Mention some of the noteworthy changes in ruby-mode
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that all necessary updates to the manuals in doc/ are complete.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is needed.
20 When you add a new item, use the appropriate mark if you know it applies,
21 otherwise leave it unmarked.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--disable-acl'.
30
31 ** Emacs can be compiled with file notification support.
32 This happens by default if a suitable system library is found at
33 build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
34 `--with-file-notification-no'. See below for file-notify features.
35 FIXME? This feature is not available for the Nextstep port. (?)
36
37 ** The configure option `without-compress-info' has been generalized,
38 and renamed to `without-compress-install'. It now prevents compression
39 of _any_ files during installation.
40
41 ** The configure option --with-crt-dir has been removed.
42 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked
43 specially.
44
45 ** Directories passed to configure option `--enable-locallisppath' are
46 no longer created during installation.
47
48 ** Emacs can be compiled with zlib support. If this library is present
49 (which it normally is on most systems), the function
50 `zlib-decompress-region' becomes available, which can decompress gzip-
51 and zlib-format compressed data.
52
53 ---
54 ** Emacs for NS (OSX, GNUStep) can be built with ImageMagick support.
55 pkg-config is required to find ImageMagick libraries.
56
57 ** For OSX >= 10.5, the Core text based font backend from the Mac port is used.
58 For GNUStep and OSX 10.4 the old backend is used.
59 To use the old backend by default, do on the command line:
60 % defaults write org.gnu.Emacs FontBackend ns
61
62 \f
63 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
64
65 +++
66 ** When initializing `load-path', an empty element in the EMACSLOADPATH
67 environment variable (either leading, e.g., ":/foo"; trailing, e.g.,
68 "/foo:"; or embedded, e.g., "/foo::/bar") is replaced with the default
69 load-path (the one that would have been used if EMACSLOADPATH was unset).
70 This makes it easier to _extend_ the load-path via EMACSLOADPATH
71 (previously, EMACSLOADPATH had to specify the complete load-path,
72 including the defaults). (In older versions of Emacs, an empty element
73 was replaced by ".", so use an explicit "." now if that is what you want.)
74
75 +++
76 ** The -L option, which normally prepends its argument to load-path,
77 will instead append, if the argument begins with `:' (or `;' on MS Windows;
78 i.e., `path-separator').
79
80 \f
81 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
82
83 +++
84 ** Emacs now supports menus on text-mode terminals.
85 If the terminal supports a mouse, clicking on the menu bar, or on
86 sensitive portions of the mode line or header line, will drop down the
87 menu defined at that position. Likewise, clicking C-mouse-2 or
88 C-mouse-2 or C-mouse-3 on the text area will pop up the menus defined
89 for those locations.
90
91 If the text terminal does not support a mouse, you can activate the
92 first menu-bar menu by typing F10, which invokes `menu-bar-open'.
93
94 If you want the previous behavior, whereby F10 invoked `tmm-menubar',
95 customize the option `tty-menu-open-use-tmm' to a non-nil value.
96 (Typing M-` will always invoke `tmm-menubar', even if
97 `tty-menu-open-use-tmm' is nil.)
98
99 ** Key ? also describes prefix bindings like C-h.
100
101 +++
102 ** `cache-long-line-scans' has been renamed to `cache-long-scans'
103 because it affects caching of paragraph scanning results as well.
104
105 +++
106 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
107 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
108 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
109 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
110 non-nil, they output the same results.
111
112 +++
113 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
114 if there is one.
115
116 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
117 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
118 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
119
120 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
121 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
122 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
123
124 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
125 initial buffer.
126
127 ** The *Messages* buffer is created in a new major mode `messages-buffer-mode',
128 and read-only. Code that might create the *Messages* buffer should
129 call the function `messages-buffer' to do so and set the mode.
130
131 ** `remember-notes' creates a buffer whose content is saved on kill-emacs.
132 You may think of it as a *scratch* buffer whose content is preserved.
133 In fact, it was designed as a replacement for *scratch* buffer and can
134 be used that way by setting `initial-buffer-choice' to `remember-notes'
135 and `remember-notes-buffer-name' to "*scratch*". Without the second
136 change, *scratch* buffer will still be there for notes that do not
137 need to be preserved.
138
139 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
140
141 ** ACL support has been added.
142 +++
143 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
144 +++
145 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
146 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
147 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
148 POSIX ACL interfaces.
149
150 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
151 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
152 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
153 of the buffer is visible).
154
155 ** New function `add-face-text-property' has been added, which can be
156 used to conveniently prepend/append new face attributes to text.
157
158 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
159
160 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
161
162 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
163 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
164 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
165
166 *** The functions `display-pixel-width' and `display-pixel-height' now
167 behave consistently among the platforms: they return the pixel width
168 or height for all physical monitors associated with the given display
169 as just they were on X11. To get information for each physical
170 monitor, use the new functions above. Similar notes also apply to
171 `x-display-pixel-width', `x-display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
172 `display-mm-height', `x-display-mm-width', and `x-display-mm-height'.
173
174 ** New macro `alternatives-define' can be used to define generic commands.
175 Generic commands are interactive functions whose implementation can be
176 selected among several alternatives, as a matter of user preference.
177
178 ** New hooks `focus-in-hook', `focus-out-hook'.
179 These are normal hooks run when an Emacs frame gains or loses input focus.
180
181 ** The blink cursor stops blinking after 10 blinks (default) on X and NS.
182 You can change the default by customizing the variable blink-cursor-blinks.
183 Also timers for blinking are stopped when no blinking is done, so Emacs does
184 not consume CPU cycles.
185
186 ** New command `frameset-to-register' is now bound to `C-x r f', replacing
187 `frame-configuration-to-register'. It offers similar functionality, plus
188 some enhancements, like the ability to restore deleted frames. Command
189 `frame-configuration-to-register' is still available, but unbound.
190
191 ** The command `quail-help' is deleted. Use `C-h C-\'
192 (`describe-input-method') instead.
193
194 ** The default value of `comment-use-global-state' is changed to t,
195 and this variable has been marked obsolete.
196
197 ** `fill-single-char-nobreak-p' prevents fill from breaking a line after
198 a 1-letter word, which is an error according to Polish and
199 Czech typography rules. To globally enable this feature, evaluate:
200
201 (add-hook 'fill-nobreak-predicate 'fill-single-char-nobreak-p)
202
203 \f
204 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
205
206 ** Command `rectangle-mark-mode' bound to C-x SPC makes a rectangular region.
207 Most commands are still unaware of it, but kill/yank do work on the rectangle.
208
209 ** C-x TAB enters a transient interactive mode.
210 You can then use the left/right cursor keys to move the block of text.
211
212 ** `tab-stop-list' is now implicitly extended to infinity by repeating
213 the last step. Its default value is changed to nil which means a tab
214 stop every `tab-width' columns.
215
216 ** `split-window' is no longer a command, just a non-interactive function.
217 As a command it was a special case of `split-window-below', and as such
218 superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its interactive form
219 was mistakenly retained.
220
221 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
222 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
223
224 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
225 Eg View mode, etc.
226
227 +++
228 ** New option `visual-order-cursor-movement'.
229 If this is non-nil, cursor motion with arrow keys will follow the
230 visual order of characters on the screen: <left> always moves to the
231 left, <right> always moves to the right, disregarding the surrounding
232 bidirectional context.
233
234 ** All register commands can now show help with preview.
235
236 ** New command `kmacro-to-register' to store keyboard macros in registers.
237
238 ** Shell Script mode
239
240 *** `sh-mode' now has the mode own `add-log-current-defun-function'.
241 You can pick the name of the function and the variables with `C-x 4 a'.
242
243 \f
244 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
245
246 ** prolog-use-smie has been removed, along with the non-SMIE indentation code.
247
248 ** SMIE indentation can be customized via `smie-config'.
249 The customization can be guessed by Emacs by providing a sample indented
250 file and letting SMIE learn from it.
251
252 ** sh-script now uses its SMIE indentation algorithm by default.
253
254 ** The debugger's `e' command evaluates the code in the context at point.
255 This includes using the lexical environment at point, which means that
256 `e' now lets you access lexical variables as well.
257
258 ** `eshell' now supports visual subcommands and options
259 Eshell has been able to handle "visual" commands (interactive,
260 non-line oriented commands such as top that require display
261 capabilities not provided by eshell) by running them in an Emacs
262 terminal emulator. See `eshell-visual-commands'.
263
264 This feature has been extended to subcommands and options that make a
265 usually line-oriented command a visual command. Typical examples are
266 "git log" and "git <command> --help" which display their output in a
267 pager by default. See `eshell-visual-subcommands' and
268 `eshell-visual-options'.
269
270 ** If your Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, you can use the new
271 built-in web browser `eww'.
272
273 ** `remember' can now store notes in separates files
274 You can use the new function `remember-store-in-files' within the
275 `remember-handler-functions' option.
276
277 See `remember-data-directory' and `remember-directory-file-name-format'
278 for new options related to this function.
279
280 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
281 Affected files:
282 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
283 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
284 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
285 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
286 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
287 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
288 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave replaces ~/.idlwave
289 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
290 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
291 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
292 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
293 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
294 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
295 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
296 Also the following files used by the now obsolete otodo-mode.el:
297 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
298 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
299 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
300
301
302 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
303 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
304 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more.
305 Use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
306 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
307
308 ** Eldoc Mode works properly in the minibuffer.
309
310 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
311
312 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
313 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
314
315 ** Battery
316
317 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
318
319 ** Buffer Menu
320
321 *** `M-s a C-o' shows lines matching a regexp in marked buffers using Occur.
322
323 ** Calendar and Diary
324
325 *** New faces: `calendar-weekday-header', `calendar-weekend-header',
326 `calendar-month-header'.
327
328 *** New option `calendar-day-header-array'.
329
330 *** The variable `calendar-font-lock-keywords' is obsolete.
331
332 +++
333 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
334 `diary-from-outlook'.
335
336 ** VC and related modes
337
338 *** In VC directory mode, `D' displays diffs between VC-controlled
339 whole tree revisions.
340
341 *** In VC directory mode, `L' lists the change log for the current VC
342 controlled tree in a window.
343
344 *** In VC directory mode, `I' shows a log of changes that will be
345 received with a pull operation.
346
347 *** `C-x v G' (globally) and `G' (in VC directory mode) ignores a file
348 under current version control system. When called with a prefix
349 argument, you can remove a file from the ignored file list.
350
351 *** `cvs-append-to-ignore' has been renamed to `vc-cvs-append-to-ignore'
352 because it is moved to vc-cvs.el.
353
354 ** cl-lib
355
356 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
357
358 +++
359 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
360
361 ** Calc
362
363 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
364 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
365 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
366 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
367 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
368
369 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
370 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
371 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
372 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
373 on the given date.
374
375 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
376
377 ** Desktop
378
379 *** `desktop-auto-save-timeout' defines the number of seconds between
380 auto-saves of the desktop.
381
382 *** `desktop-restore-frames', enabled by default, allows saving and
383 restoring the frame/window configuration (frameset). Additional options
384 `desktop-restore-in-current-display', `desktop-restore-reuses-frames'
385 and `desktop-restore-forces-onscreen' offer further customization.
386
387 ** Dired
388
389 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
390
391 ** ERC
392
393 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
394 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
395 amounts of data into the ERC input.
396
397 ** EPA
398
399 *** New option `epa-mail-aliases'.
400
401 You can set this to a list of alias expansions for keys to use
402 in `epa-mail-encrypt'.
403
404 If one element of the variable's value is ("foo@bar.com" "foo@hello.org"),
405 that means: when one of the recipients of the message being encrypted
406 is `foo@bar.com', encrypt the message for `foo@hello.org' instead.
407
408 If one element of the variable's value is ("foo@bar.com"),
409 that means: when one of the recipients of the message being encrypted
410 is `foo@bar.com', ignore that name as regards encryption.
411 This is useful to avoid a query when you have no key for that name.
412
413 ---
414 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
415
416 ** Icomplete is a bit more like Ido.
417 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
418 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
419 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
420 *** Icomplete-mode by defaults applies to all forms of minibuffer completion.
421 (setq icomplete-with-completion-tables '(internal-complete-buffer))
422 will revert to the old behavior.
423
424
425 ** New features for Octave mode:
426 *** Font locking for texinfo comments and new keywords
427 *** Completion in Octave file buffers
428 *** Eldoc support
429 *** Jump to definition
430 *** Documentation lookup/search
431 *** Code cleanup and various bug fixes
432
433 ** Ido
434 *** Ido has a manual now.
435 *** `ido-use-virtual-buffers' takes a new value 'auto.
436 *** `ido-decorations' has been slightly extended to give a bit more control.
437
438 ** Image mode
439
440 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
441 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
442 directory, respectively.
443
444 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
445 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
446 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
447
448 *** New commands to speed up, slow down, or reverse animation.
449
450 ---
451 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
452 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
453 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
454 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
455
456 ** Info
457
458 *** New face `info-index-match' is used to highlight matches in index
459 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
460 `info-apropos'.
461
462 ** Hi-Lock
463
464 *** New option `hi-lock-auto-select-face'. When non-nil, hi-lock commands
465 will cycle through faces in `hi-lock-face-defaults' without prompting.
466
467 +++
468 *** New global command `M-s h .' (`highlight-symbol-at-point')
469 highlights the symbol found near point without prompting,
470 using the next face automatically.
471
472 ** Search and Replace
473
474 *** New global command `M-s .' (`isearch-forward-symbol-at-point')
475 starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search forward with the
476 symbol found near point added to the search string initially.
477
478 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
479 and adds it to the search string.
480
481 *** `M-s i' in Isearch mode toggles the variable `isearch-invisible'
482 between nil and the value of the option `search-invisible' (or `open'
483 when it's nil).
484
485 *** `query-replace' skips invisible text when `search-invisible' is nil,
486 and opens overlays with hidden text when `search-invisible' is `open'.
487
488 +++
489 *** By default, prefix arguments do not now terminate Isearch mode.
490 Set `isearch-allow-prefix' to nil to restore old behavior.
491
492 *** More Isearch commands accept prefix arguments, namely
493 `isearch-printing-char', `isearch-quote-char', `isearch-yank-word',
494 `isearch-yank-line'.
495
496 *** Word search now matches whitespace at the beginning/end
497 of the search string if it contains leading/trailing whitespace.
498 In an incremental word search or when using a non-nil LAX argument
499 of `word-search-regexp', the lax matching can also match part of
500 the first word (in addition to the lax matching of the last word).
501 The same rules are now applied to the symbol search with the difference
502 that it matches symbols, and non-symbol characters between symbols.
503
504 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.5.
505 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
506
507 ---
508 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
509 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
510
511 ---
512 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
513 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
514
515 +++
516 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
517
518 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
519 New features include:
520 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
521 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
522 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
523 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
524 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
525 (point) when the function is invoked.
526
527 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has new types of operation:
528 When its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
529 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
530 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
531 When its arg KEEP-BLANKS is non-nil (when called interactively with
532 C-u C-u C-u), duplicate blank lines are preserved.
533
534 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
535 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
536 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
537 leave different number of spaces.
538
539 ** Todo mode has been rewritten and enhanced.
540 New features include:
541 - support for multiple todo files and archive files of done items;
542 - renaming, reordering, moving, merging, and deleting categories;
543 - sortable tabular summaries of categories and the types of items they contain;
544 - cross-category lists of items filtered by specific criteria;
545 - more fine-grained interaction with the Emacs diary, by being able to decide
546 for each todo item whether it appears in the Fancy Diary display;
547 - highly flexible new item insertion and item editing;
548 - moving items between categories, storing done items in their category or in
549 archive files, undoing or unarchiving done items;
550 - reprioritizing items by inputting a numerical priority;
551 - extensive customizability of operation and display, including numerous faces.
552 The Todo mode user manual describes all commands and most user options.
553 To support some of these features, a new file format is used, which is
554 incompatible with the old format; however, you can convert old todo and done
555 item files to the new format on initializing the first new todo file, or at any
556 later time with the provided conversion command. The old version of
557 todo-mode.el has been made obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
558
559 ** Tramp
560
561 *** The experimental url syntax for remote file names is withdrawn.
562
563 +++
564 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
565 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
566 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
567
568 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
569 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
570 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
571 when possible.
572
573 +++
574 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
575 which support POSIX ACLs.
576
577 +++
578 *** Handlers for `file-notify-add-watch' and `file-notify-rm-watch'
579 for remote machines which support filesystem notifications.
580
581 ** VHDL mode
582
583 *** New options: `vhdl-actual-generic-name', `vhdl-beautify-options'.
584
585 *** New commands: `vhdl-fix-statement-region', `vhdl-fix-statement-buffer'.
586
587 ** Woman
588
589 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
590 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-*' faces instead.
591
592 ** Eshell
593
594 *** Added Eshell-Tramp module
595 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
596 Tramp-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
597 module.
598
599 ** Package
600
601 *** The format of `archive-contents' files, generated by package
602 repositories, has changed to allow a new (fifth) element in the data
603 vectors, containing an associative list with extra properties.
604
605 *** `describe-package' buffer uses the `:url' extra property to
606 display a `Homepage' header, if it's present.
607
608 ** New term.el option `term-suppress-hard-newline'.
609
610 ** Obsolete packages:
611
612 *** Iswitchb is made obsolete by icomplete-mode.
613
614 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
615
616 +++
617 *** sup-mouse.el.
618
619 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
620
621 *** The previous version of todo-mode.el is obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
622
623 *** xesam.el.
624
625 +++
626 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
627
628 ---
629 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
630 has not been relevant for some time.
631
632 ** Shell
633
634 *** `explicit-bash-args' now always defaults to use --noediting.
635 During initialization, Emacs no longer expends a process to decide
636 whether it is safe to use Bash's --noediting option. These days
637 --noediting is ubiquitous; it was introduced in 1996 in Bash version 2.
638
639 +++
640 ** There is a new macro `skip-unless' for skipping ERT tests. See the manual.
641
642 ** Imenu
643
644 *** New option `imenu-generic-skip-comments-and-strings'.
645
646 ** Ruby mode
647
648 *** New option `ruby-encoding-magic-comment-style'.
649
650 *** New option `ruby-custom-encoding-magic-comment-template'.
651
652 *** New mode menu.
653
654 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
655
656 *** Add more Ruby file types to `auto-mode-alist'.
657
658 \f
659 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
660
661 ** New `superword-mode' in subword.el
662 `superword-mode' overrides the default word motion commands to treat
663 symbol_words as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does and
664 using the same internal functions.
665
666 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
667 It is layered as:
668 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
669 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
670 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
671 much like `defadvice' does.
672
673 ** New frameset.el package.
674 It provides a set of operations to save a frameset (the state of all
675 or a subset of the existing frames and windows, somewhat similar to a
676 frame configuration), both in-session and persistently, and restore it
677 at some point in the future.
678
679 +++
680 ** The package filenotify.el provides an interface for file system
681 notifications. It requires, that Emacs is compiled with one of the
682 low-level libraries gfilenotify.c, inotify.c or w32notify.c.
683
684 \f
685 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
686
687 ** `kill-region' lost its `yank-handler' optional argument.
688
689 ** `(input-pending-p)' no longer runs other timers which are ready to
690 run. The new optional CHECK-TIMERS param allows for the prior behavior.
691
692 ** `defvar' and `defcustom' in a let-binding affect the "external" default.
693
694 ** The syntax of ?» and ?« is now punctuation instead of matched parens.
695 Some languages match those as »...« and others as «...» so better stay neutral.
696
697 ** The default file coding for Emacs Lisp files is now utf-8.
698 (See file-coding-system-alist.) In most cases, this change is transparent, but
699 files that contain unusual characters without specifying an explicit coding
700 system may fail to load with obscure errors.
701 You should either convert them to utf-8 or add an explicit `coding:' cookie.
702
703 ** overriding-terminal-local-map does not replace the local keymaps any more.
704 It used to disable the minor mode, major mode, and text-property keymaps,
705 whereas now it simply has higher precedence.
706
707 ** Default process filters and sentinels are not nil any more.
708 Instead they default to a function which does what the nil value used to do.
709
710 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
711 Just as was the case in Emacs-22 and before, decoding of tty input according to
712 keyboard-coding-system is not performed in read-event any more. But contrary
713 to that past, it is still done before input-decode-map/function-key-map/...
714
715 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
716
717 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
718 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
719 value when looking up variables.
720
721 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
722 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
723 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
724
725 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
726 special-forms any more.
727
728 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
729 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
730 spurious warnings about an unused var.
731
732 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
733 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
734 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
735 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
736 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
737
738 ** `visited-file-modtime' now returns -1 for nonexistent files.
739 Formerly it returned a list (-1 LOW USEC PSEC), but this was ambiguous
740 in the presence of files with negative time stamps.
741
742 ** The cars of the elements in `interpreter-mode-alist' are now treated
743 as regexps rather than literal strings. Technically this is an
744 incompatible change, but unless you are using interpreter-mode-alist
745 for something (not just adding elements to it), it ought not to affect you.
746
747 \f
748 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
749
750 ** New function get-pos-property.
751
752 ** New hook `pre-redisplay-function'.
753
754 +++
755 ** Functions that pop up menus and dialogs now work on all terminal types,
756 including TTYs.
757 This includes `x-popup-menu', `x-popup-dialog', `message-box',
758 `yes-or-no-p', etc.
759
760 The function `display-popup-menus-p' will now return non-nil for a
761 display or frame whenever a mouse is supported on that display or
762 frame.
763
764 ** New bool-vector set operation functions:
765 *** `bool-vector-exclusive-or'
766 *** `bool-vector-union'
767 *** `bool-vector-intersection'
768 *** `bool-vector-set-difference'
769 *** `bool-vector-not'
770 *** `bool-vector-subsetp'
771 *** `bool-vector-count-consecutive'
772 *** `bool-vector-count-population'
773
774 ** Comparison functions =, <, >, <=, >= now take many arguments.
775
776 ** The second argument of `eval' can now be a lexical-environment.
777
778 ** `with-demoted-errors' takes an additional argument `format'.
779 +++
780 ** New function `define-error'.
781
782 ** New hook `tty-setup-hook'.
783
784 +++
785 ** New macro with-eval-after-load. Like eval-after-load, but better behaved.
786
787 ** New library helpers.el for misc helper functions
788 *** `hash-table-keys'
789 *** `hash-table-values'
790 *** `string-join`
791 *** `string-trim-left'
792 *** `string-trim-right'
793 *** `string-trim'
794
795 ** Obsoleted functions:
796 *** `log10'
797 *** `dont-compile'
798 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
799 *** `field-complete'
800 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
801 *** `isearch-nonincremental-exit-minibuffer'
802 *** `isearch-filter-visible'
803 *** `generic-make-keywords-list'
804
805 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
806 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
807 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
808 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
809 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
810
811 ** `byte-compile-interactive-only-functions' is now obsolete.
812 It has been replaced by the symbol property 'interactive-only.
813
814 ** `split-string' now takes an optional argument TRIM.
815 The value, if non-nil, is a regexp that specifies what to trim from
816 the start and end of each substring.
817
818 ** New function `string-suffix-p'.
819
820 ** `get-upcase-table' is obsoleted by the new `case-table-get-table'.
821
822 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
823 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
824 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
825 `glib' API, or the 'inotify' API (on GNU/Linux systems only). On
826 MS-Windows systems, this is supported for Windows XP and newer
827 versions.
828
829 ** Changes in autorevert.el
830
831 ---
832 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
833 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
834 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
835 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
836 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
837 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
838
839 ---
840 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
841 of remote files when set to non-nil.
842
843 ** Face changes
844
845 *** The function `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
846 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
847 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
848 property using the supplied face spec.
849
850 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
851 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
852
853 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
854 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
855
856 *** New face spec attribute :distant-foreground
857 specifies foreground to use if background color is near the foreground
858 color that would otherwise have been used.
859
860 ** Image API
861
862 +++
863 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
864 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
865 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
866
867 +++
868 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
869 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
870
871 +++
872 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
873 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
874
875 *** You can change the speed of animated images.
876
877 ** Changes in encoding and decoding of text
878
879 ---
880 *** New coding-system `prefer-utf-8'.
881 This is like `undecided' but prefers UTF-8 on decoding if the text to
882 be decoded does not contain any invalid UTF-8 sequences. On encoding,
883 any non-ASCII characters are automatically encoded as UTF-8.
884
885 ---
886 *** New attributes of coding-systems whose type is `undecided'.
887 Two new attributes, `:inhibit-null-byte-detection' and
888 `:inhibit-iso-escape-detection', determine how to detect encoding of
889 text that includes null bytes and ISO-2022 escape sequences,
890 respectively. Each of these attributes can be either nil, zero, or
891 t. If it is t, decoding text ignores null bytes and, respectively,
892 ISO-2022 sequences. If it is nil, null bytes cause text to be decoded
893 with no-conversion and ISO-2022 sequences cause Emacs to assume the
894 text is encoded in one of the ISO-2022 encodings, such as
895 iso-2022-7bit. If the value is zero, Emacs consults the variables
896 inhibit-null-byte-detection and inhibit-iso-escape-detection, which
897 see.
898 The new attribute `:prefer-utf-8', if non-nil, causes Emacs to prefer
899 UTF-8 encoding and decoding, whenever possible.
900
901 These attributes are only meaningful for coding-systems of type
902 `undecided'. (The type of a coding-system is determined by its
903 `:coding-type' attribute and can be accessed by calling the
904 `coding-system-type' function.)
905
906 ** The function `set-visited-file-modtime' now accepts a 0 or -1 argument
907 with the same interpretation as the returned value of `visited-file-modtime'.
908
909 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
910 ** New functions special-form-p and macrop.
911 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
912 text-property on the first char.
913
914 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
915 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
916
917 ** The lock for 'DIR/FILE' is now 'DIR/.#FILE' and may be a regular file.
918 When you edit DIR/FILE, Emacs normally creates a symbolic link
919 DIR/.#FILE as a lock that warns other instances of Emacs that DIR/FILE
920 is being edited. Formerly, if there was already a non-symlink file
921 named DIR/.#FILE, Emacs fell back on the lock names DIR/.#FILE.0
922 through DIR/.#FILE.9. These fallbacks have been removed, so that
923 Emacs now no longer locks DIR/FILE in that case.
924
925 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
926 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
927
928 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
929 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
930 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
931 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
932
933 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
934 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
935 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
936
937 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
938
939 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
940 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
941 and ACL entries.
942
943 ** The `common-substring' argument of display-completion-list is obsolete.
944 Either use `completion-all-completions' which already returns highlighted
945 strings (including for partial or substring completion) or call
946 `completion-hilit-commonality' to add the highlight.
947
948 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
949
950 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
951 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
952 meant to be used by other packages.
953
954 \f
955 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
956
957 ** The procedure for building Emacs on MS-Windows has changed.
958 It is now built by running the same configure script as on all other
959 platforms. This requires the MSYS environment and MinGW development
960 tools. See the updated instructions in nt/INSTALL for details.
961
962 Using the Posix configure script and Makefile's also means a change in
963 the directory structure of the Emacs installation on Windows. It is
964 now the same as on GNU and Unix systems. In particular, the auxiliary
965 programs, such as cmdproxy.exe and hexl.exe, are in
966 libexec/emacs/VERSION/i686-pc-mingw32 (where VERSION is the Emacs
967 version), version-independent site-lisp is in share/emacs/site-lisp,
968 version-specific Lisp files are in share/emacs/VERSION/lisp and in
969 share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, Info docs are in share/info, and data
970 files are in share/emacs/VERSION/etc. (Emacs knows about all these
971 directories and will find the files in there automatically; there's no
972 need to set any variables due to this change.)
973
974 +++
975 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
976 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
977 directory where Emacs was running.
978
979 +++
980 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
981 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
982 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
983 modifying it has no effect.
984
985 ---
986 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
987 This allows to avoid losing your edits if the same file is being
988 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
989 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
990 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
991
992 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
993 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
994 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
995 native is the default.
996
997 \f
998 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
999
1000 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
1001 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
1002 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
1003 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
1004 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
1005 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
1006
1007 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
1008 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
1009
1010 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
1011 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
1012
1013 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
1014 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
1015 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
1016 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
1017 the results may be useful to developers.
1018
1019 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
1020 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
1021 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
1022 check that this option enables.
1023
1024 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
1025 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
1026
1027 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
1028 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
1029 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
1030 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
1031 links between the various manuals.
1032
1033 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
1034 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
1035 to "emacs-VERSION".
1036
1037 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
1038
1039 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
1040 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
1041 you want them.
1042
1043 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
1044 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
1045 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
1046
1047 \f
1048 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
1049
1050 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
1051 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
1052 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
1053
1054 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
1055
1056 \f
1057 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
1058
1059 ** Help
1060
1061 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
1062 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
1063 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
1064 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
1065 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
1066
1067 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
1068 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
1069 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
1070
1071 ** ImageMagick
1072
1073 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
1074 :background image specification property.
1075
1076 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
1077 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
1078 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
1079 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
1080
1081 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
1082 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
1083 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
1084
1085 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
1086 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
1087 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
1088 treated as images.
1089
1090 *** ImageMagick images now support the :max-width and :max-height
1091 keywords.
1092
1093 *** Some data types aren't auto-detected by ImageMagick. Adding
1094 :format to `create-image' may help if the content type is in the
1095 new variable `image-format-suffixes'.
1096
1097 ** Minibuffer
1098
1099 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
1100 next and previous path separator, respectively.
1101
1102 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
1103 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
1104 non-nil before enabling the mode.
1105
1106 ** Mode line
1107
1108 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
1109 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
1110 that does not have its own specialized help text.
1111
1112 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
1113 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
1114
1115 ** Server and client
1116
1117 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
1118 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
1119 or expression to evaluate.
1120
1121 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
1122
1123 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
1124 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
1125 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
1126 that support backtraces.
1127
1128 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
1129 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
1130
1131 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
1132 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
1133 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
1134
1135 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
1136 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
1137
1138 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
1139 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
1140
1141 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
1142 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
1143 files (use this with caution).
1144
1145 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
1146 variables on remote hosts.
1147
1148 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
1149 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
1150
1151 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
1152 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
1153
1154 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
1155 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
1156 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
1157 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
1158
1159 ** Internationalization
1160
1161 *** New language environment: Persian.
1162
1163 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
1164
1165 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
1166
1167 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
1168
1169 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
1170 menu/toolbar.
1171
1172 \f
1173 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
1174
1175 ** Search and Replace
1176
1177 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
1178 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
1179 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
1180 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
1181 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
1182
1183 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
1184 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
1185
1186 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
1187 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
1188 The default is nil.
1189
1190 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
1191 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
1192 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
1193
1194 ** Navigation commands
1195
1196 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
1197
1198 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
1199
1200 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
1201 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
1202
1203 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
1204 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
1205 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
1206
1207 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
1208 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
1209 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
1210
1211 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
1212
1213 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
1214 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
1215
1216 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
1217 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
1218 accidentally type.
1219
1220 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
1221 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
1222
1223 ** Registers
1224
1225 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
1226
1227 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
1228 the text to put between collected texts for use with
1229 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
1230
1231 \f
1232 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
1233
1234 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
1235
1236 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
1237 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
1238 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
1239 use the "cl--" prefix).
1240
1241 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
1242 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
1243 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
1244 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
1245 rather than `cl-foo*'.
1246
1247 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
1248 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
1249
1250 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
1251 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
1252 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
1253 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
1254
1255 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
1256 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
1257 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
1258 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
1259 is in use.
1260
1261 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
1262 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
1263 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
1264
1265 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
1266 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
1267 to nil rather than being made unbound.
1268
1269 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
1270 (use features from gv.el instead):
1271 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
1272 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
1273 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
1274 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
1275
1276 ** Diff mode
1277
1278 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
1279 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
1280 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
1281 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
1282 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
1283
1284 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
1285 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
1286 changes in context diffs.
1287
1288 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
1289 whitespace introduced by a diff.
1290
1291 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
1292
1293 ** Python mode
1294
1295 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
1296 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
1297 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
1298 text based shell).
1299
1300 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
1301 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
1302 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
1303 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
1304 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
1305
1306 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
1307
1308 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
1309
1310 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
1311 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
1312
1313 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
1314 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
1315
1316 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
1317 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
1318
1319 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
1320 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
1321
1322 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
1323 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
1324 No longer relevant.
1325
1326 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
1327 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
1328 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
1329 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
1330 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
1331 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
1332 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
1333 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
1334 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
1335 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
1336 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
1337 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
1338 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
1339 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
1340 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
1341 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
1342 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
1343 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
1344 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
1345 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
1346 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
1347
1348 ** D-Bus
1349
1350 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
1351
1352 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
1353
1354 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
1355 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
1356
1357 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
1358 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
1359
1360 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
1361
1362 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
1363 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
1364
1365 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
1366
1367 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
1368
1369 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
1370 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
1371
1372 ** Dired
1373
1374 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
1375 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
1376 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
1377
1378 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
1379 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
1380 file at point.
1381
1382 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
1383 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
1384 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
1385
1386 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff') has changed.
1387 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
1388 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
1389
1390 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
1391 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
1392
1393 ** ERC
1394
1395 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
1396 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
1397
1398 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
1399 channel keys found.
1400
1401 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
1402 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
1403
1404 ** reStructuredText mode
1405
1406 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
1407 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
1408 and improved.
1409
1410 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
1411
1412 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
1413 Sphinx support has been improved.
1414
1415 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
1416
1417 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
1418
1419 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
1420
1421 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
1422
1423 ** Ruby mode
1424
1425 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
1426 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
1427 steps definitions.
1428
1429 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
1430
1431 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
1432
1433 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
1434
1435 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
1436
1437 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
1438
1439 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
1440 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
1441 and `end-of-defun-function'.
1442
1443 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
1444 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
1445
1446 ** Shell Script mode
1447
1448 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
1449
1450 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
1451
1452 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
1453
1454 ** VHDL mode
1455
1456 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
1457
1458 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
1459
1460 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
1461
1462 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
1463
1464 ** Apropos
1465
1466 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
1467 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
1468 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
1469
1470 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
1471 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
1472
1473 ** Buffer Menu
1474
1475 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
1476
1477 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
1478 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
1479
1480 ** Calc
1481
1482 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
1483 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
1484 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
1485
1486 ** Calendar
1487
1488 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
1489 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
1490
1491 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
1492
1493 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
1494 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
1495
1496 ** CEDET
1497
1498 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
1499 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
1500 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
1501
1502 *** EDE
1503
1504 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
1505 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
1506
1507 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
1508
1509 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
1510
1511 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
1512
1513 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
1514
1515 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
1516
1517 *** Semantic
1518
1519 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
1520
1521 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
1522
1523 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
1524 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
1525 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
1526
1527 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
1528
1529 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
1530
1531 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
1532
1533 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
1534
1535 **** Improved tooltip completion.
1536
1537 *** SRecode
1538
1539 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
1540
1541 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
1542 include differentiation.
1543
1544 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
1545 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
1546 mode (like Java).
1547
1548 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
1549
1550 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
1551 default -> c++ -> arduino.
1552
1553 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
1554
1555 ** Customize
1556
1557 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
1558
1559 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
1560 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
1561 these commands now).
1562
1563 ** Term
1564
1565 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
1566 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
1567
1568 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
1569 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
1570 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
1571
1572 ** Tramp
1573
1574 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
1575
1576 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
1577
1578 ** URL
1579
1580 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
1581 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
1582 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
1583 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
1584 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
1585
1586 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
1587 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
1588 in case that is not properly encoded.
1589
1590 *** New command `url-cookie-list' displays all the current cookies, and
1591 allows deleting selected cookies.
1592
1593 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
1594 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
1595 server properties.
1596
1597 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
1598 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
1599 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
1600
1601 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
1602 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
1603 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
1604
1605 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
1606 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
1607
1608 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
1609 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
1610
1611 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
1612 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
1613
1614 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
1615
1616 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
1617 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
1618 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
1619
1620 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
1621 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
1622 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
1623 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
1624
1625 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
1626 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
1627 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
1628
1629 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
1630 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
1631
1632 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
1633 it is enabled.
1634
1635 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
1636 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
1637
1638 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
1639
1640 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
1641 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
1642 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
1643 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
1644 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
1645 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
1646 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
1647 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
1648 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
1649 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
1650 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
1651 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
1652 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
1653 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
1654 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
1655 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
1656 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
1657 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
1658 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
1659 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
1660 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
1661 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
1662 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
1663
1664 ** Obsolete packages
1665
1666 *** assoc.el
1667 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
1668 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
1669 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
1670 *** bruce.el
1671 *** cust-print.el
1672 *** ledit.el
1673 *** mailpost.el
1674 *** mouse-sel.el
1675 *** patcomp.el
1676
1677 \f
1678 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1679
1680 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
1681 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
1682 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
1683 `custom-variable-p'.
1684
1685 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
1686 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
1687 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
1688 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
1689
1690 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
1691 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
1692 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
1693 sequence in later calls.
1694
1695 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
1696 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
1697 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
1698
1699 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
1700 It does so even if the window was selected before.
1701
1702 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
1703 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
1704 depends on the graphical library.
1705
1706 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
1707 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
1708
1709 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
1710
1711 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
1712 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
1713 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
1714 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
1715 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
1716
1717 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
1718 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
1719 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
1720
1721 ** Miscellaneous name changes
1722 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
1723 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
1724
1725 *** Renamed functions
1726 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
1727 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
1728 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
1729 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
1730 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
1731 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
1732 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
1733 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
1734
1735 *** Renamed hooks
1736 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
1737 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1738 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1739 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1740 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1741
1742 *** Renamed variables
1743 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1744 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1745 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1746
1747 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1748 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1749 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1750 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1751 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1752 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1753 *** `set-char-table-default'
1754 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1755 *** `compile-internal'
1756 *** `modeline'
1757 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1758 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1759 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1760 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1761 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1762 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1763 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1764 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1765 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1766 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1767
1768 \f
1769 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1770
1771 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1772 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1773 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1774 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1775
1776 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1777 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1778 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1779 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1780 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1781 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1782 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1783
1784 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1785 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1786 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1787 CPU time or memory allocations.
1788
1789 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1790 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1791
1792 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1793
1794 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1795
1796 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1797 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1798 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1799 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1800 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1801
1802 ** Completion
1803
1804 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1805 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1806
1807 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1808 table, but with a different prefix.
1809
1810 ** Debugger
1811
1812 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1813 These do not trigger the debugger.
1814
1815 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1816 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1817
1818 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1819 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1820 to work out which code is doing something.
1821
1822 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1823 recursive invocations.
1824
1825 ** Window handling
1826
1827 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1828 fit the contents.
1829
1830 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1831 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1832
1833 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1834 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1835
1836 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1837 reused.
1838
1839 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1840 window's point when switching buffers.
1841
1842 *** New display action alist entry `no-display-ok' to indicate the
1843 caller of `display-buffer' is ready to handle the case of not
1844 displaying the buffer.
1845
1846 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1847 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1848
1849 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1850 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1851
1852 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1853 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1854 selected.
1855
1856 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1857 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1858
1859 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1860 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1861
1862 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1863 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1864
1865 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1866
1867 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1868 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1869 in Emacs 24.1:
1870 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1871 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1872 **** `display-buffer-function'
1873 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1874 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1875 **** `special-display-function'
1876 **** `special-display-regexps'
1877
1878 ** Time
1879
1880 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1881 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1882 by the underlying C implementation.
1883
1884 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1885 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1886 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1887 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1888 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1889 stamps are still accepted.
1890
1891 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1892 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1893 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1894 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1895
1896 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1897 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1898
1899 ** EIEIO
1900
1901 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
1902
1903 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
1904 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
1905 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
1906 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
1907 warning is issued.
1908
1909 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
1910 without evaluation of suspicious code.
1911
1912 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
1913 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
1914
1915 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
1916 of filename support to generated symbols.
1917
1918 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1919 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1920 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1921 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1922 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1923
1924 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1925
1926 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1927
1928 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1929
1930 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1931
1932 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1933
1934 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1935 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1936
1937 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1938
1939 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1940
1941 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1942
1943 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1944
1945 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1946
1947 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1948
1949 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1950
1951 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1952
1953 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1954
1955 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1956 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1957 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1958 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1959 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1960 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1961 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1962 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1963
1964 \f
1965 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1966
1967 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1968 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1969
1970 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1971 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1972 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1973 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1974 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1975
1976 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1977 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1978 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1979
1980 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1981
1982 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1983 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1984
1985 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1986
1987 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1988 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1989
1990 \f
1991 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1992
1993 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1994
1995 \f
1996 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1997
1998 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1999 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
2000 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
2001 --without-gconf.
2002
2003 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
2004 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2005 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2006 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
2007
2008 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
2009 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2010 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2011 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
2012
2013 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
2014 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2015 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2016 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
2017 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
2018
2019 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
2020 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2021 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2022 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
2023
2024 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
2025 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
2026
2027 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
2028 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
2029 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
2030 to about 2 GiB.
2031
2032 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
2033 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
2034 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
2035
2036 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
2037 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
2038 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
2039
2040 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
2041 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
2042
2043 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
2044 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
2045
2046 \f
2047 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
2048
2049 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
2050 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
2051 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
2052
2053 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
2054 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
2055 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
2056 Nextstep builds).
2057
2058 \f
2059 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
2060
2061 ** Completion
2062
2063 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
2064 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
2065
2066 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
2067
2068 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
2069 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
2070
2071 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
2072
2073 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
2074 default completion style in certain circumstances.
2075
2076 *** New completion style `substring'.
2077
2078 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
2079
2080 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
2081
2082 ** Mail changes
2083
2084 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
2085 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
2086 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
2087 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
2088 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
2089 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
2090
2091 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
2092 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
2093 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
2094 command.
2095
2096 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
2097 and Mail mode changes
2098
2099 ** Emacs server and client changes
2100
2101 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
2102
2103 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
2104
2105 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
2106 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
2107
2108 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
2109 its exit status is 1.
2110
2111 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
2112 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
2113 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
2114
2115 ** Internationalization changes
2116
2117 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
2118 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
2119 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
2120 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
2121 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
2122 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
2123
2124 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
2125 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
2126
2127 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2128 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
2129 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
2130 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
2131 paragraph.
2132
2133 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
2134 the right window edge.
2135
2136 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
2137 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
2138 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
2139 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
2140 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
2141
2142 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
2143 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
2144
2145 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
2146 (U+2010 and U+2011).
2147
2148 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
2149 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
2150 automatically select it.
2151
2152 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
2153 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
2154 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
2155
2156 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
2157 selected for installation.
2158
2159 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
2160
2161 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
2162 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
2163 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
2164
2165 ** Custom theme changes
2166
2167 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
2168 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
2169
2170 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
2171 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
2172 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
2173 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
2174 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
2175 built-in Custom themes.
2176
2177 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
2178 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
2179 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
2180 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
2181
2182 ** Improved GTK integration
2183
2184 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
2185 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
2186
2187 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
2188 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
2189 the default is taken from desktop settings.
2190
2191 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
2192 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
2193 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
2194 entries for this.
2195
2196 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
2197 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
2198
2199 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
2200 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
2201
2202 ** Graphical interface changes
2203
2204 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
2205 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
2206 displayed as a space.
2207
2208 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
2209 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
2210
2211 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
2212 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
2213 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
2214
2215 ** Exiting changes
2216
2217 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
2218 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
2219
2220 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
2221 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
2222 do the right thing in batch mode.
2223
2224 ** Scrolling changes
2225
2226 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
2227 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
2228 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
2229 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
2230
2231 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
2232
2233 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
2234 scroll a line instead of full screen.
2235
2236 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
2237 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
2238
2239 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
2240 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
2241 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
2242 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
2243 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
2244
2245 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
2246 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
2247 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
2248 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
2249 margin.
2250
2251 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
2252 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
2253
2254 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
2255 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
2256 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
2257 now includes the SELinux context.
2258
2259 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2260 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
2261
2262 ** Trash changes
2263
2264 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
2265 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
2266
2267 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
2268 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
2269
2270 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
2271
2272 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
2273 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
2274 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
2275 subdirectories.
2276
2277 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
2278 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
2279 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
2280 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
2281 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
2282
2283 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
2284 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
2285
2286 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
2287 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
2288 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
2289 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
2290 corresponding way.
2291
2292 ** Window changes
2293
2294 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
2295 in the quitted window.
2296
2297 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
2298 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
2299
2300 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
2301
2302 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
2303 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
2304 for choosing the displaying window).
2305
2306 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
2307 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
2308
2309 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
2310 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
2311
2312 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
2313 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
2314 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
2315 from which such space was obtained.
2316
2317 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
2318 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
2319 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
2320 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
2321 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
2322
2323 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
2324 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
2325 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
2326
2327 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
2328 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
2329
2330 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
2331 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
2332 been shown in a specific window.
2333
2334 ** Minibuffer changes
2335
2336 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
2337 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
2338 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
2339
2340 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
2341 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
2342 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
2343
2344 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
2345
2346 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
2347
2348 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
2349 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
2350 successful operation.
2351
2352 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
2353 for `list-colors-display'.
2354
2355 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
2356
2357 \f
2358 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
2359
2360 ** Search changes
2361
2362 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
2363 `isearch-yank-line'.
2364
2365 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
2366 `isearch-yank-kill'.
2367
2368 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
2369
2370 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
2371
2372 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
2373 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
2374 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
2375 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
2376 alias for it.
2377
2378 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
2379 also deletes newlines around point.
2380
2381 ** Deletion changes
2382
2383 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
2384 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
2385 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
2386 instead.
2387
2388 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
2389 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
2390 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
2391
2392 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
2393 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
2394 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
2395 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
2396
2397 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
2398
2399 ** Selection changes.
2400
2401 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
2402 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
2403 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
2404 mouse commands use the primary selection.
2405
2406 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
2407 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
2408
2409 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
2410 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
2411 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
2412 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
2413
2414 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
2415 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
2416 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
2417 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
2418 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
2419
2420 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
2421
2422 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
2423 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
2424 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
2425
2426 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
2427
2428 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
2429 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
2430 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
2431
2432 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
2433 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
2434
2435 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
2436 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
2437 between applications.
2438
2439 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
2440
2441 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
2442 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
2443 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
2444 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
2445 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
2446
2447 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
2448
2449 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
2450 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
2451
2452 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
2453 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
2454 number to count from and for a format string.
2455
2456 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
2457 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
2458 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
2459 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
2460 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
2461
2462 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
2463 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
2464 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
2465 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
2466 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
2467
2468 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
2469 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
2470 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
2471 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
2472 follows `replace-match'.
2473
2474 \f
2475 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2476
2477 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
2478
2479 ** BibTeX mode
2480
2481 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
2482 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
2483 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
2484 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
2485
2486 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
2487
2488 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
2489
2490 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
2491
2492 ** Browse-url
2493
2494 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
2495
2496 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
2497 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
2498
2499 ** Calc
2500
2501 *** Support for musical notes.
2502
2503 *** Support for logarithmic units.
2504
2505 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
2506 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
2507
2508 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
2509
2510 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
2511
2512 *** New "O" option prefix.
2513
2514 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
2515
2516 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
2517
2518 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
2519 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
2520
2521 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
2522 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
2523
2524 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
2525 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
2526 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
2527
2528 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
2529
2530 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
2531 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
2532
2533 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
2534 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
2535 Use `appt-activate' instead.
2536
2537 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2538 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
2539 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
2540
2541 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2542 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
2543
2544 ** CC Mode
2545
2546 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
2547 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
2548
2549 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
2550
2551 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
2552 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
2553 not the top level.
2554
2555 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
2556 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
2557 parsed as a statement continuation.
2558
2559 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
2560
2561 ** Compilation mode
2562
2563 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
2564 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
2565
2566 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
2567 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
2568 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
2569
2570 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
2571 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
2572 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
2573 buffer was used.
2574
2575 ** Customize
2576
2577 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
2578 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
2579 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
2580
2581 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
2582 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
2583
2584 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
2585
2586 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
2587 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
2588
2589 ** D-Bus
2590
2591 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
2592 or session bus.
2593
2594 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
2595 optionally do not register names.
2596
2597 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
2598 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
2599
2600 ** Dired-x
2601
2602 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
2603 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
2604 instead of using the current buffer.
2605
2606 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
2607 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
2608
2609 ** ERC changes
2610
2611 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
2612 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
2613
2614 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
2615 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
2616 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
2617 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
2618
2619 ** Eshell changes
2620
2621 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
2622 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
2623 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
2624
2625 ** gdb-mi
2626
2627 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
2628 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
2629 debugging of several threads.
2630
2631 ** Image mode
2632
2633 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
2634 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
2635
2636 ** Info
2637
2638 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
2639 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
2640 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
2641 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
2642 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
2643
2644 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
2645 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
2646 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
2647 by default.
2648
2649 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
2650
2651 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
2652
2653 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
2654 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
2655 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
2656
2657 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
2658 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
2659
2660 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
2661
2662 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
2663
2664 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
2665 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
2666 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
2667 default), this performs tag completion.
2668
2669 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
2670 See ORG-NEWS for details.
2671
2672 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
2673 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
2674 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
2675
2676 ** Rmail
2677
2678 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
2679 in the Rmail incoming message.
2680
2681 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
2682 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
2683 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
2684
2685 ** Shell mode
2686
2687 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
2688 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
2689 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
2690
2691 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
2692 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
2693
2694 ** SMTPmail
2695
2696 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
2697 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
2698 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
2699 to change this.
2700
2701 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
2702 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
2703 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
2704 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
2705 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
2706 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
2707 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
2708 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
2709
2710 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
2711 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
2712
2713 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
2714
2715 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
2716
2717 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
2718 the credentials file.
2719
2720 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
2721 If you had that set, you need to put
2722
2723 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
2724
2725 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
2726
2727 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
2728 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
2729 to the address you wish to use instead.
2730
2731 ** SQL mode
2732
2733 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
2734 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
2735
2736 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
2737 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
2738 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
2739 connection is established.
2740
2741 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
2742 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
2743
2744 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
2745 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
2746 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
2747 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
2748
2749 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
2750 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
2751 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
2752 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
2753 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
2754 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
2755
2756 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
2757 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
2758
2759 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
2760 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2761 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2762
2763 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2764 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2765
2766 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2767
2768 ** TeX modes
2769
2770 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2771
2772 ** Tramp
2773
2774 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2775
2776 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2777 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2778
2779 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2780 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2781
2782 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2783 default value to "".
2784
2785 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2786 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2787
2788 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2789 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2790 the degree of parallelism.
2791
2792 ** VC and related modes
2793
2794 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2795 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2796 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2797 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2798 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2799
2800 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2801
2802 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2803 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2804 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2805 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2806 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2807
2808 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2809 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2810
2811 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2812 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2813 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2814 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2815 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2816 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2817
2818 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2819 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2820
2821 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2822 this was not advertised at the time.
2823
2824 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2825 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2826 this was not advertised at the time.
2827
2828 ** Obsolete modes
2829
2830 *** abbrevlist.el
2831
2832 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2833
2834 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2835 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2836 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2837 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2838
2839 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2840
2841 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2842
2843 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2844
2845 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2846 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2847
2848 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2849
2850 ** Miscellaneous
2851
2852 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2853 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2854
2855 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2856 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2857
2858 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2859
2860 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2861
2862 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2863
2864 \f
2865 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2866
2867 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2868 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2869
2870 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2871 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2872 matching closing one.
2873
2874 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2875 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2876 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2877 electric-indent-functions.
2878
2879 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2880 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2881 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2882
2883 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2884 from which other modes can be derived.
2885
2886 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2887
2888 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2889 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2890 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2891 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2892 secrets.
2893
2894 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2895 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2896
2897 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2898 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2899
2900 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2901
2902 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2903 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2904 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2905 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2906 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2907 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2908
2909 \f
2910 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2911
2912 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2913 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2914
2915 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2916
2917 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2918 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2919 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2920 command still toggles the minor mode.
2921
2922 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2923 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2924 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2925 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2926 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2927
2928 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2929 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2930 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2931 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2932 argument `bidi-class'.
2933
2934 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2935 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2936 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2937 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2938
2939 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2940 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2941 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2942 of the header line.
2943
2944 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2945 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2946 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2947 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2948 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2949 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2950 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2951
2952 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2953 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2954 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2955 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2956 older Emacsen too.
2957
2958 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2959 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2960 replaced all known uses.
2961
2962 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2963 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2964 major mode is special).
2965
2966 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2967
2968 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2969 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2970 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2971 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2972 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2973 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2974
2975 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2976 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2977
2978 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2979 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2980 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2981 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2982
2983 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2984 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2985 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2986
2987 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2988
2989 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2990 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2991 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2992
2993 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2994 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2995 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2996 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2997 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2998 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2999 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
3000 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
3001 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
3002 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
3003 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
3004 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
3005 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
3006 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
3007 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
3008 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
3009 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
3010 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
3011 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
3012 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
3013 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
3014
3015 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
3016 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
3017
3018 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
3019 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
3020 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
3021 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
3022 *** `e' (`float-e').
3023
3024 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
3025 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
3026
3027 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
3028 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
3029 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
3030 `finder-keywords-hash'.
3031
3032 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
3033 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
3034 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
3035
3036 \f
3037 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
3038
3039 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
3040 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
3041 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
3042 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
3043 file.
3044
3045 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
3046 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
3047
3048 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
3049 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
3050
3051 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
3052
3053 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
3054 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
3055
3056 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
3057 declared as dynamically bound.
3058
3059 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
3060
3061 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
3062 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
3063 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
3064
3065 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
3066
3067 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
3068 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
3069
3070 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
3071 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
3072 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
3073 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
3074 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
3075 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
3076
3077 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
3078 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
3079 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
3080
3081 ** Window changes
3082
3083 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
3084 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
3085 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
3086 buffer) in the window tree.
3087
3088 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
3089 windows.
3090
3091 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
3092 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
3093 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
3094 act on any window including internal ones.
3095
3096 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
3097 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
3098 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
3099 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
3100 and `window-body-height' are provided.
3101
3102 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
3103 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
3104 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
3105 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
3106 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
3107
3108 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
3109 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
3110 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
3111 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
3112 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
3113 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
3114
3115 *** Window resizing functions.
3116 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
3117 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
3118 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
3119
3120 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
3121 live window on that frame instead.
3122
3123 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
3124 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
3125 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
3126 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
3127 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
3128 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
3129
3130 *** Window-local buffer lists.
3131 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
3132 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
3133 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
3134 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
3135 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
3136
3137 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
3138 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
3139 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
3140 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
3141
3142 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
3143 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
3144 The old names are kept as aliases.
3145
3146 *** Display actions
3147
3148 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
3149 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
3150 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
3151 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
3152
3153 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
3154
3155 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
3156 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
3157 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
3158 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
3159 are user-customizable variables.
3160
3161 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
3162
3163 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
3164 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
3165 frame or window as an Elisp object.
3166
3167 ** Completion
3168
3169 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
3170 properties of the current completion:
3171 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
3172 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
3173
3174 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
3175 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
3176
3177 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
3178
3179 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
3180 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
3181 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
3182 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
3183 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
3184 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
3185 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
3186
3187 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
3188 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
3189 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
3190
3191 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
3192 behavior of `completing-read'.
3193
3194 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
3195 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
3196
3197 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
3198 Instead, the offending function is removed.
3199
3200 ** New hook types
3201
3202 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
3203 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
3204 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
3205 non-nil return value.
3206
3207 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
3208 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
3209 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
3210 advertised at the time.)
3211
3212 ** Debugger changes
3213
3214 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
3215 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
3216
3217 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
3218
3219 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
3220
3221 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
3222 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
3223 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
3224
3225 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
3226 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
3227
3228 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
3229 named Emacs server instances.
3230
3231 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
3232 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
3233
3234 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
3235 for higher-resolution time stamps.
3236
3237 ** New input reading functions
3238
3239 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
3240 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
3241
3242 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
3243 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
3244 invalid input.
3245
3246 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
3247
3248 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
3249 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
3250 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
3251 obsolete alias.
3252
3253 ** Syntax parsing changes
3254
3255 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
3256 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
3257 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
3258 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
3259 Together with this new variable come a new hook
3260 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
3261 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
3262 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
3263 syntactic rules.
3264
3265 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
3266
3267 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
3268
3269 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
3270
3271 ** Major and minor mode changes
3272
3273 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
3274 as well as those in the -*- line.
3275
3276 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
3277 should be derived.
3278
3279 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
3280 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
3281 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
3282
3283 **** New minor modes `prettify-symbols-mode' and
3284 `global-prettify-symbols-mode' let the user enable symbol
3285 prettification (replacing a string like "lambda" with the Greek lambda
3286 character).
3287
3288 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
3289 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
3290
3291 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
3292 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
3293 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
3294
3295 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
3296
3297 ** File-handling changes
3298
3299 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
3300 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
3301 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
3302 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
3303
3304 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
3305
3306 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
3307 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
3308 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
3309
3310 ** Image API
3311
3312 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
3313
3314 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
3315
3316 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
3317
3318 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
3319 is being animated.
3320
3321 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
3322 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
3323
3324 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
3325 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
3326
3327 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
3328 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
3329 ImageMagick installation supports.
3330
3331 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
3332 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
3333 functions.
3334
3335 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
3336 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
3337
3338 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
3339 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
3340 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
3341 `image-transform-set-scale'.
3342
3343 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
3344 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
3345 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
3346 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
3347
3348 ** XML and HTML parsing
3349 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
3350 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
3351 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
3352 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
3353
3354 ** Networking and encryption changes
3355
3356 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
3357 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
3358 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
3359 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
3360 must also be supplied.
3361
3362 *** New library gnutls.el.
3363 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
3364 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
3365 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
3366 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
3367 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
3368 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
3369 greater than 0.
3370
3371 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
3372 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
3373 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
3374
3375 ** Isearch
3376
3377 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
3378
3379 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
3380 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
3381 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
3382 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
3383 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
3384 displayed with a "spinning bar".
3385
3386 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
3387 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
3388
3389 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
3390 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
3391 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
3392 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
3393 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
3394 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
3395
3396 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
3397
3398 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
3399 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
3400 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
3401 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
3402
3403 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
3404 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
3405
3406 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
3407 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
3408 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
3409 an empty uninterned symbol.
3410
3411 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
3412
3413 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
3414
3415 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
3416 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
3417
3418 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
3419 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
3420
3421 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
3422
3423 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
3424 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
3425
3426 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
3427
3428 \f
3429 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
3430
3431 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
3432 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
3433
3434 ** New configure.bat options
3435
3436 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
3437
3438 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
3439
3440 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
3441
3442 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
3443
3444 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
3445
3446 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
3447 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
3448
3449 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
3450 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
3451
3452 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
3453 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
3454
3455 \f
3456 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3457 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
3458
3459 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
3460 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
3461 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
3462 (at your option) any later version.
3463
3464 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3465 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3466 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3467 GNU General Public License for more details.
3468
3469 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3470 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
3471
3472 \f
3473 Local variables:
3474 mode: outline
3475 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
3476 end: