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