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