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