@@ -677,5 +676,5 @@
- QQQ: What is the latest version of GNU Emacs?
-
-- GNU Emacs 18.58 is the current version. Fixes from 18.57 include better
-+ GNU Emacs 18.59 is the current version. Fixes from 18.57 include better
- mail address parsing, an X visual bell speedup, a call-process
- enhancement, a regexp matching change, the ability to apply a numeric
-@@ -698,5 +697,5 @@
- which is a good sign.
-
-- Lucid has released Lucid GNU Emacs 19.2, which is based on an early
-+ Lucid has released Lucid GNU Emacs 19.3, which is based on an early
- unreleased version of GNU Emacs 19. This will be similar to Emacs 19 when
- it finally arrives, but they are not the same. See question QQQ.
-
-@@ -185,5 +185,5 @@
-
- There are ways to get highlighting (reverse video, inverse video) in GNU
-- Emacs 18.58, but either they require patching the C code of Emacs and
-+ Emacs 18.59, but either they require patching the C code of Emacs and
- rebuilding, or they are slow and the highlighting disappears if you scroll
- or redraw the screen and it can not follow the point. Howard Gayle's
-@@ -194,5 +194,6 @@
- <matthieu@laas.fr>), which is available for FTP:
-
-- /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-X11-18.5{5,7}
-+ /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-X11-18.55
-+ /laas.laas.fr:pub/emacs/patch-X11-18.57
-
- You can highlight regions in a variety of ways in Epoch and Lucid Emacs.
-@@ -241,5 +242,5 @@
- Trinkle. A more recent version is available via FTP:
-
-- /arthur.cs.purdue.edu:pub/trinkle/detex-2.3.tar.Z
-+ /arthur.cs.purdue.edu:pub/trinkle/detex-2.4.tar
-
- Raphael Cerf <cerf@clipper.ens.fr> recently released a program for this
-@@ -428,7 +429,8 @@
-
- Under versions of Emacs before 18.58, the bell volume was annoying loud
-- and difficult to turn off. So upgrading to 18.58 will reduce the volume.
-- If you want to turn it off completely, use `xset'. There is no way to
-- turn the bell off just for Emacs without affecting all other programs.
-+ and difficult to turn off. So upgrading to 18.58 or higher will reduce
-+ the volume. If you want to turn it off completely, use `xset'. There is
-+ no way to turn the bell off just for Emacs without affecting all other
-+ programs.
-
- Under Epoch you can do:
-@@ -585,7 +587,7 @@
-
- Anonymous FTP:
-- /csi.jpl.nasa.gov:pub/emacs.patch1 (Matt Wette)
-+ /csi.jpl.nasa.gov:pub/emax.patch1 (Matt Wette)
- /ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-Xfun.Z (Johan Vromans)
-- /ftp.urc.tue.nl:pub/tex/emacs/FP-Xfun (Johan Vromans)
-+ /ftp.urc.tue.nl:/pub/tex/emacs/FP-Xfun (Johan Vromans)
-
- QQQ: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
-@@ -664,4 +666,7 @@
- QQQ: Why can't Emacs find files in current directory on startup?
-
-+ The PWD bug has been fixed as of GNU Emacs 18.59. Read on if you are
-+ running an older version of Emacs.
-+
- Most likely, you have an environment variable named PWD that is set to a
- value other than the name of your current directory. This is most
-@@ -670,6 +675,7 @@
- variable, but `sh' doesn't. If you start sh from ksh, change your
- current directory inside sh, and then start Emacs from inside sh, PWD
-- will have the wrong value but Emacs will use this value. See the
-- etc/OPTIONS file for more details.
-+ will have the wrong value but Emacs will use this value. An invalid
-+ setting for PWD can also be a problem if you use X Windows and csh on an
-+ RS/6000. See the etc/OPTIONS file for more details.
-
- Perhaps an easier solution is not to use two shells. The `chsh' program
-
-@@ -50,5 +50,5 @@
- The latest version is always available via anonymous FTP at MIT:
-
-- /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/emacs-18.58.tar.Z
-+ /prep.ai.mit.edu:pub/gnu/emacs-18.59.tar.Z
-
- See question QQQ.
-@@ -130,5 +130,5 @@
- ;; tex-complete|Sebastian Kremer|sk@thp.Uni-Koeln.DE
- ;; |Minibuffer name completion for editing [La]TeX.
-- ;; |91-03-26|$Revision: 1.12 $|~/packages/tex-complete.el.Z
-+ ;; |91-03-26|$Revision: 19.4 $|~/packages/tex-complete.el.Z
-
- Dave Brennan has software which automatically looks for data in this
-@@ -231,5 +231,4 @@
- The unofficial HP GNU Emacs is available via anonymous FTP:
-
-- /me10.lbl.gov:pub/interex/HUGE/
- /ee.utah.edu:HUGE/ (PLEASE FTP DURING NON-WORK HOURS!!!)
-
-@@ -301,13 +300,9 @@
- are different from GNU Emacs. It is rumored that MicroEmacs can not
- correctly edit files larger than memory. The author is Daniel Lawrence
-- <dan@mdbs.uucp, dan@midas.mgmt.purdue.edu, nwd@j.cc.purdue.edu>. The
-- latest version is 3.10 and it is available via anonymous FTP:
-+ <dan@mdbs.uucp, mdbs!dan@ee.ecn.purdue.edu>. The latest version is 3.11
-+ and it is available via anonymous FTP:
-
-- /midas.mgmt.purdue.edu: (non-working hours only)
-- /durer.cme.nist.gov:
-- /wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/memacs/
-+ /wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/uemacs/
-
-- Version 3.11 is in beta test.
--
- * JOVE
-
-@@ -318,7 +313,5 @@
- available via anonymous FTP:
-
-- /cs.rochester.edu:/pub/jove.tar.4.14.Z
-- /cs.toronto.edu:/pub/moraes/jove4.14.3.tar.Z
-- /ftp.uu.net:
-+ /cs.toronto.edu:/pub/moraes/jove4.14.7.tar.Z
-
- * MG
-@@ -584,5 +577,5 @@
- /alpha.gnu.ai.mit.edu:ange-ftp/ange-ftp.tar.Z
- /archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/ange-ftp.tar.Z
-- ugle.unit.no:pub/gnu/emacs-lisp/ange-ftp.tar.Z
-+ /ugle.unit.no:pub/gnu/emacs-lisp/ange-ftp.tar.Z
- Mailing lists:
- ange-ftp-lovers-request@anorman.hpl.hp.com (for subscriptions)
-@@ -618,6 +611,6 @@
- Latest released version: 6.1 {???}
- Anonymous FTP:
-- /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auctex_5_6e.tar.Z {wrong}
-- /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auc-tex.tar.Z
-+ /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auctex_6_1d.tar.Z
-+ /iesd.auc.dk:pub/emacs-lisp/auctex.tar.Z
- Mailing list:
- auc-tex-request@iesd.auc.dk (for subscriptions)
-
-@@ -854,5 +854,5 @@
- Anonymous FTP:
- /ftp.eu.net:gnu/emacs/FP-EightBit.Z
-- /ftp.urc.tue.nl:pub/tex/emacs/FP-EightBit
-+ /ftp.urc.tue.nl:/pub/tex/emacs/FP-EightBit
- /cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cemacs.tar.Z:cemacs/8bit-patch-18.57
- /sics.se:archive/emacs-18.55-8bit-diff
-@@ -865,10 +865,25 @@
-
- Anders Edenbrandt <anderse@dna.lth.se> has produced a more comprehensive
-- patch for Emacs 18.57 that allows for 8-bit input and output.
-+ patch for Emacs 18.59 that allows for 8-bit input and output.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
-- /sics.se:archive/emacs-8bit-diff-lth
-- /gatekeeper.dec.com:pub/GNU/DS-emacs-18.57-8bit-diff-lth
-+ /ftp.efd.lth.se:pub/gnu/emacs_8-bit.patch
-
-+ In the words of the author:
-+
-+ With these patches, Emacs becomes fully 8-bit operational. There is
-+ support for displaying 8-bit characters, as well as for entering such
-+ characters from the keyboard. In addition, upcase/lowcase tranlatsion
-+ is supported, accented characters are recognized as "letters" (important
-+ when doing 'forward-word', for example), and text with 8-bit characters
-+ can be sorted correctly.
-+
-+ A Meta-shift key can still be used, provided that you run in an
-+ environment where it is possible to distinguish between a character
-+ entered using the Meta-shift key and one entered directly. The diffs
-+ include patches to make this work under SunView (with emacstool) as
-+ well as under X. If you can't use a Meta-shift key, you have to enter
-+ Meta-commands with the ESC-prefix.
-+
- The most comprehensive patches for 8-bit output are by Howard Gayle
- (originally for Emacs 18.55. These patches allow displaying any arbitrary
-@@ -877,15 +892,15 @@
- translations. It is reported that the 8-bit character support in Emacs 19
- is largely based on these patches. Thomas Bellman
-- <Bellman@lysator.liu.se> has updated these patches for Emacs 18.57.
-+ <Bellman@lysator.liu.se> has updated these patches for Emacs 18.59.
-
- Anonymous FTP:
- /sics.se:archive/emacs-gayle.tar.Z (patches for 18.55)
-- /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/gayle-18.57.diff.tar.Z (patches)
-- /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/emacs-18.57-gayle.tar.Z (patched Emacs)
-+ /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/gayle-18.58.diff.tar.Z (patches)
-+ /ftp.lysator.liu.se:pub/emacs/emacs-18.59-gayle.tar.Z (patched Emacs)
-
-- I am not sure if Epoch can display 8-bit characters as is. Lucid Emacs
-- has the ctl-arrow patch installed. Nemacs displays 8-bit characters, and
-- it may be useful for displaying the 8-bit ISO-8859 alphabet, but I don't
-- know for sure (see question QQQ).
-+ Epoch's 8-bit character support is based on Anders Edenbrandt's patches.
-+ Lucid Emacs has the ctl-arrow patch installed. Nemacs displays 8-bit
-+ characters, and it may be useful for displaying the 8-bit ISO-8859
-+ alphabet, but I don't know for sure (see question QQQ).
-
- QQQ: How do I input 8-bit characters?
-@@ -922,5 +937,4 @@
-
- /crl.nmsu.edu:pub/misc/nemacs-3.3.2.tar.Z
-- /uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu:editors/Nemacs-3.3.2/
- /miki.cs.titech.ac.jp:JAPAN/nemacs/nemacs-3.3.2.tar.Z
-
-@@ -271,5 +271,5 @@
- the error, "Writing to process: no more processes, nntpd"
-
-- Upgrade to Emacs 18.58.
-+ Upgrade to Emacs 18.58 or higher.
-
- QQQ: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in GNUS?
-@@ -390,6 +390,5 @@
- (defun gnus-inews-date () nil)
-
-- I think this is fixed in GNUS 3.14.1 if you set gnus-news-system {?} to
-- Cnews.
-+ This is not fixed as of GNUS 3.14.1.
-
- QQQ: Why doesn't GNUS generate the `Lines:' header?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992 Joseph Brian Wells
-Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Steven Byrnes
-
-This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers
-("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other
-formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS, etc.), and updated with new
-information. The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as
-apply to the FAQ itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice
-or an approved translation, information on who is currently maintaining
-the FAQ and how to contact them (including their e-mail address), and
-information on where the latest version of the FAQ is archived (including
-FTP information). The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these
-conditions, except that the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary
-work unless that work itself allows free copying and redistribution.
-
+ GNU Emacs FAQ: Introduction
+
+This is the introduction to a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ)
+about GNU Emacs 20 with answers. Some of the answers are not valid for GNU
+Emacs 18 or 19.
+
+[This version has been somewhat edited from the last-posted version
+(as of February 1999) for inclusion in the Emacs distribution.]
+
+The FAQ is posted (in five parts) to reduce the noise level in the
+gnu.emacs.help newsgroup (which is also the help-gnu-emacs mailing list)
+which results from the repetition of frequently asked questions, wrong
+answers to these questions, corrections to the wrong answers, corrections
+to the corrections, debate, name calling, and generally unproductive use of
+the mailing list. Also, it serves as a repository of the canonical "best"
+answers to these questions. However, if you know a better answer or even a
+slight change that improves an answer, please tell us!
+
+If you know the answer to a question in the FAQ list, please reply to the
+question by e-mail instead of posting. Help reduce noise!
+
+The FAQ is crossposted to comp.emacs because some sites do not receive the
+gnu.* newsgroups. The FAQ is also crossposted to news.answers.
+
+Full instructions for getting the latest FAQ are in question 22.
+
+A diff file between the last version of the FAQ and this one should have
+been posted along with the FAQ. If you did not receive the diff file, you
+can get it at
+
+ ftp://the-tech.mit.edu/pub/GNU-Emacs/faq-diffs
+
+Please suggest new questions, answers, wording changes, and deletions by
+sending mail to emacs-faq@lerner.co.il. The most helpful form for
+suggestions is a context diff (i.e., the output of `diff -c'). Include
+"FAQ" in the subject of messages about the FAQ list.
+
+Please do not send questions to us just because you do not want to disturb
+a lot of people and you think we would know the answer. We do not have
+time to answer questions individually. :-(
+
+--
+Reuven M. Lerner <reuven@lerner.co.il> and the FAQ team (a full list is
+at the bottom of the FAQ).
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Notation Used in FAQ
+
+1: What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
+2: What does "M-x command" mean?
+3: How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
+4: What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
+5: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
+
+General Questions
+
+6: What is the LPF?
+7: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
+8: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
+ comp.emacs, etc.?
+9: Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
+10: Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?
+11: How do I unsubscribe from this mailing list?
+12: What is the current address of the FSF?
+
+On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help
+
+13: I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
+14: How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?
+15: How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?
+16: Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?
+17: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
+18: How do I print a Texinfo file?
+19: Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
+20: What informational files are available for Emacs?
+21: Where can I get help in installing Emacs?
+22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
+
+Status of Emacs
+
+23: Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
+24: What is the latest version of Emacs?
+25: What is different about Emacs 20?
+
+Common Things People Want To Do
+
+26: How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
+27: How do I debug a .emacs file?
+28: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
+29: How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current filename?
+30: How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
+31: How do I turn on auto-fill mode by default?
+32: How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
+33: How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
+ characters?
+34: How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
+35: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
+36: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
+37: Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
+38: How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
+39: How do I change load-path?
+40: How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
+41: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
+42: How do I indent switch statements like this?
+43: How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
+44: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
+45: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
+46: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
+47: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
+ indentation of the previous line?
+48: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
+49: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
+ commands are handled by the compiler?
+50: Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
+51: What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
+52: How do I execute ("evaluate") a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
+53: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
+54: How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
+55: How do I insert "_^H" before each character in a region to get an
+ underlined paragraph?
+56: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
+57: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor
+ should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
+58: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
+59: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
+60: How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
+61: Where is the documentation for "etags"?
+62: How do I disable backup files?
+63: How do I disable auto-save-mode?
+64: How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?
+65: How do I delete menus and menu options?
+66: How do I turn on syntax highlighting?
+67: How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the
+ bottom of the screen?
+68: How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
+69: How can I edit MS-DOS-style text files using Emacs?
+70: How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after
+ each period?
+
+Bugs/Problems
+
+71: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
+72: How do I get rid of ^M or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
+73: Why do I get "Process shell exited abnormally with code 1"?
+74: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type "emacs"?
+75: Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying "I-search:" and beeping?
+76: Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
+77: Why does Emacs say "Error in init file"?
+78: Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
+79: Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
+80: How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
+81: Why does shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
+82: Are there any security risks in Emacs?
+83: Dired says, "no file on this line" when I try to do something.
+
+Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs
+
+84: How do I install Emacs?
+85: How do I update Emacs to the latest version?
+86: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
+87: Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
+
+Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages
+
+88: Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
+89: How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
+90: Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
+91: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
+92: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
+93: What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid
+ Emacs")?
+94: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
+95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows 9x, or Windows
+ NT?
+96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
+97: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
+98: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
+99: Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
+100: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
+101: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
+102: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, Csh, C++,
+ Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?
+103: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
+
+Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs
+
+104: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs, with MIME support
+105: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
+106: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
+107: VIPER -- vi emulation for Emacs
+108: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
+109: BBDB -- personal Info Rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
+110: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
+111: W3-mode -- A World Wide Web browser inside of Emacs
+112: EDB -- Database program for Emacs; replaces forms editing modes
+113: Mailcrypt -- PGP interface within Emacs mail and news
+114: JDE -- Development environment for Java programming
+115: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
+
+Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems
+
+116: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
+117: Why does Emacs say "Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters"?
+118: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
+ .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
+119: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
+120: How do I tell what characters or symbols my function or arrow keys
+ emit?
+121: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
+122: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
+123: How do I bind `C-s' and `C-q' (or any key) if these keys are filtered
+ out?
+124: Why does the "Backspace" key invoke help?
+125: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
+126: How do I "swap" two keys?
+127: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
+128: What if I don't have a Meta key?
+129: What if I don't have an Escape key?
+130: Can I make my "Compose Character" key behave like a Meta key?
+131: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
+132: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
+133: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0
+ and 9.x?
+
+Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets
+
+134: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
+135: How do I input 8-bit characters?
+136: Where can I get an Emacs that handles kanji, Chinese, or other
+ character sets?
+137: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
+
+Mail and News
+
+138: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
+139: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
+140: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
+141: Why does Rmail think all my saved messages are one big message?
+142: How can I sort the messages in my Rmail folder?
+143: Why does Rmail need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
+144: How do I recover my mail files after Rmail munges their format?
+145: How can I force Rmail to reply to the sender of a message, but not the
+ other recipients?
+146: How can I get my favorite Emacs mail package to support MIME?
+147: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
+148: How do I read news under Emacs?
+149: Why doesn't Gnus work via NNTP?
+150: How do I view news articles with embedded underlining (e.g.,
+ ClariNews)?
+151: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in Gnus?
+152: How do I make Gnus start up faster?
+153: How do I catch up all newsgroups in Gnus?
+154: Why can't I kill in Gnus based on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control
+ headers?
+155: How do I get rid of flashing messages in Gnus for slow connections?
+156: Why is catch up slow in Gnus?
+157: Why does Gnus hang for a long time when posting?
+158: Where can I find out more about Gnus?
+
+------------------------------------------------------------
+
+If you are viewing this text in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x
+$" to get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look
+at the text of the answers, just type "C-x $".
+
+To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a
+C-r if that doesn't work. Type RET to end the search.
+
+If you have a web browser and the browse-url package configured for
+it, you can visit ftp and HTTP uniform resource locators (URLs) by
+placing the cursor on the URL and typing M-x browse-url-at-point.
+
+The FAQ is posted in five parts; if you are missing a section or would
+prefer to read the FAQ in a single file, see question 22.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------
+ Time-stamp: <1999-02-10 18:44:04 reuven>
+
+
+Notation Used in FAQ
+
+ Skip this section and then come back if you don't understand some of the
+ later answers.
+
+1: What do these mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, "ESC a", etc.?
+
+ C-x: press the `x' key while holding down the Control key
+
+ M-x: press the `x' key while holding down the Meta key (if your computer
+ doesn't have a Meta key, see question 128)
+
+ M-C-x: press the `x' key while holding down both Control and Meta
+ C-M-x: a synonym for the above
+
+ LFD: Linefeed or Newline; same as C-j
+ RET: Return, sometimes marked Enter; same as C-m
+ DEL: Delete, usually not the same as Backspace; same as C-? (See
+ question 124 if deleting invokes Emacs help)
+ ESC: Escape; same as C-[
+ TAB: Tab; same as C-i
+ SPC: Space bar
+
+ Key sequences longer than one key (and some single-key sequences) are
+ inside double quotes or on lines by themselves. Any real spaces in such
+ a key sequence should be ignored; only SPC really means press the space
+ key.
+
+ The ASCII code sent by C-x (except for C-?) is the value that would be
+ sent by pressing just `x' minus 96 (or 64 for uppercase `X') and will be
+ from 0 to 31. The ASCII code sent by M-x is the sum of 128 and the ASCII
+ code that would be sent by pressing just the `x' key. Essentially, the
+ Control key turns off bits 5 and 6 and the Meta key turns on bit 7.
+
+ NOTE: C-? (aka DEL) is ASCII code 127. It is a misnomer to call C-? a
+ "control" key, since 127 has both bits 5 and 6 turned ON. Also, on very
+ few keyboards does C-? generate ASCII code 127.
+
+ For further information, see "Characters" and "Keys" in the on-line
+ manual. (See question 3 if you don't know how.)
+
+2: What does "M-x command" mean?
+
+ "M-x command" means type M-x, then type the name of the command, then
+ type RET. (See question 1 if you're not sure what "M-x" and "RET" mean.)
+
+ M-x (by default) invokes the command "execute-extended-command". This
+ command allows you to run any Emacs command if you can remember the
+ command's name. If you can't remember the command's name, you can type
+ TAB and SPC for completion, `?' for a list of possibilities, and M-p and
+ M-n to see previous commands entered. An Emacs "command" is any
+ "interactive" Emacs function.
+
+ NOTE: Your system administrator may have bound other key sequences to
+ invoke execute-extended-command. A function key labeled `Do' is a good
+ candidate for this.
+
+ To run non-interactive Emacs functions, see question 52.
+
+3: How do I read topic XXX in the on-line manual?
+
+ When we refer you to topic XXX in the on-line manual, you can read this
+ manual node inside Emacs (assuming nothing is broken) by typing this:
+
+ C-h i m emacs RET m XXX RET
+
+ This invokes Info, the GNU hypertext documentation browser. If you don't
+ already know how to use Info, type `?' from within Info.
+
+ If we refer to topic XXX:YYY, type this:
+
+ C-h i m emacs RET m XXX RET m YYY RET
+
+ WARNING: Your system administrator may not have installed the Info files,
+ or may have installed them improperly. In this case you should complain.
+
+ See question 15 if you would like a paper copy of the Emacs manual.
+
+4: What do these mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el?
+
+ These are files that come with Emacs. The Emacs distribution is divided
+ into subdirectories; the important ones are "etc", "lisp", and "src".
+
+ If you use Emacs, but don't know where it is kept on your system, start
+ Emacs, then type "C-h v data-directory RET". The directory name
+ displayed by this will be the full pathname of the installed "etc"
+ directory.
+
+ The location of your Info directory (i.e., where on-line documentation is
+ stored) is kept in the variable Info-default-directory-list. Use "C-h v
+ Info-default-directory-list RET" to see the contents of this variable,
+ which will be a list of directory names. The last directory in that list
+ is probably where most Info files are stored. By default, Info
+ documentation is placed in /usr/local/info.
+
+ Some of these files are available individually via FTP or e-mail; see
+ question 20. All are available in the source distribution. Many of the
+ files in the "etc" directory are also available via the Emacs "help"
+ menu, or by typing "C-h ?" (M-x help-for-help).
+
+ WARNING: Your system administrator may have removed the src directory and
+ many files from the etc directory.
+
+5: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, and GPL?
+
+ FSF == Free Software Foundation
+ LPF == League for Programming Freedom
+ OSF == Open Software Foundation
+ GNU == GNU's Not Unix
+ RMS == Richard Matthew Stallman
+ FTP == File Transfer Protocol
+ GPL == GNU General Public License
+
+ NOTE: Avoid confusing the FSF, the LPF, and the OSF. The LPF opposes
+ look-and-feel copyrights and software patents. The FSF aims to make high
+ quality free software available for everyone. The OSF is a consortium of
+ computer vendors which develops commercial software for Unix systems.
+
+ NOTE: The word "free" in the title of the Free Software Foundation refers
+ to "freedom," not "zero dollars." Anyone can charge any price for
+ GPL-covered software that they want to. However, in practice, the
+ freedom enforced by the GPL leads to low prices, because you can always
+ get the software for less money from someone else, because everyone has
+ the right to resell or give away GPL-covered software.
+
+
+General Questions
+
+6: What is the LPF?
+
+ The LPF opposes the expanding danger of software patents and
+ look-and-feel copyrights. To get more information, feel free to contact
+ the LPF via e-mail or otherwise. You may also contact Joe Wells
+ <jbw@cs.bu.edu>; he will be happy to talk with you about the LPF.
+
+ You can find more information about the LPF in the file etc/LPF. More
+ papers describing the LPF's views are available on the Internet and also
+ from the LPF:
+
+ http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/
+
+7: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft?
+
+ The real legal meaning of the GNU General Public License (copyleft) will
+ only be known if and when a judge rules on its validity and scope. There
+ has never been a copyright infringement case involving the GPL to set any
+ precedents. Please take any discussion regarding this issue to the
+ newsgroup gnu.misc.discuss, which was created to hold the extensive flame
+ wars on the subject.
+
+ RMS writes:
+
+ The legal meaning of the GNU copyleft is less important than the
+ spirit, which is that Emacs is a free software project and that work
+ pertaining to Emacs should also be free software. "Free" means that
+ all users have the freedom to study, share, change and improve Emacs.
+ To make sure everyone has this freedom, pass along source code when you
+ distribute any version of Emacs or a related program, and give the
+ recipients the same freedom that you enjoyed.
+
+8: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help, gnu.emacs.bug,
+ comp.emacs, etc.?
+
+ The file etc/MAILINGLISTS discusses the purpose of each GNU mailing-list.
+ (See question 20 if you want a copy of the file.) For those lists which
+ are gatewayed with newsgroups, it lists both the newsgroup name and the
+ mailing list address.
+
+ comp.emacs is for discussion of Emacs programs in general. This includes
+ Emacs along with various other implementations, such as JOVE, MicroEmacs,
+ Freemacs, MG, Unipress, CCA, and Epsilon.
+
+ Many people post Emacs questions to comp.emacs because they don't receive
+ any of the gnu.* newsgroups. Arguments have been made both for and
+ against posting GNU-Emacs-specific material to comp.emacs. You have to
+ decide for yourself.
+
+ Messages advocating "non-free" software are considered unacceptable on
+ any of the gnu.* newsgroups except for gnu.misc.discuss, which was
+ created to hold the extensive flame-wars on the subject. "Non-free"
+ software includes any software for which the end user can't freely modify
+ the source code and exchange enhancements. Be careful to remove the
+ gnu.* groups from the "Newsgroups:" line when posting a followup that
+ recommends such software.
+
+ gnu.emacs.bug is a place where bug reports appear, but avoid posting bug
+ reports to this newsgroup (see question 10).
+
+9: Where can I get old postings to gnu.emacs.help and other GNU groups?
+
+ The FSF has maintained archives of all of the GNU mailing lists for many
+ years, although there may be some unintentional gaps in coverage. The
+ archive is not particularly well organized or easy to retrieve individual
+ postings from, but pretty much everything is there. The archives
+ are available at
+
+ ftp://ftp-mailing-list-archives.gnu.org/
+
+ Web-based Usenet search services, such as DejaNews, also archive the
+ gnu.* groups. You can reach DejaNews at
+
+ http://www.dejanews.com
+
+10: Where should I report bugs and other problems with Emacs?
+
+ The correct way to report Emacs bugs is by e-mail to
+ bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. Anything sent here also appears in the
+ newsgroup gnu.emacs.bug, but please use e-mail instead of news to submit
+ the bug report. This ensures a reliable return address so you can be
+ contacted for further details.
+
+ Be sure to read the "Bugs" section of the Emacs manual before reporting a
+ bug to bug-gnu-emacs! The manual describes in detail how to submit a
+ useful bug report. (See question 3 if you don't know how to read the
+ manual.)
+
+ RMS says:
+
+ Sending bug reports to help-gnu-emacs (which has the effect of posting
+ on gnu.emacs.help) is undesirable because it takes the time of an
+ unnecessarily large group of people, most of whom are just users and
+ have no idea how to fix these problem. bug-gnu-emacs reaches a much
+ smaller group of people who are more likely to know what to do and have
+ expressed a wish to receive more messages about Emacs than the others.
+
+ However, RMS says there are circumstances when it is okay to post to
+ gnu.emacs.help:
+
+ If you have reported a bug and you don't hear about a possible fix,
+ then after a suitable delay (such as a week) it is okay to post on
+ gnu.emacs.help asking if anyone can help you.
+
+ If you are unsure whether you have found a bug, consider the following
+ non-exhaustive list, courtesy of RMS:
+
+ If Emacs crashes, that is a bug. If Emacs gets compilation errors
+ while building, that is a bug. If Emacs crashes while building, that
+ is a bug. If Lisp code does not do what the documentation says it
+ does, that is a bug.
+
+11: How do I unsubscribe from this mailing list?
+
+ If you are receiving a GNU mailing list named "XXX", you might be able to
+ unsubscribe from it by sending a request to the address
+ <XXX-request@gnu.org>. However, this will not work if you are
+ not listed on the main mailing list, but instead receive the mail from a
+ distribution point. In that case, you will have to track down at which
+ distribution point you are listed. Inspecting the "Received:" headers on
+ the mail messages may help, along with liberal use of the "EXPN" or
+ "VRFY" sendmail commands through "telnet <site-address> smtp". Ask your
+ postmaster for help.
+
+12: What is the current address of the FSF?
+
+ E-mail: gnu@gnu.org
+ Telephone: +1-617-542-5942
+ Fax: +1-617-542-2652
+ World Wide Web: http://www.gnu.org/
+
+ Postal address:
+ Free Software Foundation
+ 59 Temple Place - Suite 330
+ Boston, MA 02111-1307
+ USA
+
+ For details on how to order items directly from the FSF, see the file
+ etc/ORDERS.
+
+
+On-line Help, Printed Manuals, Other Sources of Help
+
+13: I'm just starting Emacs; how do I do basic editing?
+
+ Type "C-h t" to invoke the self-paced tutorial. Just typing `C-h' enters
+ the help system.
+
+ WARNING: Your system administrator may have changed `C-h' to act like DEL
+ to deal with local keyboards. You can use M-x help-for-help instead to
+ invoke help. To discover what key (if any) invokes help on your system,
+ type "M-x where-is RET help-for-help RET". This will print a
+ comma-separated list of key sequences in the echo area. Ignore the last
+ character in each key sequence listed. Each of the resulting key
+ sequences invokes help.
+
+ NOTE: Emacs help works best if it is invoked by a single key whose value
+ should be stored in the variable help-char.
+
+ There is also a WWW-based tutorial for Emacs 18, much of which is also
+ relevant for Emacs 20, available at
+
+ http://kufacts.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/writeups/misc/emacsguide.html
+
+14: How do I find out how to do something in Emacs?
+
+ There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs.
+
+ * The complete text of the Emacs manual is available on-line via the Info
+ hypertext reader. Type "C-h i" to invoke Info. Typing `h' immediately
+ after entering Info will provide a short tutorial on how to use it.
+
+ * You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. See question 15.
+
+ * You can get a printed reference card listing commands and keys to
+ invoke them. You can order one from the FSF for $1 (or 10 for $5), or
+ you can print your own from the etc/refcard.tex or etc/refcard.ps files
+ in the Emacs distribution.
+
+ * You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word
+ (actually which match a regular expression) using "C-h a" (M-x
+ command-apropos).
+
+ * You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a
+ certain word using M-x apropos.
+
+ * There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and
+ information. To get a list of these commands, type `?' after `C-h'.
+
+15: How do I get a printed copy of the Emacs manual?
+
+ You can order a printed copy of the Emacs manual from the FSF. For
+ details see the file etc/ORDERS.
+
+ The full TeX source for the manual also comes in the "man" directory of
+ the Emacs distribution, if you're daring enough to try to print out this
+ 440-page manual yourself (see question 18).
+
+ If you absolutely have to print your own copy, and you don't have TeX,
+ you can get a PostScript version from
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/gnu/manuals_ps/emacs-19.21.ps.gz
+
+ Note that the above document is somewhat out of date, although most major
+ concepts are still relevant. This site requests that you please *confine
+ any major ftping to late evenings or early mornings, local time* (Pacific
+ time zone, GMT-8).
+
+ A WWW version of the (somewhat outdated) Emacs 19.34 manual is at
+
+ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/texinfodoc/emacs_toc.html
+
+ See also question 14 for how to view the manual on-line.
+
+16: Where can I get documentation on Emacs Lisp?
+
+ Within Emacs, you can type "C-h f" to get the documentation for a
+ function, "C-h v" for a variable.
+
+ For more information, obtain the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual. Details on
+ ordering it from FSF are in file etc/ORDERS.
+
+ The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is also available on-line, in Info
+ format. Texinfo source for the manual (along with pregenerated Info
+ files) is available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-manual-20-2.5.tar.gz
+
+ and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list). See
+ question 17 if you want to install the Info files, or question 18 if you
+ want to use the Texinfo source to print the manual yourself.
+
+ WWW versions of the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual are available at
+
+ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/texinfodoc/elisp_1.html
+ http://www.cs.indiana.edu/usr/local/www/elisp/lispref/elisp_toc.html
+
+17: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation?
+
+ First, you must turn the Texinfo files into Info files. You may do this
+ using the stand-alone "makeinfo" program, available as part of the latest
+ Texinfo package at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-3.12.tar.gz
+
+ and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (see question 92 for a list).
+
+ For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual which
+ comes with Emacs. This manual also comes installed in Info format, so
+ you can read it on-line.
+
+ Neither texinfo-format-buffer nor makeinfo installs the resulting Info
+ files in Emacs's Info tree. To install Info files:
+
+ 1. Move the files to the "info" directory in the installed Emacs
+ distribution. See question 4 if you don't know where that is.
+
+ 2. Edit the file info/dir in the installed Emacs distribution, and add a
+ line for the top level node in the Info package that you are
+ installing. Follow the examples already in this file. The format is:
+
+ * Topic: (relative-pathname). Short description of topic.
+
+ If (as it should have done) the Texinfo file used the @direntry
+ command, you can run the "install-info" command from the current
+ Texinfo distribution to do this automatically -- see the example in
+ the top-level Makefile in the Emacs source.
+
+ If you want to install Info files and you don't have the necessary
+ privileges, you have several options:
+
+ * Info files don't actually need to be installed before being used. You
+ can feed a file name to the Info-goto-node command (invoked by pressing
+ `g' in Info mode) by typing the name of the file in parentheses. This
+ goes to the node named "Top" in that file. For example, to view a Info
+ file named "XXX" in your home directory, you can type this:
+
+ C-h i g (~/XXX) RET
+
+ * You can create your own Info directory. You can tell Emacs where the
+ Info directory is by adding its pathname to the value of the variable
+ Info-default-directory-list. For example, to use a private Info
+ directory which is a subdirectory of your home directory named "Info",
+ you could put this in your .emacs file:
+
+ (setq Info-default-directory-list
+ (cons "~/Info" Info-default-directory-list))
+
+ You will need a top-level Info file named "dir" in this directory which
+ has everything the system dir file has in it, except it should list
+ only entries for Info files in that directory. You might not need it
+ if all files in this directory were referenced by other "dir" files.
+ The node lists from all dir files in Info-default-directory-list are
+ merged by the Info system.
+
+18: How do I print a Texinfo file?
+
+ NOTE: You can't get nicely printed output from Info files; you must still
+ have the original Texinfo source file for the manual you want to print.
+
+ Assuming you have TeX installed on your system, follow these steps:
+
+ 1. Make sure the first line of the Texinfo file looks like this:
+
+ \input texinfo
+
+ You may need to change "texinfo" to the full pathname of the
+ texinfo.tex file, which comes with Emacs as man/texinfo.tex (or copy
+ or link it into the current directory).
+
+ 2. tex XXX.texinfo
+
+ 3. texindex XXX.??
+
+ The texindex program comes with Emacs as man/texindex.c.
+
+ 4. tex XXX.texinfo
+
+ 5. Print the DVI file XXX.dvi in the normal way for printing DVI files at
+ your site.
+
+ To get more general instructions, retrieve the latest Texinfo package
+ mentioned in question 17. The "texi2dvi" command from it will perform
+ the above steps 1 to 4 for you.
+
+19: Can I view Info files without using Emacs?
+
+ Yes. Here are some alternative programs:
+
+ * Info, a stand-alone version of the Info program, comes as part of the
+ Texinfo package. See question 17 for details.
+
+ * Xinfo, a stand-alone version of the Info program that runs under X
+ Windows. You can get it at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/xinfo/xinfo-1.01.01.tar.gz
+
+ and all mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (See question 92 for a list).
+
+ * Tkinfo, an Info viewer that runs under X Windows and uses Tcl/Tk. You
+ can get Tkinfo at
+
+ http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/tkinfo/
+
+20: What informational files are available for Emacs?
+
+ This isn't a frequently asked question, but it should be! A variety of
+ informational files about Emacs and relevant aspects of the GNU project
+ are available for you to read.
+
+ The following files are available in the "etc" directory of the Emacs
+ distribution (see question 4 if you're not sure where that is).
+
+ COPYING -- Emacs General Public License
+ DISTRIB -- Emacs Availability Information, including the popular
+ "Free Software Foundation Order Form"
+ FAQ -- Emacs Frequently Asked Questions (You're reading it)
+ FTP -- How to get GNU Software by Internet FTP or by UUCP
+ GNU -- The GNU Manifesto
+ INTERVIEW -- Richard Stallman discusses his public-domain
+ UNIX-compatible software system with BYTE editors
+ LPF -- Why you should join the League for Programming Freedom
+ MACHINES -- Status of Emacs on Various Machines and Systems
+ MAILINGLISTS -- GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists
+ NEWS -- Emacs news, a history of user-visible changes
+ PROBLEMS -- Known problems with building and running Emacs in various
+ situations, often with workarounds.
+ SERVICE -- GNU Service Directory
+ SUN-SUPPORT -- including "Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs"
+
+ Latest versions of some of the above files are also available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/GNUinfo/
+
+ More GNU information, including back issues of the "GNU's Bulletin", are at
+
+ http://www.gnu.org/bulletins/bulletins.html
+ http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/gnu.html
+
+21: Where can I get help in installing Emacs?
+
+ See question 84 for some basic installation hints, and question 83 if you
+ have problems with the installation.
+
+ The file etc/SERVICE (see question 4 if you're not sure where that is)
+ lists companies and individuals willing to sell you help in installing or
+ using Emacs. An up-to-date version this file is available on ftp.gnu.org
+ (see question 20).
+
+22: Where can I get the latest version of this document (the FAQ list)?
+
+ The Emacs FAQ is available in several ways:
+
+ * Inside of Emacs itself. You can get it from selecting the "Emacs FAQ"
+ option from the "Help" menu at the top of any Emacs frame, or by typing
+ C-h F (M-x view-emacs-FAQ).
+
+ * Via USENET. If you can read news, the FAQ should be available in your
+ news spool, in both the gnu.emacs.help and comp.emacs newsgroups.
+ Every news reader should allow you to read any news article that is
+ still in the news spool, even if you have read the article before. You
+ may need to read the instructions for your news reader to discover how
+ to do this. In rn, this command will do this for you at the article
+ selection level:
+
+ ?GNU Emacs Frequently Asked Questions?rc:m
+
+ In Gnus, you should type "C-u c-x c-s" from the *Summary* buffer or
+ "C-u SPC" from the *Newsgroup* buffer to view all articles in a
+ newsgroup.
+
+ If the FAQ articles have expired and been deleted from your news spool,
+ it might (or might not) do some good to complain to your news
+ administrator, because the most recent FAQ should not expire for a
+ while.
+
+ * Via HTTP or FTP. You can always fetch the latest FAQ at
+
+ http://www.lerner.co.il/emacs/
+
+ and
+
+ ftp://ftp.lerner.co.il/pub/emacs/
+
+ * In the Emacs distribution. Since Emacs 18.56, the FAQ at the time of
+ release has been part of the Emacs distribution as etc/FAQ (see
+ question 4).
+
+ * Via the World Wide Web. A hypertext version is available at
+
+ http://www.lerner.co.il/emacs/
+
+ * Via anonymous ftp and e-mail from rtfm.mit.edu (and its mirror in
+ Europe), the main repository for FAQs and other items posted to
+ news.answers. The Emacs FAQs are available at
+
+ ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/
+ ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/pub/doc/FAQ/comp/emacs/
+
+ If you do not have access to anonymous FTP, you can access the archives
+ using the rtfm.mit.edu mail server. The Emacs FAQ can be retrieved by
+ sending mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with a blank subject and
+ containing
+
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/diffs
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part1
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part2
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part3
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part4
+ send usenet/news.answers/GNU-Emacs-FAQ/part5
+
+ For more information, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
+ "help" and "index" in the body on separate lines.
+
+ * As the very last resort, you can e-mail a request to
+ emacs-faq@lerner.co.il. Don't do this unless you have made a serious
+ effort to obtain the FAQ list via one of the methods listed above.
+
+
+Status of Emacs
+
+23: Where does the name "Emacs" come from?
+
+ Emacs originally was an acronym for Editor MACroS. RMS says he "picked
+ the name Emacs because `E' was not in use as an abbreviation on ITS at
+ the time." The first Emacs was a set of macros written in 1976 at MIT by
+ RMS for the editor TECO (Text Editor and COrrector, originally Tape
+ Editor and COrrector) under ITS on a PDP-10. RMS had already extended
+ TECO with a "real-time" full screen mode with reprogrammable keys. Emacs
+ was started by Guy Steele <gls@east.sun.com> as a project to unify the
+ many divergent TECO command sets and key bindings at MIT, and completed
+ by RMS.
+
+ Many people have said that TECO code looks a lot like line noise. See
+ alt.lang.teco if you are interested. Someone has written a TECO
+ implementation in Emacs Lisp (to find it, see question 90); it would be
+ an interesting project to run the original TECO Emacs inside of Emacs.
+
+ For some not-so-serious alternative reasons for Emacs to have that name,
+ check out etc/JOKES (see question 4).
+
+24: What is the latest version of Emacs?
+
+ Emacs 20.4 is the current version as of this writing.
+
+25: What is different about Emacs 20?
+
+ To find out what has changed in recent versions, type C-h n (M-x
+ view-emacs-news). The oldest changes are at the bottom of the file, so
+ you might want to read it starting there, rather than at the top.
+
+ The differences between Emacs versions 18 and 19 was rather dramatic; the
+ introduction of frames, faces, and colors on windowing systems was
+ obvious to even the most casual user.
+
+ There are differences between Emacs versions 19 and 20 as well, but many
+ are more subtle or harder to find. Among the changes are the inclusion
+ of MULE code for languages that use non-Latin characters, the "customize"
+ facility for modifying variables without having to use Lisp, and
+ automatic conversion of files from Macintosh, Microsoft, and Unix
+ platforms.
+
+ Many Lisp packages have been updated and enhanced for Emacs 20.
+
+
+Common Things People Want To Do
+
+26: How do I set up a .emacs file properly?
+
+ See "Init File" in the on-line manual.
+
+ WARNING: In general, new Emacs users should not have .emacs files,
+ because it causes confusing non-standard behavior. Then they send
+ questions to help-gnu-emacs asking why Emacs isn't behaving as
+ documented. :-)
+
+ Emacs 20 includes the new "customize" facility, which can be invoked
+ using M-x customize RET or via the Help menu. This allows users who are
+ unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp to modify their .emacs files in a relatively
+ straightforward way, using menus rather than Lisp code. While all the
+ packages included with Emacs (are meant to) support Customize now,
+ packages from other sources may not.
+
+ While Customize might indeed make it easier to configure Emacs, consider
+ taking a bit of time to learn Emacs Lisp and modifying your .emacs
+ directly. Simple configuration options are described rather completely in
+ the "Init File" section of the on-line manual, for users interested in
+ performing frequently requested, basic tasks.
+
+27: How do I debug a .emacs file?
+
+ Start Emacs with the "-debug-init" command-line option. This enables the
+ Emacs Lisp debugger before evaluating your .emacs file, and places you in
+ the debugger if something goes wrong. The top line in the trace-back
+ buffer will be the error message, and the second or third line of that
+ buffer will display the Lisp code from your .emacs file that caused the
+ problem.
+
+ You can also evaluate an individual function or argument to a function in
+ your .emacs file by moving the cursor to the end of the function or
+ argument and typing "C-x C-e" (M-x eval-last-sexp). "C-M-x" (M-x
+ eval-defun) is particularly useful for re-evaluating "defvar" and
+ "customize" forms.
+
+ Use "C-h v" (M-x describe-variable) to check the value of variables which
+ you are trying to set or use.
+
+28: How do I make Emacs display the current line (or column) number?
+
+ To toggle having Emacs automatically display the current line number of the
+ point in the mode line, do "M-x line-number-mode". (This option is on by
+ default.) Note that Emacs will not display the line number if the buffer is
+ larger than the value of the variable line-number-display-limit.
+
+ As of Emacs 20, you can similarly display the current column with "M-x
+ column-number-mode", by putting the form
+
+ (setq column-number-mode t)
+
+ in your .emacs file or by using Customize.
+
+ The "%c" format specifier in the variable mode-line-format will insert
+ the current column's value into the mode line. See the documentation for
+ mode-line-format (using "C-h v mode-line-format RET") for more
+ information on how to set and use this variable.
+
+ Users of all Emacs versions can display the current column using Per
+ Abrahamsen's <abraham@iesd.auc.dk> "column" package. See question 90 for
+ instructions on how to get it.
+
+ None of the vi emulation modes provide the "set number" capability of vi
+ (as far as we know) but Kyle Jones's setnu.el package implements such a
+ feature.
+
+29: How can I modify the titlebar to contain the current filename?
+
+ The contains of an Emacs frame's titlebar is controlled by the variable
+ frame-title-format, which has the same structure as the variable
+ mode-line-format. (Use "C-h v" or "M-x describe-variable" to get
+ information about one or both of these variables.)
+
+ By default, the titlebar for a frame does contain the name of the buffer
+ currently being visited, except if there is a single frame. In such a
+ case, the titlebar contains the name of the user and the machine at which
+ Emacs was invoked. This is done by setting frame-title-format to the
+ default value of
+
+ (multiple-frames "%b" ("" invocation-name "@" system-name))
+
+ To modify the behavior such that frame titlebars contain the buffer's
+ name regardless of the number of existing frames, include the following
+ in your .emacs:
+
+ (setq frame-title-format "%b")
+
+30: How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode XXX?
+
+ Put this in your .emacs file:
+
+ (condition-case ()
+ (quietly-read-abbrev-file)
+ (file-error nil))
+
+ (add-hook 'XXX-mode-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (setq abbrev-mode t)))
+
+31: How do I turn on auto-fill mode by default?
+
+ To turn on auto-fill mode just once for one buffer, use "M-x
+ auto-fill-mode".
+
+ To turn it on for every buffer in a certain mode, you must use the hook
+ for that mode. For example, to turn on auto-fill mode for all text
+ buffers, including the following in your .emacs file:
+
+ (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
+
+ You can also do this via the Help -> Options menu, which runs the command
+ toggle-text-mode-auto-fill.
+
+ If you want auto-fill mode on in all major modes, do this:
+
+ (setq-default auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill)
+
+32: How do I make Emacs use a certain major mode for certain files?
+
+ If you want to use XXX mode for all files which end with the extension
+ ".YYY", this will do it for you:
+
+ (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.YYY\\'" . XXX-mode))
+
+ Otherwise put this somewhere in the first line of any file you want to
+ edit in XXX mode (in the second line, if the first line begins with
+ "#!"):
+
+ -*-XXX-*-
+
+ Beginning with Emacs 19, the variable interpreter-mode-alist specifies
+ which mode to use when loading a shell script. (Emacs determines which
+ interpreter you're using by examining the first line of the file.) This
+ feature only applies when the file name doesn't indicate which mode to
+ use. Use "C-h v" (or M-x describe-variable) on interpreter-mode-alist to
+ learn more.
+
+33: How do I search for, delete, or replace unprintable (8-bit or control)
+ characters?
+
+ To search for a single character that appears in the buffer as, for
+ example, "\237", you can type "C-s C-q 2 3 7". (This assumes the value
+ of search-quote-char is 17 (i.e., `C-q').) Searching for ALL unprintable
+ characters is best done with a regular expression ("regexp") search. The
+ easiest regexp to use for the unprintable chars is the complement of the
+ regexp for the printable chars.
+
+ Regexp for the printable chars: [\t\n\r\f -~]
+ Regexp for the unprintable chars: [^\t\n\r\f -~]
+
+ To type these special characters in an interactive argument to
+ isearch-forward-regexp or re-search-forward, you need to use C-q. (`\t',
+ `\n', `\r', and `\f' stand respectively for TAB, LFD, RET, and C-l.) So,
+ to search for unprintable characters using re-search-forward:
+
+ M-x re-search-forward RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET
+
+ Using isearch-forward-regexp:
+
+ M-C-s [^ TAB RET C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~]
+
+ To delete all unprintable characters, simply use replace-regexp:
+
+ M-x replace-regexp RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET RET
+
+ Replacing is similar to the above. To replace all unprintable characters
+ with a colon, use:
+
+ M-x replace-regexp RET [^ TAB C-q LFD C-q RET C-q C-l SPC -~] RET : RET
+
+ NOTE: * You don't need to quote TAB with either isearch or typing
+ something in the minibuffer.
+
+34: How can I highlight a region of text in Emacs?
+
+ If you are using a windowing system such as X, you can cause the region
+ to be highlighted when the mark is active by including
+
+ (transient-mark-mode t)
+
+ in your .emacs file, using Customize or via the Help->Options menu.
+ (Also see question 66.)
+
+35: How do I control Emacs's case-sensitivity when searching/replacing?
+
+ For searching, the value of the variable case-fold-search determines
+ whether they are case sensitive:
+
+ (setq case-fold-search nil) ; make searches case sensitive
+ (setq case-fold-search t) ; make searches case insensitive
+
+ To change this or similar variables during an Emacs session, use
+ M-x set-variable.
+
+ Similarly, for replacing, the variable case-replace determines whether
+ replacements preserve case.
+
+ To change the case sensitivity just for one major mode, use the major
+ mode's hook. For example:
+
+ (add-hook 'XXX-mode-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (setq case-fold-search nil)))
+
+36: How do I make Emacs wrap words for me?
+
+ Use auto-fill mode, activated by typing "M-x auto-fill-mode". The
+ default maximum line width is 70, determined by the variable fill-column.
+ To learn how to turn this on automatically, see question 31.
+
+37: Where can I get a better spelling checker for Emacs?
+
+ Use Ispell. See question 110.
+
+38: How can I spell-check TeX or *roff documents?
+
+ Use Ispell. See question 110. Ispell can handle TeX and *roff
+ documents.
+
+39: How do I change load-path?
+
+ In general, you should only *add* to the load-path. You can add
+ directory /XXX/YYY to the load path like this:
+
+ (setq load-path (cons "/XXX/YYY/" load-path))
+
+ To do this relative to your home directory:
+
+ (setq load-path (cons "~/YYY/" load-path)
+
+40: How do I use an already running Emacs from another window?
+
+ Emacsclient, which comes with Emacs, is for editing a file using an
+ already running Emacs rather than starting up a new Emacs. It does this
+ by sending a request to the already running Emacs, which must be
+ expecting the request.
+
+ * Setup
+
+ Emacs must have executed the "server-start" function for emacsclient to
+ work. This can be done either by a command line option:
+
+ emacs -f server-start
+
+ or by invoking server-start from the .emacs file:
+
+ (if (some conditions are met) (server-start))
+
+ When this is done, Emacs starts a subprocess running a program called
+ "server". "server" creates a Unix domain socket in the user's home
+ directory named .emacs_server.
+
+ To get your news reader, mail reader, etc., to invoke emacsclient, try
+ setting the environment variable EDITOR (or sometimes VISUAL) to the
+ value "emacsclient". You may have to specify the full pathname of the
+ emacsclient program instead. Examples:
+
+ # csh commands:
+ setenv EDITOR emacsclient
+ setenv EDITOR /usr/local/emacs/etc/emacsclient # using full pathname
+
+ # sh command:
+ EDITOR=emacsclient ; export EDITOR
+
+ * Normal use
+
+ When emacsclient is run, it connects to the ".emacs_server" socket and
+ passes its command line options to "server". When "server" receives
+ these requests, it sends this information on the the Emacs process,
+ which at the next opportunity will visit the files specified. (Line
+ numbers can be specified just like with Emacs.) The user will have to
+ switch to the Emacs window by hand. When the user is done editing a
+ file, the user can type "C-x #" (or M-x server-edit) to indicate this.
+ If there is another buffer requested by emacsclient, Emacs will switch
+ to it; otherwise emacsclient will exit, signaling the calling program
+ to continue.
+
+ NOTE: "emacsclient" and "server" must be running on machines which
+ share the same filesystem for this to work. The pathnames that
+ emacsclient specifies should be correct for the filesystem that the
+ Emacs process sees. The Emacs process should not be suspended at the
+ time emacsclient is invoked. emacsclient should either be invoked from
+ another X window or from a shell window inside Emacs itself.
+
+ There is an enhanced version of emacsclient/server called "gnuserv" by
+ Andy Norman <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com> which is available in the Emacs Lisp
+ Archive (see question 90). Gnuserv uses Internet domain sockets, so it
+ can work across most network connections. It also supports the
+ execution of arbitrary Emacs Lisp forms and does not require the client
+ program to wait for completion.
+
+ The alpha version of an enhanced version of gnuserv is available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.splode.com/pub/users/friedman/packages/fgnuserv-1.0.tar.gz
+
+41: How do I make Emacs recognize my compiler's funny error messages?
+
+ The variable compilation-error-regexp-alist helps control how Emacs
+ parses your compiler output. It is a list of triples of the form:
+
+ (REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX)
+
+ where REGEXP, FILE-IDX and LINE-IDX are strings. To help determine what
+ the constituent elements should be, load compile.el and then use
+
+ C-h v compilation-error-regexp-alist RET
+
+ to see the current value. A good idea is to look at compile.el itself as
+ the comments included for this variable are quite useful -- the regular
+ expressions required for your compiler's output may be very close to one
+ already provided. Once you have determined the proper regexps, use the
+ following to inform Emacs of your changes:
+
+ (add-to-list 'compilation-error-regexp-alist
+ '(REGEXP FILE-IDX LINE-IDX))
+
+42: How do I indent C switch statements like this?
+
+ Many people want to indent their switch statements like this:
+
+ f()
+ {
+ switch(x) {
+ case A:
+ x1;
+ break;
+ case B:
+ x2;
+ break;
+ default:
+ x3;
+ }
+ }
+
+ The solution at first appears to be: set c-indent-level to 4 and
+ c-label-offset to -2. However, this will give you an indentation spacing
+ of four instead of two.
+
+ The solution is to use cc-mode (the default mode for C programming in
+ Emacs 20) and add the following line:
+
+ (c-set-offset 'case-label '+)
+
+ There appears to be no way to do this with the old c-mode.
+
+43: How can I make Emacs automatically scroll horizontally?
+
+ Use hscroll-mode, included in Emacs 20. Here is some information from
+ the documentation, available by typing C-h f hscroll-mode RET:
+
+ Automatically scroll horizontally when the point moves off the
+ left or right edge of the window.
+
+ - Type "M-x hscroll-mode" to enable it in the current buffer.
+ - Type "M-x hscroll-global-mode" to enable it in every buffer.
+ - "turn-on-hscroll" is useful in mode hooks as in:
+ (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-hscroll)
+
+ - hscroll-margin controls how close the cursor can get to the edge
+ of the window.
+ - hscroll-step-percent controls how far to jump once we decide to do so.
+
+44: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" instead of inserting?
+
+ M-x overwrite-mode (a minor mode). This toggles overwrite-mode on and
+ off, so exiting from overwrite-mode is as easy as another M-x
+ overwrite-mode.
+
+ On some systems the "Insert" key toggles overwrite-mode on and off.
+
+45: How do I stop Emacs from beeping on a terminal?
+
+ Martin R. Frank <martin@cc.gatech.edu> writes:
+
+ Tell Emacs to use the "visible bell" instead of the audible bell, and
+ set the visible bell to nothing.
+
+ That is, put the following in your TERMCAP environment variable
+ (assuming you have one):
+
+ ... :vb=: ...
+
+ And evaluate the following Lisp form:
+
+ (setq visible-bell t)
+
+ There is also a way to turn off _all_ effects of a bell, by defining
+ a custom `ring-bell-function' that does nothing.
+
+46: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows?
+
+ You can adjust the bell volume and duration for all programs with the
+ shell command xset.
+
+ Invoking xset without any arguments produces some basic information,
+ including the following:
+
+ usage: xset [-display host:dpy] option ...
+ To turn bell off:
+ -b b off b 0
+ To set bell volume, pitch and duration:
+ b [vol [pitch [dur]]] b on
+
+47: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the
+ indentation of the previous line?
+
+ Such behavior is automatic in text mode in Emacs 20. From the NEWS file
+ for Emacs 20.2:
+
+ ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs. This makes
+ it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode in Text mode,
+ and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode). TAB in Text mode
+ now runs the command indent-relative; this makes a practical difference
+ only when you use indented paragraphs.
+
+ As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
+ and is an alias for it.
+
+ If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph, use
+ the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
+
+ If you have auto-fill mode on (see question 31), you can tell Emacs to
+ prefix every line with a certain character sequence, the "fill prefix."
+ Type the prefix at the beginning of a line, position point after it, and
+ then type "C-x ." (set-fill-prefix) to set the fill prefix. Thereafter,
+ auto-filling will automatically put the fill prefix at the beginning of
+ new lines, and M-q (fill-paragraph) will maintain any fill prefix when
+ refilling the paragraph.
+
+ NOTE: If you have paragraphs with different levels of indentation, you
+ will have to set the fill prefix to the correct value each time you move
+ to a new paragraph. To avoid this hassle, try one of the many packages
+ available from the Emacs Lisp Archive (see question 90.) Look up "fill"
+ and "indent" in the Lisp Code Directory for guidance.
+
+48: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at?
+
+ As of version 19, Emacs comes with paren.el, which (when loaded) will
+ automatically highlight matching parentheses whenever point (i.e., the
+ cursor) is located over one. To load paren automatically, include the
+ line
+
+ (require 'paren)
+
+ in your .emacs file. As of version 20.1, you must instead call
+ show-paren-mode in your .emacs file:
+
+ (show-paren-mode 1)
+
+ and the "require" is redundant.
+
+ The "customize" facility will let you turn on show-paren-mode. Use M-x
+ customize-group RET paren-showing RET. From within customize, you can
+ also go directly to the "paren-showing" group.
+
+ Alternatives to paren include:
+
+ * If you're looking at a right parenthesis (or brace or bracket) you can
+ delete it and reinsert it. Emacs will blink the cursor on the matching
+ parenthesis.
+
+ * M-C-f (forward-sexp) and M-C-b (backward-sexp) will skip over one set
+ of balanced parentheses, so you can see which parentheses match. (You
+ can train it to skip over balanced brackets and braces at the same time
+ by modifying the syntax table.)
+
+ * Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the % key show the matching
+ parenthesis, like in vi. In addition, if the cursor isn't over a
+ parenthesis, it simply inserts a % like normal. (`Parenthesis' actually
+ includes and character with `open' or `close' syntax, which usually means
+ "()[]{}".)
+
+ ;; By an unknown contributor
+
+ (global-set-key "%" 'match-paren)
+
+ (defun match-paren (arg)
+ "Go to the matching parenthesis if on parenthesis otherwise insert %."
+ (interactive "p")
+ (cond ((looking-at "\\s\(") (forward-list 1) (backward-char 1))
+ ((looking-at "\\s\)") (forward-char 1) (backward-list 1))
+ (t (self-insert-command (or arg 1)))))
+
+49: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef
+ commands are handled by the compiler?
+
+ M-x hide-ifdef-mode. (This is a minor mode.) You might also want to try
+ cpp.el, available at the Emacs Lisp Archive (see question 90).
+
+50: Is there an equivalent to the `.' (dot) command of vi?
+
+ (`.' is the redo command in vi. It redoes the last insertion/deletion.)
+
+ In Emacs 20.3 and later, use the C-x z ("repeat") command to repeat `simple
+ commands'.
+
+ Otherwise you can type "C-x ESC ESC" (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke
+ commands that used the minibuffer to get arguments. In
+ repeat-complex-command you can type M-p and M-n to scan through all the
+ different complex commands you've typed.
+
+ To repeat a set of commands, use keyboard macros. (See "Keyboard Macros"
+ in the on-line manual.)
+
+ VIPER, which comes with Emacs, emulates vi, including `.'. (See question
+ 107.)
+
+51: What are the valid X resource settings (i.e., stuff in .Xdefaults)?
+
+ See Emacs man page, or "Resources X" in the on-line manual.
+
+ You can also use a resource editor, such as editres (for X11R5 and
+ onwards), to look at the resource names for the menu bar, assuming Emacs
+ was compiled with the X toolkit.
+
+52: How do I execute ("evaluate") a piece of Emacs Lisp code?
+
+ There are a number of ways to execute ("evaluate," in Lisp lingo) an
+ Emacs Lisp "form":
+
+ * If you want it evaluated every time you run Emacs, put it in a file
+ named ".emacs" in your home directory. This is known as your ".emacs
+ file," and contains all of your personal customizations.
+
+ * You can type the form in the *scratch* buffer, and then type LFD (or
+ C-j) after it. The result of evaluating the form will be inserted in
+ the buffer.
+
+ * In Emacs-Lisp mode, typing M-C-x evaluates a top-level form before or
+ around point.
+
+ * Typing "C-x C-e" in any buffer evaluates the Lisp form immediately
+ before point and prints its value in the echo area.
+
+ * Typing M-: or M-x eval-expression allows you to type a Lisp form
+ in the minibuffer which will be evaluated.
+
+ * You can use M-x load-file to have Emacs evaluate all the Lisp forms in
+ a file. (To do this from Lisp use the function "load" instead.)
+
+ These functions are also useful (see question 16 if you want to learn
+ more about them):
+
+ load-library, eval-region, eval-current-buffer, require, autoload
+
+53: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length?
+
+ Set the variable default-tab-width. For example, to set tab stops every
+ 10 characters, insert the following in your .emacs file:
+
+ (setq default-tab-width 10)
+
+ Do not confuse variable tab-width with variable tab-stop-list. The
+ former is used for the display of literal tab characters. The latter
+ controls what characters are inserted when you press the TAB character in
+ certain modes.
+
+54: How do I insert `>' at the beginning of every line?
+
+ To do this to an entire buffer, type "M-< M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET >
+ RET".
+
+ To do this to a region, use "string-rectangle" ("C-x r t"). Set the mark
+ (`C-SPC') at the beginning of the first line you want to prefix, move the
+ cursor to last line to be prefixed, and type "C-x r t > RET". To do this
+ for the whole buffer, type "C-x h C-x r t > RET". In Emacs 20.3 and
+ later, this will affect only the current region if Transient Mark mode is
+ on (see NEWS via C-h N).
+
+ If you are trying to prefix a yanked mail message with '>', you might
+ want to set the variable mail-yank-prefix. Better yet, get the Supercite
+ package (see question 105), which provides flexible citation for yanked
+ mail and news messages.
+
+55: How do I insert "_^H" before each character in a region to get an
+ underlined paragraph?
+
+ M-x underline-region.
+
+56: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible?
+
+ Use "C-x (" and "C-x )" to make a keyboard macro that invokes the command
+ and then type "M-0 C-x e".
+
+ WARNING: any messages your command prints in the echo area will be
+ suppressed.
+
+57: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor
+ should stay in the same column even if the line is too short?
+
+ M-x picture-mode.
+
+58: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself?
+
+ "C-z" iconifies Emacs when running under X Windows and suspends Emacs
+ otherwise. See "Misc X" in the on-line manual.
+
+59: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs?
+
+ See "Regexps" in the on-line manual.
+
+ WARNING: The "or" operator is `\|', not `|', and the grouping operators
+ are `\(' and `\)'. Also, the string syntax for a backslash is `\\'. To
+ specify a regular expression like xxx\(foo\|bar\) in a Lisp string, use
+
+ "xxx\\(foo\\|bar\\)"
+
+ Notice the doubled backslashes!
+
+ WARNING: Unlike in Unix grep, sed, etc., a complement character set
+ ([^...]) can match a newline character (LFD aka C-j aka \n), unless
+ newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to match.
+
+ WARNING: The character syntax regexps (e.g., "\sw") are not meaningful
+ inside character set regexps (e.g., "[aeiou]"). (This is actually
+ typical for regexp syntax.)
+
+60: How do I perform a replace operation across more than one file?
+
+ The "tags" feature of Emacs includes the command tags-query-replace which
+ performs a query-replace across all the files mentioned in the TAGS file.
+ See "Tags Search" in the on-line manual.
+
+ As of Emacs 19.29, Dired mode ("M-x dired RET", or C-x d) supports the
+ command dired-do-query-replace, which allows users to replace regular
+ expressions in multiple files.
+
+61: Where is the documentation for "etags"?
+
+ "etags" is documented in the Tags node of the Emacs manual. The "etags"
+ man page should be in the same place as the "emacs" man page.
+
+ Quick command-line switch descriptions are also available. For example,
+ "etags -H".
+
+62: How do I disable backup files?
+
+ You probably don't want to do this, since backups are useful.
+
+ To avoid seeing backup files (and other "uninteresting" files) in Dired,
+ load dired-x by adding the following to your .emacs file:
+
+ (add-hook 'dired-load-hook
+ (function (lambda ()
+ (load "dired-x"))))
+
+ With dired-x loaded, `M-o' toggles omitting in each dired buffer. You
+ can make omitting the default for new dired buffers by putting the
+ following in your .emacs:
+
+ (setq initial-dired-omit-files-p t)
+
+ If you're tired of seeing backup files whenever you do an "ls" at the
+ Unix shell, try GNU ls with the "-B" option. GNU ls is part of the GNU
+ fileutils package, available at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org (see question 92).
+
+ To disable or change how backups are made, see "Backup Names" in the
+ on-line manual.
+
+63: How do I disable auto-save-mode?
+
+ You probably don't want to do this, since auto-saving is useful,
+ especially when Emacs or your computer crashes while you are editing a
+ document.
+
+ Instead, you might want to change the variable auto-save-interval, which
+ specifies how many keystrokes Emacs waits before auto-saving. Increasing
+ this value forces Emacs to wait longer between auto-saves, which might
+ annoy you less.
+
+ You might also want to look into Sebastian Kremer's auto-save package,
+ available from the Lisp Code Archive (see question 90). This package
+ also allows you to place all auto-save files in one directory, such as
+ /tmp.
+
+ To disable or change how auto-save-mode works, see "Auto Save" in the
+ on-line manual.
+
+64: How can I create or modify new pull-down menu options?
+
+ Each menu title (e.g., Buffers, File, Edit) represents a local or global
+ keymap. Selecting a menu title with the mouse displays that keymap's
+ non-nil contents in the form of a menu.
+
+ So to add a menu option to an existing menu, all you have to do is add a
+ new definition to the appropriate keymap. Adding a "forward word"
+ command to the "Edit" menu thus requires the following Lisp code:
+
+ (define-key global-map
+ [menu-bar edit forward]
+ '("Forward word" . forward-word))
+
+ The first line adds the entry to the global keymap, which includes global
+ menu bar entries. Replacing the reference to "global-map" with a local
+ keymap would add this menu option only within a particular mode.
+
+ The second line describes the path from the menu-bar to the new entry.
+ Placing this menu entry underneath the "File" menu would mean changing
+ the word "edit" in the second line to "file."
+
+ The third line is a cons cell whose first element is the title that will
+ be displayed, and whose second element is the function that will be
+ called when that menu option is invoked.
+
+ To add a new menu, rather than a new option to an existing menu, we must
+ define an entirely new keymap:
+
+ (define-key global-map [menu-bar words]
+ (cons "Words" (make-sparse-keymap "Words")))
+
+ The above code creates a new sparse keymap, gives it the name "Words",
+ and attaches it to the global menu bar. Adding the "forward word"
+ command to this new menu would thus require the following code:
+
+ (define-key global-map
+ [menu-bar words forward]
+ '("Forward word" . forward-word))
+
+ Note that because of the way keymaps work, menu options are displayed
+ with the more recently defined items at the top. Thus if you were to
+ define menu options "foo", "bar", and "baz" (in that order), menu option
+ "baz" would appear at the top, and "foo" would be at the bottom.
+
+ One way to avoid this problem is to use the function define-key-after,
+ which works the same as define-key, but lets you modify where items
+ appear. The following Lisp code would insert the "forward word" function
+ in the "edit" menu immediately following the "undo" option:
+
+ (define-key-after
+ (lookup-key global-map [menu-bar edit])
+ [forward]
+ '("Forward word" . forward-word)
+ 'undo)
+
+ Note how the second and third arguments to define-key-after are different
+ from those of define-key, and that we have added a new (final) argument,
+ the function after which our new key should be defined.
+
+ To move a menu option from one position to another, simply evaluate
+ define-key-after with the appropriate final argument.
+
+ More detailed information -- and more examples of how to create and
+ modify menu options -- are in the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, under
+ "Menu Keymaps." (See question 16 for information on this manual.)
+
+ Note that Emacs 20.3 introduced a better (`extended') format for menu
+ items, described in the NEWS file and the Lisp Manual. The "easymenu"
+ package provides support for defining menus conveniently with some
+ portability amongst Emacs versions.
+
+65: How do I delete menus and menu options?
+
+ The simplest way to remove a menu is to set its keymap to nil. For
+ example, to delete the "Words" menu (from question 64), use:
+
+ (define-key global-map [menu-bar words] nil)
+
+ Similarly, removing a menu option requires redefining a keymap entry to
+ nil. For example, to delete the "Forward word" menu option from the
+ "Edit" menu (we added it in question 64), use:
+
+ (define-key global-map [menu-bar edit forward] nil)
+
+66: How do I turn on syntax highlighting?
+
+ Font-lock mode is the standard way to have Emacs perform syntax
+ highlighting. With font-lock mode invoked, different types of text will
+ appear in different colors. For instance, if you turn on font-lock in a
+ programming mode, variables will appear in one face, keywords in a
+ second, and comments in a third.
+
+ Earlier versions of Emacs supported hilit19, a similar package. Use of
+ hilit19 is now considered non-standard, although hilit19.el comes with
+ the stock Emacs distribution. It is no longer maintained.
+
+ To turn font-lock mode on within an existing buffer, use "M-x
+ font-lock-mode RET".
+
+ To automatically invoke font-lock mode when a particular major mode is
+ invoked, set the major mode's hook or define font-lock-global-modes as a
+ list with the mode name as an element. For example, to fontify all
+ c-mode buffers, add the following to your .emacs file:
+
+ (add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
+
+ To automatically invoke font-lock mode for all major modes, you can turn
+ on global-font-lock mode by including the following line in your .emacs
+ file (or use Custom):
+
+ (global-font-lock-mode 1)
+
+ This instructs Emacs to turn on font-lock mode in those buffers for which
+ a font-lock mode definition has been provided (in the variable
+ font-lock-global-modes or via the variable font-lock-defaults-alist). If
+ you edit a file in pie-ala-mode, and no font-lock definitions have been
+ provided for pie-ala files, then the above setting will have no effect on
+ that particular buffer.
+
+ Highlighting with font-lock mode can take quite a while, and thus
+ different levels of decoration are available, from slight to gaudy. To
+ control how decorated your buffers should become, set the value of
+ font-lock-maximum-decoration in your .emacs file, with a nil value
+ indicating default (usually minimum) decoration, and a t value indicating
+ the maximum decoration. For the gaudiest possible look, then, include
+ the line
+
+ (setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
+
+ in your .emacs file. You can also set this variable such that different
+ modes are highlighted in a different ways; for more information, see the
+ documentation for font-lock-maximum-decoration with "C-h v" (or "M-x
+ describe-variable RET").
+
+ You might also want to investigate fast-lock-mode and lazy-lock-mode,
+ versions of font-lock-mode that speed up highlighting. The advantage of
+ lazy-lock-mode is that it only fontifies buffers when certain conditions
+ are met, such as after a certain amount of idle time, or after you have
+ finished scrolling through text. See the documentation for
+ lazy-lock-mode by typing C-h f lazy-lock-mode ("M-x describe-function RET
+ lazy-lock-mode RET").
+
+ Also see the documentation for the function font-lock-mode, available by
+ typing C-h f font-lock-mode ("M-x describe-function RET font-lock-mode
+ RET").
+
+ For more information on font-lock mode, particularly adding new patterns,
+ see the Lisp Reference Manual and the commentary in the source
+ font-lock.el, which you can find in Emacs 20 (if it is installed) using,
+ say, M-x find-function font-lock-mode.
+
+ To print buffers with the faces (i.e., colors and fonts) intact, use
+ "M-x ps-print-buffer-with-faces" or "M-x ps-print-region-with-faces".
+
+67: How can I force Emacs to scroll only one line when I move past the
+ bottom of the screen?
+
+ Place the following Lisp form in your .emacs file:
+
+ (setq scroll-step 1)
+
+ Also see "Scrolling" in the on-line manual.
+
+68: How can I replace highlighted text with what I type?
+
+ Use delete-selection mode, which you can start automatically by placing
+ the following Lisp form in your .emacs file:
+
+ (delete-selection-mode t)
+
+ According to the documentation string for delete-selection mode (which
+ you can read using M-x describe-function RET delete-selection-mode RET):
+
+ When ON, typed text replaces the selection if the selection is active.
+ When OFF, typed text is just inserted at point.
+
+ This mode also allows you to delete (not kill) the highlighted region by
+ pressing DEL.
+
+69: How can I edit MS-DOS-style text files using Emacs?
+
+ As of Emacs 20, detection and handling of MS-DOS (and Windows) files is
+ performed transparently. You can open an MS-DOS file on a Unix system
+ (and vice versa), edit it, and save it without having to worry about the
+ file format. To save it with a different end-of-line convention use
+ C-x RET c to specify a new coding system such as undecided-unix.
+
+ When editing an MS-DOS style file, a backslash (\) will appear in the
+ mode line.
+
+ You can avoid translation of the end-of-line conventions either by
+ visiting a file using M-x find-file-literally or by setting the variable
+ inhibit-eol-conversion to t.
+
+ If you are running an earlier version of Emacs, get crypt++ from
+ ftp://ftp.cs.umb.edu/pub/misc/crypt++.el. Among other things, crypt++
+ transparently modifies MS-DOS files as they are loaded and saved,
+ allowing you to ignore the different conventions that Unix and MS-DOS
+ have for delineating the end of a line.
+
+70: How can I tell Emacs to fill paragraphs with a single space after
+ each period?
+
+ Ulrich Mueller <ulm@vsnhd1.cern.ch> suggests adding the following two
+ lines to your .emacs file:
+
+ (setq sentence-end "[.?!][]\"')}]*\\($\\|[ \t]\\)[ \t\n]*")
+ (setq sentence-end-double-space nil)
+
+ See "Sentences" in the online manual.
+
+
+Bugs/Problems
+
+71: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 megabytes?
+
+ Old versions (i.e., anything before 19.29) of Emacs had problems editing
+ files larger than 8 megabytes. As of version 19.29, the maximum buffer
+ size is at least 2^27-1, or 134,217,727 bytes.
+
+ If you are using an older version of Emacs and cannot upgrade, you will
+ have to recompile. Leonard N. Zubkoff <lnz@lucid.com> suggests putting
+ the following two lines in src/config.h before compiling Emacs to allow
+ for 26-bit integers and pointers (and thus file sizes of up to 33,554,431
+ bytes):
+
+ #define VALBITS 26
+ #define GCTYPEBITS 5
+
+ WARNING: This method may result in "ILLEGAL DATATYPE" and other random
+ errors on some machines.
+
+ David Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> explains how this problems
+ crops up; while his numbers are true only for pre-19.29 versions of
+ Emacs, the theory remains the same with current versions.
+
+ Emacs is largely written in a dialect of Lisp; Lisp is a freely-typed
+ language in the sense that you can put any value of any type into any
+ variable, or return it from a function, and so on. So each value must
+ carry a "tag" along with it identifying what kind of thing it is, e.g.,
+ integer, pointer to a list, pointer to an editing buffer, and so on.
+ Emacs uses standard 32-bit integers for data objects, taking the top 8
+ bits for the tag and the bottom 24 bits for the value. So integers
+ (and pointers) are somewhat restricted compared to true C integers and
+ pointers.
+
+72: How do I get rid of ^M or echoed commands in my shell buffer?
+
+ Try typing "M-x shell-strip-ctrl-m RET" while in shell-mode to make them
+ go away. You might add this function to comint-output-filter-functions:
+
+ (add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'shell-strip-ctrl-m)
+
+ If that doesn't work, you have several options:
+
+ For tcsh, put this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:
+
+ if ($?EMACS) then
+ if ("$EMACS" == t) then
+ if ($?tcsh) unset edit
+ stty nl
+ endif
+ endif
+
+ Or put this in your .emacs_tcsh file:
+
+ unset edit
+ stty nl
+
+ Alternatively, use csh in your shell buffers instead of tcsh. One way
+ is:
+
+ (setq explicit-shell-file-name "/bin/csh")
+
+ and another is to do this in your .cshrc (or .tcshrc) file:
+
+ setenv ESHELL /bin/csh
+
+ (You must start Emacs over again with the environment variable properly
+ set for this to take effect.)
+
+ You can also set the ESHELL environment variable in Emacs Lisp with
+ the following Lisp form,
+
+ (setenv "ESHELL" "/bin/csh")
+
+ On a related note: If your shell is echoing your input line in the shell
+ buffer, you might want to try the following command in your shell
+ start-up file:
+
+ stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z
+
+73: Why do I get "Process shell exited abnormally with code 1"?
+
+ The most likely reason for this message is that the "env" program is not
+ properly installed. Compile this program for your architecture, and
+ install it with a+x permission in the architecture-dependent Emacs
+ program directory. (You can find what this directory is at your site by
+ inspecting the value of the variable exec-directory by typing "C-h v
+ exec-directory RET".)
+
+ You should also check for other programs named "env" in your path (e.g.,
+ SunOS has a program named /usr/bin/env). We don't understand why this
+ can cause a failure and don't know a general solution for working around
+ the problem in this case.
+
+ It has been reported that this sometimes happened when Emacs was started
+ as an X client from an xterm window (i.e., had a controlling tty) but the
+ xterm was later terminated.
+
+ See also etc/PROBLEMS for other possible causes of this message.
+
+74: Where is the termcap/terminfo entry for terminal type "emacs"?
+
+ The termcap entry for terminal type "emacs" is ordinarily put in the
+ TERMCAP environment variable of subshells. It may help in certain
+ situations (e.g., using rlogin from shell buffer) to add an entry for
+ "emacs" to the system-wide termcap file. Here is a correct termcap entry
+ for "emacs":
+
+ emacs:tc=unknown:
+
+ To make a terminfo entry for "emacs", use "tic" or "captoinfo." You need
+ to generate /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs. It may work to simply copy
+ /usr/lib/terminfo/d/dumb to /usr/lib/terminfo/e/emacs.
+
+ Having a termcap/terminfo entry will not enable the use of full screen
+ programs in shell buffers. Use M-x terminal-emulator for that instead.
+
+ A workaround to the problem of missing termcap/terminfo entries is to
+ change terminal type "emacs" to type "dumb" or "unknown" in your shell
+ start up file. "csh" users could put this in their .cshrc files:
+
+ if ("$term" == emacs) set term=dumb
+
+75: Why does Emacs spontaneously start displaying "I-search:" and beeping?
+
+ Your terminal (or something between your terminal and the computer) is
+ sending C-s and C-q for flow control, and Emacs is receiving these
+ characters and interpreting them as commands. (The C-s character
+ normally invokes the isearch-forward command.) For possible solutions,
+ see question 122.
+
+76: Why can't Emacs talk to certain hosts (or certain hostnames)?
+
+ The problem may be that Emacs is linked with a wimpier version of
+ gethostbyname than the rest of the programs on the machine. This is
+ often manifested as a message on startup of "X server not responding.
+ Check your DISPLAY environment variable." or a message of "Unknown host"
+ from open-network-stream.
+
+ On a Sun, this may be because Emacs had to be linked with the static C
+ library. The version of gethostbyname in the static C library may only
+ look in /etc/hosts and the NIS (YP) maps, while the version in the
+ dynamic C library may be smart enough to check DNS in addition to or
+ instead of NIS. On a Motorola Delta running System V R3.6, the version
+ of gethostbyname in the standard library works, but the one that works
+ with NIS doesn't (the one you get with -linet). Other operating systems
+ have similar problems.
+
+ Try these options:
+
+ * Explicitly add the host you want to communicate with to /etc/hosts.
+
+ * Relink Emacs with this line in src/config.h:
+
+ #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv
+
+ * Replace gethostbyname and friends in libc.a with more useful versions
+ such as the ones in libresolv.a. Then relink Emacs.
+
+ * If you are actually running NIS, make sure that "ypbind" is properly
+ told to do DNS lookups with the correct command line switch.
+
+77: Why does Emacs say "Error in init file"?
+
+ An error occurred while loading either your .emacs file or the
+ system-wide lisp/default.el file. For information on how to debug your
+ .emacs file, see question 27.
+
+ It may be the case that you need to load some package first, or use a
+ hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded. A common case
+ of this is explained in question 118.
+
+78: Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
+
+ As of version 19, Emacs searches for X resources in the files specified
+ by the XFILESEARCHPATH, XUSERFILESEARCHPATH, and XAPPLRESDIR environment
+ variables, emulating the functionality provided by programs written using
+ Xt.
+
+ XFILESEARCHPATH and XUSERFILESEARCHPATH should be a list of file names
+ separated by colons; XAPPLRESDIR should be a list of directory names
+ separated by colons.
+
+ Emacs searches for X resources
+
+ + specified on the command line, with the "-xrm RESOURCESTRING"
+ option,
+ + then in the value of the XENVIRONMENT environment variable,
+ - or if that is unset, in the file named ~/.Xdefaults-HOSTNAME if it
+ exists
+ (where HOSTNAME is the hostname of the machine Emacs is running on),
+ + then in the screen-specific and server-wide resource properties
+ provided by the server,
+ - or if those properties are unset, in the file named ~/.Xdefaults
+ if it exists,
+ + then in the files listed in XUSERFILESEARCHPATH,
+ - or in files named LANG/Emacs in directories listed in XAPPLRESDIR
+ (where LANG is the value of the LANG environment variable), if
+ the LANG environment variable is set,
+ - or in files named Emacs in the directories listed in XAPPLRESDIR
+ - or in ~/LANG/Emacs (if the LANG environment variable is set),
+ - or in ~/Emacs,
+ + then in the files listed in XFILESEARCHPATH.
+
+79: Why does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
+
+ Old versions of Emacs (i.e., versions before Emacs 20.x) often
+ encountered this when the master lock file, "!!!SuperLock!!!" has been
+ left in the lock directory somehow. Delete it.
+
+ Mark Meuer <meuer@geom.umn.edu> says that NeXT NFS has a bug where an
+ exclusive create succeeds but returns an error status. This can cause
+ the same problem. Since Emacs's file locking doesn't work over NFS
+ anyway, the best solution is to recompile Emacs with CLASH_DETECTION
+ undefined.
+
+80: How do I edit a file with a `$' in its name?
+
+ When entering a filename in the minibuffer, Emacs will attempt to expand
+ a `$' followed by a word as an environment variable. To suppress this
+ behavior, type "$$" instead.
+
+81: Why does shell mode lose track of the shell's current directory?
+
+ Emacs has no way of knowing when the shell actually changes its
+ directory. This is an intrinsic limitation of Unix. So it tries to
+ guess by recognizing "cd" commands. If you type "cd" followed by a
+ directory name with a variable reference ("cd $HOME/bin") or with a shell
+ metacharacter ("cd ../lib*"), Emacs will fail to correctly guess the
+ shell's new current directory. A huge variety of fixes and enhancements
+ to shell mode for this problem have been written to handle this problem.
+ Check the Lisp Code Directory (see question 89).
+
+ You can tell Emacs the shell's current directory with the command "M-x
+ dirs".
+
+82: Are there any security risks in Emacs?
+
+ * the "movemail" incident (No, this is not a risk.)
+
+ In his book "The Cuckoo's Egg," Cliff Stoll describes this in chapter
+ 4. The site at LBL had installed the "etc/movemail" program setuid
+ root. (As of version 19, movemail is in your architecture-specific
+ directory; type "C-h v exec-directory RET" to see what it is.) Since
+ "movemail" had not been designed for this situation, a security hole
+ was created and users could get root privileges.
+
+ "movemail" has since been changed so that this security hole will not
+ exist, even if it is installed setuid root. However, movemail no
+ longer needs to be installed setuid root, which should eliminate this
+ particular risk.
+
+ We have heard unverified reports that the 1988 Internet worm took
+ advantage of this configuration problem.
+
+ * the file-local-variable feature (Yes, a risk, but easy to change.)
+
+ There is an Emacs feature that allows the setting of local values for
+ variables when editing a file by including specially formatted text
+ near the end of the file. This feature also includes the ability to
+ have arbitrary Emacs Lisp code evaluated when the file is visited.
+ Obviously, there is a potential for Trojan horses to exploit this
+ feature.
+
+ Emacs 18 allowed this feature by default; users could disable it by
+ setting the variable inhibit-local-variables to a non-nil value.
+
+ As of Emacs 19, Emacs has a list of local variables that create a
+ security risk. If a file tries to set one of them, it asks the user to
+ confirm whether the variables should be set. You can also tell Emacs
+ whether to allow the evaluation of Emacs Lisp code found at the bottom
+ of files by setting the variable enable-local-eval.
+
+ For more information, see "File Variables" in the on-line manual.
+
+ * synthetic X events (Yes, a risk; use MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 or better.)
+
+ Emacs accepts synthetic X events generated by the SendEvent request as
+ though they were regular events. As a result, if you are using the
+ trivial host-based authentication, other users who can open X
+ connections to your X workstation can make your Emacs process do
+ anything, including run other processes with your privileges.
+
+ The only fix for this is to prevent other users from being able to open
+ X connections. The standard way to prevent this is to use a real
+ authentication mechanism, such as MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1. If using the
+ "xauth" program has any effect, then you are probably using
+ MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1. Your site may be using a superior authentication
+ method; ask your system administrator.
+
+ If real authentication is not a possibility, you may be satisfied by
+ just allowing hosts access for brief intervals while you start your X
+ programs, then removing the access. This reduces the risk somewhat by
+ narrowing the time window when hostile users would have access, but
+ DOES NOT ELIMINATE THE RISK.
+
+ On most computers running Unix and X Windows, you enable and disable
+ access using the "xhost" command. To allow all hosts access to your X
+ server, use
+
+ xhost +
+
+ at the shell prompt, which (on an HP machine, at least) produces the
+ following message:
+
+ access control disabled, clients can connect from any host
+
+ To deny all hosts access to your X server (except those explicitly
+ allowed by name), use
+
+ xhost -
+
+ On the test HP computer, this command generated the following message:
+
+ access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect
+
+83: Dired says, "no file on this line" when I try to do something.
+
+ Chances are you're using a localized version of Unix that doesn't
+ use US date format in dired listings. You can check this by looking
+ at dired listings or by typing `ls -l' to a shell and looking at the
+ dates that come out.
+
+ Dired uses a regular expression to find the beginning of a file
+ name. In a long Unix-style directory listing ("ls -l"), the file
+ name starts after the date. The regexp has thus been written to
+ look for the date, the format of which can vary on non-US systems.
+
+ There are two approaches to solving this. The first one involves
+ setting things up so that "ls -l" outputs US date format. This can
+ be done by setting the locale. See your OS manual for more
+ information.
+
+ The second approach involves changing the regular expression used by
+ dired, dired-move-to-filename-regexp.
+
+
+Difficulties Building/Installing/Porting Emacs
+
+84: How do I install Emacs?
+
+ This answer is meant for users of Unix and Unix-like systems. Users of
+ other operating systems should see the series of questions beginning with
+ question 94, which describe where to get non-Unix source and binaries.
+ These packages should come with installation instructions.
+
+ For Unix and Unix-like systems, the easiest way is often to compile it
+ from scratch. You will need:
+
+ * Emacs sources. See question 92 for a list of ftp sites that make them
+ available. On ftp.gnu.org, the main GNU distribution site, sources are
+ available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-20.4.tar.gz
+
+ The above will obviously change as new versions of Emacs come out. For
+ instance, when Emacs 20.5 is released, it will most probably be
+ available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-20.5.tar.gz
+
+ Again, you should use one of the mirror sites in question 92 (and
+ adjust the URL accordingly) so as to reduce load on ftp.gnu.org.
+
+ * Gzip, the GNU compression utility. You can get gzip via anonymous ftp
+ at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org sites; it should compile and install without
+ much trouble on most systems. Once you have retrieved the Emacs
+ sources, you will probably be able to uncompress them with the command
+
+ gunzip --verbose emacs-20.4.tar.gz
+
+ changing the Emacs version (20.4), as necessary. Once gunzip has
+ finished doing its job, a file by the name of "emacs-20.4.tar" should
+ be in your build directory.
+
+ * Tar, the "tape archiving" program, which moves multiple files into and
+ out of archive files, or "tarfiles." All of the files comprising the
+ Emacs source come in a single tarfile, and must be extracted using tar
+ before you can build Emacs. Typically, the extraction command would
+ look like
+
+ tar -xvvf emacs-20.4.tar
+
+ The `x' indicates that we want to extract files from this tarfile, the
+ two `v's force verbose output, and the `f' tells tar to use a disk
+ file, rather than one on tape.
+
+ If you're using GNU tar (available at mirrors of ftp.gnu.org), you can
+ combine this step and the previous one by using the command
+
+ tar -zxvvf emacs-20.4.tar.gz
+
+ The additional `z' at the beginning of the options list tells GNU tar
+ to uncompress the file with gunzip before extracting the tarfile's
+ components.
+
+ At this point, the Emacs sources (all 25+ megabytes of them) should be
+ sitting in a directory called "emacs-20.4". On most common Unix and
+ Unix-like systems, you should be able to compile Emacs (with X Windows
+ support) with the following commands:
+
+ cd emacs-20.4 [ change directory to emacs-20.4 ]
+ ./configure [ configure Emacs for your particular system ]
+ make [ use Makefile to build components, then Emacs ]
+
+ If the "make" completes successfully, the odds are fairly good that the
+ build has gone well. (See question 86 if you weren't successful.)
+
+ To install Emacs in its default directories of /usr/local/bin (binaries),
+ /usr/local/share/emacs/20.xx (Lisp code and support files),
+ /usr/local/libexec/CONFIGURATION/emacs/VERSION (executable files to be
+ run by Emacs rather than users), /usr/local/man/man1 (man pages) and
+ /usr/local/info (Info documentation), become the super-user and type
+
+ make install
+
+ Note that "make install" will overwrite /usr/local/bin/emacs and any
+ Emacs Info files that might be in /usr/local/info.
+
+ Much more verbose instructions (with many more hints and suggestions)
+ come with the Emacs sources, in the file "INSTALL".
+
+85: How do I update Emacs to the latest version?
+
+ Follow the instructions in question 84.
+
+ Emacs places nearly everything in version-specific directories (e.g.,
+ /usr/local/share/emacs/20.4), so the only files that can be overwritten
+ when installing a new release are /usr/local/bin/emacs and the Emacs Info
+ documentation in /usr/local/info. Back up these files before you install
+ a new release, and you shouldn't have too much trouble.
+
+86: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs?
+
+ First look in the file PROBLEMS (in the top-level directory when you
+ unpack the Emacs source) to see if there is already a solution for your
+ problem. Next, look for other questions in this FAQ that have to do with
+ Emacs installation and compilation problems.
+
+ If you'd like to have someone look at your problem and help solve it, see
+ question 21.
+
+ If you don't find a solution, then report your problem via e-mail to
+ bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. Please do not post it to gnu.emacs.help
+ or e-mail it to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. For further guidelines,
+ see question 8 and question 10.
+
+87: Why does linking Emacs with -lX11 fail?
+
+ Emacs needs to be linked with the static version of the X11 library,
+ libX11.a. This may be missing.
+
+ Under OpenWindows, you may need to use "add_services" to add the
+ "OpenWindows Programmers" optional software category from the CD-ROM.
+
+ Under HP-UX 8.0, you may need to run "update" again to load the X11-PRG
+ "fileset". This may be missing even if you specified "all filesets" the
+ first time. If libcurses.a is missing, you may need to load the
+ "Berkeley Development Option."
+
+ David Zuhn <zoo@armadillo.com> says that MIT X builds shared libraries by
+ default, and only shared libraries, on those platforms that support them.
+ These shared libraries can't be used when undumping temacs (the last
+ stage of the Emacs build process). To get regular libraries in addition
+ to shared libraries, add this to site.cf:
+
+ #define ForceNormalLib YES
+
+ Other systems may have similar problems. You can always define
+ CANNOT_DUMP and link with the shared libraries instead.
+
+ To get the Xmenu stuff to work, you need to find a copy of MIT's
+ liboldX.a.
+
+
+Finding/Getting Emacs and Related Packages
+
+88: Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
+
+ Look in the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for information on nearby
+ archive sites and etc/ORDERS for mail orders. If you don't already have
+ Emacs, see question 20 for how to get these files.
+
+ See question 84 for information on how to obtain and build the latest
+ version of Emacs, and question 92 for a list of archive sites that make
+ GNU software available.
+
+89: How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
+
+ First of all, you should check to make sure that the package isn't
+ already available. For example, typing "M-x apropos RET wordstar RET"
+ lists all functions and variables containing the string "wordstar".
+
+ It is also possible that the package is on your system, but has not been
+ loaded. To see which packages are available for loading, look through your
+ computer's lisp directory (see question 4) or use the Finder (C-h p) to
+ search under keywords. The Lisp source to most packages contains a
+ short description of how they should be loaded, invoked, and configured --
+ so before you use or modify a Lisp package, see if the author has provided
+ any hints in the source code.
+
+ If a package does not come with Emacs, check the Lisp Code
+ Directory, maintained (unfortunately slowly at present) by Dave
+ Brennan <brennan@gnu.org>. The directory is contained in the file
+ LCD-datafile.Z, available from the Emacs Lisp Archive (see question
+ 90), and is accessed using the "lispdir" package, available from the
+ same site. Note that lispdir.el requires crypt++, which you can
+ grab from the Emacs Lisp Archive's "misc" subdirectory when you get
+ lispdir.el.
+
+ Once you have installed lispdir.el and LCD-datafile, you can use "M-x
+ lisp-dir-apropos" to search the listing. For example, "M-x
+ lisp-dir-apropos RET ange-ftp RET" produces this output:
+
+ GNU Emacs Lisp Code Directory Apropos -- "ange-ftp"
+ "~/" refers to ftp.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/emacs-lisp/
+
+ ange-ftp (4.18) 15-Jul-1992
+ Andy Norman, <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
+ ~/packages/ange-ftp.tar.Z
+ transparent FTP Support for GNU Emacs
+ auto-save (1.19) 01-May-1992
+ Sebastian Kremer, <sk@thp.uni-koeln.de>
+ ~/misc/auto-save.el.Z
+ Safer autosaving with support for ange-ftp and /tmp
+ ftp-quik (1.0) 28-Jul-1993
+ Terrence Brannon, <tb06@pl122f.eecs.lehigh.edu>
+ ~/modes/ftp-quik.el.Z
+ Quik access to dired'ing of ange-ftp and normal paths
+
+ You actually don't need the directory file LCD-datafile if your computer
+ is on the Internet, since the latest version is retrieved automatically
+ the first time you type "M-x lisp-dir-apropos" in a particular Emacs
+ session. If you would prefer to use a local copy of LCD-datafile, be
+ sure to set the variable lisp-code-directory at the top of the lispdir.el
+ source code.
+
+ A searchable version of the LCD is also available at
+
+ http://www.cs.indiana.edu/LCD/cover.html
+
+90: Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
+
+ First, check the Lisp Code Directory to find the name of the package you
+ are looking for (see question 89). Next, check local archives and the
+ Emacs Lisp Archive to find a copy of the relevant files. If you still
+ haven't found it, you can send e-mail to the author asking for a copy.
+ If you find Emacs Lisp code that doesn't appear in the LCD, please submit
+ a copy to the LCD (see question 91).
+
+ You can access the Emacs Lisp Archive at the following sites:
+
+ ftp://ftp.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/
+ ftp://ftp.uni-mainz.de/pub/gnu/elisp-archive/
+ ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/GNU/elisp-archive/
+ ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/
+ ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/elisp-archive/
+ ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/Mirrors/ftp.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/
+
+ Retrieve and read the file README first.
+
+ NOTE: * The archive maintainers do not have time to answer individual
+ requests for packages or the list of packages in the archive. If
+ you cannot use FTP or UUCP to access the archive yourself, try to
+ find a friend who can, but please don't ask the maintainers.
+
+ * Any files with names ending in ".Z", ".z", or ".gz" are
+ compressed, so you should use "binary" mode in FTP to retrieve
+ them. You should also use binary mode whenever you retrieve any
+ files with names ending in ".elc".
+
+ Packages which have been posted to gnu.emacs.sources should be locatable
+ via a service like Dejanews.
+
+91: How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
+
+ Guidelines and procedures for submission to the archive can be found in
+ the file GUIDELINES in the archive directory (see question 90). It
+ covers documentation, copyrights, packaging, submission, and the Lisp
+ Code Directory Record. Anonymous FTP uploads are not permitted.
+ Instead, all submissions are mailed to elisp-archive@cis.ohio-state.edu.
+ The lispdir.el package has a function named submit-lcd-entry which will
+ help you with this.
+
+ Note that maintenance of the archive is currently very slow.
+
+92: Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
+
+ The most up-to-date official GNU software is normally kept on
+ ftp.gnu.org and is available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu
+
+ Read the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for more information.
+
+ A list of sites mirroring ftp.gnu.org can be found at
+
+ http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html
+
+93: What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid
+ Emacs")?
+
+ XEmacs is a modified version of GNU Emacs.
+
+ This FAQ refers to the latest version to be distributed by the FSF
+ as "Emacs," partly because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their
+ product using the "XEmacs" name, and partly because there isn't any
+ accurate way to differentiate between the two without getting mired
+ in paragraphs of legalese and history.
+
+ XEmacs, which began life as Lucid Emacs, is based on an early version of
+ Emacs 19 and Epoch, an X-aware version of Emacs 18.
+
+ Emacs (i.e., the version distributed by the FSF) has a larger installed
+ base and now always contains the MULE multilingual facilities. XEmacs
+ can do some clever tricks with X Windows, such as putting arbitrary
+ graphics in a buffer; similar facilities have been implemented for Emacs,
+ which will be integrated after version 20.4. Emacs and XEmacs each come
+ with some Lisp packages that are lacking or more up-to-date in the other;
+ RMS says that the FSF would include more packages that come with XEmacs,
+ but that the XEmacs maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of
+ contributed code, which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain
+ legal papers signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not
+ distribute Lisp packages with Emacs.) The two versions have some
+ significant differences at the Lisp programming level.
+
+94: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
+
+ A pre-built binary distribution of Emacs is available from the Simtel
+ archives. This version works under MS-DOS and Windows (3.x, 9x, and NT) and
+ supports long file names under Windows 9x. More information is available
+ from:
+
+ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/emacs.README
+
+ And the binary itself is available in the files em1934*.zip in the
+ directory
+
+ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/
+
+ If you prefer to compile Emacs for yourself, you will need a 386 (or
+ better) processor, and are running MS-DOS 3.0 or later. According to Eli
+ Zaretskii <eliz@is.elta.co.il> and Darrel Hankerson
+ <hankedr@dms.auburn.edu>, you will need the following:
+
+ Compiler: djgpp version 1.12 maint 1 or later. Djgpp 2.0 or later is
+ recommended, since 1.x is being phased out. Djgpp 2 supports
+ long filenames under Windows 9x.
+
+ You can get the latest release of djgpp by retrieving
+ all of the files in
+
+ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp
+
+ Gunzip and tar:
+
+ The easiest way is to use "djtar" which comes with djgpp v2.x,
+ because it can open gzip'ed tarfiles (i.e., those ending with
+ ".tar.gz") in one step. Djtar comes in "djdev201.zip", from
+ the URL mentioned above.
+
+ Utilities: make, mv, sed, rm.
+
+ All of these utilities are available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu
+
+ 16-bit utilities can be found in GNUish:
+
+ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish
+
+ The files INSTALL and etc/PROBLEMS in the Emacs source contains some
+ additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.
+
+ For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs
+ look-alikes), consult the list of "Emacs implementations and literature,"
+ available at
+
+ ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/
+
+ Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they often
+ lack certain features, particularly the Emacs Lisp extension language.
+
+95: Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows, Windows 9x, or Windows
+ NT?
+
+ GNU Emacs has been fully ported to Windows NT and Windows 95/98.
+ If you have MSVC 4.0 or greater, then you can compile GNU Emacs
+ directly from the source distribution. First read the file
+ nt/README, and then the file nt/INSTALL, for step by step
+ instructions on how to compile and install GNU Emacs on your system.
+
+ You can also download precompiled distributions of GNU Emacs from:
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs
+
+ If you need the gunzip and tar utilities for unpacking distributions,
+ you can download precompiled versions from:
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs/utilities
+
+ For more information on configuring your favorite package to run with
+ GNU Emacs on Windows NT/95/98, see the following FAQ:
+
+ http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/ntemacs.html
+ ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs/docs/ntemacs.html
+
+ If you are running Windows 3.11, and if you compile GNU Emacs for MSDOS
+ with the tools listed in the previous question, it will run under
+ Microsoft Windows in a DOS box.
+
+96: Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
+
+ Emacs 19.33 is ported for emx on OS/2 2.0 or 2.1, and is available at:
+
+ ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/editors/emacs/v19.33/
+
+97: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
+
+ Roland Schäuble reports that Emacs 18.58 running on plain TOS and MiNT
+ is available at
+
+ ftp://atari.archive.umich.edu/Editors/Emacs-18-58/1858b-d3.zoo
+
+98: Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
+
+ The files you need are available at
+
+ ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/
+
+ David Gilbert <dgilbert@gamiga.guelphnet.dweomer.org> has released a beta
+ version of Emacs 19.25 for the Amiga. You can get the binary at
+
+ ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/a2.0bEmacs-bin.lha
+
+99: Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
+
+ Emacs.app is a NeXTSTEP version of Emacs 19.34 which supports colors,
+ menus, and multiple frames. You can get it from
+
+ ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/apps/emacs/Emacs_for_NeXTstep.4.20a1.NIHS.b.tar.gz
+
+100: Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
+
+
+ There used to be a boycott of Apple because of its "look and feel"
+ lawsuit. The lawsuit failed, and the boycott is over.
+ Currently the GNU project treats Apple like other computer companies.
+
+ Since the Mac operating system is very different from Unix and GNU,
+ support for it would be a big job. And this job would be tangential
+ to the GNU project's goals. Meanwhile, we don't have the resources
+ to do all we want to do on supporting Emacs for GNU-like systems.
+ So if we had to do work on support for the Macintosh, that would
+ directly harm the GNU project.
+
+ Of course, the same is true for MSDOS and Windows NT. We decided to
+ incorporate support for those systems because the code was very modular,
+ because volunteers not only wrote all the code but also investigate
+ all the bugs reported on those systems, and because we hoped that we
+ will be able to raise funds for GNU using these versions, and in this
+ way these ports will make up for the effort that they took. (We still
+ hope so, but it has not happened yet.)
+
+ An unofficial port of GNU Emacs 18.59 to the Macintosh is available at a
+ number of ftp sites, the home being
+
+ ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/parmet/Emacs-1.17.sit.bin
+
+ To the best of our knowledge, Emacs 19 has not been ported to the
+ Macintosh.
+
+ Apple's forthcoming "OS X" is based largely on NeXTSTEP and OpenStep.
+ See question 99 for more details about that version.
+
+101: Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
+
+ Up-to-date information about GNU software (including Emacs) for VMS is
+ available at
+
+ http://vms.gnu.org/
+
+102: Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, Csh, C++,
+ Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?
+
+ Most of these modes are now available in standard Emacs distribution. To
+ get additional modes, look in the Lisp Code Directory (see question 89).
+ For C++, if you use lisp-dir-apropos, you must specify the pattern like
+ this:
+
+ M-x lisp-dir-apropos RET c\+\+ RET
+
+ Note that Barry Warsaw's cc-mode now works for C, C++, Objective-C, and
+ Java code. You can get the latest version from the Emacs Lisp Archive;
+ see question 90 for details. A FAQ for cc-mode is available at
+
+ http://www.python.org/emacs/cc-mode/
+
+103: What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?
+
+ If you are on a Unix machine, try using the "nslookup" command, included
+ in the Berkeley BIND package. For example, to find the IP address of
+ "ftp.gnu.org", you would type
+
+ nslookup ftp.gnu.org
+
+ Your computer should then provide the IP address of that computer.
+
+ If your site's nameserver is deficient, you can use IP addresses to FTP
+ files. You can get this information by
+
+ * E-mail:
+
+ To: dns@[134.214.84.25] (to grasp.insa-lyon.fr)
+ Body: ip XXX.YYY.ZZZ (or "help" for more information
+ and options - no quotes)
+ or:
+
+ To: resolve@[147.31.254.130] (to laverne.cs.widener.edu)
+ Body: site XXX.YYY.ZZZ
+
+
+Major Emacs Lisp Packages, Emacs Extensions, and Related Programs
+
+104: VM (View Mail) -- another mail reader within Emacs, with MIME support
+
+ Author: Kyle Jones <kyle@uunet.uu.net>
+ Latest version: 6.67
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://ftp.wonderworks.com/pub/vm/vm.tar.gz
+ Newsgroups and mailing lists:
+ Informational newsgroup/mailing list:
+ gnu.emacs.vm.info (newsgroup)
+ info-vm-request@uunet.uu.net (for subscriptions)
+ info-vm@uunet.uu.net (for submissions)
+ Bug reports newsgroup/mailing list:
+ gnu.emacs.vm.bug (newsgroup)
+ bug-vm-request@uunet.uu.net (for subscriptions)
+ bug-vm@uunet.uu.net (for submissions)
+ NOTE: VM 6 is not guaranteed to work under Emacs 20 (although many people
+ seem to use it without too much trouble). Users of Emacs 20 might prefer
+ to use VM 5.97, available from the same FTP site.
+
+105: Supercite -- mail and news citation package within Emacs
+
+ Author: Barry Warsaw <bwarsaw@cen.com>
+ Latest version: 3.1 (comes with Emacs 20)
+
+ World Wide Web:
+ http://www.python.org/emacs/supercite.tar.gz
+ Mailing list:
+ supercite-request@python.org (for subscriptions)
+ supercite@python.org (for submissions)
+ NOTE: Superyank is an old version of Supercite.
+
+106: Calc -- poor man's Mathematica within Emacs
+
+ Author: Dave Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu>
+ Latest version: 2.02f
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/calc/calc-2.02f.tar.gz
+ NOTE: Unlike Wolfram Research, Dave has never threatened to sue
+ anyone for having a program with a similar command language to
+ Calc. :-)
+
+107: VIPER -- vi emulation for Emacs
+
+ Since Emacs 19.29, the preferred vi emulation in Emacs is VIPER (M-x
+ viper-mode RET), which comes with Emacs. It extends and supersedes VIP
+ (including VIP 4.3) and provides vi emulation at several levels, from one
+ that closely follows vi to one that departs from vi in several
+ significant ways.
+
+ For Emacs 19.28 and earlier, the following version of VIP is generally
+ better than the one distributed with Emacs:
+
+ Author: Aamod Sane <sane@cs.uiuc.edu>
+ Latest version: 4.3
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://ftp.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/modes/vip-mode.tar.Z
+
+108: AUC TeX -- enhanced LaTeX mode with debugging facilities
+
+ Authors: Kresten Krab Thorup <krab@iesd.auc.dk>
+ and Per Abrahamsen <abraham@iesd.auc.dk>
+ Latest version: 9.8l
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/packages/auctex/auctex.tar.gz
+ Mailing list:
+ auc-tex-request@iesd.auc.dk (for subscriptions)
+ auc-tex@iesd.auc.dk (for submissions)
+ auc-tex_mgr@iesd.auc.dk (auc-tex development team)
+ World Wide Web:
+ http://sunsite.auc.dk/auctex/
+
+109: BBDB -- personal Info Rolodex integrated with mail/news readers
+
+ Maintainer: Matt Simmons <simmonmt@acm.org>
+ Latest released version: 2.00
+ Available from:
+ http://www.netcom.com/~simmonmt/bbdb/index.html
+ Mailing lists:
+ info-bbdb-request@xemacs.org (for subscriptions)
+ info-bbdb@xemacs.org (for submissions)
+ bbdb-announce-request@xemacs.org (to be informed of new releases)
+
+110: Ispell -- spell checker in C with interface for Emacs
+
+ Author: Geoff Kuenning <geoff@itcorp.com>
+ Latest released version: 3.1.20
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ Master Sites:
+ ftp://ftp.cs.ucla.edu/pub/ispell/ispell-3.1.20.tar.gz
+ Known Mirror Sites:
+ ftp://ftp.th-darmstadt.de/pub/dicts/ispell/
+ ftp://ftp.nl.net/pub/textproc/ispell/
+ World Wide Web:
+ http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/geoff/ispell.html
+
+ NOTE: * Do not ask Geoff to send you the latest version of Ispell.
+ He does not have free e-mail.
+
+ * This Ispell program is distinct from GNU Ispell 4.0. GNU
+ Ispell 4.0 is no longer a supported product.
+
+111: W3-mode -- A World Wide Web browser inside of Emacs
+
+ Author: Bill Perry <wmperry@spry.com>
+ Latest version: 4.0pre.39
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/elisp/w3/.betas/w3.tar.gz
+ Mailing lists:
+ w3-announce-request@indiana.edu (to get announcements of new versions)
+ w3-beta-request@indiana.edu (for beta-testers of new versions)
+ w3-dev@indiana.edu (for developers of W3)
+
+112: EDB -- Database program for Emacs; replaces forms editing modes
+
+ Author: Michael Ernst <mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu>
+ Latest version: 1.21
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://theory.lcs.mit.edu/pub/emacs/edb
+
+113: Mailcrypt -- PGP interface within Emacs mail and news
+
+ Authors: Patrick J. LoPresti <patl@lcs.mit.edu> and
+ Jin S. Choi <jin@atype.com>
+ Maintainer: Len Budney <lbudney@pobox.com>
+ Latest version: 3.5.1
+ Anonymous FTP:
+ ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/crypto/mailcrypt-3.5.1.tar.gz
+ World Wide Web:
+ http://www.nb.net/~lbudney/linux/software/mailcrypt.html
+
+114: JDE -- Development environment for Java programming
+
+ Author: Paul Kinnucan <paulk@mathworks.com>
+ Mailing list: jde-subscribe@sunsite.auc.dk
+ Latest version: 2.1.4
+ World Wide Web: http://sunsite.auc.dk/jde/
+
+115: Patch -- program to apply "diffs" for updating files
+
+ Author: Larry Wall <lwall@wall.org> (with GNU modifications)
+ Latest version: 2.5
+ Anonymous FTP: See question 92
+
+
+Changing Key Bindings and Handling Key Binding Problems
+
+116: How do I bind keys (including function keys) to commands?
+
+ Keys can be bound to commands either interactively or in your .emacs
+ file. To interactively bind keys for all modes, type
+
+ M-x global-set-key RET KEY CMD RET
+
+ To bind a key just in the current major mode, type
+
+ M-x local-set-key RET KEY CMD RET
+
+ See "Key Bindings" in the on-line manual for further details.
+
+ To bind keys on starting Emacs or on starting any given mode, use the
+ following "trick": First bind the key interactively, then immediately
+ type "C-x ESC ESC C-a C-k C-g". Now, the command needed to bind the key
+ is in the kill ring, and can be yanked into your .emacs file. If the key
+ binding is global, no changes to the command are required. For example,
+
+ (global-set-key [f1] 'help-for-help)
+
+ can be placed directly into the .emacs file. If the key binding is
+ local, the command is used in conjunction with the "add-hook" command.
+ For example, in tex-mode, a local binding might be
+
+ (add-hook 'tex-mode-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (local-set-key [f1] 'help-for-help)))
+
+ NOTE: * Control characters in key sequences, in the form yanked from the
+ kill ring are given in their graphic form -- i.e., CTRL is shown
+ as `^', TAB as a set of spaces (usually 8), etc. You may want to
+ convert these into their vector or string forms.
+
+ * If a prefix key of the character sequence to be bound is already
+ bound as a complete key, then you must unbind it before the new
+ binding. For example, if "ESC {" is previously bound:
+
+ (global-unset-key [?\e ?{]) ;; or
+ (local-unset-key [?\e ?{])
+
+ * Aside from commands and "lambda lists," a vector or string also
+ can be bound to a key and thus treated as a macro. For example:
+
+ (global-set-key [f10] [?\C-x?\e?\e?\C-a?\C-k?\C-g]) ;; or
+ (global-set-key [f10] "\C-x\e\e\C-a\C-k\C-g")
+
+ * The "kbd" macro is convenient for converting a key description in
+ the form used in documentation or printed by C-h c (except that
+ function key symbols must be enclosed in angle brackets). For
+ example:
+
+ (global-set-key (kbd "<f1>") 'help-for-help)
+ (global-set-key (kbd "C-h") 'help-for-help)
+ (local-set-key (kbd "DEL") 'scroll-down)
+
+117: Why does Emacs say "Key sequence XXX uses invalid prefix characters"?
+
+ Usually, one of two things has happened. In one case, the control
+ character in the key sequence has been misspecified (e.g. "C-f" used
+ instead of "\C-f" within a Lisp expression). In the other case, a
+ "prefix key" in the keystroke sequence you were trying to bind was
+ already bound as a "complete key." Historically, the "ESC [" prefix was
+ usually the problem, in which case you should evaluate either of these
+ forms before attempting to bind the key sequence:
+
+ (global-unset-key [?\e ?[]) ;; or
+ (global-unset-key "\e[")
+
+118: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my
+ .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
+
+ During startup, Emacs initializes itself according to a given code/file
+ order. If some of the code executed in your .emacs file needs to be
+ postponed until the initial terminal or window-system setup code has been
+ executed but is not, then you will experience this problem (this
+ code/file execution order is not enforced after startup).
+
+ To postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after terminal or
+ window-system setup, treat the code as a "lambda list" and set the value
+ of either the "term-setup-hook" or "window-setup-hook" variable to this
+ "lambda function." For example,
+
+ (setq term-setup-hook
+ (function
+ (lambda ()
+ (cond ((string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
+ ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
+ (global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))
+ ))))
+
+ For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see
+ "Starting Up Emacs" in the Lisp Reference Manual.
+
+119: How do I use function keys under X Windows?
+
+ With Emacs 19, functions keys under X are bound like any other key. See
+ question 116 for details.
+
+120: How do I tell what characters or symbols my function or arrow keys
+ emit?
+
+ Type "C-h c" then the function or arrow keys. The command will return
+ either a function key symbol or character sequence (see the Emacs on-line
+ documentation for an explanation). This works for other keys as well.
+
+121: How do I set the X key "translations" for Emacs?
+
+ Emacs is not written using the Xt library by default, so there are no
+ "translations" to be set. (We aren't sure how to set such translations
+ if you do build Emacs with Xt; please let us know if you've done this!)
+
+ The only way to affect the behavior of keys within Emacs is through
+ "xmodmap" (outside Emacs) or "define-key" (inside Emacs). The
+ "define-key" command should be used in conjunction with the
+ "function-key-map" map. For instance,
+
+ (define-key function-key-map [M-tab] [?\M-\t])
+
+ defines the "M-TAB" key sequence.
+
+122: How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?
+
+ C-s and C-q are used in the XON/XOFF flow control protocol. This messes
+ things up when you're using Emacs, because Emacs binds these keys to
+ commands by default. Because Emacs won't honor them as flow control
+ characters, too many of these characters are not passed on and overwhelm
+ output buffers. Sometimes, intermediate software using XON/XOFF flow
+ control will prevent Emacs from ever seeing C-s and C-q.
+
+ Possible solutions:
+
+ * Disable the use of C-s and C-q for flow control.
+
+ You need to determine the cause of the flow control.
+
+ * your terminal
+
+ Your terminal may use XON/XOFF flow control to have time to display
+ all the characters it receives. For example, VT series terminals do
+ this. It may be possible to turn this off from a setup menu. For
+ example, on a VT220 you may select "No XOFF" in the setup menu. This
+ is also true for some terminal emulation programs on PCs.
+
+ When you turn off flow control at the terminal, you will also need to
+ turn it off at the other end, which might be at the computer you are
+ logged in to or at some terminal server in between.
+
+ If you turn off flow control, characters may be lost; using a printer
+ connected to the terminal may fail. You may be able to get around
+ this problem by modifying the "termcap" entry for your terminal to
+ include extra NUL padding characters.
+
+ * a modem
+
+ If you are using a dialup connection, the modems may be using
+ XON/XOFF flow control. It's not clear how to get around this.
+
+ * a router or terminal server
+
+ Some network box between the terminal and your computer may be using
+ XON/XOFF flow control. It may be possible to make it use some other
+ kind of flow control. You will probably have to ask your local
+ network experts for help with this.
+
+ * tty and/or pty devices
+
+ If your connection to Emacs goes through multiple tty and/or pty
+ devices, they may be using XON/XOFF flow control even when it is not
+ necessary.
+
+ Eirik Fuller <eirik@theory.tn.cornell.edu> writes:
+
+ Some versions of "rlogin" (and possibly telnet) do not pass flow
+ control characters to the remote system to which they connect. On
+ such systems, Emacs on the remote system cannot disable flow
+ control on the local system. Sometimes "rlogin -8" will avoid this
+ problem.
+
+ One way to cure this is to disable flow control on the local host
+ (the one running rlogin, not the one running rlogind) using the
+ stty command, before starting the rlogin process. On many systems,
+ "stty start u stop u" will do this.
+
+ Some versions of "tcsh" will prevent even this from working. One
+ way around this is to start another shell before starting rlogin,
+ and issue the stty command to disable flow control from that shell.
+
+ Use "stty -ixon" instead of "stty start u stop u" on some systems.
+
+ * Make Emacs speak the XON/XOFF flow control protocol.
+
+ You can make Emacs treat C-s and C-q as flow control characters by
+ evaluating the form
+
+ (enable-flow-control)
+
+ to unconditionally enable flow control or
+
+ (enable-flow-control-on "vt100" "h19")
+
+ (using your terminal names instead of "vt100" or "h19") to enable
+ selectively. These commands will automatically swap `C-s' and `C-q' to
+ `C-\' and `C-^'. Variables can be used to change the default swap keys
+ ("flow-control-c-s-replacement" and "flow-control-c-q-replacement").
+
+ If you are fixing this for yourself, simply put the form in your .emacs
+ file. If you are fixing this for your entire site, the best place to
+ put it is in the lisp/site-start.el file. Putting this form in
+ lisp/default.el has the problem that if the user's .emacs file has an
+ error, this will prevent lisp/default.el from being loaded and Emacs
+ may be unusable for the user, even for correcting their .emacs file
+ (unless they're smart enough to move it to another name).
+
+ For further discussion of this issue, read the file PROBLEMS (in the
+ top-level directory when you unpack the Emacs source).
+
+123: How do I bind `C-s' and `C-q' (or any key) if these keys are filtered
+ out?
+
+ To bind `C-s' and `C-q', use either "enable-flow-control" or
+ "enable-flow-control-on". See question 122 for usage and implementation
+ details.
+
+ To bind other keys, use "keyboard-translate". See question 126 for usage
+ details. To do this for an entire site, you should swap the keys in
+ lisp/site-start.el. See question 122 for an explanation of why
+ lisp/default.el should not be used.
+
+ NOTE: * If you do this for an entire site, the users will be confused by
+ the disparity between what the documentation says and how Emacs
+ actually behaves.
+
+124: Why does the "Backspace" key invoke help?
+
+ The "Backspace" key (on most keyboards) generates ASCII code 8. `C-h'
+ sends the same code. In Emacs by default `C-h' invokes help-command.
+ This is intended to be easy to remember since the first letter of "help"
+ is `h'. The easiest solution to this problem is to use `C-h' (and
+ Backspace) for help and DEL (the Delete key) for deleting the previous
+ character.
+
+ For many people this solution may be problematic:
+
+ * They normally use Backspace outside of Emacs for deleting the previous
+ character. This can be solved by making DEL the command for deleting
+ the previous character outside of Emacs. On many Unix systems, this
+ command will remap DEL:
+
+ stty erase `^?'
+
+ * The person may prefer using the Backspace key for deleting the previous
+ character because it is more conveniently located on their keyboard or
+ because they don't even have a separate Delete key. In this case, the
+ Backspace key should be made to behave like Delete. There are several
+ methods.
+
+ * Some terminals (e.g., VT3## terminals) allow the character generated by
+ the Backspace key to be changed from a setup menu.
+
+ * You may be able to get a keyboard that is completely programmable.
+
+ * Under X or on a dumb terminal, it is possible to swap the Backspace and
+ Delete keys inside Emacs:
+
+ (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)
+
+ See question 126 for further details of "keyboard-translate".
+
+ * Another approach is to switch key bindings and put help on "C-x h"
+ instead:
+
+ (global-set-key "\C-h" 'delete-backward-char)
+ (global-set-key "\C-xh" 'help-command) ;; overrides mark-whole-buffer
+
+ Other popular key bindings for help are M-? and "C-x ?".
+
+ NOTE: * Don't try to bind DEL to help-command, because there are many
+ modes that have local bindings of DEL that will interfere.
+
+125: Why doesn't Emacs look at the stty settings for Backspace vs. Delete?
+
+ Good question!
+
+126: How do I "swap" two keys?
+
+ In Emacs 19, you can swap two keys (or key sequences) by using the
+ "keyboard-translate" function. For example, to turn `C-h' into DEL and
+ DEL to `C-h', use
+
+ (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?) ; translate `C-h' to DEL
+ (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h) ; translate DEL to `C-h'.
+
+ The first key sequence of the pair after the function identifies what is
+ produced by the keyboard; the second, what is matched for in the keymaps.
+
+ Keyboard translations are not the same as key bindings in keymaps. Emacs
+ contains numerous keymaps that apply in different situations, but there
+ is only one set of keyboard translations, and it applies to every
+ character that Emacs reads from the terminal. Keyboard translations take
+ place at the lowest level of input processing; the keys that are looked
+ up in keymaps contain the characters that result from keyboard
+ translation.
+
+ Also see "Keyboard Translations" in the on-line manual.
+
+127: How do I produce C-XXX with my keyboard?
+
+ On terminals (but not under X), some common "aliases" are:
+
+ C-2 or C-SPC for C-@
+ C-6 for C-^
+ C-7 or C-S-- for C-_
+ C-4 for C-\
+ C-5 for C-]
+ C-/ for C-?
+
+ Often other aliases exist; use the "C-h c" command and try `CTRL' with
+ all of the digits on your keyboard to see what gets generated. You can
+ also try the "C-h w" command if you know the name of the command.
+
+128: What if I don't have a Meta key?
+
+ Instead of typing "M-a", you can type "ESC a". In fact, Emacs converts
+ M-a internally into "ESC a" anyway (depending on the value of
+ meta-prefix-char). Note that you press "Meta" and `a' together, while
+ you press `ESC', release it, and then press `a'.
+
+129: What if I don't have an Escape key?
+
+ Type `C-[' instead. This should send ASCII code 27 just like an Escape
+ key would. `C-3' may also work on some terminal (but not under X). For
+ many terminals (notably DEC terminals) `F11' generates ESC. If not, the
+ following form can be used to bind it:
+
+ (define-key function-key-map [f11] [?\e]) ; F11 is the documented ESC
+ ; replacement on DEC terminals.
+
+130: Can I make my "Compose Character" key behave like a Meta key?
+
+ On a dumb terminal such as a VT220, no. It is rumored that certain VT220
+ clones could have their Compose key configured this way. If you're using
+ X, you might be able to do this with the "xmodmap" program.
+
+131: How do I bind a combination of modifier key and function key?
+
+ With Emacs 19 you can represent modified function keys in vector format
+ by adding prefixes to the function key symbol. For example (from the
+ on-line documentation):
+
+ (global-set-key [?\C-x right] 'forward-page)
+
+ where "?\C-x" is the Lisp character constant for the character "C-x".
+
+ You can use the modifier keys Control, Meta, Hyper, Super, Alt, and Shift
+ with function keys. To represent these modifiers, prepend the strings
+ "C-", "M-", "H-", "s-", "A-", and "S-" to the symbol name. Here is how
+ to make "Hyper-Meta-RIGHT" move forward a word:
+
+ (global-set-key [H-M-right] 'forward-word)
+
+ In recent Emacs versions this may also be written as:
+
+ (global-set-key [(hyper meta right)] 'forward-word)
+
+ NOTE: * Not all modifiers are permitted in all situations. Hyper, Super,
+ and Alt are available only under X (provided there are such
+ keys). Non-ASCII keys and mouse events (e.g. "C-=" and
+ "mouse-1") also fall under this category.
+
+ See question 116 for general key binding instructions.
+
+132: Why doesn't my Meta key work in an xterm window?
+
+ Try all of these methods before asking for further help:
+
+ * You may have big problems using "mwm" as your window manager. {Does
+ anyone know a good generic solution to allow the use of the Meta key in
+ Emacs with mwm?}
+
+ * For X11: Make sure it really is a Meta key. Use "xev" to find out what
+ keysym your Meta key generates. It should be either Meta_L or Meta_R.
+ If it isn't, use xmodmap to fix the situation.
+
+ * Make sure the pty the xterm is using is passing 8 bit characters.
+ "stty -a" (or "stty everything") should show "cs8" somewhere. If it
+ shows "cs7" instead, use "stty cs8 -istrip" (or "stty pass8") to fix
+ it.
+
+ * If there is an rlogin connection between the xterm and the Emacs, the
+ "-8" argument may need to be given to rlogin to make it pass all 8 bits
+ of every character.
+
+ * If the Emacs is running under Ultrix, it is reported that evaluating
+ (set-input-mode t nil) helps.
+
+ * If all else fails, you can make xterm generate "ESC W" when you type
+ M-W, which is the same conversion Emacs would make if it got the M-W
+ anyway. In X11R4, the following resource specification will do this:
+
+ XTerm.VT100.EightBitInput: false
+
+ (This changes the behavior of the insert-eight-bit action.)
+
+ With older xterms, you can specify this behavior with a translation:
+
+ XTerm.VT100.Translations: #override \
+ Meta<KeyPress>: string(0x1b) insert()
+
+ You might have to replace "Meta" with "Alt".
+
+133: Why doesn't my ExtendChar key work as a Meta key under HP-UX 8.0
+ and 9.x?
+
+ This is a result of an internationalization extension in X11R4 and the
+ fact that HP is now using this extension. Emacs assumes that
+ XLookupString returns the same result regardless of the Meta key state
+ which is no longer necessarily true. Until Emacs is fixed, the temporary
+ kludge is to run this command after each time the X server is started but
+ preferably before any xterm clients are:
+
+ xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'
+
+ NOTE: This will disable the use of the extra keysyms systemwide, which
+ may be undesirable if you actually intend to use them.
+
+
+Using Emacs with Alternate Character Sets
+
+134: How do I make Emacs display 8-bit characters?
+
+ Emacs 19 introduced built-in support for 8-bit characters. Emacs 20 can
+ operate similarly in Unibyte mode or else in Multibyte mode. See the
+ "International" node in the online manual, specifically "Single-Byte
+ European Support".
+
+135: How do I input 8-bit characters?
+
+ Again, see the "International" node of the on-line manual.
+
+136: Where can I get an Emacs that handles kanji, Chinese, or other
+ character sets?
+
+ Emacs 20 now includes many of the features of MULE, the Multilingual
+ Enhancement of Emacs. See question 84 for information on where to find
+ and download Emacs.
+
+137: Where is an Emacs that can handle Semitic (right-to-left) alphabets?
+
+ Emacs 20 supports Hebrew characters (ISO 8859-8), but does not yet
+ support right-to-left character entry.
+
+ Joel M. Hoffman <joel@exc.com> has written a Lisp package called
+ hebrew.el that allows right-to-left editing of Hebrew. It reportedly
+ works out of the box with Emacs 19, but requires patches for Emacs 18.
+ Write to Joel if you want the patches or package.
+
+ Hebrew.el requires a Hebrew screen font, but no other Hardware support.
+ Joel has a screen font for PCs running MS-DOS and Linux.
+
+ You might also try to query archie for files named with "hebrew"; several
+ ftp sites in Israel may also have the necessary files.
+
+
+Mail and News
+
+138: How do I change the included text prefix in mail/news followups?
+
+ If you read mail with Rmail or news with Gnus, set the variable
+ mail-yank-prefix. For VM, set vm-included-text-prefix. For mh-e, set
+ mh-ins-buf-prefix.
+
+ For fancier control of citations, use Supercite. See question 105.
+
+ To prevent Emacs from including various headers of the replied-to
+ message, set the value of mail-yank-ignored-headers to an appropriate
+ regexp.
+
+139: How do I save a copy of outgoing mail?
+
+ You can either mail yourself a copy by including a "BCC:" header in the
+ mail message, or store a copy of the message directly to a file by
+ including an "FCC:" header.
+
+ If you use standard mail, you can automatically create a "BCC:" to
+ yourself by putting
+
+ (setq mail-self-blind t)
+
+ in your .emacs file. You can automatically include an "FCC:" field by
+ putting something like the following in your .emacs file:
+
+ (setq mail-archive-file-name (expand-file-name "~/outgoing"))
+
+ The output file will be in Unix mail format, which can be read directly
+ by VM, but not always by Rmail. See question 141.
+
+ For Gnus, see the `Archived Messages node of the Gnus manual.
+
+ If you use mh-e, add an "FCC:" or "BCC:" field to your components file.
+
+ It does not work to put "set record filename" in the .mailrc file.
+
+140: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
+
+ * You must separate multiple addresses in the headers of the mail buffer
+ with commas. This is because Emacs supports RFC822 standard addresses
+ like this one:
+
+ To: Willy Smith <wks@xpnsv.lwyrs.com>
+
+ However, you do not need to -- and probably should not, unless your
+ system's version of /usr/ucb/mail (aka mailx) supports RFC822 --
+ separate addresses with commas in your ~/.mailrc file.
+
+ * Emacs normally only reads the ".mailrc" file once per session, when you
+ start to compose your first mail message. If you edit .mailrc, you can
+ type "M-x rebuild-mail-abbrevs RET" to make Emacs reread your ~/.mailrc
+ file.
+
+ * If you like, you can expand mail aliases as abbrevs, as soon as you
+ type them in. To enable this feature, execute the following:
+
+ (add-hook 'mail-setup-hook 'mail-abbrevs-setup)
+
+ Note that the aliases are expanded automatically only after you type
+ RET or a punctuation character (e.g. `,'). You can force their
+ expansion by moving point to the end of the alias and typing "C-x a e"
+ (M-x expand-abbrev).
+
+141: Why does Rmail think all my saved messages are one big message?
+
+ A file created through the FCC: field in a message is in Unix mail
+ format, not the format that Rmail uses (BABYL format). Rmail will try to
+ convert a Unix mail file into BABYL format on input, but sometimes it
+ makes errors. For guaranteed safety, you can make the saved-messages
+ file be an inbox for your Rmail file by using the function
+ set-rmail-inbox-list.
+
+142: How can I sort the messages in my Rmail folder?
+
+ In Rmail, type "C-c C-s C-h" to get a list of sorting functions and their
+ key bindings.
+
+143: Why does Rmail need to write to /usr/spool/mail?
+
+ This is the behavior of the "movemail" program which Rmail uses. This
+ indicates that movemail is configured to use lock files.
+
+ RMS writes:
+
+ Certain systems require lock files to interlock access to mail files.
+ On these systems, movemail must write lock files, or you risk losing
+ mail. You simply must arrange to let movemail write them.
+
+ Other systems use the flock system call to interlock access. On these
+ systems, you should configure movemail to use flock.
+
+144: How do I recover my mail files after Rmail munges their format?
+
+ If you have just done rmail-input on a file and you don't want to save it
+ in Rmail's format (called BABYL), just kill the buffer (with C-x k).
+
+ If you typed M-x rmail and it read some messages out of your inbox and
+ you want to put them in a Unix mail file, use C-o on each message.
+
+ If you want to convert an existing file from BABYL format to Unix mail
+ format, use the command M-x unrmail: it will prompt you for the input and
+ output file names.
+
+145: How can I force Rmail to reply to the sender of a message, but not the
+ other recipients?
+
+ Ron Isaacson <isaacson@seas.upenn.edu> says: When you hit "r" to reply in
+ Rmail, by default it CCs all of the original recipients (everyone on the
+ original "To" and "CC" lists). With a prefix argument (i.e., typing "C-u"
+ before "r"), it replies only to the sender. However, going through the
+ whole C-u business every time you want to reply is a pain. This is the
+ best fix I've been able to come up with:
+
+ (defun rmail-reply-t ()
+ "Reply only to the sender of the current message. (See rmail-reply.)"
+ (interactive)
+ (rmail-reply t))
+
+ (add-hook 'rmail-mode-hook
+ '(lambda ()
+ (define-key rmail-mode-map "r" 'rmail-reply-t)
+ (define-key rmail-mode-map "R" 'rmail-reply)))
+
+146: How can I get my favorite Emacs mail package to support MIME?
+
+ Look at the Emacs MIME FAQ, maintained by MacDonald Hall Jackson
+ <trey@cs.berkeley.edu> at
+
+ http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/~trey/emacs/mime.html
+
+ Version 6.x of VM supports MIME. See question 104.
+
+ MIME support has been added in the development version of Gnus which will
+ be included with a future version of Emacs.
+
+147: How do I make Emacs automatically start my mail/news reader?
+
+ To start Emacs in Gnus:
+
+ emacs -f gnus
+
+ in Rmail:
+
+ emacs -f rmail
+
+ A more convenient way to start with Gnus:
+
+ alias gnus 'emacs -f gnus'
+ gnus
+
+ It is probably unwise to automatically start your mail or news reader
+ from your .emacs file. This would cause problems if you needed to run
+ two copies of Emacs at one time. Also, this would make it difficult for
+ you to start Emacs quickly when you needed to.
+
+148: How do I read news under Emacs?
+
+ Use M-x gnus. It is documented in Info (see question 14).
+
+149: Why doesn't Gnus work via NNTP?
+
+ There is a bug in NNTP version 1.5.10, such that when multiple requests
+ are sent to the NNTP server, the server only handles the first one before
+ blocking waiting for more input which never comes. NNTP version 1.5.11
+ claims to fix this.
+
+ You can work around the bug inside Emacs like this:
+
+ (setq nntp-maximum-request 1)
+
+ You can find out what version of NNTP your news server is running by
+ telnetting to the NNTP port (usually 119) on the news server machine
+ (i.e., "telnet server-machine 119"). The server should give its version
+ number in the welcome message. Type "quit" to get out.
+
+ Also see question 75 in this FAQ for some additional ideas.
+
+150: How do I view news articles with embedded underlining (e.g.,
+ ClariNews)?
+
+ Underlining appears like this:
+
+ _^Hu_^Hn_^Hd_^He_^Hr_^Hl_^Hi_^Hn_^Hi_^Hn_^Hg
+
+ Use Gnus' "Overstrike" function from the Article -> Washing menu (or type
+ "W o"). You can do this for all articles with:
+
+ (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook 'gnus-article-treat-overstrike)
+
+ If you prefer to do away with underlining altogether, you can
+ destructively remove it with M-x ununderline-region; do this
+ automatically via
+
+ (add-hook 'gnus-article-prepare-hook
+ (lambda () (ununderline-region (point-min) (point-max))))
+
+ See the Gnus manual for more information about this and similar methods
+ for treating article contents.
+
+151: How do I save all the items of a multi-part posting in Gnus?
+
+ Use gnus-uu. Type C-c C-v C-h in the Gnus summary buffer to see a list
+ of available commands.
+
+152: How do I make Gnus start up faster?
+
+ From the Gnus FAQ (see question 158):
+
+ Pranav Kumar Tiwari <pktiwari@eos.ncsu.edu> writes: I posted the same
+ query recently and I got an answer to it. I am going to repeat the
+ answer. What you need is a newer version of gnus, version 5.0.4+. I am
+ using 5.0.12 and it works fine with me with the following settings:
+
+ (setq gnus-check-new-newsgroups nil
+ gnus-read-active-file 'some
+ gnus-nov-is-evil nil
+ gnus-select-method '(nntp gnus-nntp-server))
+
+153: How do I catch up all newsgroups in Gnus?
+
+ In the "*Newsgroup*" buffer, type the following magical incantation:
+
+ M-< C-x ( c y C-x ) M-0 C-x e
+
+ Leave off the "M-<" if you only want to catch up from point to the end of
+ the "*Newsgroup" buffer.
+
+154: Why can't I kill in Gnus based on the Newsgroups/Keywords/Control
+ headers?
+
+ Gnus will complain that the "Newsgroups:", "Keywords:", and "Control:"
+ headers are "Unknown header" fields.
+
+ For the "Newsgroups:" header, there is an easy workaround: kill on the
+ "Xref" header instead, which will be present on any cross-posted article
+ (as long as your site carries the cross-post group).
+
+ If you really want to kill on one of these headers, you can do it like
+ this:
+
+ (gnus-kill nil "^Newsgroups: .*\\(bad\\.group\\|worse\\.group\\)")
+
+155: How do I get rid of flashing messages in Gnus for slow connections?
+
+ Set nntp-debug-read to nil.
+
+156: Why is catch up slow in Gnus?
+
+ Because Gnus is marking crosspostings read. You can control this with
+ the variable gnus-use-cross-reference.
+
+157: Why does Gnus hang for a long time when posting?
+
+ David Lawrence <tale@uunet.uu.net> explains:
+
+ The problem is almost always interaction between NNTP and C News. NNTP
+ POST asks C News's inews to not background itself but rather hang
+ around and give its exit status so it knows whether the post was
+ successful. (That wait will on some systems not return the exit status
+ of the waited for job is a different sort of problem.) It ends up
+ taking a long time because inews is calling relaynews, which often
+ waits for another relaynews to free the lock on the news system so it
+ can file the article.
+
+ My preferred solution is to change inews to not call relaynews, but
+ rather use newsspool. This loses some error-catching functionality,
+ but is for the most part safe as inews will detect a lot of the errors
+ on its own. The C News folks have sped up inews, too, so speed should
+ look better to most folks as that update propagates around.
+
+158: Where can I find out more about Gnus?
+
+ Visit http://www.gnus.org/, which has a pointer to the current Gnus FAQ and
+ more information. The relevant newsgroup is gnu.emacs.gnus.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------
+Modified, with permission, for the Emacs 20.4 distribution by Dave Love.
+
+Copyright 1994-1998 Reuven M. Lerner
+Copyright 1992-1993 Steven Byrnes
+Copyright 1990-1992 Joseph Brian Wells
+
+This list of frequently asked questions about GNU Emacs with answers
+("FAQ") may be translated into other languages, transformed into other
+formats (e.g. Texinfo, Info, WWW, WAIS), and updated with new information.
+
+The same conditions apply to any derivative of the FAQ as apply to the FAQ
+itself. Every copy of the FAQ must include this notice or an approved
+translation, information on who is currently maintaining the FAQ and how to
+contact them (including their e-mail address), and information on where the
+latest version of the FAQ is archived (including FTP information).
+
+The FAQ may be copied and redistributed under these conditions, except that
+the FAQ may not be embedded in a larger literary work unless that work
+itself allows free copying and redistribution.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------
+
+People who helped with this version of the FAQ:
+
+Ethan Bradford <ethanb@u.washington.edu>, William G. Dubuque
+<wgd@martigny.ai.mit.edu>, Michael Ernst <mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu>,
+and Denby Wong <3dw16@qlink.QueensU.CA>.
HCoop / bpt / emacs.git / blobdiff