*** empty log message ***
[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / NEWS
1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-03-15
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
4
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
6 For older news, see the file ONEWS
7
8 Temporary note:
9 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
10 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
11 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
12 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
13
14 \f
15 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.4
16
17 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
18 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.0 or newer.
19
20 ---
21 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
22
23 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with elisp code.
24
25 ---
26 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
27 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
28 installed programs.
29
30 ---
31 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
32 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
33 place for game scores to be stored. This may be controlled by the
34 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
35 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
36 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
37 in each user's home directory.
38
39 ---
40 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
41 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
42 Emacs with Leim.
43
44 +++
45 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
46
47 The ELisp reference manual in Info format is built as part of the
48 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
49 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy
50 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
51
52 ---
53 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
54 the distribution.
55
56 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
57 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
58 item was added to the menu bar that makes it easy accessible
59 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
60
61 ** Support for Cygwin was added.
62
63 ---
64 ** Support for AIX 5.1 was added.
65
66 ---
67 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
68
69 ---
70 ** Support for BSD/OS 5.0 was added.
71
72 ---
73 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
74
75 ---
76 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
77 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
78
79 ---
80 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
81
82 ---
83 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
84
85 ---
86 ** A French translation of the Emacs Tutorial is available.
87
88 \f
89 * Changes in Emacs 21.4
90
91 ** Init file changes
92
93 You can now put the init files .emacs and .emacs_SHELL under
94 ~/.emacs.d or directly under ~. Emacs will find them in either place.
95
96 ** MH-E changes.
97
98 Upgraded to MH-E version 7.2. There have been major changes since
99 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
100
101 +++
102 ** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
103 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given elisp
104 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
105
106 ** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
107
108 +++
109 ** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
110 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
111 appears between the position information and the major mode.
112
113 ** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
114 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
115
116 +++
117 ** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
118 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
119 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
120 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
121 set-fringe-style.
122
123 +++
124 ** There is a new user option `mail-default-directory' that allows you
125 to specify the value of `default-directory' for mail buffers. This
126 directory is used for auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to
127 "~/".
128
129 +++
130 ** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
131 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
132 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you will in fact be able
133 to alter the file.)
134
135 ** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
136 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
137
138 ---
139 ** `ps-print' can now print Unicode characters.
140
141 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
142 ps-print, provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF fonts.
143 See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
144
145 ---
146 ** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
147 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
148 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
149
150 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
151 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
152 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories will be
153 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
154 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
155
156 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
157 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
158 t, and the status is shown.
159
160 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
161 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
162
163 +++
164 ** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
165 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
166 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
167 faces.
168
169 ** New language environments: French, Ukrainian, Windows-1251, Tajik,
170 Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, UTF-8, Windows-1255, Welsh, Latin-6,
171 Latin-7, Lithuanian, Latvian, Swedish, Slovenian, Croatian, Georgian.
172
173 ** Indian support has been updated.
174 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
175 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various
176 Indian scripts, but currently still only Devanagari is supported.
177
178 ---
179 ** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
180 ukrainian-computer, belarusian, bulgarian-bds, russian-computer,
181 vietnamese-telex, lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard,
182 latvian-keyboard, welsh, georgian, rfc1345, ucs, sgml,
183 bulgarian-phonetic, dutch, slovenian, croatian.
184
185 ---
186 ** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
187 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
188 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
189
190 ---
191 ** Many new coding systems are available by loading the `code-pages'
192 library. These include complete versions of most of those in
193 codepage.el, based on Unicode mappings.
194
195 ** The utf-8 coding system has been enhanced. Untranslatable utf-8
196 sequences (mostly representing CJK characters) are composed into
197 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk' arranges to
198 translate many utf-8 CJK character sequences into real Emacs
199 characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS system. The utf-8 coding
200 system will now encode characters from most of Emacs's one-dimensional
201 internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
202
203 ** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
204 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
205 fontset appropriately.
206
207 ** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
208 unicode.
209
210 +++
211 ** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
212 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
213 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
214 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
215 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
216 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
217 mule-unicode-... ones.
218
219 By default this translation will happen automatically on encoding.
220 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
221 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
222 possible.
223
224 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
225 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
226 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
227 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
228 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
229
230 ** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
231 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
232 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient. This is
233 controlled by user option utf-8-fragment-on-decoding.
234
235 ** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
236 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
237 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
238 command.
239
240 ---
241 ** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
242 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
243 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
244
245 +++
246 ** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
247 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
248 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
249 cursor does.
250
251 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
252 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
253 program files that include other program files.
254
255 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
256 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
257 in them.
258
259 ---
260 ** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
261 when Emacs visits them.
262
263 ---
264 ** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
265
266 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
267 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
268 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
269
270 +++
271 ** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
272 now shown as a hollow box or a thin bar. However, you can control how
273 it blinks off by setting the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
274
275
276 +++
277 ** Emacs now supports compound-text Extended Segments in X selections.
278
279 Some versions of X, notably XFree86, use Extended Segments to encode
280 in X selections characters that belong to character sets which are not
281 part of the list of approved standard encodings defined by the
282 compound text spec. An example of such non-standard encodings is
283 BIG5. The new coding system `compound-text-with-extensions' supports
284 these extensions, and is now used by default for encoding and decoding
285 X selections. If you don't want this support, set
286 `selection-coding-system' to `compound-text'.
287
288 +++
289 ** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
290 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
291 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
292 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
293
294 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
295 hscrolling will scroll the window when point gets too close to the
296 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
297 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
298 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
299 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
300
301 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
302 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
303
304 +++
305 ** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
306 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
307 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
308 TeX commands to use at startup.
309
310 +++
311 ** New display feature: focus follows mouse. If you set the variable
312 mouse-autoselect-window to non-nil value, moving the mouse to a different
313 Emacs window will select that window (minibuffer window can be selected
314 only when it is active). The default is nil, so that this feature is not
315 enabled.
316
317 +++
318 ** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
319 description various information about a character, including its
320 encodings and syntax, its text properties, overlays, and widgets at
321 point. You can get more information about some of them, by clicking
322 on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
323
324 +++
325 ** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
326 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
327 `multi-occur-by-filename-regexp' which allows you to specify the
328 buffers to search by their filename. Internally, Occur mode has been
329 rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other changes.
330
331 +++
332 ** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
333 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
334 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
335 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
336 also disable mouse highlighting.
337
338 +++
339 ** font-lock: in modes like C and Lisp where the fontification assumes that
340 an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of any string or comment,
341 font-lock now highlights any such open-paren-in-column-zero in bold-red
342 if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it can cause
343 trouble with fontification and/or indentation.
344
345 +++
346 ** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
347 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
348 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
349 prompt string.
350
351 +++
352 ** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
353 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
354 the mode line of the currently selected window.
355
356 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
357 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
358
359 ---
360 ** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
361 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
362 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
363 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
364 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
365 current date and time, current line and column number in the
366 mode-line.
367
368 ---
369 ** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
370
371 +++
372 ** Emacs can now indicate in the mode-line the presence of new e-mails
373 in a directory or in a file. See the documentation of the user option
374 `display-time-mail-directory'.
375
376 +++
377 ** The new option `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' causes Info to behave
378 like the stand-alone Info reader (from the GNU Texinfo package) as far
379 as motion between nodes and their subnodes is concerned. If it is t
380 (the default), Emacs behaves as before when you type SPC in a menu: it
381 visits the subnode pointed to by the first menu entry. If this option
382 is nil, SPC scrolls to the end of the current node, and only then goes
383 to the first menu item, like the stand-alone reader does.
384
385 This change was already in Emacs 21.1, but wasn't advertised in the
386 NEWS.
387
388 ---
389 ** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
390
391 +++
392 ** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
393 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
394 argument it toggles the mode.
395
396 Turning off PC-Selection mode restores the global key bindings
397 that were replaced by turning on the mode.
398
399 +++
400 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
401 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
402 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
403 `inhibit-startup-message' (which is also aliased as
404 `inhibit-splash-screen').
405
406 ** Changes in support of colors on character terminals
407
408 +++
409 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
410 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
411 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
412 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
413 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
414 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
415 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
416 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
417 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
418
419 ---
420 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
421 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
422 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
423 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
424 all of these colors.
425
426 ---
427 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
428
429 +++
430 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
431
432 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
433 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
434 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
435 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
436
437 ---
438 ** Info-index offers completion.
439
440 ---
441 ** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
442 automatically.
443
444 +++
445 ** The new command `comint-input-previous-argument' in comint-derived
446 modes (shell-mode etc) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
447 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
448 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
449
450 +++
451 ** Changes in C-h bindings:
452
453 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
454
455 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
456 that do not change:
457
458 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
459 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
460
461 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
462 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
463
464 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
465
466 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
467 run by the key sequence.
468
469 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
470 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
471 that command.
472
473 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
474 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
475
476 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
477 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
478
479 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
480 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
481
482 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
483 new-kill-line is on C-k
484
485 +++
486 ** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
487 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
488 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
489 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
490
491 +++
492 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
493 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
494 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
495 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
496
497 +++
498 ** Occur, Info, and comint-derived modes now support using
499 M-x font-lock-mode to toggle fontification. The variable
500 `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable fontification,
501 remove `turn-on-font-lock' from `Info-mode-hook'.
502
503 +++
504 ** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
505 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep will automatically
506 detect whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
507 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
508 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
509 command lines to be used than was possible before.
510
511 ---
512 ** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
513 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
514 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
515 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
516 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
517 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
518 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
519
520 +++
521 ** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
522 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
523 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
524 under the "[State]" button.
525
526 ** The new customization type `float' specifies numbers with floating
527 point (no integers are allowed).
528
529 +++
530 ** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
531 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
532
533 ---
534 ** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
535
536 *** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class
537 information. Fast startup since there is no need to scan all
538 source files up front. There is also no need to create and maintain
539 lists of source directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
540 and `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
541
542 *** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
543 set/clear operations from java source files under the classpath, stack
544 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
545 (gud-finish).
546
547 *** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
548 (Java 1.1 jdb).
549
550 *** The previous method of searching for source files has been
551 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
552 Set gud-jdb-use-classpath to nil.
553
554 Added Customization Variables
555
556 *** gud-jdb-command-name. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
557
558 *** gud-jdb-use-classpath. Allows selection of java source file searching
559 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan gud-jdb-directories for
560 java sources (previous method).
561
562 *** gud-jdb-directories. List of directories to scan and search for java
563 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if gud-jdb-use-classpath
564 is nil).
565
566 Minor Improvements
567
568 *** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
569
570 +++
571 ** hide-ifdef-mode now uses overlays rather than selective-display
572 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
573 changes the behavior of motion commands line C-e and C-p.
574
575 +++
576 ** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
577 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
578 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
579 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
580 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
581 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
582
583 +++
584 ** Dired's v command now runs external viewers to view certain
585 types of files. The variable `dired-view-command-alist' controls
586 what external viewers to use and when.
587
588 +++
589 ** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
590 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
591 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
592 is only rarely needed.
593
594 ---
595 ** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
596
597 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
598 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
599 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
600 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
601
602 +++
603 ** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times. If
604 you hit M-C-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h (mark-paragraph), or
605 C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region will now be extended
606 each time, so you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC M-C-SPC,
607 for example. This feature also works for mark-end-of-sentence, if you
608 bind that to a key.
609
610 +++
611 ** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
612 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
613 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
614 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
615 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
616 command only.
617
618 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
619 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
620 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
621 mark or the region.
622
623 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
624 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
625 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
626 C-g.
627
628 +++
629 ** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
630 previous mark, i.e. C-u C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... will cycle through the
631 mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC to set the mark immediately after a jump.
632
633 +++
634 ** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
635 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
636 switching to it.
637
638 +++
639 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
640 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
641 affects the initial frame.
642
643 +++
644 ** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
645 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
646 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
647 paragraphs.
648
649 ** In Dired, the w command now copies the current line's file name
650 into the kill ring.
651
652 +++
653 ** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
654 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
655 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
656 directory listing into a buffer.
657
658 ---
659 ** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
660 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
661
662 ** Unexpected yanking of text due to accidental clicking on the mouse
663 wheel button (typically mouse-2) during wheel scrolling is now avoided.
664 This behaviour can be customized via the mouse-wheel-click-event and
665 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
666
667 +++
668 ** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
669 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
670 may mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
671 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
672 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
673 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
674 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
675 by the keyboard. See Info node `Single-Byte Character Support'.
676
677 +++
678 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
679 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
680 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
681 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
682 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
683
684 +++
685 ** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
686 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
687 appears in.
688
689 ** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
690 of the recognized cursor types.
691
692 +++
693 ** The default values of `tooltip-delay' and `tooltip-hide-delay'
694 were changed.
695
696 ---
697 ** On terminals whose erase-char is ^H (Backspace), Emacs
698 now uses normal-erase-is-backspace-mode.
699
700 ---
701 ** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
702 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
703 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
704
705 +++
706 ** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
707 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
708 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic' now take an optional parameter MARK,
709 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
710 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
711 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
712 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
713 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
714 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
715
716 ** VC Changes
717
718 *** The key C-x C-q no longer checks files in or out, it only changes
719 the read-only state of the buffer (toggle-read-only). We made this
720 change because we held a poll and found that many users were unhappy
721 with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this behavior, you
722 can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your .emacs:
723
724 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
725
726 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
727
728 +++
729 *** There is a new user option `vc-cvs-global-switches' that allows
730 you to specify switches that are passed to any CVS command invoked
731 by VC. These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which
732 means they are inserted before the command name. For example, this
733 allows you to specify a compression level using the "-z#" option for
734 CVS.
735
736 ** EDiff changes.
737
738 +++
739 *** When comparing directories.
740 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
741 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
742 from one directory to another.
743
744 +++
745 *** When comparing files or buffers.
746 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
747 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
748 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
749 comparison.
750
751 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
752 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
753 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
754
755 +++
756 ** Etags changes.
757
758 *** New regular expressions features
759
760 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
761 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
762 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
763 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
764 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
765 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
766 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
767 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
768 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
769 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
770 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
771
772 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in Gcc.
773 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
774 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
775 CR, TAB, VT,
776
777 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
778 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
779 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
780 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
781
782 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
783 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
784 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
785
786 *** New language parsing features
787
788 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
789 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
790
791 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
792 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
793 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
794 package::sub.
795
796 **** New language PHP.
797 Tags are functions, classes and defines.
798 If the --members option is specified to etags, tags are vars also.
799
800 **** New language HTML.
801 Title and h1, h2, h3 are tagged. Also, tags are generated when name= is
802 used inside an anchor and whenever id= is used.
803
804 **** New default keywords for TeX.
805 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
806 renewenvironment.
807
808 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
809 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
810 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
811
812 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
813
814 *** Honour #line directives.
815 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
816 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
817 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
818 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
819 writes tags pointing to the source file.
820
821 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
822 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
823 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
824 will read from standard input and mark the produced tags as belonging to
825 the file FILE.
826
827 +++
828 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
829 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
830
831 +++
832 ** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
833 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
834
835 +++
836 ** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
837 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
838 whose names begin with space are omitted.
839
840 +++
841 ** You can now customize fill-nobreak-predicate to control where
842 filling can break lines. We provide two sample predicates,
843 fill-single-word-nobreak-p and fill-french-nobreak-p.
844
845 +++
846 ** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
847 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry will always
848 start a new record regardless of when the last record is.
849
850 +++
851 ** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
852 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
853 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
854 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
855 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
856 from the file name or buffer contents.
857
858 +++
859 ** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
860
861 +++
862 ** New user option `isearch-resume-enabled'.
863 This option can be disabled, to avoid the normal behavior of isearch
864 which puts calls to `isearch-resume' in the command history.
865
866 ---
867 ** When the *scratch* buffer is recreated, its mode is set from
868 initial-major-mode, which normally is lisp-interaction-mode,
869 instead of using default-major-mode.
870
871 ---
872 ** Lisp mode now uses font-lock-doc-face for the docstrings.
873
874 ---
875 ** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
876
877 +++
878 ** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
879 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
880 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
881
882 ---
883 ** F90 mode has new navigation commands `f90-end-of-block',
884 `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block', `f90-previous-block'.
885
886 ---
887 ** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
888 to support use of font-lock.
889
890 +++
891 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
892 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
893 `same-window'.
894
895 +++
896 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variables of the form `$foo' and
897 `${foo}' in the specified new value of the environment variable. To
898 include a `$' in the value, use `$$'.
899
900 +++
901 ** File-name completion can now ignore directories.
902 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
903 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
904 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
905 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
906 candidate is a directory.
907
908 +++
909 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
910 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
911 it remains unchanged.
912
913 +++
914 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
915 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
916 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
917
918 ---
919 ** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
920
921 ---
922 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
923 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track
924 the cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
925
926 ---
927 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
928 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
929
930 ---
931 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
932 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
933 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
934 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
935 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
936 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
937 against.
938
939 ---
940 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
941 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
942 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
943 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
944 sound support for those formats.
945
946 ---
947 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
948 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
949
950 ---
951 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
952 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
953 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
954 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
955
956 +++
957 ** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
958 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
959 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
960 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
961 Meta and Alt:
962 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
963 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
964
965 * New modes and packages in 21.4
966
967 ---
968 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
969
970 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
971 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
972 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
973 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
974
975 ---
976 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
977
978 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
979 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
980 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
981 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
982 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
983 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
984
985 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
986 rectangle highlighting: Use S-return to start a rectangle, extend it
987 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
988 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
989
990 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
991 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
992 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
993 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
994 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
995 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
996 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
997
998 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
999 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
1000 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
1001
1002 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
1003 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
1004
1005 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
1006 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
1007 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
1008 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
1009
1010 The features of cua also works with the standard emacs bindings for
1011 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
1012 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you may customize the
1013 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
1014
1015 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
1016 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
1017 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
1018 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
1019
1020 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
1021 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
1022 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
1023 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
1024 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
1025
1026 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
1027 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
1028 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
1029 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
1030 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
1031 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
1032
1033 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
1034 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
1035 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
1036 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
1037 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
1038 for emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
1039 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
1040 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
1041 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
1042 or local keymaps.
1043
1044 ** The new kmacro package provides a simpler user interface to
1045 emacs' keyboard macro facilities.
1046
1047 Basically, it uses two function keys (default F3 and F4) like this:
1048 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
1049 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
1050 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
1051
1052 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
1053 defined macros.
1054
1055 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
1056 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
1057 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
1058 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
1059 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
1060 for more commands.
1061
1062 The normal macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e now interfaces to
1063 the keyboard macro ring.
1064
1065 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
1066 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
1067
1068 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
1069 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
1070 this behaviour via the variable kmacro-call-repeat-key and
1071 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
1072
1073 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
1074 C-x C-k SPC will step through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
1075 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
1076
1077 ---
1078 ** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
1079 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
1080 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
1081 C-c C-i b, and so on.
1082
1083 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1084
1085 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
1086 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
1087 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
1088 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
1089 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
1090 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
1091
1092 +++
1093 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1094
1095 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
1096 Emacs Lisp. Its documentation is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
1097 type "C-h i m calc RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
1098 available in `etc/calccard.tex' and `etc/calccard.ps'.
1099
1100 +++
1101 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
1102
1103 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
1104 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
1105 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
1106 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
1107 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
1108 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
1109 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
1110 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
1111 `rsync' to do the copying).
1112
1113 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
1114 `su' and `sudo'.
1115
1116 ---
1117 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
1118 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
1119 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
1120 emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
1121 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticable. The display method may
1122 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
1123
1124 ---
1125 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
1126 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
1127 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
1128 settings.
1129
1130 ---
1131 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
1132 move your cursor into hidden region of the buffer.
1133 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
1134 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
1135
1136 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
1137
1138 ---
1139 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
1140 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
1141
1142 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
1143 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
1144 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
1145 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
1146 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
1147 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
1148
1149 +++
1150 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
1151 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
1152 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
1153 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
1154
1155 ---
1156 ** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
1157 Emacs will still work on terminals that require magic cookies in order
1158 to use standout mode, however they will not be able to display
1159 mode-lines in inverse-video.
1160
1161 ---
1162 ** The obsolete C mode (c-mode.el) has been removed to avoid problems
1163 with Custom.
1164
1165 ** New package benchmark.el contains simple support for convenient
1166 timing measurements of code (including the garbage collection component).
1167
1168 \f
1169 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 21.4
1170
1171 ** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
1172 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
1173
1174 ** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
1175 on garbage collection.
1176
1177 ** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
1178 it is read from a file without decoding.
1179
1180 ** New function `optimize-char-coding-system-table' can be called
1181 after making changes to `char-coding-system-table'.
1182
1183 ** New function `langinfo' accesses locale information.
1184
1185 ** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
1186 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
1187 by calling `select-window'.
1188
1189 ** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
1190 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
1191 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
1192 need to have a name.
1193
1194 ** Byte compiler changes:
1195
1196 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
1197 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
1198 Emacs and XEmacs and may sometimes make the result significantly more
1199 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
1200 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
1201 you anything.
1202
1203 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
1204 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
1205 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
1206 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
1207 forms:
1208
1209 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
1210 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
1211
1212 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
1213 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
1214 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
1215 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
1216 macro expansion), but such tests may be nested. Note that `when' and
1217 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
1218
1219 ** New translation table `translation-table-for-input'.
1220
1221 +++
1222 ** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
1223 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
1224 current file redefined it).
1225
1226 ** New Lisp library testcover.el works with edebug to help you determine
1227 whether you've tested all your Lisp code. Function testcover-start
1228 instruments all functions in a given file. Then test your code. Function
1229 testcover-mark-all adds overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to
1230 show where coverage is lacking. Command testcover-next-mark (bind it to
1231 a key!) will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
1232
1233 *** Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely evaluated;
1234 a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same value. The red
1235 splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly complete their evaluation,
1236 such as `error'. The brown splotches are skipped for forms that are expected
1237 to always evaluate to the same value, such as (setq x 14).
1238
1239 *** For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to help
1240 out the test coverage tool. The macro 1value suppresses a brown splotch for
1241 its argument. The macro noreturn suppresses a red splotch.
1242
1243 +++
1244 ** New function unsafep returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly
1245 do anything dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be
1246 unsafe (calls dangerous function, alters global variable, etc).
1247
1248 ** When you are printing using print-continuous-numbering,
1249 if no objects have had to be recorded in print-number-table,
1250 all elements of print-number-table are nil.
1251
1252 ** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
1253 the scroll-bar-width frame parameter value is nil.
1254
1255 ** The new function copy-abbrev-table returns a new abbrev table that
1256 is a copy of a given abbrev table.
1257
1258 +++
1259 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
1260 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
1261 can start with this line:
1262
1263 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
1264
1265 ** A function's docstring can now hold the function's usage info on
1266 its last line. It should match the regexp "\n\n(fn.*)\\'".
1267
1268 ** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
1269 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
1270
1271 ** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional buffer
1272 argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted it defaults to
1273 the current buffer.
1274
1275 ** There is a new Warnings facility; see the functions `warn'
1276 and `display-warning'.
1277
1278 ** The functions all-completions and try-completion now accept lists
1279 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
1280 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
1281 exported to Lisp.
1282
1283 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
1284 much pure storage it will approximately need.
1285
1286 ** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
1287 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
1288 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
1289 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
1290
1291 ** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
1292 of one coding system from another coding system.
1293
1294 ** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
1295 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
1296 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
1297 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
1298 needed.
1299
1300 ** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
1301 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
1302 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
1303 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
1304 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
1305 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
1306
1307 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
1308 confirmation as before.
1309
1310 ** Controlling the left and right fringe widths.
1311
1312 The left and right fringe widths can now be controlled by setting the
1313 `left-fringe' and `right-fringe' frame parameters to an integer value
1314 specifying the width in pixels. Setting the width to 0 effectively
1315 removes the corresponding fringe.
1316
1317 The actual fringe widths may deviate from the specified widths, since
1318 the combined fringe widths must match an integral number of columns.
1319 The extra width is distributed evenly between the left and right fringe.
1320 For force a specific fringe width, specify the width as a negative
1321 integer (if both widths are negative, only the left fringe gets the
1322 specified width).
1323
1324 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
1325 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
1326 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
1327 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
1328
1329 +++
1330 ** Renamed file hooks to follow the convention:
1331 find-file-hooks to find-file-hook,
1332 find-file-not-found-hooks to find-file-not-found-functions,
1333 write-file-hooks to write-file-functions,
1334 write-contents-hooks to write-contents-functions.
1335 Marked local-write-file-hooks as obsolete (use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook').
1336
1337 ** The new variable `delete-frame-functions' replaces `delete-frame-hook'.
1338 It was renamed to follow the naming conventions for abnormal hooks. The old
1339 name remains available as an alias, but has been marked obsolete.
1340
1341 ** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
1342 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satify. The
1343 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
1344 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
1345 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
1346
1347 ** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by lisp code
1348 to override the internal read-file-name function.
1349
1350 ** The new function `read-directory-name' can be used instead of
1351 `read-file-name' to read a directory name; when used, completion
1352 will only show directories.
1353
1354 ** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
1355 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
1356 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
1357
1358 ** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
1359 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
1360 (require 'cl) when loaded.
1361
1362 ** The new Lisp library fringe.el controls the apperance of fringes.
1363
1364 ** The `defmacro' form may contain declarations specifying how to
1365 indent the macro in Lisp mode and how to debug it with Edebug. The
1366 syntax of defmacro has been extended to
1367
1368 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
1369
1370 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
1371 declaration specifiers supported are:
1372
1373 (indent INDENT)
1374 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
1375
1376 (edebug DEBUG)
1377 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
1378 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro.
1379
1380 ** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
1381
1382 This is an alternative to using defadvice or substitute-key-definition
1383 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
1384 binding and lookup functionality.
1385
1386 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
1387 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
1388 original command.
1389
1390 Example:
1391 Suppose that minor mode my-mode has defined the commands
1392 my-kill-line and my-kill-word, and it wants C-k (and any other key
1393 bound to kill-line) to run the command my-kill-line instead of
1394 kill-line, and likewise it wants to run my-kill-word instead of
1395 kill-word.
1396
1397 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
1398 command remapping allows you to directly map kill-line into
1399 my-kill-line and kill-word into my-kill-word through the minor mode
1400 map using define-key:
1401
1402 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
1403 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
1404
1405 Now, when my-mode is enabled, and the user enters C-k or M-d,
1406 the commands my-kill-line and my-kill-word are run.
1407
1408 Notice that only one level of remapping is supported. In the above
1409 example, this means that if my-kill-line is remapped to other-kill,
1410 then C-k still runs my-kill-line.
1411
1412 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
1413
1414 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
1415 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
1416 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
1417 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
1418
1419 - The new function `remap-command' returns the binding for a remapped
1420 command in the current keymaps, or nil if it isn't remapped.
1421
1422 - key-binding now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
1423 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
1424
1425 - where-is-internal now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
1426 kill-line if my-mode is enabled), and the actual key binding for
1427 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
1428 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
1429 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns C-k for kill-line and
1430 <kill-line> for my-kill-line).
1431
1432 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
1433 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
1434 command was not remapped.
1435
1436 ** New variable emulation-mode-map-alists.
1437
1438 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
1439 keymap alist separate from minor-mode-map-alist by adding their keymap
1440 alist to this list.
1441
1442 ** Atomic change groups.
1443
1444 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
1445 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
1446 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
1447
1448 (atomic-change-group
1449 (insert foo)
1450 (delete-region x y))
1451
1452 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
1453 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
1454 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
1455 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
1456
1457 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
1458 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
1459
1460 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
1461 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
1462 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
1463 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
1464
1465 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
1466 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
1467 do this.
1468
1469 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
1470 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
1471 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
1472 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
1473
1474 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
1475 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
1476 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
1477 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
1478 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
1479 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
1480 twice.
1481
1482 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
1483 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
1484 returned values, like this:
1485
1486 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
1487 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
1488
1489 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
1490 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
1491 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
1492
1493 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
1494 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
1495 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
1496 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
1497 finished.
1498
1499 +++
1500 ** New variable char-property-alias-alist.
1501
1502 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
1503 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
1504 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
1505 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
1506
1507 ** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
1508
1509 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
1510 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
1511 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
1512 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
1513
1514 ** New function remove-list-of-text-properties.
1515
1516 The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties' is almost the same
1517 as `remove-text-properties'. The only difference is that it takes
1518 a list of property names as argument rather than a property list.
1519
1520 ** New function insert-for-yank.
1521
1522 This function normally works like `insert' but removes the text
1523 properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list. However, if the
1524 inserted text has a `yank-handler' text property on the first
1525 character of the string, the insertion of the text may be modified in
1526 a number of ways. See the description of `yank-handler' below.
1527
1528 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-as-yank.
1529
1530 This function works like `insert-buffer-substring', but removes the
1531 text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list.
1532
1533 ** New function insert-buffer-substring-no-properties.
1534
1535 This function is like insert-buffer-substring, but removes all
1536 text properties from the inserted substring.
1537
1538 ** New `yank-handler' text property may be used to control how
1539 previously killed text on the kill-ring is reinserted.
1540
1541 The value of the yank-handler property must be a list with one to five
1542 elements with the following format:
1543 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
1544
1545 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
1546 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
1547 element on the kill-ring). If a yank-handler property is found,
1548 the normal behaviour of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
1549
1550 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
1551 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
1552 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
1553 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
1554 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
1555 rectangle.
1556 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
1557 yank-excluded-properties is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
1558 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
1559 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
1560 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
1561 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
1562 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
1563 FUNCTION may set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
1564
1565 *** The functions kill-new, kill-append, and kill-region now has an
1566 optional third argument to specify the yank-handler text property
1567 to put on the killed text.
1568
1569 *** The function yank-pop will now use a non-nil value of the variable
1570 `yank-undo-function' (instead of delete-region) to undo the previous
1571 yank or yank-pop command (or a call to insert-for-yank). The function
1572 insert-for-yank automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
1573 element of the string argument's yank-handler text property if present.
1574
1575 ** New function display-supports-face-attributes-p may be used to test
1576 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
1577
1578 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
1579 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
1580 defined with defface.
1581
1582 ** face-attribute, face-foreground, face-background, and face-stipple now
1583 accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how face
1584 inheritance is used when determining the value of a face attribute.
1585
1586 ** New functions face-attribute-relative-p and merge-face-attribute
1587 help with handling relative face attributes.
1588
1589 ** Enhancements to process support
1590
1591 *** Function list-processes now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
1592 only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set are listed.
1593
1594 *** New set-process-query-on-exit-flag and process-query-on-exit-flag
1595 functions. The existing process-kill-without-query function is still
1596 supported, but new code should use the new functions.
1597
1598 *** Function signal-process now accepts a process object or process
1599 name in addition to a process id to identify the signalled process.
1600
1601 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
1602 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
1603
1604 The new functions process-get and process-put are used to access, add,
1605 and modify elements on this property list.
1606
1607 The new low-level functions process-plist and set-process-plist are
1608 used to access and replace the entire property list of a process.
1609
1610
1611 ** Enhanced networking support.
1612
1613 *** There is a new `make-network-process' function which supports
1614 opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
1615 create a stream or datagram server inside emacs.
1616
1617 - A server is started using :server t arg.
1618 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
1619 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
1620 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
1621 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
1622 - The process' property list may be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
1623 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
1624 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
1625
1626 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
1627 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
1628
1629 *** Original open-network-stream is now emulated using make-network-process.
1630
1631 *** New function open-network-stream-nowait.
1632
1633 This function initiates a non-blocking connect and returns immediately
1634 without waiting for the connection to be established. It takes the
1635 filter and sentinel functions as arguments; when the non-blocking
1636 connect completes, the sentinel is called with a status string
1637 matching "open" or "failed".
1638
1639 *** New function open-network-stream-server.
1640
1641 This function creates a network server process for a TCP service.
1642 When a client connects to the specified service, a new subprocess
1643 is created to handle the new connection, and the sentinel function
1644 is called for the new process.
1645
1646 *** New functions process-datagram-address and set-process-datagram-address.
1647
1648 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
1649 and set the current address of the remote partner.
1650
1651 *** New function format-network-address.
1652
1653 This function reformats the lisp representation of a network address
1654 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
1655 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
1656 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
1657 string for other formatting options.
1658
1659 *** By default, the function process-contact still returns (HOST SERVICE)
1660 for a network process. Using the new optional KEY arg, the complete list
1661 of network process properties or a specific property can be selected.
1662
1663 Using :local and :remote as the KEY, the address of the local or
1664 remote end-point is returned. An Inet address is represented as a 5
1665 element vector, where the first 4 elements contain the IP address and
1666 the fifth is the port number.
1667
1668 *** Network processes can now be stopped and restarted with
1669 `stop-process' and `continue-process'. For a server process, no
1670 connections are accepted in the stopped state. For a client process,
1671 no input is received in the stopped state.
1672
1673 ** New function copy-tree.
1674
1675 ** New function substring-no-properties.
1676
1677 ** New function minibuffer-selected-window.
1678
1679 ** New function `call-process-shell-command'.
1680
1681 ** The dummy function keys made by easymenu
1682 are now always lower case. If you specify the
1683 menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
1684 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
1685
1686 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for
1687 the bindings that were made with easymenu.
1688
1689 ** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional
1690 argument. If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks
1691 for a function that could be called with `call-interactively',
1692 and does not return t for keyboard macros.
1693
1694 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
1695 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
1696
1697 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
1698 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
1699 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
1700 commands.
1701
1702 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
1703 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
1704 SQL buffer.
1705
1706 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
1707 (function (lambda ()
1708 (master-mode t)
1709 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
1710 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
1711 (function (lambda ()
1712 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
1713
1714 ** File local variables.
1715
1716 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
1717 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
1718
1719 +++
1720 *** The meanings of scroll-up-aggressively and scroll-down-aggressively
1721 have been interchanged, so that the former now controls scrolling up,
1722 and the latter now controls scrolling down.
1723
1724 +++
1725 ** New function window-body-height.
1726
1727 This is like window-height but does not count the mode line
1728 or the header line.
1729
1730 ** New function format-mode-line.
1731
1732 This returns the mode-line or header-line of the selected (or a
1733 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
1734
1735 ** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
1736
1737 These functions are like `plist-get' and `plist-put' except that they
1738 compare the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
1739
1740 ** New function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu'
1741
1742 The `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' must not be used (as previously
1743 recommended) for making entries in the tool bar for local keymaps.
1744 Instead, use the function `tool-bar-local-item-from-menu', which lets
1745 you specify the map to use as an argument.
1746
1747 +++
1748 ** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
1749
1750 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
1751 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
1752 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
1753
1754 +++
1755 ** You can now make a window as short as one line.
1756
1757 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
1758 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
1759 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
1760 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
1761 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
1762
1763 +++
1764 ** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
1765 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
1766 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
1767 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
1768
1769 ** Mode line display ignores text properties in the value
1770 of a variable whose `risky-local-variables' property is nil.
1771
1772 ---
1773 ** Indentation of simple and extended loop forms has been added to the
1774 cl-indent package. The new user options
1775 `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation', `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and
1776 `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can be used to customize the
1777 indentation of keywords and forms in loop forms.
1778
1779 ---
1780 ** Indentation of backquoted forms has been made customizable in the
1781 cl-indent package. See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
1782
1783 ** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
1784
1785 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
1786 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
1787 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
1788 now:
1789
1790 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
1791
1792 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
1793 the time it takes to convert the format.
1794
1795 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
1796 wasteful.
1797
1798 ** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
1799 over minor mode keymaps.
1800
1801 ** A hex escape in a string forces the string to be multibyte.
1802 An octal escape makes it unibyte.
1803
1804 ** Only one of the beginning or end of an invisible, intangible region is
1805 considered an acceptable value for point; which one is determined by
1806 examining how the invisible/intangible properties are inherited when new
1807 text is inserted adjacent to them. If text inserted at the beginning would
1808 inherit the invisible/intangible properties, then that position is
1809 considered unacceptable, and point is forced to the position following the
1810 invisible/intangible text. If text inserted at the end would inherit the
1811 properties, then the opposite happens.
1812
1813 Thus, point can only go to one end of an invisible, intangible region, but
1814 not the other one. This prevents C-f and C-b from appearing to stand still
1815 on the screen.
1816
1817 ** field-beginning and field-end now accept an additional optional
1818 argument, LIMIT.
1819
1820 +++
1821 ** define-abbrev now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG. If
1822 non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means that
1823 it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the abbrevs.
1824 Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always specify this
1825 flag.
1826
1827 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
1828
1829 ** The function insert-string is now obsolete.
1830
1831 ** The precedence of file-name-handlers has been changed.
1832 Instead of blindly choosing the first handler that matches,
1833 find-file-name-handler now gives precedence to a file-name handler
1834 that matches near the end of the file name. More specifically, the
1835 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen.
1836 In case of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
1837
1838 ** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
1839 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
1840 bindings of the parent keymap.
1841
1842 ** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
1843 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
1844 (see jit-lock-defer-contextually), then all of that text will
1845 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
1846 depends on text several lines further down (and when font-lock-multiline
1847 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
1848
1849 s{
1850 foo
1851 }{
1852 bar
1853 }e
1854
1855 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
1856 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a jit-lock-defer-multiline
1857 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
1858 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
1859
1860 ** describe-vector now takes a second argument `describer' which is
1861 called to print the entries' values. It defaults to `princ'.
1862
1863 ** defcustom and other custom declarations now use a default group
1864 (the last group defined in the same file) when no :group was given.
1865
1866 ** emacsserver now runs pre-command-hook and post-command-hook when
1867 it receives a request from emacsclient.
1868
1869 ** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
1870 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
1871 than 3 levels of nesting.
1872
1873 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
1874 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
1875 in Indented-Text mode.
1876
1877 ** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
1878 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
1879 it in that buffer.
1880
1881 ** If you set `query-replace-skip-read-only' non-nil,
1882 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
1883 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
1884
1885 ** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
1886 properties from surrounding text.
1887
1888 ** New function `buffer-local-value'.
1889
1890 - Function: buffer-local-value variable buffer
1891
1892 This function returns the buffer-local binding of VARIABLE (a symbol)
1893 in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not have a buffer-local binding in
1894 buffer BUFFER, it returns the default value of VARIABLE instead.
1895
1896 ** New function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
1897 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
1898 clone to the other.
1899
1900 ** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
1901 *** the FACENAME returned in font-lock-keywords can be a list
1902 of the form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set
1903 other properties than `face'.
1904 *** font-lock-extra-managed-props can be set to make sure those extra
1905 properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
1906
1907 ** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
1908 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
1909 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors.
1910
1911 ** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
1912 are used by define-derived-mode to make sure the mode hook for the
1913 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
1914
1915 ** define-derived-mode by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
1916 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
1917
1918 +++
1919 ** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
1920 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
1921 and run any code associated with the provided feature.
1922
1923 ** The variable `compilation-parse-errors-filename-function' can
1924 be used to transform filenames found in compilation output.
1925
1926 +++
1927 ** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
1928 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
1929 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
1930
1931 ** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
1932 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
1933 accepts a float as UID parameter.
1934
1935 ** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
1936
1937 ** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in elisp files is now obeyed.
1938
1939 ** The Emacs Lisp byte-compiler now displays the actual line and
1940 character position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form
1941 of its warning and error messages have been brought more in line with
1942 the output of other GNU tools.
1943
1944 ** New functions `keymap-prompt' and `current-active-maps'.
1945
1946 ** New function `describe-buffer-bindings'.
1947
1948 ** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
1949 searching for an executable resp. an elisp file.
1950
1951 ** Variable aliases have been implemented:
1952
1953 - Function: defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
1954
1955 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
1956 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
1957 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
1958 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
1959
1960 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
1961 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
1962
1963 - Function: indirect-variable VARIABLE
1964
1965 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
1966 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
1967 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
1968
1969 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
1970 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
1971
1972 ** Functions from `post-gc-hook' are run at the end of garbage
1973 collection. The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
1974
1975 ** If the second argument to `copy-file' is the name of a directory,
1976 the file is copied to that directory instead of signaling an error.
1977
1978 ** The variables most-positive-fixnum and most-negative-fixnum
1979 have been moved from the CL package to the core.
1980
1981 ** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
1982 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
1983 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
1984
1985 ** Functions y-or-n-p, read-char, read-keysequence and alike that
1986 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer now display the prompt
1987 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
1988
1989 ** New packages:
1990
1991 *** The new package syntax.el provides an efficient way to find the
1992 current syntactic context (as returned by parse-partial-sexp).
1993
1994 *** The new package bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
1995 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
1996 data structures.
1997
1998 *** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
1999 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
2000
2001 *** The new package button.el implements simple and fast `clickable buttons'
2002 in emacs buffers. `buttons' are much lighter-weight than the `widgets'
2003 implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that doesn't
2004 require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for such things
2005 as help and apropos buffers.
2006
2007 \f
2008 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
2009
2010 See the INSTALL file for information on installing extra libraries and
2011 fonts to take advantage of the new graphical features and extra
2012 charsets in this release.
2013
2014 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
2015
2016 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
2017
2018 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
2019 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
2020 to list them.
2021
2022 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
2023 support 64-bit executables and also on Irix 6.5. This increases the
2024 maximum buffer size. See etc/MACHINES for instructions. Changes to
2025 build on other 64-bit systems should be straightforward modulo any
2026 necessary changes to unexec.
2027
2028 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
2029 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
2030
2031 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
2032 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
2033
2034 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
2035 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
2036
2037 ** This version can be built for the Macintosh, but does not implement
2038 all of the new display features described below. The port currently
2039 lacks unexec, asynchronous processes, and networking support. See the
2040 "Emacs and the Mac OS" appendix in the Emacs manual, for the
2041 description of aspects specific to the Mac.
2042
2043 ** Note that the MS-Windows port does not yet implement various of the
2044 new display features described below.
2045
2046 \f
2047 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
2048
2049 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
2050
2051 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
2052 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
2053 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
2054 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
2055 the text.
2056
2057 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
2058
2059 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
2060 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
2061 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
2062 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
2063 specify a font.
2064
2065 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
2066 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
2067 under Lisp changes, below.
2068
2069 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
2070
2071 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
2072 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
2073 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
2074 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
2075 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
2076 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
2077 on terminals.
2078
2079 The command-line options `-fg COLOR', `-bg COLOR', and `-rv' are now
2080 supported on character terminals.
2081
2082 Emacs automatically remaps all X-style color specifications to one of
2083 the colors supported by the terminal. This means you could have the
2084 same color customizations that work both on a windowed display and on
2085 a TTY or when Emacs is invoked with the -nw option.
2086
2087 ** New default font is Courier 12pt under X.
2088
2089 ** Sound support
2090
2091 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
2092 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
2093 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
2094 You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes' to enable
2095 sound support.
2096
2097 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
2098
2099 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
2100 longer than one line, Emacs can resize the minibuffer window unless it
2101 is on a frame of its own. You can control resizing and the maximum
2102 minibuffer window size by setting the following variables:
2103
2104 - User option: max-mini-window-height
2105
2106 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
2107 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
2108 specifies a number of lines.
2109
2110 Default is 0.25.
2111
2112 - User option: resize-mini-windows
2113
2114 How to resize mini-windows. If nil, don't resize. If t, always
2115 resize to fit the size of the text. If `grow-only', let mini-windows
2116 grow only, until they become empty, at which point they are shrunk
2117 again.
2118
2119 Default is `grow-only'.
2120
2121 ** LessTif support.
2122
2123 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see
2124 <http://www.lesstif.org>). You will need version 0.92.26, or later.
2125
2126 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
2127
2128 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
2129 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
2130 non-nil.
2131
2132 ** File selection dialog on MS-Windows is supported.
2133
2134 When a file is visited by clicking File->Open, the MS-Windows version
2135 now pops up a standard file selection dialog where you can select a
2136 file to visit. File->Save As also pops up that dialog.
2137
2138 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
2139
2140 Emacs now uses toolkit scroll bars if available. When configured for
2141 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scroll bar. Otherwise, when
2142 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
2143 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
2144 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
2145 Emacs.
2146
2147 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
2148 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
2149 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
2150 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
2151 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
2152 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
2153
2154 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
2155 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
2156 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
2157 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
2158 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
2159 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
2160
2161 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
2162 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
2163 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
2164 imake configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
2165 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
2166
2167 ** Tool bar support.
2168
2169 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
2170 of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level
2171 changes. Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is
2172 displayed and is on by default. The appearance of the bar is improved
2173 if Emacs has been built with XPM image support. Otherwise monochrome
2174 icons will be used.
2175
2176 To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
2177 for specific modes (with copyright assignments).
2178
2179 ** Tooltips.
2180
2181 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
2182 mouse position. The Lisp package `tooltip' implements them. You can
2183 turn them off via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
2184
2185 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
2186 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
2187 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
2188 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
2189
2190 ** Automatic Hscrolling
2191
2192 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
2193 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
2194 customized.
2195
2196 If a window is scrolled horizontally with set-window-hscroll, or
2197 scroll-left/scroll-right (C-x <, C-x >), this serves as a lower bound
2198 for automatic horizontal scrolling. Automatic scrolling will scroll
2199 the text more to the left if necessary, but won't scroll the text more
2200 to the right than the column set with set-window-hscroll etc.
2201
2202 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
2203 of its own. By default, when a window is selected, the cursor is
2204 solid; otherwise, it is hollow. The user-option
2205 `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to display the
2206 cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is shown, if
2207 non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown.
2208
2209 ** Fringes to the left and right of windows are used to display
2210 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
2211 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
2212 customizing face `fringe'.
2213
2214 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default.
2215 You can change its appearance by modifying the face `mode-line'.
2216 In particular, setting the `:box' attribute to nil turns off the 3D
2217 appearance of the mode line. (The 3D appearance makes the mode line
2218 occupy more space, and thus might cause the first or the last line of
2219 the window to be partially obscured.)
2220
2221 The variable `mode-line-inverse-video', which was used in older
2222 versions of emacs to make the mode-line stand out, is now deprecated.
2223 However, setting it to nil will cause the `mode-line' face to be
2224 ignored, and mode-lines to be drawn using the default text face.
2225
2226 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
2227
2228 Different parts of the mode line have been made mouse-sensitive on all
2229 systems which support the mouse. Moving the mouse to a
2230 mouse-sensitive part in the mode line changes the appearance of the
2231 mouse pointer to an arrow, and help about available mouse actions is
2232 displayed either in the echo area, or in the tooltip window if you
2233 have enabled one.
2234
2235 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
2236
2237 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line goes to the next buffer.
2238
2239 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name goes to the previous buffer.
2240
2241 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
2242 `*') toggles the status.
2243
2244 - Mouse-3 on the mode name displays a minor-mode menu.
2245
2246 ** Hourglass pointer
2247
2248 Emacs can optionally display an hourglass pointer under X. You can
2249 turn the display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
2250
2251 ** Blinking cursor
2252
2253 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
2254 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
2255 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
2256 the group `cursor'.
2257
2258 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
2259
2260 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
2261 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
2262 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
2263 details.
2264
2265 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
2266 have to do anything to activate it.
2267
2268 ** The default binding of the Delete key has changed.
2269
2270 The new user-option `normal-erase-is-backspace' can be set to
2271 determine the effect of the Delete and Backspace function keys.
2272
2273 On window systems, the default value of this option is chosen
2274 according to the keyboard used. If the keyboard has both a Backspace
2275 key and a Delete key, and both are mapped to their usual meanings, the
2276 option's default value is set to t, so that Backspace can be used to
2277 delete backward, and Delete can be used to delete forward. On
2278 keyboards which either have only one key (usually labeled DEL), or two
2279 keys DEL and BS which produce the same effect, the option's value is
2280 set to nil, and these keys delete backward.
2281
2282 If not running under a window system, setting this option accomplishes
2283 a similar effect by mapping C-h, which is usually generated by the
2284 Backspace key, to DEL, and by mapping DEL to C-d via
2285 `keyboard-translate'. The former functionality of C-h is available on
2286 the F1 key. You should probably not use this setting on a text-only
2287 terminal if you don't have both Backspace, Delete and F1 keys.
2288
2289 Programmatically, you can call function normal-erase-is-backspace-mode
2290 to toggle the behavior of the Delete and Backspace keys.
2291
2292 ** The default for user-option `next-line-add-newlines' has been
2293 changed to nil, i.e. C-n will no longer add newlines at the end of a
2294 buffer by default.
2295
2296 ** The <home> and <end> keys now move to the beginning or end of the
2297 current line, respectively. C-<home> and C-<end> move to the
2298 beginning and end of the buffer.
2299
2300 ** Emacs now checks for recursive loads of Lisp files. If the
2301 recursion depth exceeds `recursive-load-depth-limit', an error is
2302 signaled.
2303
2304 ** When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
2305 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
2306
2307 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
2308 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
2309 this behavior.
2310
2311 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs's byte
2312 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
2313 Emacs dump core.
2314
2315 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
2316
2317 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
2318 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
2319 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
2320
2321 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
2322 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
2323 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
2324
2325 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
2326 using that menu.
2327
2328 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
2329
2330 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
2331 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
2332 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
2333 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
2334 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
2335 whitespace.
2336
2337 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
2338 all frames except the selected one.
2339
2340 ** The new user-option `confirm-kill-emacs' can be customized to
2341 let Emacs ask for confirmation before exiting.
2342
2343 ** The header line in an Info buffer is now displayed as an emacs
2344 header-line (which is like a mode-line, but at the top of the window),
2345 so that it remains visible even when the buffer has been scrolled.
2346 This behavior may be disabled by customizing the option
2347 `Info-use-header-line'.
2348
2349 ** Polish, Czech, German, and French translations of Emacs' reference card
2350 have been added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex', `cs-refcard.tex',
2351 `de-refcard.tex' and `fr-refcard.tex'. Postscript files are included.
2352
2353 ** An `Emacs Survival Guide', etc/survival.tex, is available.
2354
2355 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
2356 `dired-ref.tex'. A French translation is available in
2357 `fr-drdref.tex'.
2358
2359 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
2360 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
2361 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
2362 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
2363
2364 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable through Customize.
2365
2366 You can no longer use `M-x customize-variable' to customize `load-path'
2367 because it now contains a version-dependent component. You can still
2368 use `add-to-list' and `setq' to customize this variable in your
2369 `~/.emacs' init file or to modify it from any Lisp program in general.
2370
2371 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
2372 point in a pop-up window.
2373
2374 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
2375 under XFree86. To enable this, use the `mouse-wheel-mode' command, or
2376 customize the variable `mouse-wheel-mode'.
2377
2378 The variables `mouse-wheel-follow-mouse' and `mouse-wheel-scroll-amount'
2379 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
2380
2381 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
2382 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
2383 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
2384 You can customize `auto-save-list-file-prefix' to change this location.
2385
2386 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
2387
2388 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
2389 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
2390
2391 ** The new command M-x delete-trailing-whitespace RET will delete the
2392 trailing whitespace within the current restriction. You can also add
2393 this function to `write-file-hooks' or `local-write-file-hooks'.
2394
2395 ** When visiting a file with M-x find-file-literally, no newlines will
2396 be added to the end of the buffer even if `require-final-newline' is
2397 non-nil.
2398
2399 ** The new user-option `find-file-suppress-same-file-warnings' can be
2400 set to suppress warnings ``X and Y are the same file'' when visiting a
2401 file that is already visited under a different name.
2402
2403 ** The new user-option `electric-help-shrink-window' can be set to
2404 nil to prevent adjusting the help window size to the buffer size.
2405
2406 ** New command M-x describe-character-set reads a character set name
2407 and displays information about that.
2408
2409 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
2410 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
2411
2412 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
2413 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
2414 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
2415 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
2416 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
2417 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
2418
2419 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
2420 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
2421
2422 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
2423 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
2424 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
2425 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
2426 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
2427 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
2428 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
2429
2430 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
2431 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
2432
2433 ** The new Custom option `keyboard-coding-system' specifies a coding
2434 system for keyboard input.
2435
2436 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
2437 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
2438 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
2439 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
2440 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
2441 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
2442 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
2443 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
2444 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
2445
2446 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
2447 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
2448
2449 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
2450 displays all characters in that character set.
2451
2452 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
2453 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
2454
2455 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
2456 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
2457 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
2458
2459 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
2460 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
2461 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
2462 GNU Intlfonts doesn't support these yet but recent X releases have
2463 8859-15. See etc/INSTALL for information on obtaining extra fonts.
2464 There are new Leim input methods for Latin-8 and Latin-9 prefix (only)
2465 and Polish `slash'.
2466
2467 ** New language environments `Dutch' and `Spanish'.
2468 These new environments mainly select appropriate translations
2469 of the tutorial.
2470
2471 ** In Ethiopic language environment, special key bindings for
2472 function keys are changed as follows. This is to conform to "Emacs
2473 Lisp Coding Convention".
2474
2475 new command old-binding
2476 --- ------- -----------
2477 f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-buffer f5
2478 S-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-region f5
2479 C-f3 ethio-fidel-to-sera-mail-or-marker f5
2480
2481 f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-buffer unchanged
2482 S-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-region unchanged
2483 C-f4 ethio-sera-to-fidel-mail-or-marker unchanged
2484
2485 S-f5 ethio-toggle-punctuation f3
2486 S-f6 ethio-modify-vowel f6
2487 S-f7 ethio-replace-space f7
2488 S-f8 ethio-input-special-character f8
2489 S-f9 ethio-replace-space unchanged
2490 C-f9 ethio-toggle-space f2
2491
2492 ** There are new Leim input methods.
2493 New input methods "turkish-postfix", "turkish-alt-postfix",
2494 "greek-mizuochi", "TeX", and "greek-babel" are now part of the Leim
2495 package.
2496
2497 ** The rule of input method "slovak" is slightly changed. Now the
2498 rules for translating "q" and "Q" to "`" (backquote) are deleted, thus
2499 typing them inserts "q" and "Q" respectively. Rules for translating
2500 "=q", "+q", "=Q", and "+Q" to "`" are also deleted. Now, to input
2501 "`", you must type "=q".
2502
2503 ** When your terminal can't display characters from some of the ISO
2504 8859 character sets but can display Latin-1, you can display
2505 more-or-less mnemonic sequences of ASCII/Latin-1 characters instead of
2506 empty boxes (under a window system) or question marks (not under a
2507 window system). Customize the option `latin1-display' to turn this
2508 on.
2509
2510 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
2511 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
2512 defined in newcomment.el. You can choose different styles of region
2513 commenting with the variable `comment-style'.
2514
2515 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
2516 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
2517 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
2518 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
2519
2520 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
2521 on the display using several methods
2522
2523 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
2524 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
2525 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
2526
2527 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
2528 equivalent to specifying the frame parameter.
2529
2530 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
2531
2532 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
2533 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
2534
2535 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
2536 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
2537 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
2538 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
2539
2540 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
2541 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
2542 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
2543
2544 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
2545 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
2546
2547 ** New X resources recognized
2548
2549 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
2550 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
2551 is useful for debugging X problems.
2552
2553 Example:
2554
2555 emacs.synchronous: true
2556
2557 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
2558 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
2559 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
2560 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
2561 visual class names are
2562
2563 TrueColor
2564 PseudoColor
2565 DirectColor
2566 StaticColor
2567 GrayScale
2568 StaticGray
2569
2570 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
2571 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
2572 meaning.
2573
2574 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
2575 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
2576 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
2577 visual.
2578
2579 Example:
2580
2581 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
2582
2583 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
2584 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
2585 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
2586 resource values are `true' or `on'.
2587
2588 Example:
2589
2590 emacs.privateColormap: true
2591
2592 ** Faces and frame parameters.
2593
2594 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
2595 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
2596 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
2597 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
2598 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
2599 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
2600 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
2601
2602 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
2603 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
2604 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
2605 `default' face and vice versa.
2606
2607 ** New face `menu'.
2608
2609 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
2610
2611 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
2612
2613 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
2614 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
2615 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
2616 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
2617
2618 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
2619 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
2620 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
2621
2622 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
2623 `ScreenGamma'.
2624
2625 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
2626
2627 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
2628 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
2629 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
2630 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
2631
2632 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
2633
2634 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
2635
2636 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
2637
2638 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
2639 LessTif/Motif one.
2640
2641 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
2642 LessTif and Motif.
2643
2644 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
2645
2646 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
2647 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
2648 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
2649
2650 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
2651 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi and Less).
2652
2653 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
2654 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
2655 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
2656
2657 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
2658
2659 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
2660 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggressively' is a
2661 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
2662 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
2663
2664 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
2665 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggressively' is a
2666 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
2667 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
2668
2669 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
2670 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
2671 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
2672 buffers.
2673
2674 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
2675
2676 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
2677 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
2678 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
2679
2680 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
2681 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
2682 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
2683 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
2684 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
2685 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
2686
2687 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
2688
2689 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
2690 notably at the end of lines.
2691
2692 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
2693 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
2694
2695 ** The function `replace-rectangle' is an alias for `string-rectangle'.
2696
2697 ** The new command M-x string-insert-rectangle is like `string-rectangle',
2698 but inserts text instead of replacing it.
2699
2700 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
2701 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
2702 after each match to get the replacement text.
2703
2704 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
2705 you edit the replacement string.
2706
2707 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB'
2708 (if you load the library `mailabbrev'), lets you complete mail aliases
2709 in the text, analogous to lisp-complete-symbol.
2710
2711 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
2712
2713 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
2714 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
2715
2716 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
2717 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
2718 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
2719 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
2720
2721 --
2722 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
2723 read mail from the menu etc.
2724
2725 ** The environment variable `EMACSLOCKDIR' is no longer used on MS-Windows.
2726 This environment variable was used when creating lock files. Emacs on
2727 MS-Windows does not use this variable anymore. This change was made
2728 before Emacs 21.1, but wasn't documented until now.
2729
2730 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
2731 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
2732
2733 ** The new command `msdos-set-mouse-buttons' forces the MS-DOS version
2734 of Emacs to behave as if the mouse had a specified number of buttons.
2735 This comes handy with mice that don't report their number of buttons
2736 correctly. One example is the wheeled mice, which report 3 buttons,
2737 but clicks on the middle button are not passed to the MS-DOS version
2738 of Emacs.
2739
2740 ** Customize changes
2741
2742 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
2743 `State' menu to add comments, or give a prefix argument to
2744 M-x customize-set-variable or M-x customize-set-value. Note that
2745 customization comments will cause the customizations to fail in
2746 earlier versions of Emacs.
2747
2748 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
2749 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
2750 default).
2751
2752 *** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
2753 does not allow you to save customizations in your `~/.emacs' init
2754 file. This is because saving customizations from such a session would
2755 wipe out all the other customizationss you might have on your init
2756 file.
2757
2758 ** If Emacs was invoked with the `-q' or `--no-init-file' options, it
2759 does not save disabled and enabled commands for future sessions, to
2760 avoid overwriting existing customizations of this kind that are
2761 already in your init file.
2762
2763 ** New features in evaluation commands
2764
2765 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
2766 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
2767 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the new
2768 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
2769 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
2770
2771 The default values for the first two of these variables are 12 and 4
2772 respectively, which means that `eval-expression' now prints at most
2773 the first 12 members of a list and at most 4 nesting levels deep (if
2774 the list is longer or deeper than that, an ellipsis `...' is
2775 printed).
2776
2777 <RET> or <mouse-2> on the printed text toggles between an abbreviated
2778 printed representation and an unabbreviated one.
2779
2780 The default value of eval-expression-debug-on-error is t, so any error
2781 during evaluation produces a backtrace.
2782
2783 *** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
2784 code when called with a prefix argument.
2785
2786 ** CC mode changes.
2787
2788 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
2789 current user setups (although it's believed that these
2790 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
2791 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
2792 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
2793 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
2794 release.
2795
2796 *** The hardcoded switch to "java" style in Java mode is gone.
2797 CC Mode used to automatically set the style to "java" when Java mode
2798 is entered. This has now been removed since it caused too much
2799 confusion.
2800
2801 However, to keep backward compatibility to a certain extent, the
2802 default value for c-default-style now specifies the "java" style for
2803 java-mode, but "gnu" for all other modes (as before). So you won't
2804 notice the change if you haven't touched that variable.
2805
2806 *** New cleanups, space-before-funcall and compact-empty-funcall.
2807 Two new cleanups have been added to c-cleanup-list:
2808
2809 space-before-funcall causes a space to be inserted before the opening
2810 parenthesis of a function call, which gives the style "foo (bar)".
2811
2812 compact-empty-funcall causes any space before a function call opening
2813 parenthesis to be removed if there are no arguments to the function.
2814 It's typically useful together with space-before-funcall to get the
2815 style "foo (bar)" and "foo()".
2816
2817 *** Some keywords now automatically trigger reindentation.
2818 Keywords like "else", "while", "catch" and "finally" have been made
2819 "electric" to make them reindent automatically when they continue an
2820 earlier statement. An example:
2821
2822 for (i = 0; i < 17; i++)
2823 if (a[i])
2824 res += a[i]->offset;
2825 else
2826
2827 Here, the "else" should be indented like the preceding "if", since it
2828 continues that statement. CC Mode will automatically reindent it after
2829 the "else" has been typed in full, since it's not until then it's
2830 possible to decide whether it's a new statement or a continuation of
2831 the preceding "if".
2832
2833 CC Mode uses Abbrev mode to achieve this, which is therefore turned on
2834 by default.
2835
2836 *** M-a and M-e now moves by sentence in multiline strings.
2837 Previously these two keys only moved by sentence in comments, which
2838 meant that sentence movement didn't work in strings containing
2839 documentation or other natural language text.
2840
2841 The reason it's only activated in multiline strings (i.e. strings that
2842 contain a newline, even when escaped by a '\') is to avoid stopping in
2843 the short strings that often reside inside statements. Multiline
2844 strings almost always contain text in a natural language, as opposed
2845 to other strings that typically contain format specifications,
2846 commands, etc. Also, it's not that bothersome that M-a and M-e misses
2847 sentences in single line strings, since they're short anyway.
2848
2849 *** Support for autodoc comments in Pike mode.
2850 Autodoc comments for Pike are used to extract documentation from the
2851 source, like Javadoc in Java. Pike mode now recognize this markup in
2852 comment prefixes and paragraph starts.
2853
2854 *** The comment prefix regexps on c-comment-prefix may be mode specific.
2855 When c-comment-prefix is an association list, it specifies the comment
2856 line prefix on a per-mode basis, like c-default-style does. This
2857 change came about to support the special autodoc comment prefix in
2858 Pike mode only.
2859
2860 *** Better handling of syntactic errors.
2861 The recovery after unbalanced parens earlier in the buffer has been
2862 improved; CC Mode now reports them by dinging and giving a message
2863 stating the offending line, but still recovers and indent the
2864 following lines in a sane way (most of the time). An "else" with no
2865 matching "if" is handled similarly. If an error is discovered while
2866 indenting a region, the whole region is still indented and the error
2867 is reported afterwards.
2868
2869 *** Lineup functions may now return absolute columns.
2870 A lineup function can give an absolute column to indent the line to by
2871 returning a vector with the desired column as the first element.
2872
2873 *** More robust and warning-free byte compilation.
2874 Although this is strictly not a user visible change (well, depending
2875 on the view of a user), it's still worth mentioning that CC Mode now
2876 can be compiled in the standard ways without causing trouble. Some
2877 code have also been moved between the subpackages to enhance the
2878 modularity somewhat. Thanks to Martin Buchholz for doing the
2879 groundwork.
2880
2881 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
2882 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
2883 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
2884 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
2885 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
2886 have to bother.
2887
2888 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
2889 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
2890 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
2891 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
2892 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
2893 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
2894
2895 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
2896 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
2897 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
2898 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
2899 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
2900 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
2901 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
2902 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
2903
2904 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
2905 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
2906 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
2907 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
2908 above.
2909
2910 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
2911 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
2912 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
2913 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
2914 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
2915 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
2916 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
2917 function documentation for more info.
2918
2919 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
2920 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
2921 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
2922 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
2923 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
2924 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
2925 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
2926 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
2927
2928 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
2929
2930 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
2931 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
2932
2933 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
2934 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
2935 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
2936 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
2937 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
2938 style system.
2939
2940 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
2941 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
2942 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
2943 as far as possible.
2944
2945 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
2946 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
2947 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
2948 chapter about this in the manual.
2949
2950 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
2951 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
2952 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
2953 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
2954 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
2955
2956 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
2957 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
2958 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
2959
2960 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
2961 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
2962
2963 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
2964 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
2965 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
2966 inside CC Mode.
2967
2968 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
2969 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
2970 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
2971 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
2972 cc-mode/).
2973
2974 **** The variables `c-hanging-comment-starter-p' and
2975 `c-hanging-comment-ender-p', which controlled how comment starters and
2976 enders were filled, are not used anymore. The new version of the
2977 function `c-fill-paragraph' keeps the comment starters and enders as
2978 they were before the filling.
2979
2980 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
2981 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
2982 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
2983 literals.
2984
2985 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
2986 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
2987 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
2988 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
2989 this function.
2990
2991 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
2992 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
2993 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
2994 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
2995 Thanks to Eric Eide.
2996
2997 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
2998 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
2999 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
3000
3001 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
3002
3003 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
3004 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
3005 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
3006 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
3007
3008 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
3009 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
3010 the column specified by comment-column.
3011
3012 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
3013 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
3014 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
3015 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
3016 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
3017 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
3018
3019 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
3020 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
3021 arguments.
3022
3023 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
3024
3025 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
3026 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
3027 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
3028 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
3029 Provan).
3030
3031 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
3032
3033 ** Dired changes
3034
3035 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
3036 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
3037 is, delete only empty directories.
3038
3039 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
3040 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
3041 copy directories recursively.
3042
3043 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
3044 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
3045 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
3046
3047 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
3048 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
3049 directory.
3050
3051 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `y') shows
3052 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
3053 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
3054 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
3055 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
3056
3057 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
3058 from ls switches.
3059
3060 *** Dired commands that prompt for a destination file now allow the use
3061 of the `M-n' command in the minibuffer to insert the source filename,
3062 which the user can then edit. This only works if there is a single
3063 source file, not when operating on multiple marked files.
3064
3065 ** Gnus changes.
3066
3067 The Gnus NEWS entries are short, but they reflect sweeping changes in
3068 four areas: Article display treatment, MIME treatment,
3069 internationalization and mail-fetching.
3070
3071 *** The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
3072 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
3073
3074 If you used procmail like in
3075
3076 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
3077 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
3078 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
3079 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
3080
3081 this now has changed to
3082
3083 (setq mail-sources
3084 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
3085 :suffix ".in")))
3086
3087 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
3088 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
3089
3090 *** Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
3091 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
3092 Separate MIME packages like RMIME, mime-compose etc., will probably no
3093 longer work; remove them and use the native facilities.
3094
3095 The FLIM/SEMI package still works with Emacs 21, but if you want to
3096 use the native facilities, you must remove any mailcap.el[c] that was
3097 installed by FLIM/SEMI version 1.13 or earlier.
3098
3099 *** Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too many
3100 parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables. There
3101 are built-in facilities equivalent to those of gnus-mule.el, which is
3102 now just a compatibility layer.
3103
3104 *** gnus-mule.el is now just a compatibility layer over the built-in
3105 Gnus facilities.
3106
3107 *** gnus-auto-select-first can now be a function to be
3108 called to position point.
3109
3110 *** The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
3111 summary buffers and NOV files.
3112
3113 *** `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed. Instead, a number
3114 of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.
3115
3116 *** The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now work in a
3117 subtly different manner.
3118
3119 *** New web-based backends have been added: nnslashdot, nnwarchive
3120 and nnultimate. nnweb has been revamped, again, to keep up with
3121 ever-changing layouts.
3122
3123 *** Gnus can now read IMAP mail via nnimap.
3124
3125 *** There is image support of various kinds and some sound support.
3126
3127 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
3128
3129 *** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
3130 macros
3131
3132 Key binding Macro
3133 -------------------------
3134 C-c C-c C-s @strong
3135 C-c C-c C-e @emph
3136 C-c C-c u @uref
3137 C-c C-c q @quotation
3138 C-c C-c m @email
3139 C-c C-o @<block> ... @end <block>
3140 M-RET @item
3141
3142 *** The " key now inserts either " or `` or '' depending on context.
3143
3144 ** Changes in Outline mode.
3145
3146 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
3147 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
3148 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
3149
3150 ** Changes to Emacs Server
3151
3152 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
3153 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
3154 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
3155 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
3156 buffers to kill, as before.
3157
3158 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
3159 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
3160 this way.
3161
3162 ** Both emacsclient and Emacs itself now accept command line options
3163 of the form +LINE:COLUMN in addition to +LINE.
3164
3165 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
3166
3167 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
3168 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
3169 use. Default is 1000.
3170
3171 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
3172 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
3173
3174 ** Changes to hideshow.el
3175
3176 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
3177
3178 A block is now recognized by its start and end regexps (both strings),
3179 and an integer specifying which sub-expression in the start regexp
3180 serves as the place where a `forward-sexp'-like function can operate.
3181 See the documentation of variable `hs-special-modes-alist'.
3182
3183 *** During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active,
3184 hidden blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' can
3185 be used in the mode line format to show the line at the beginning of
3186 the open block.
3187
3188 *** User option `hs-hide-all-non-comment-function' specifies a
3189 function to be called at each top-level block beginning, instead of
3190 the normal block-hiding function.
3191
3192 *** The command `hs-show-region' has been removed.
3193
3194 *** The key bindings have changed to fit the Emacs conventions,
3195 roughly imitating those of Outline minor mode. Notably, the prefix
3196 for all bindings is now `C-c @'. For details, see the documentation
3197 for `hs-minor-mode'.
3198
3199 *** The variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' has been removed, and
3200 hideshow.el now always behaves as if this variable were set to t.
3201
3202 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
3203
3204 *** If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes
3205 an entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
3206 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
3207
3208 **** New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the
3209 current buffer.
3210
3211 *** New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries
3212 in a log file.
3213
3214 *** Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log
3215 entries if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
3216 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
3217 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
3218 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be customized.
3219 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
3220
3221 *** Change Log mode now defines its own faces for font-lock highlighting.
3222
3223 ** Changes to cmuscheme
3224
3225 *** The user-option `scheme-program-name' has been renamed
3226 `cmuscheme-program-name' due to conflicts with xscheme.el.
3227
3228 ** Changes in Font Lock
3229
3230 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
3231 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major mode.
3232
3233 *** Multi-line patterns are now supported. Modes using this, should
3234 set font-lock-multiline to t in their font-lock-defaults.
3235
3236 *** `font-lock-syntactic-face-function' allows major-modes to choose
3237 the face used for each string/comment.
3238
3239 *** A new standard face `font-lock-doc-face'.
3240 Meant for Lisp docstrings, Javadoc comments and other "documentation in code".
3241
3242 ** Changes to Shell mode
3243
3244 *** The `shell' command now accepts an optional argument to specify the buffer
3245 to use, which defaults to "*shell*". When used interactively, a
3246 non-default buffer may be specified by giving the `shell' command a
3247 prefix argument (causing it to prompt for the buffer name).
3248
3249 ** Comint (subshell) changes
3250
3251 These changes generally affect all modes derived from comint mode, which
3252 include shell-mode, gdb-mode, scheme-interaction-mode, etc.
3253
3254 *** Comint now by default interprets some carriage-control characters.
3255 Comint now removes CRs from CR LF sequences, and treats single CRs and
3256 BSs in the output in a way similar to a terminal (by deleting to the
3257 beginning of the line, or deleting the previous character,
3258 respectively). This is achieved by adding `comint-carriage-motion' to
3259 the `comint-output-filter-functions' hook by default.
3260
3261 *** By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp'
3262 to distinguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which
3263 parts of the text were output by the process, and which entered by the
3264 user, and attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use
3265 this information. Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line,
3266 respect field boundaries in a fairly natural manner. To disable this
3267 feature, and use the old behavior, customize the user option
3268 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields'.
3269
3270 *** Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
3271 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
3272
3273 *** The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
3274 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
3275 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
3276
3277 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
3278 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
3279 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
3280
3281 *** Packages based on comint now highlight user input and program prompts,
3282 and support choosing previous input with mouse-2. To control these features,
3283 see the user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
3284
3285 *** The new command `comint-write-output' (usually bound to `C-c C-s')
3286 saves the output from the most recent command to a file. With a prefix
3287 argument, it appends to the file.
3288
3289 *** The command `comint-kill-output' has been renamed `comint-delete-output'
3290 (usually bound to `C-c C-o'); the old name is aliased to it for
3291 compatibility.
3292
3293 *** The new function `comint-add-to-input-history' adds commands to the input
3294 ring (history).
3295
3296 *** The new variable `comint-input-history-ignore' is a regexp for
3297 identifying history lines that should be ignored, like tcsh time-stamp
3298 strings, starting with a `#'. The default value of this variable is "^#".
3299
3300 ** Changes to Rmail mode
3301
3302 *** The new user-option rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
3303 set to fine tune the identification of the correspondent when
3304 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
3305 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
3306 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
3307 as correspondent.
3308
3309 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
3310 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
3311 regexp matching your mail addresses.
3312
3313 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
3314 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
3315 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
3316 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
3317 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
3318
3319 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
3320 like `j'.
3321
3322 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
3323 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
3324 digest message.
3325
3326 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
3327 in which folder to put messages automatically.
3328
3329 *** The new function `rmail-redecode-body' allows to fix a message
3330 with non-ASCII characters if Emacs happens to decode it incorrectly
3331 due to missing or malformed "charset=" header.
3332
3333 ** The new user-option `mail-envelope-from' can be used to specify
3334 an envelope-from address different from user-mail-address.
3335
3336 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
3337 use the -f option when sending mail.
3338
3339 ** The Rmail command `o' (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file') now writes the
3340 current message in the internal `emacs-mule' encoding, rather than in
3341 the encoding taken from the variable `buffer-file-coding-system'.
3342 This allows to save messages whose characters cannot be safely encoded
3343 by the buffer's coding system, and makes sure the message will be
3344 displayed correctly when you later visit the target Rmail file.
3345
3346 If you want your Rmail files be encoded in a specific coding system
3347 other than `emacs-mule', you can customize the variable
3348 `rmail-file-coding-system' to set its value to that coding system.
3349
3350 ** Changes to TeX mode
3351
3352 *** The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
3353 `latex-mode'.
3354
3355 *** latex-mode now has a simple indentation algorithm.
3356
3357 *** M-f and M-p jump around \begin...\end pairs.
3358
3359 *** Added support for outline-minor-mode.
3360
3361 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
3362
3363 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
3364 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
3365 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
3366 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
3367 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
3368 can be edited from that buffer.
3369
3370 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
3371 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
3372 `A' to use all marked entries).
3373
3374 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
3375 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
3376
3377 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
3378 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
3379 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
3380 been cited.
3381
3382 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
3383 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
3384 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
3385 in column 1 are always made leaves.
3386
3387 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
3388 has the following new features:
3389
3390 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
3391 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
3392 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
3393 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
3394
3395 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
3396 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
3397 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
3398 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
3399 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
3400 defaults to 1.
3401
3402 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
3403 file names.
3404
3405 ** Ispell changes
3406
3407 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
3408 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
3409 spell-checks the current buffer.
3410
3411 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
3412 added.
3413
3414 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
3415 correction is made and re-checked.
3416
3417 *** An Italian, Portuguese, and Slovak dictionary definition has been added.
3418
3419 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
3420 cases.
3421
3422 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
3423 on syntax errors.
3424
3425 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
3426 end of the buffer.
3427
3428 *** Spell checking now works in the MS-DOS version of Emacs.
3429
3430 ** Makefile mode changes
3431
3432 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
3433
3434 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
3435 Fontlock mode is active.
3436
3437 ** Isearch changes
3438
3439 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
3440 so that searches can be resumed.
3441
3442 *** In Isearch mode, C-M-s and C-M-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
3443 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
3444 that started the search.
3445
3446 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
3447 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
3448
3449 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
3450
3451 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
3452 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
3453 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
3454 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
3455 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
3456 `secondary-selection'.
3457
3458 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
3459 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
3460 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
3461 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
3462 usual snappy response.
3463
3464 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
3465 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
3466 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
3467 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
3468
3469 ** VC Changes
3470
3471 VC has been overhauled internally. It is now modular, making it
3472 easier to plug-in arbitrary version control backends. (See Lisp
3473 Changes for details on the new structure.) As a result, the mechanism
3474 to enable and disable support for particular version systems has
3475 changed: everything is now controlled by the new variable
3476 `vc-handled-backends'. Its value is a list of symbols that identify
3477 version systems; the default is '(RCS CVS SCCS). When finding a file,
3478 each of the backends in that list is tried in order to see whether the
3479 file is registered in that backend.
3480
3481 When registering a new file, VC first tries each of the listed
3482 backends to see if any of them considers itself "responsible" for the
3483 directory of the file (e.g. because a corresponding subdirectory for
3484 master files exists). If none of the backends is responsible, then
3485 the first backend in the list that could register the file is chosen.
3486 As a consequence, the variable `vc-default-back-end' is now obsolete.
3487
3488 The old variable `vc-master-templates' is also obsolete, although VC
3489 still supports it for backward compatibility. To define templates for
3490 RCS or SCCS, you should rather use the new variables
3491 vc-{rcs,sccs}-master-templates. (There is no such feature under CVS
3492 where it doesn't make sense.)
3493
3494 The variables `vc-ignore-vc-files' and `vc-handle-cvs' are also
3495 obsolete now, you must set `vc-handled-backends' to nil or exclude
3496 `CVS' from the list, respectively, to achieve their effect now.
3497
3498 *** General Changes
3499
3500 The variable `vc-checkout-carefully' is obsolete: the corresponding
3501 checks are always done now.
3502
3503 VC Dired buffers are now kept up-to-date during all version control
3504 operations.
3505
3506 `vc-diff' output is now displayed in `diff-mode'.
3507 `vc-print-log' uses `log-view-mode'.
3508 `vc-log-mode' (used for *VC-Log*) has been replaced by `log-edit-mode'.
3509
3510 The command C-x v m (vc-merge) now accepts an empty argument as the
3511 first revision number. This means that any recent changes on the
3512 current branch should be picked up from the repository and merged into
3513 the working file (``merge news'').
3514
3515 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
3516 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) now ask for a directory name from which to work
3517 downwards.
3518
3519 *** Multiple Backends
3520
3521 VC now lets you register files in more than one backend. This is
3522 useful, for example, if you are working with a slow remote CVS
3523 repository. You can then use RCS for local editing, and occasionally
3524 commit your changes back to CVS, or pick up changes from CVS into your
3525 local RCS archives.
3526
3527 To make this work, the ``more local'' backend (RCS in our example)
3528 should come first in `vc-handled-backends', and the ``more remote''
3529 backend (CVS) should come later. (The default value of
3530 `vc-handled-backends' already has it that way.)
3531
3532 You can then commit changes to another backend (say, RCS), by typing
3533 C-u C-x v v RCS RET (i.e. vc-next-action now accepts a backend name as
3534 a revision number). VC registers the file in the more local backend
3535 if that hasn't already happened, and commits to a branch based on the
3536 current revision number from the more remote backend.
3537
3538 If a file is registered in multiple backends, you can switch to
3539 another one using C-x v b (vc-switch-backend). This does not change
3540 any files, it only changes VC's perspective on the file. Use this to
3541 pick up changes from CVS while working under RCS locally.
3542
3543 After you are done with your local RCS editing, you can commit your
3544 changes back to CVS using C-u C-x v v CVS RET. In this case, the
3545 local RCS archive is removed after the commit, and the log entry
3546 buffer is initialized to contain the entire RCS change log of the file.
3547
3548 *** Changes for CVS
3549
3550 There is a new user option, `vc-cvs-stay-local'. If it is `t' (the
3551 default), then VC avoids network queries for files registered in
3552 remote repositories. The state of such files is then only determined
3553 by heuristics and past information. `vc-cvs-stay-local' can also be a
3554 regexp to match against repository hostnames; only files from hosts
3555 that match it are treated locally. If the variable is nil, then VC
3556 queries the repository just as often as it does for local files.
3557
3558 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, then VC also makes local backups of
3559 repository versions. This means that ordinary diffs (C-x v =) and
3560 revert operations (C-x v u) can be done completely locally, without
3561 any repository interactions at all. The name of a local version
3562 backup of FILE is FILE.~REV.~, where REV is the repository version
3563 number. This format is similar to that used by C-x v ~
3564 (vc-version-other-window), except for the trailing dot. As a matter
3565 of fact, the two features can each use the files created by the other,
3566 the only difference being that files with a trailing `.' are deleted
3567 automatically after commit. (This feature doesn't work on MS-DOS,
3568 since DOS disallows more than a single dot in the trunk of a file
3569 name.)
3570
3571 If `vc-cvs-stay-local' is on, and there have been changes in the
3572 repository, VC notifies you about it when you actually try to commit.
3573 If you want to check for updates from the repository without trying to
3574 commit, you can either use C-x v m RET to perform an update on the
3575 current file, or you can use C-x v r RET to get an update for an
3576 entire directory tree.
3577
3578 The new user option `vc-cvs-use-edit' indicates whether VC should call
3579 "cvs edit" to make files writeable; it defaults to `t'. (This option
3580 is only meaningful if the CVSREAD variable is set, or if files are
3581 "watched" by other developers.)
3582
3583 The commands C-x v s (vc-create-snapshot) and C-x v r
3584 (vc-retrieve-snapshot) are now also implemented for CVS. If you give
3585 an empty snapshot name to the latter, that performs a `cvs update',
3586 starting at the given directory.
3587
3588 *** Lisp Changes in VC
3589
3590 VC has been restructured internally to make it modular. You can now
3591 add support for arbitrary version control backends by writing a
3592 library that provides a certain set of backend-specific functions, and
3593 then telling VC to use that library. For example, to add support for
3594 a version system named SYS, you write a library named vc-sys.el, which
3595 provides a number of functions vc-sys-... (see commentary at the top
3596 of vc.el for a detailed list of them). To make VC use that library,
3597 you need to put it somewhere into Emacs' load path and add the symbol
3598 `SYS' to the list `vc-handled-backends'.
3599
3600 ** The customizable EDT emulation package now supports the EDT
3601 SUBS command and EDT scroll margins. It also works with more
3602 terminal/keyboard configurations and it now works under XEmacs.
3603 See etc/edt-user.doc for more information.
3604
3605 ** New modes and packages
3606
3607 *** The new global minor mode `minibuffer-electric-default-mode'
3608 automatically hides the `(default ...)' part of minibuffer prompts when
3609 the default is not applicable.
3610
3611 *** Artist is an Emacs lisp package that allows you to draw lines,
3612 rectangles and ellipses by using your mouse and/or keyboard. The
3613 shapes are made up with the ascii characters |, -, / and \.
3614
3615 Features are:
3616
3617 - Intersecting: When a `|' intersects with a `-', a `+' is
3618 drawn, like this: | \ /
3619 --+-- X
3620 | / \
3621
3622 - Rubber-banding: When drawing lines you can interactively see the
3623 result while holding the mouse button down and moving the mouse. If
3624 your machine is not fast enough (a 386 is a bit too slow, but a
3625 pentium is well enough), you can turn this feature off. You will
3626 then see 1's and 2's which mark the 1st and 2nd endpoint of the line
3627 you are drawing.
3628
3629 - Arrows: After having drawn a (straight) line or a (straight)
3630 poly-line, you can set arrows on the line-ends by typing < or >.
3631
3632 - Flood-filling: You can fill any area with a certain character by
3633 flood-filling.
3634
3635 - Cut copy and paste: You can cut, copy and paste rectangular
3636 regions. Artist also interfaces with the rect package (this can be
3637 turned off if it causes you any trouble) so anything you cut in
3638 artist can be yanked with C-x r y and vice versa.
3639
3640 - Drawing with keys: Everything you can do with the mouse, you can
3641 also do without the mouse.
3642
3643 - Aspect-ratio: You can set the variable artist-aspect-ratio to
3644 reflect the height-width ratio for the font you are using. Squares
3645 and circles are then drawn square/round. Note, that once your
3646 ascii-file is shown with font with a different height-width ratio,
3647 the squares won't be square and the circles won't be round.
3648
3649 - Drawing operations: The following drawing operations are implemented:
3650
3651 lines straight-lines
3652 rectangles squares
3653 poly-lines straight poly-lines
3654 ellipses circles
3655 text (see-thru) text (overwrite)
3656 spray-can setting size for spraying
3657 vaporize line vaporize lines
3658 erase characters erase rectangles
3659
3660 Straight lines are lines that go horizontally, vertically or
3661 diagonally. Plain lines go in any direction. The operations in
3662 the right column are accessed by holding down the shift key while
3663 drawing.
3664
3665 It is possible to vaporize (erase) entire lines and connected lines
3666 (rectangles for example) as long as the lines being vaporized are
3667 straight and connected at their endpoints. Vaporizing is inspired
3668 by the drawrect package by Jari Aalto <jari.aalto@poboxes.com>.
3669
3670 - Picture mode compatibility: Artist is picture mode compatible (this
3671 can be turned off).
3672
3673 *** The new package Eshell is an operating system command shell
3674 implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp. Use `M-x eshell' to invoke it.
3675 It functions similarly to bash and zsh, and allows running of Lisp
3676 functions and external commands using the same syntax. It supports
3677 history lists, aliases, extended globbing, smart scrolling, etc. It
3678 will work on any platform Emacs has been ported to. And since most of
3679 the basic commands -- ls, rm, mv, cp, ln, du, cat, etc. -- have been
3680 rewritten in Lisp, it offers an operating-system independent shell,
3681 all within the scope of your Emacs process.
3682
3683 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
3684 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
3685 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
3686 on certain projects.
3687
3688 *** The new package hi-lock.el provides commands to highlight matches
3689 of interactively entered regexps. For example,
3690
3691 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
3692
3693 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
3694 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
3695 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
3696 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
3697 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
3698 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
3699 corresponding file is read. There are commands to highlight matches
3700 to phrases and to highlight entire lines containing a match.
3701
3702 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
3703 Emacs is idle.
3704
3705 *** The new package tildify.el allows to add hard spaces or other text
3706 fragments in accordance with the current major mode.
3707
3708 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
3709 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
3710
3711 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
3712 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
3713 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
3714 `comment-region' now doesn't always comment a-line-at-a-time, but only
3715 comments the region, breaking the line at point if necessary.
3716
3717 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
3718 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
3719 separate Texinfo file.
3720
3721 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
3722 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
3723 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
3724 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
3725 enter check-in log messages.
3726
3727 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
3728 without invoking external programs.
3729
3730 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
3731 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
3732 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
3733 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
3734 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
3735
3736 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
3737 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
3738
3739 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
3740 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
3741
3742 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
3743 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
3744 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
3745 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
3746 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
3747 single step.
3748
3749 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
3750 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
3751 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
3752 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
3753
3754 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
3755 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
3756 actually modifying content of a buffer.
3757
3758 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
3759 PostScript.
3760
3761 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
3762
3763 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
3764
3765 ; comment (until end of line)
3766 A non-terminal
3767 "C" terminal
3768 ?C? special
3769 $A default non-terminal
3770 $"C" default terminal
3771 $?C? default special
3772 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
3773 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
3774 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
3775 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
3776 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
3777 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
3778 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
3779 C+ one or more occurrences of C
3780 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
3781 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
3782 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
3783 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
3784 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
3785 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
3786 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
3787
3788 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
3789
3790 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
3791 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
3792 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
3793 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
3794 equal signs of assignments.
3795
3796 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
3797 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
3798
3799 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
3800 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
3801 buffer menu with this package. See the Custom group `bs'.
3802
3803 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
3804
3805 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
3806 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
3807 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
3808 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
3809 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
3810 which answers different needs.
3811
3812 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
3813 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
3814 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
3815 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
3816 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
3817 to be enabled.
3818
3819 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
3820 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
3821
3822 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
3823
3824 *** hl-line.el provides `hl-line-mode', a minor mode to highlight the
3825 current line in the current buffer. It also provides
3826 `global-hl-line-mode' to provide the same behavior in all buffers.
3827
3828 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
3829
3830 Please note: if `ansi-color-for-comint-mode' and
3831 `global-font-lock-mode' are non-nil, loading ansi-color.el will
3832 disable font-lock and add `ansi-color-apply' to
3833 `comint-preoutput-filter-functions' for all shell-mode buffers. This
3834 displays the output of "ls --color=yes" using the correct foreground
3835 and background colors.
3836
3837 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
3838 Pascal) language.
3839
3840 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
3841 the text at point.
3842
3843 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
3844
3845 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
3846
3847 *** whitespace.el is a package for warning about and cleaning bogus
3848 whitespace in a file.
3849
3850 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
3851 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
3852 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
3853 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
3854 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
3855 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
3856 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
3857
3858 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
3859
3860 Here is an example of columns:
3861
3862 horse apple bus
3863 dog pineapple car EXTRA
3864 porcupine strawberry airplane
3865
3866 Doing the following settings:
3867
3868 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
3869 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
3870 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
3871 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
3872
3873
3874 Selecting the lines above and typing:
3875
3876 M-x delimit-columns-region
3877
3878 It results:
3879
3880 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
3881 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
3882 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
3883
3884 delim-col has the following options:
3885
3886 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
3887 before all columns.
3888
3889 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
3890 between each column.
3891
3892 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
3893 after all columns.
3894
3895 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
3896 each column.
3897
3898 delim-col has the following commands:
3899
3900 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
3901 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
3902
3903 *** Recentf mode maintains a menu for visiting files that were
3904 operated on recently. User option recentf-menu-filter specifies a
3905 menu filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the
3906 recent file list can be displayed:
3907
3908 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
3909 - sorted by file paths, file names, ascending or descending.
3910 - showing paths relative to the current default-directory
3911
3912 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
3913 dynamically change the menu appearance.
3914
3915 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
3916 text.
3917
3918 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
3919 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
3920 specific to Message mode.
3921
3922 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
3923 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
3924 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
3925
3926 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
3927 interface to access directory servers using different directory
3928 protocols. It has a separate manual.
3929
3930 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
3931 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
3932
3933 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
3934
3935 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
3936 minibuffer with completion.
3937
3938 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
3939 with the diary features.
3940
3941 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
3942 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
3943
3944 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
3945 Fill mode.
3946
3947 *** pcomplete.el is a library that provides programmable completion
3948 facilities for Emacs, similar to what zsh and tcsh offer. The main
3949 difference is that completion functions are written in Lisp, meaning
3950 they can be profiled, debugged, etc.
3951
3952 *** antlr-mode is a new major mode for editing ANTLR grammar files.
3953 It is automatically turned on for files whose names have the extension
3954 `.g'.
3955
3956 ** Changes in sort.el
3957
3958 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
3959 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
3960 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
3961 numeric base.
3962
3963 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
3964
3965 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
3966 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
3967 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
3968
3969 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
3970 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
3971
3972 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
3973 output ^M at the end of lines.
3974
3975 ** The recommended way of using Iswitchb is via the new global minor
3976 mode `iswitchb-mode'.
3977
3978 ** Just loading the msb package doesn't switch on Msb mode anymore.
3979 If you have `(require 'msb)' in your .emacs, please replace it with
3980 `(msb-mode 1)'.
3981
3982 ** Flyspell mode has various new options. See the `flyspell' Custom
3983 group.
3984
3985 ** The user option `backward-delete-char-untabify-method' controls the
3986 behavior of `backward-delete-char-untabify'. The following values
3987 are recognized:
3988
3989 `untabify' -- turn a tab to many spaces, then delete one space;
3990 `hungry' -- delete all whitespace, both tabs and spaces;
3991 `all' -- delete all whitespace, including tabs, spaces and newlines;
3992 nil -- just delete one character.
3993
3994 Default value is `untabify'.
3995
3996 [This change was made in Emacs 20.3 but not mentioned then.]
3997
3998 ** In Cperl mode `cperl-invalid-face' should now be a normal face
3999 symbol, not double-quoted.
4000
4001 ** Some packages are declared obsolete, to be removed in a future
4002 version. They are: auto-show, c-mode, hilit19, hscroll, ooutline,
4003 profile, rnews, rnewspost, and sc. Their implementations have been
4004 moved to lisp/obsolete.
4005
4006 ** auto-compression mode is no longer enabled just by loading jka-compr.el.
4007 To control it, set `auto-compression-mode' via Custom or use the
4008 `auto-compression-mode' command.
4009
4010 ** `browse-url-gnome-moz' is a new option for
4011 `browse-url-browser-function', invoking Mozilla in GNOME, and
4012 `browse-url-kde' can be chosen for invoking the KDE browser.
4013
4014 ** The user-option `browse-url-new-window-p' has been renamed to
4015 `browse-url-new-window-flag'.
4016
4017 ** The functions `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many' now
4018 operate on the active region in Transient Mark mode.
4019
4020 ** `gnus-user-agent' is a new possibility for `mail-user-agent'. It
4021 is like `message-user-agent', but with all the Gnus paraphernalia.
4022
4023 ** The Strokes package has been updated. If your Emacs has XPM
4024 support, you can use it for pictographic editing. In Strokes mode,
4025 use C-mouse-2 to compose a complex stoke and insert it into the
4026 buffer. You can encode or decode a strokes buffer with new commands
4027 M-x strokes-encode-buffer and M-x strokes-decode-buffer. There is a
4028 new command M-x strokes-list-strokes.
4029
4030 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
4031 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
4032
4033 ** Hexl mode allows to insert non-ASCII characters.
4034
4035 The non-ASCII characters are encoded using the same encoding as the
4036 file you are visiting in Hexl mode.
4037
4038 ** Shell script mode changes.
4039
4040 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
4041 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizable, and
4042 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
4043
4044 ** Etags changes.
4045
4046 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
4047
4048 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
4049 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
4050 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
4051 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
4052 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
4053
4054 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
4055 declarations when given the --declarations option.
4056
4057 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
4058 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
4059
4060 *** You shouldn't generally need any more the -C or -c++ option: etags
4061 automatically switches to C++ parsing when it meets the `class' or
4062 `template' keywords.
4063
4064 *** Etags now is able to delve at arbitrary deeps into nested structures in
4065 C-like languages. Previously, it was limited to one or two brace levels.
4066
4067 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
4068 types.
4069
4070 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
4071
4072 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
4073
4074 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
4075 are now tagged.
4076
4077 *** In makefiles, tags the targets.
4078
4079 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
4080 variables are tagged.
4081
4082 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
4083
4084 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
4085 for PSWrap.
4086
4087 ** Changes in etags.el
4088
4089 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
4090 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
4091 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
4092
4093 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
4094 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
4095
4096 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
4097 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
4098 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
4099 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
4100
4101 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
4102
4103 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
4104 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
4105
4106 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
4107
4108 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
4109 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
4110 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
4111
4112 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
4113 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
4114
4115 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
4116 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
4117
4118 *** You can now search for tags that are part of the filename itself.
4119 If you have tagged the files topfile.c subdir/subfile.c
4120 /tmp/tempfile.c, you can now search for tags "topfile.c", "subfile.c",
4121 "dir/sub", "tempfile", "tempfile.c". If the tag matches the file name,
4122 point will go to the beginning of the file.
4123
4124 *** Compressed files are now transparently supported if
4125 auto-compression-mode is active. You can tag (with Etags) and search
4126 (with find-tag) both compressed and uncompressed files.
4127
4128 *** Tags commands like M-x tags-search no longer change point
4129 in buffers where no match is found. In buffers where a match is
4130 found, the original value of point is pushed on the marker ring.
4131
4132 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
4133 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
4134 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
4135
4136 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
4137
4138 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
4139
4140 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignored-regexps'
4141 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
4142 expression from that list, are not checked.
4143
4144 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
4145 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
4146 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
4147 the buffer, just like for the local files.
4148
4149 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
4150
4151 ** When invoked with a prefix argument, the command `list-abbrevs' now
4152 displays local abbrevs, only.
4153
4154 ** Refill minor mode provides preliminary support for keeping
4155 paragraphs filled as you modify them.
4156
4157 ** The variable `double-click-fuzz' specifies how much the mouse
4158 may be moved between clicks that are recognized as a pair. Its value
4159 is measured in pixels.
4160
4161 ** The new global minor mode `auto-image-file-mode' allows image files
4162 to be visited as images.
4163
4164 ** Two new user-options `grep-command' and `grep-find-command'
4165 were added to compile.el.
4166
4167 ** Withdrawn packages
4168
4169 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
4170 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
4171
4172 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
4173
4174 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
4175
4176 \f
4177 * Incompatible Lisp changes
4178
4179 There are a few Lisp changes which are not backwards-compatible and
4180 may require changes to existing code. Here is a list for reference.
4181 See the sections below for details.
4182
4183 ** Since `format' preserves text properties, the idiom
4184 `(format "%s" foo)' no longer works to copy and remove properties.
4185 Use `copy-sequence' to copy the string, then use `set-text-properties'
4186 to remove the properties of the copy.
4187
4188 ** Since the `keymap' text property now has significance, some code
4189 which uses both `local-map' and `keymap' properties (for portability)
4190 may, for instance, give rise to duplicate menus when the keymaps from
4191 these properties are active.
4192
4193 ** The change in the treatment of non-ASCII characters in search
4194 ranges may affect some code.
4195
4196 ** A non-nil value for the LOCAL arg of add-hook makes the hook
4197 buffer-local even if `make-local-hook' hasn't been called, which might
4198 make a difference to some code.
4199
4200 ** The new treatment of the minibuffer prompt might affect code which
4201 operates on the minibuffer.
4202
4203 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
4204 cause `no-conversion' and `emacs-mule-unix' coding systems to produce
4205 different results when reading files with non-ASCII characters
4206 (previously, both coding systems would produce the same results).
4207 Specifically, `no-conversion' interprets each 8-bit byte as a separate
4208 character. This makes `no-conversion' inappropriate for reading
4209 multibyte text, e.g. buffers written to disk in their internal MULE
4210 encoding (auto-saving does that, for example). If a Lisp program
4211 reads such files with `no-conversion', each byte of the multibyte
4212 sequence, including the MULE leading codes such as \201, is treated as
4213 a separate character, which prevents them from being interpreted in
4214 the buffer as multibyte characters.
4215
4216 Therefore, Lisp programs that read files which contain the internal
4217 MULE encoding should use `emacs-mule-unix'. `no-conversion' is only
4218 appropriate for reading truly binary files.
4219
4220 ** Code that relies on the obsolete `before-change-function' and
4221 `after-change-function' to detect buffer changes will now fail. Use
4222 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions' instead.
4223
4224 ** Code that uses `concat' with integer args now gets an error, as
4225 long promised. So does any code that uses derivatives of `concat',
4226 such as `mapconcat'.
4227
4228 ** The function base64-decode-string now always returns a unibyte
4229 string.
4230
4231 ** Not a Lisp incompatibility as such but, with the introduction of
4232 extra private charsets, there is now only one slot free for a new
4233 dimension-2 private charset. User code which tries to add more than
4234 one extra will fail unless you rebuild Emacs with some standard
4235 charset(s) removed; that is probably inadvisable because it changes
4236 the emacs-mule encoding. Also, files stored in the emacs-mule
4237 encoding using Emacs 20 with additional private charsets defined will
4238 probably not be read correctly by Emacs 21.
4239
4240 ** The variable `directory-sep-char' is slated for removal.
4241 Not really a change (yet), but a projected one that you should be
4242 aware of: The variable `directory-sep-char' is deprecated, and should
4243 not be used. It was always ignored on GNU/Linux and Unix systems and
4244 on MS-DOS, but the MS-Windows port tried to support it by adapting the
4245 behavior of certain primitives to the value of this variable. It
4246 turned out that such support cannot be reliable, so it was decided to
4247 remove this variable in the near future. Lisp programs are well
4248 advised not to set it to anything but '/', because any different value
4249 will not have any effect when support for this variable is removed.
4250
4251 \f
4252 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
4253 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
4254
4255 ** Function assq-delete-all replaces function assoc-delete-all.
4256
4257 ** The new function animate-string, from lisp/play/animate.el
4258 allows the animated display of strings.
4259
4260 ** The new function `interactive-form' can be used to obtain the
4261 interactive form of a function.
4262
4263 ** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
4264 between custom options. Example:
4265
4266 (defcustom default-input-method nil
4267 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
4268 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
4269 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
4270 :group 'mule
4271 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
4272 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
4273
4274 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
4275 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
4276 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
4277
4278 ** The new hook `kbd-macro-termination-hook' is run at the end of
4279 function execute-kbd-macro. Functions on this hook are called with no
4280 args. The hook is run independent of how the macro was terminated
4281 (signal or normal termination).
4282
4283 ** Functions `butlast' and `nbutlast' for removing trailing elements
4284 from a list are now available without requiring the CL package.
4285
4286 ** The new user-option `even-window-heights' can be set to nil
4287 to prevent `display-buffer' from evening out window heights.
4288
4289 ** The user-option `face-font-registry-alternatives' specifies
4290 alternative font registry names to try when looking for a font.
4291
4292 ** Function `md5' calculates the MD5 "message digest"/"checksum".
4293
4294 ** Function `delete-frame' runs `delete-frame-hook' before actually
4295 deleting the frame. The hook is called with one arg, the frame
4296 being deleted.
4297
4298 ** `add-hook' now makes the hook local if called with a non-nil LOCAL arg.
4299
4300 ** The treatment of non-ASCII characters in search ranges has changed.
4301 If a range in a regular expression or the arg of
4302 skip-chars-forward/backward starts with a unibyte character C and ends
4303 with a multibyte character C2, the range is divided into two: one is
4304 C..?\377, the other is C1..C2, where C1 is the first character of C2's
4305 charset.
4306
4307 ** The new function `display-message-or-buffer' displays a message in
4308 the echo area or pops up a buffer, depending on the length of the
4309 message.
4310
4311 ** The new macro `with-auto-compression-mode' allows evaluating an
4312 expression with auto-compression-mode enabled.
4313
4314 ** In image specifications, `:heuristic-mask' has been replaced
4315 with the more general `:mask' property.
4316
4317 ** Image specifications accept more `:conversion's.
4318
4319 ** A `?' can be used in a symbol name without escaping it with a
4320 backslash.
4321
4322 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
4323 is running in batch mode. For example,
4324
4325 (message "%s" (read t))
4326
4327 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
4328 to standard output.
4329
4330 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
4331 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
4332
4333 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
4334 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
4335 frame or window.
4336
4337 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
4338 were added
4339
4340 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
4341
4342 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurrences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
4343 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
4344
4345 - Function: remq ELT LIST
4346
4347 Return a copy of LIST with all occurrences of ELT removed. The
4348 comparison is done with `eq'.
4349
4350 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
4351
4352 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
4353 has been changed: WEAK can now have new values `key-or-value' and
4354 `key-and-value', in addition the `nil', `key', `value', and `t'.
4355
4356 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
4357 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
4358 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
4359
4360 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
4361 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
4362
4363 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
4364 function was declared obsolete.
4365
4366 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
4367 retained as an alias).
4368
4369 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
4370 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
4371 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
4372
4373 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
4374
4375 - Function: window-list &optional FRAME WINDOW MINIBUF
4376
4377 Return a list of windows on FRAME, starting with WINDOW. FRAME nil or
4378 omitted means use the selected frame. WINDOW nil or omitted means use
4379 the selected window. MINIBUF t means include the minibuffer window,
4380 even if it isn't active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means include the
4381 minibuffer window only if it's active. MINIBUF neither nil nor t
4382 means never include the minibuffer window.
4383
4384 ** There's a new function `get-window-with-predicate' defined as follows
4385
4386 - Function: get-window-with-predicate PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
4387
4388 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
4389
4390 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
4391 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
4392 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
4393 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
4394 returned.
4395
4396 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
4397 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
4398 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
4399 minibuffer even if it is active.
4400
4401 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
4402 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
4403 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
4404 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
4405 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
4406 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
4407
4408 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
4409 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
4410 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
4411 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
4412 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
4413 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
4414 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
4415
4416 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
4417 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
4418 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
4419
4420 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
4421 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
4422 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
4423 Default value is nil.
4424
4425 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
4426 meaning no limit.
4427
4428 ** The new user option `line-number-display-limit-width' controls
4429 the maximum width of lines in a buffer for which Emacs displays line
4430 numbers in the mode line. The default is 200.
4431
4432 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
4433 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
4434 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
4435
4436 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information about the argument
4437 list of a primitive.
4438
4439 ** `where-is-internal' now also accepts a list of keymaps.
4440
4441 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
4442 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
4443 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
4444 than replacing the local map.
4445
4446 ** The obsolete variables `before-change-function' and
4447 `after-change-function' are no longer acted upon and have been
4448 removed. Use `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions'
4449 instead.
4450
4451 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
4452
4453 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments,
4454 as promised long ago.
4455
4456 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
4457
4458 ** The new variable auto-coding-regexp-alist specifies coding systems
4459 for reading specific files, analogous to auto-coding-alist, but
4460 patterns are checked against file contents instead of file names.
4461
4462 \f
4463 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
4464
4465 ** The new package rx.el provides an alternative sexp notation for
4466 regular expressions.
4467
4468 - Function: rx-to-string SEXP
4469
4470 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
4471
4472 - Macro: rx SEXP
4473
4474 Translate SEXP into a regular expression in string notation.
4475
4476 The following are valid subforms of regular expressions in sexp
4477 notation.
4478
4479 STRING
4480 matches string STRING literally.
4481
4482 CHAR
4483 matches character CHAR literally.
4484
4485 `not-newline'
4486 matches any character except a newline.
4487 .
4488 `anything'
4489 matches any character
4490
4491 `(any SET)'
4492 matches any character in SET. SET may be a character or string.
4493 Ranges of characters can be specified as `A-Z' in strings.
4494
4495 '(in SET)'
4496 like `any'.
4497
4498 `(not (any SET))'
4499 matches any character not in SET
4500
4501 `line-start'
4502 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of a line
4503 in the text being matched
4504
4505 `line-end'
4506 is similar to `line-start' but matches only at the end of a line
4507
4508 `string-start'
4509 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
4510 string being matched against.
4511
4512 `string-end'
4513 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
4514 string being matched against.
4515
4516 `buffer-start'
4517 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning of the
4518 buffer being matched against.
4519
4520 `buffer-end'
4521 matches the empty string, but only at the end of the
4522 buffer being matched against.
4523
4524 `point'
4525 matches the empty string, but only at point.
4526
4527 `word-start'
4528 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
4529 word.
4530
4531 `word-end'
4532 matches the empty string, but only at the end of a word.
4533
4534 `word-boundary'
4535 matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a
4536 word.
4537
4538 `(not word-boundary)'
4539 matches the empty string, but not at the beginning or end of a
4540 word.
4541
4542 `digit'
4543 matches 0 through 9.
4544
4545 `control'
4546 matches ASCII control characters.
4547
4548 `hex-digit'
4549 matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
4550
4551 `blank'
4552 matches space and tab only.
4553
4554 `graphic'
4555 matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
4556 space, and DEL.
4557
4558 `printing'
4559 matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
4560 and DEL.
4561
4562 `alphanumeric'
4563 matches letters and digits. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
4564 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
4565
4566 `letter'
4567 matches letters. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
4568 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
4569
4570 `ascii'
4571 matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
4572
4573 `nonascii'
4574 matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
4575
4576 `lower'
4577 matches anything lower-case.
4578
4579 `upper'
4580 matches anything upper-case.
4581
4582 `punctuation'
4583 matches punctuation. (But at present, for multibyte characters,
4584 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
4585
4586 `space'
4587 matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
4588
4589 `word'
4590 matches anything that has word syntax.
4591
4592 `(syntax SYNTAX)'
4593 matches a character with syntax SYNTAX. SYNTAX must be one
4594 of the following symbols.
4595
4596 `whitespace' (\\s- in string notation)
4597 `punctuation' (\\s.)
4598 `word' (\\sw)
4599 `symbol' (\\s_)
4600 `open-parenthesis' (\\s()
4601 `close-parenthesis' (\\s))
4602 `expression-prefix' (\\s')
4603 `string-quote' (\\s\")
4604 `paired-delimiter' (\\s$)
4605 `escape' (\\s\\)
4606 `character-quote' (\\s/)
4607 `comment-start' (\\s<)
4608 `comment-end' (\\s>)
4609
4610 `(not (syntax SYNTAX))'
4611 matches a character that has not syntax SYNTAX.
4612
4613 `(category CATEGORY)'
4614 matches a character with category CATEGORY. CATEGORY must be
4615 either a character to use for C, or one of the following symbols.
4616
4617 `consonant' (\\c0 in string notation)
4618 `base-vowel' (\\c1)
4619 `upper-diacritical-mark' (\\c2)
4620 `lower-diacritical-mark' (\\c3)
4621 `tone-mark' (\\c4)
4622 `symbol' (\\c5)
4623 `digit' (\\c6)
4624 `vowel-modifying-diacritical-mark' (\\c7)
4625 `vowel-sign' (\\c8)
4626 `semivowel-lower' (\\c9)
4627 `not-at-end-of-line' (\\c<)
4628 `not-at-beginning-of-line' (\\c>)
4629 `alpha-numeric-two-byte' (\\cA)
4630 `chinse-two-byte' (\\cC)
4631 `greek-two-byte' (\\cG)
4632 `japanese-hiragana-two-byte' (\\cH)
4633 `indian-two-byte' (\\cI)
4634 `japanese-katakana-two-byte' (\\cK)
4635 `korean-hangul-two-byte' (\\cN)
4636 `cyrillic-two-byte' (\\cY)
4637 `ascii' (\\ca)
4638 `arabic' (\\cb)
4639 `chinese' (\\cc)
4640 `ethiopic' (\\ce)
4641 `greek' (\\cg)
4642 `korean' (\\ch)
4643 `indian' (\\ci)
4644 `japanese' (\\cj)
4645 `japanese-katakana' (\\ck)
4646 `latin' (\\cl)
4647 `lao' (\\co)
4648 `tibetan' (\\cq)
4649 `japanese-roman' (\\cr)
4650 `thai' (\\ct)
4651 `vietnamese' (\\cv)
4652 `hebrew' (\\cw)
4653 `cyrillic' (\\cy)
4654 `can-break' (\\c|)
4655
4656 `(not (category CATEGORY))'
4657 matches a character that has not category CATEGORY.
4658
4659 `(and SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
4660 matches what SEXP1 matches, followed by what SEXP2 matches, etc.
4661
4662 `(submatch SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
4663 like `and', but makes the match accessible with `match-end',
4664 `match-beginning', and `match-string'.
4665
4666 `(group SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
4667 another name for `submatch'.
4668
4669 `(or SEXP1 SEXP2 ...)'
4670 matches anything that matches SEXP1 or SEXP2, etc. If all
4671 args are strings, use `regexp-opt' to optimize the resulting
4672 regular expression.
4673
4674 `(minimal-match SEXP)'
4675 produce a non-greedy regexp for SEXP. Normally, regexps matching
4676 zero or more occurrences of something are \"greedy\" in that they
4677 match as much as they can, as long as the overall regexp can
4678 still match. A non-greedy regexp matches as little as possible.
4679
4680 `(maximal-match SEXP)'
4681 produce a greedy regexp for SEXP. This is the default.
4682
4683 `(zero-or-more SEXP)'
4684 matches zero or more occurrences of what SEXP matches.
4685
4686 `(0+ SEXP)'
4687 like `zero-or-more'.
4688
4689 `(* SEXP)'
4690 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
4691
4692 `(*? SEXP)'
4693 like `zero-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
4694
4695 `(one-or-more SEXP)'
4696 matches one or more occurrences of A.
4697
4698 `(1+ SEXP)'
4699 like `one-or-more'.
4700
4701 `(+ SEXP)'
4702 like `one-or-more', but always produces a greedy regexp.
4703
4704 `(+? SEXP)'
4705 like `one-or-more', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
4706
4707 `(zero-or-one SEXP)'
4708 matches zero or one occurrences of A.
4709
4710 `(optional SEXP)'
4711 like `zero-or-one'.
4712
4713 `(? SEXP)'
4714 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a greedy regexp.
4715
4716 `(?? SEXP)'
4717 like `zero-or-one', but always produces a non-greedy regexp.
4718
4719 `(repeat N SEXP)'
4720 matches N occurrences of what SEXP matches.
4721
4722 `(repeat N M SEXP)'
4723 matches N to M occurrences of what SEXP matches.
4724
4725 `(eval FORM)'
4726 evaluate FORM and insert result. If result is a string,
4727 `regexp-quote' it.
4728
4729 `(regexp REGEXP)'
4730 include REGEXP in string notation in the result.
4731
4732 *** The features `md5' and `overlay' are now provided by default.
4733
4734 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
4735 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
4736 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
4737 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
4738
4739 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
4740 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
4741 when they find 8-bit characters. Previously, they included `ascii' in a
4742 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
4743
4744 *** The functions `set-buffer-multibyte', `string-as-multibyte' and
4745 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer or a string
4746 if it contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
4747
4748 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
4749 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
4750 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
4751 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
4752 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
4753 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
4754 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
4755 eight-bit-graphic.
4756
4757 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
4758
4759 A fontset can now be specified for each independent character, for
4760 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
4761 character set as previously.
4762
4763 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
4764 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
4765 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
4766
4767 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
4768 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
4769 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
4770 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
4771
4772 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
4773 name of a font and REGISTRY is a registry name of a font.
4774
4775 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
4776 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
4777 "fontset-default".
4778
4779 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
4780 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
4781
4782 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
4783 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
4784 buffers and strings.
4785
4786 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
4787 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
4788 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
4789 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
4790 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
4791 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
4792 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
4793 also been deleted.
4794
4795 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
4796 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
4797 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
4798
4799 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
4800 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
4801 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
4802 may differ between buffer and string text.
4803
4804 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
4805 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
4806
4807 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
4808 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
4809 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
4810 `composition' from STRING.
4811
4812 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
4813 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
4814
4815 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
4816 obsolete.
4817
4818 ** The new coding system `mac-roman' is primarily intended for use on
4819 the Macintosh but may be used generally for Macintosh-encoded text.
4820
4821 ** The new character sets `mule-unicode-0100-24ff',
4822 `mule-unicode-2500-33ff', and `mule-unicode-e000-ffff' have been
4823 introduced for Unicode characters in the range U+0100..U+24FF,
4824 U+2500..U+33FF, U+E000..U+FFFF respectively.
4825
4826 Note that the character sets are not yet unified in Emacs, so
4827 characters which belong to charsets such as Latin-2, Greek, Hebrew,
4828 etc. and the same characters in the `mule-unicode-*' charsets are
4829 different characters, as far as Emacs is concerned. For example, text
4830 which includes Unicode characters from the Latin-2 locale cannot be
4831 encoded by Emacs with ISO 8859-2 coding system.
4832
4833 ** The new coding system `mule-utf-8' has been added.
4834 It provides limited support for decoding/encoding UTF-8 text. For
4835 details, please see the documentation string of this coding system.
4836
4837 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
4838 `japanese-jisx0213-2' have been introduced for the new Japanese
4839 standard JIS X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
4840
4841 ** The new character sets `latin-iso8859-14' and `latin-iso8859-15'
4842 have been introduced.
4843
4844 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
4845 have been introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
4846 0xA0..0xFF respectively. Note that the multibyte representation of
4847 eight-bit-control is never exposed; this leads to an exception in the
4848 emacs-mule coding system, which encodes everything else to the
4849 buffer/string internal representation. Note that to search for
4850 eight-bit-graphic characters in a multibyte buffer, the search string
4851 must be multibyte, otherwise such characters will be converted to
4852 their multibyte equivalent.
4853
4854 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
4855 that offset in the file before writing.
4856
4857 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
4858 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
4859
4860 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
4861 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
4862 from which the command was issued.
4863
4864 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
4865 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
4866 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
4867 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
4868 operate on.
4869
4870 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
4871 to `window-buffer-height'.
4872
4873 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
4874
4875 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
4876 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
4877 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
4878
4879 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
4880 respectively.
4881
4882 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optional third argument
4883 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
4884
4885 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
4886 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
4887 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
4888
4889 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
4890 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
4891 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
4892 is currently displayed in some window.
4893
4894 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
4895 argument function's results.
4896
4897 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
4898 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails. Also,
4899 `base64-decode-string' now always returns a unibyte string (in Emacs
4900 20, it returned a multibyte string when the result was a valid multibyte
4901 sequence).
4902
4903 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
4904 header in the list of headers passed to it.
4905
4906 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
4907 ignores differences in case and text representation.
4908
4909 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
4910 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
4911 as follows:
4912
4913 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
4914 nil don't display a cursor
4915 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
4916 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
4917 others display a box cursor.
4918
4919 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
4920 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
4921 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
4922 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
4923
4924 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
4925 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
4926 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
4927 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
4928
4929 Example:
4930
4931 (string-to-syntax "()")
4932 => (4 . 41)
4933
4934 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
4935 other than 10.
4936
4937 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
4938 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
4939
4940 #b1111
4941 => 15
4942 #b-1111
4943 => -15
4944
4945 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
4946
4947 #o666
4948 => 438
4949
4950 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
4951
4952 #xbeef
4953 => 48815
4954
4955 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
4956
4957 #2R-111
4958 => -7
4959 #25rah
4960 => 267
4961
4962 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
4963 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
4964 and isn't a string.
4965
4966 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
4967 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
4968 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
4969 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
4970
4971 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
4972
4973 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
4974 for a regexp in a string.
4975
4976 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
4977 `mouse-position-function'.
4978
4979 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
4980 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
4981
4982 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
4983 Keywords are now always considered constants.
4984
4985 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
4986 returns it.
4987
4988 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
4989 returned by function `recent-keys'.
4990
4991 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
4992 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
4993 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding C-M-a
4994 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
4995 mode.
4996
4997 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
4998 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
4999
5000 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
5001 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
5002 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
5003 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
5004 been performed."
5005
5006 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
5007 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
5008 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
5009 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
5010
5011 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
5012 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
5013 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
5014
5015 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
5016 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
5017 specified table.
5018
5019 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
5020
5021 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
5022 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
5023 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
5024 what BODY returns.
5025
5026 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
5027 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
5028 Also back-references like \2 are now considered as an error if the
5029 corresponding subgroup does not exist (or is not closed yet).
5030 Previously it would have been silently turned into `2' (ignoring the `\').
5031
5032 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
5033 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
5034
5035 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
5036 instead of being optional.
5037
5038 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
5039 modify read-only text.
5040
5041 ** New functions and variables for locales.
5042
5043 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
5044 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
5045 time functions like strftime. The new variables
5046 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
5047 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
5048
5049 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
5050 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
5051 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
5052 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
5053 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
5054 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
5055 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
5056
5057 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
5058 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
5059 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
5060 start sequences.
5061
5062 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
5063 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
5064
5065 ** New function `propertize'
5066
5067 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
5068 strings with text properties.
5069
5070 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
5071
5072 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
5073 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
5074 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
5075 specified value of that property. Example:
5076
5077 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
5078
5079 ** push and pop macros.
5080
5081 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
5082 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
5083 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
5084
5085 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
5086 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
5087 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
5088
5089 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
5090
5091 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
5092 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
5093
5094 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
5095 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
5096 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
5097 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
5098
5099 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
5100 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
5101 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
5102 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
5103
5104 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such as
5105 [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on. These must be used within a character
5106 class--for instance, [-[:digit:].+] matches digits or a period
5107 or a sign.
5108
5109 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
5110 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
5111 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
5112 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
5113 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
5114 space, and DEL.
5115 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
5116 and DEL.
5117 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
5118 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
5119 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
5120 [:alpha:] matches letters.
5121 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
5122 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
5123 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
5124 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
5125 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
5126 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
5127 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
5128 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
5129 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
5130 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
5131 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
5132
5133 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
5134
5135 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
5136
5137 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
5138
5139 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
5140 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
5141
5142 :test TEST
5143
5144 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
5145 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
5146 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
5147
5148 :size SIZE
5149
5150 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
5151 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
5152
5153 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
5154
5155 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
5156 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
5157 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
5158 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
5159 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
5160
5161 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
5162
5163 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
5164 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
5165 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
5166
5167 :weakness WEAK
5168
5169 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
5170 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
5171 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
5172 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
5173 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
5174
5175 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
5176
5177 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
5178
5179 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
5180
5181 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
5182
5183 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
5184
5185 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
5186 values are shared.
5187
5188 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
5189
5190 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
5191
5192 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
5193
5194 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
5195
5196 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
5197
5198 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
5199
5200 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
5201
5202 Returns the size of TABLE.
5203
5204 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
5205
5206 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
5207
5208 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
5209
5210 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
5211
5212 - Function: clrhash TABLE
5213
5214 Clear TABLE.
5215
5216 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
5217
5218 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
5219 not found.
5220
5221 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
5222
5223 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
5224 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
5225
5226 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
5227
5228 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
5229
5230 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
5231
5232 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
5233 arguments KEY and VALUE.
5234
5235 - Function: sxhash OBJ
5236
5237 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
5238
5239 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
5240
5241 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
5242 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
5243 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
5244 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
5245 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
5246
5247 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
5248
5249 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
5250 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
5251 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
5252
5253 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
5254 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
5255
5256 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
5257 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
5258
5259 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
5260 (sxhash (upcase a)))
5261
5262 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
5263 'case-fold-string-hash))
5264
5265 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
5266
5267 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
5268
5269 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
5270 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
5271 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
5272
5273 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
5274
5275 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
5276 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
5277
5278 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
5279 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
5280 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
5281 is too short to reach that column.
5282
5283 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
5284 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
5285 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
5286 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
5287
5288 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
5289 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
5290 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
5291
5292 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
5293 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
5294
5295 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
5296 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
5297
5298 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
5299 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
5300 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
5301 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
5302 temporary-file-directory instead.
5303
5304 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
5305 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
5306 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
5307 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
5308
5309 ** assq-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
5310 elements of an alist which have a car `eq' to a particular value.
5311
5312 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
5313
5314 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
5315 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
5316 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
5317
5318 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
5319
5320 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
5321 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
5322 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
5323 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
5324 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
5325 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
5326
5327 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
5328 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
5329 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
5330 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
5331
5332 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
5333
5334 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
5335 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
5336 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
5337 result string.
5338
5339 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
5340 string where arguments appear in the result string.
5341
5342 Example:
5343
5344 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
5345 (s2 "world"))
5346 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
5347 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
5348 (format s1 s2))
5349
5350 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
5351
5352 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
5353
5354 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
5355 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
5356 argument in it.
5357
5358 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
5359 (arg "world"))
5360 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
5361 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
5362 (message msg arg))
5363
5364 ** Sound support
5365
5366 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
5367 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
5368
5369 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
5370 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
5371 to enable sound support.
5372
5373 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
5374 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
5375 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
5376 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
5377 sound to play, before playing the sound.
5378
5379 The following sound properties are supported:
5380
5381 - `:file FILE'
5382
5383 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
5384 searched relative to `data-directory'.
5385
5386 - `:data DATA'
5387
5388 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
5389 may be present, but not both.
5390
5391 - `:volume VOLUME'
5392
5393 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
5394 0..1. This property is optional.
5395
5396 - `:device DEVICE'
5397
5398 DEVICE is a string specifying the system device on which to play the
5399 sound. The default device is system-dependent.
5400
5401 Other properties are ignored.
5402
5403 An alternative interface is called as
5404 (play-sound-file FILE &optional VOLUME DEVICE).
5405
5406 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
5407
5408 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
5409 a keyword symbol.
5410
5411 ** Changes to garbage collection
5412
5413 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
5414 of live and free strings.
5415
5416 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
5417 strings that have been consed so far.
5418
5419 \f
5420 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
5421 Lisp Manual
5422
5423 ** The user-option `resize-mini-windows' controls how Emacs resizes
5424 mini-windows.
5425
5426 ** The function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now has a third optional
5427 argument, PARTIALLY. If a character is only partially visible, nil is
5428 returned, unless PARTIALLY is non-nil.
5429
5430 ** On window systems, `glyph-table' is no longer used.
5431
5432 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
5433
5434 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
5435 image.
5436
5437 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
5438
5439 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
5440
5441 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
5442 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
5443 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
5444 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
5445 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
5446
5447 ** The function `image-mask-p' can be used to determine if an image
5448 has a mask bitmap.
5449
5450 - Function: image-mask-p SPEC &optional FRAME
5451
5452 Return t if image SPEC has a mask bitmap.
5453 FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed. FRAME nil
5454 or omitted means use the selected frame.
5455
5456 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
5457 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
5458
5459 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
5460 optional.
5461
5462 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center' (see
5463 below).
5464
5465 \f
5466 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
5467
5468 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
5469 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
5470
5471 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
5472 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
5473 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
5474 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
5475 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
5476 just display it black instead.
5477
5478 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
5479 a line like
5480
5481 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
5482
5483 in your `.emacs'.
5484
5485 ** New face implementation.
5486
5487 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
5488 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
5489
5490 *** New faces.
5491
5492 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
5493
5494 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
5495
5496 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
5497 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
5498
5499 3. Font height in 1/10pt
5500
5501 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
5502
5503 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
5504
5505 6. Foreground color.
5506
5507 7. Background color.
5508
5509 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
5510
5511 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
5512
5513 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
5514
5515 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
5516
5517 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
5518 color.
5519
5520 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
5521 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
5522
5523 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
5524 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
5525 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
5526 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
5527 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each of the face
5528 attributes mentioned above.
5529
5530 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
5531 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
5532 created frames.
5533
5534 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
5535 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
5536 `fully-specified'.
5537
5538 *** Face merging.
5539
5540 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
5541 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
5542 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
5543 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
5544 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
5545 results in a fully-specified face.
5546
5547 *** Face realization.
5548
5549 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
5550 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
5551 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
5552 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
5553 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
5554 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
5555
5556 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
5557 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
5558 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
5559 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
5560
5561 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
5562 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
5563 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
5564 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
5565 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
5566
5567 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
5568 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
5569 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
5570 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
5571 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
5572 Emacs.
5573
5574 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
5575 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
5576 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
5577 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
5578
5579 **** Clearing face caches.
5580
5581 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
5582 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
5583 unused fonts.
5584
5585 *** Font selection.
5586
5587 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
5588 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
5589 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
5590
5591 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
5592 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
5593 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
5594 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
5595 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
5596
5597 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
5598 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
5599 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
5600
5601 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
5602
5603 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
5604 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
5605 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
5606 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
5607 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
5608 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
5609 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
5610
5611 Setting `face-font-family-alternatives' allows the user to specify
5612 alternative font families to try if a family specified by a face
5613 doesn't exist.
5614
5615 Setting `face-font-registry-alternatives' allows the user to specify
5616 all alternative font registry names to try for a face specifying a
5617 registry.
5618
5619 Please note that the interpretations of the above two variables are
5620 slightly different.
5621
5622 Setting face-ignored-fonts allows the user to ignore specific fonts.
5623
5624
5625 **** Scalable fonts
5626
5627 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
5628 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
5629 servers.
5630
5631 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
5632 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
5633 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
5634 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
5635 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
5636 that list. Example:
5637
5638 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
5639
5640 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
5641
5642 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
5643
5644 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
5645
5646 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
5647 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
5648 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
5649
5650 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
5651 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
5652 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
5653 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
5654 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
5655 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
5656 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
5657 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
5658 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
5659 of the face font sort order.
5660
5661 - Function: x-font-family-list
5662
5663 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
5664 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
5665 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
5666 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
5667
5668 - Variable: font-list-limit
5669
5670 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
5671 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
5672 matching font. The default is currently 100.
5673
5674 *** Setting face attributes.
5675
5676 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
5677 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
5678 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
5679 `face-attribute'.
5680
5681 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
5682 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
5683
5684 The following attributes are recognized:
5685
5686 `:family'
5687
5688 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
5689 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
5690 and `?' are allowed.
5691
5692 `:width'
5693
5694 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
5695 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
5696 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
5697 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
5698
5699 `:height'
5700
5701 VALUE must be either an integer specifying the height of the font to use
5702 in 1/10 pt, a floating point number specifying the amount by which to
5703 scale any underlying face, or a function, which is called with the old
5704 height (from the underlying face), and should return the new height.
5705
5706 `:weight'
5707
5708 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
5709 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
5710 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
5711
5712 `:slant'
5713
5714 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
5715 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
5716 `reverse-oblique'.
5717
5718 `:foreground', `:background'
5719
5720 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
5721
5722 `:underline'
5723
5724 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
5725 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
5726 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
5727 don't underline.
5728
5729 `:overline'
5730
5731 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
5732 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
5733 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
5734 overline.
5735
5736 `:strike-through'
5737
5738 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
5739 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
5740 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
5741 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
5742
5743 `:box'
5744
5745 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
5746 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
5747 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
5748 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
5749 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
5750 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
5751 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
5752 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
5753 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
5754 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
5755 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
5756 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
5757 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
5758 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
5759 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
5760 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
5761 box.
5762
5763 `:inverse-video'
5764
5765 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
5766 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
5767
5768 `:stipple'
5769
5770 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
5771 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
5772 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
5773 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
5774 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
5775 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
5776
5777 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
5778 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
5779
5780 `:font'
5781
5782 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
5783 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
5784 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
5785 versions of Emacs.
5786
5787 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
5788 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
5789 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
5790
5791 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
5792 `defface'.
5793
5794 `:inherit'
5795
5796 VALUE is the name of a face from which to inherit attributes, or a list
5797 of face names. Attributes from inherited faces are merged into the face
5798 like an underlying face would be, with higher priority than underlying faces.
5799
5800 *** Face attributes and X resources
5801
5802 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
5803 from X resources:
5804
5805 Face attribute X resource class
5806 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
5807 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
5808 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
5809 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
5810 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
5811 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
5812 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
5813 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
5814 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
5815 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
5816 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
5817 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
5818 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
5819 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
5820 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
5821 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
5822 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
5823 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
5824 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
5825 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
5826
5827 *** Text property `face'.
5828
5829 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
5830 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
5831 specification can be
5832
5833 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
5834
5835 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
5836 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
5837 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
5838 for face attribute names.
5839
5840 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
5841 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
5842 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
5843
5844 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
5845
5846 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
5847 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
5848 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
5849 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
5850 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
5851 used to clear the mapping table.
5852
5853 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
5854
5855 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
5856 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
5857 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
5858 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
5859 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
5860 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
5861 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
5862 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
5863 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
5864 modify their color-related behavior.
5865
5866 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
5867 any frame type.
5868
5869 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
5870
5871 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
5872 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
5873 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
5874 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
5875 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
5876 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
5877 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
5878 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
5879 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
5880
5881 The new function `display-images-p' returns non-nil if a particular
5882 display can display image files.
5883
5884 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
5885
5886 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
5887 To disallow this completely (like previous versions of emacs), customize
5888 the variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', and turn on the
5889 `Inviolable' option.
5890
5891 The function `minibuffer-prompt-end' returns the current position of the
5892 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
5893 Otherwise, it returns `(point-min)'.
5894
5895 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
5896
5897 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
5898 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
5899 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
5900
5901 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
5902 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
5903 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
5904 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
5905 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
5906 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
5907 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
5908 functions.
5909
5910 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
5911 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
5912 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
5913
5914 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
5915
5916 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
5917
5918 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
5919
5920 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5921 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
5922 constrained position if that is different.
5923
5924 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
5925 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
5926 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
5927 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
5928 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
5929 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
5930 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
5931 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
5932 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
5933
5934 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
5935 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
5936 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
5937 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
5938 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
5939
5940 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
5941 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
5942
5943 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
5944
5945 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
5946
5947 Delete the field surrounding POS.
5948 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5949 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
5950
5951 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
5952
5953 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
5954 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5955 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
5956 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
5957 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
5958
5959 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
5960
5961 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
5962 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5963 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
5964 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
5965 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
5966
5967 - Function: field-string &optional POS
5968
5969 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
5970 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5971 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
5972
5973 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
5974
5975 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
5976 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
5977 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
5978
5979 ** Image support.
5980
5981 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
5982 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
5983 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
5984 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
5985
5986 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
5987 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
5988 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
5989 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
5990 area.
5991
5992 IMAGE is an image specification.
5993
5994 *** Image specifications
5995
5996 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
5997 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
5998 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
5999 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
6000 described below are ignored.
6001
6002 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
6003
6004 `:ascent ASCENT'
6005
6006 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
6007 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
6008 to use for its ascent.
6009
6010 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
6011 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
6012
6013 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
6014 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
6015 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
6016 overlays that apply to the image.
6017
6018 `:margin MARGIN'
6019
6020 MARGIN must be either a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put
6021 as margin around the image, or a pair (X . Y) with X specifying the
6022 horizontal margin and Y specifying the vertical margin. Default is 0.
6023
6024 `:relief RELIEF'
6025
6026 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
6027 around an image.
6028
6029 `:conversion ALGO'
6030
6031 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it.
6032
6033 ALGO `laplace' or `emboss' means apply a Laplace or ``emboss''
6034 edge-detection algorithm to the image.
6035
6036 ALGO `(edge-detection :matrix MATRIX :color-adjust ADJUST)' means
6037 apply a general edge-detection algorithm. MATRIX must be either a
6038 nine-element list or a nine-element vector of numbers. A pixel at
6039 position x/y in the transformed image is computed from original pixels
6040 around that position. MATRIX specifies, for each pixel in the
6041 neighborhood of x/y, a factor with which that pixel will influence the
6042 transformed pixel; element 0 specifies the factor for the pixel at
6043 x-1/y-1, element 1 the factor for the pixel at x/y-1 etc. as shown
6044 below.
6045
6046 (x-1/y-1 x/y-1 x+1/y-1
6047 x-1/y x/y x+1/y
6048 x-1/y+1 x/y+1 x+1/y+1)
6049
6050 The resulting pixel is computed from the color intensity of the color
6051 resulting from summing up the RGB values of surrounding pixels,
6052 multiplied by the specified factors, and dividing that sum by the sum
6053 of the factors' absolute values.
6054
6055 Laplace edge-detection currently uses a matrix of
6056
6057 (1 0 0
6058 0 0 0
6059 9 9 -1)
6060
6061 Emboss edge-detection uses a matrix of
6062
6063 ( 2 -1 0
6064 -1 0 1
6065 0 1 -2)
6066
6067 ALGO `disabled' means transform the image so that it looks
6068 ``disabled''.
6069
6070 `:mask MASK'
6071
6072 If MASK is `heuristic' or `(heuristic BG)', build a clipping mask for
6073 the image, so that the background of a frame is visible behind the
6074 image. If BG is not specified, or if BG is t, determine the
6075 background color of the image by looking at the 4 corners of the
6076 image, assuming the most frequently occurring color from the corners is
6077 the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must be a list `(RED
6078 GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the background of the
6079 image.
6080
6081 If MASK is nil, remove a mask from the image, if it has one. Images
6082 in some formats include a mask which can be removed by specifying
6083 `:mask nil'.
6084
6085 `:file FILE'
6086
6087 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
6088 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
6089 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
6090 may be present in the image specification.
6091
6092 `:data DATA'
6093
6094 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
6095 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
6096 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
6097 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
6098
6099 *** Supported image types
6100
6101 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
6102
6103 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
6104 properties supported are:
6105
6106 `:foreground FG'
6107
6108 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
6109 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
6110
6111 `:background BG'
6112
6113 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
6114 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
6115
6116 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
6117 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
6118 instead of a `:file' property.
6119
6120 `:width WIDTH'
6121
6122 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
6123
6124 `:height HEIGHT'
6125
6126 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
6127
6128 `:data DATA'
6129
6130 DATA must be either
6131
6132 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
6133 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
6134
6135 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
6136
6137 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
6138 bitmap.
6139
6140 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
6141 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
6142 in the file.
6143
6144 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
6145
6146 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
6147 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
6148 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
6149 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
6150
6151 Additional image properties supported are:
6152
6153 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
6154
6155 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
6156 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
6157 name.
6158
6159 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
6160 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
6161
6162 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
6163 to display compressed images.
6164
6165 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
6166
6167 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
6168 mono images are supported. Additional image properties supported for
6169 mono images are:
6170
6171 `:foreground FG'
6172
6173 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color, or nil
6174 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's foreground color.
6175
6176 `:background FG'
6177
6178 BG must be a string specifying the image background color, or nil
6179 meaning to use the default. Default is the frame's background color.
6180
6181 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
6182
6183 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
6184 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
6185 properties defined.
6186
6187 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
6188
6189 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
6190 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
6191 properties defined.
6192
6193 **** GIF, image type `gif'
6194
6195 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
6196 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
6197
6198 Additional image properties supported are:
6199
6200 `:index INDEX'
6201
6202 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
6203 multi-image GIF file. An error is signaled if INDEX is too large.
6204
6205 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
6206 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
6207 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
6208 every 0.1 seconds.
6209
6210 (defun show-anim (file max)
6211 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
6212 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
6213
6214 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
6215 (when (= idx max)
6216 (setq idx 0))
6217 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
6218 (save-excursion
6219 (set-buffer buffer)
6220 (goto-char (point-min))
6221 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
6222 (insert-image img "x"))
6223 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
6224
6225 **** PNG, image type `png'
6226
6227 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
6228 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
6229 properties defined.
6230
6231 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
6232
6233 Additional image properties supported are:
6234
6235 `:pt-width WIDTH'
6236
6237 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
6238 integer. This is a required property.
6239
6240 `:pt-height HEIGHT'
6241
6242 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
6243 must be a integer. This is an required property.
6244
6245 `:bounding-box BOX'
6246
6247 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
6248 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
6249 files. This is an required property.
6250
6251 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
6252 lisp/gs.el.
6253
6254 *** Lisp interface.
6255
6256 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
6257 which are supported in the current configuration.
6258
6259 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
6260 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
6261 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
6262 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
6263 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
6264
6265 *** Simplified image API, image.el
6266
6267 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
6268 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
6269 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
6270 define an image based on available image types. The functions
6271 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
6272 buffer.
6273
6274 ** Display margins.
6275
6276 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
6277 and images.
6278
6279 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
6280 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
6281 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
6282 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
6283 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
6284 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
6285 of the display margins.
6286
6287 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
6288 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
6289 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
6290 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
6291 in this file).
6292
6293 ** Help display
6294
6295 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
6296 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
6297 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
6298 that have a `help-echo' property.
6299
6300 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
6301 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
6302 the window in which the help was found.
6303
6304 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
6305 `help-echo' text property was found.
6306
6307 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
6308 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
6309
6310 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
6311 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
6312 mouse.
6313
6314 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
6315 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
6316
6317 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
6318 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
6319 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
6320 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
6321 used as help string.
6322
6323 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
6324 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
6325 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
6326
6327 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
6328
6329 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
6330 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
6331
6332 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
6333 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
6334 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
6335 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
6336 used.
6337
6338 (global-set-key [A-down]
6339 #'(lambda ()
6340 (interactive)
6341 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
6342 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
6343 (global-set-key [A-up]
6344 #'(lambda ()
6345 (interactive)
6346 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
6347 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
6348
6349 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
6350
6351 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
6352 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
6353 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
6354 is called with one argument, POS.
6355
6356 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
6357 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
6358 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
6359 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
6360 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
6361
6362 ** Tool bar support.
6363
6364 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
6365 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
6366 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
6367 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
6368 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
6369 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
6370
6371 *** Tool bar item definitions
6372
6373 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
6374 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
6375 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
6376
6377 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
6378 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
6379 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
6380 property (see below).
6381
6382 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
6383 binding are currently ignored.
6384
6385 The following properties are recognized:
6386
6387 `:enable FORM'.
6388
6389 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
6390 or disabled.
6391
6392 `:visible FORM'
6393
6394 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
6395
6396 `:filter FUNCTION'
6397
6398 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
6399 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
6400 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
6401
6402 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
6403
6404 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
6405 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
6406
6407 `:image IMAGES'
6408
6409 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
6410 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
6411 meaning of each of the four elements:
6412
6413 Index Use when item is
6414 ----------------------------------------
6415 0 enabled and selected
6416 1 enabled and deselected
6417 2 disabled and selected
6418 3 disabled and deselected
6419
6420 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
6421 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
6422
6423 `:help HELP-STRING'.
6424
6425 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
6426 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
6427
6428 The function `toolbar-add-item' is a convenience function for adding
6429 toolbar items generally, and `tool-bar-add-item-from-menu' can be used
6430 to define a toolbar item with a binding copied from an item on the
6431 menu bar.
6432
6433 The default bindings use a menu-item :filter to derive the tool-bar
6434 dynamically from variable `tool-bar-map' which may be set
6435 buffer-locally to override the global map.
6436
6437 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
6438
6439 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
6440 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
6441 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
6442
6443 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
6444 raised when the mouse moves over them.
6445
6446 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
6447 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
6448 pixels, or a pair of integers (X . Y) specifying horizontal and
6449 vertical margins . Default is 1.
6450
6451 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
6452 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
6453
6454 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
6455
6456 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
6457 a tool bar item. If
6458
6459 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
6460 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
6461 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
6462
6463 is the original tool bar item definition, then
6464
6465 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
6466
6467 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
6468 item.
6469
6470 ** Mode line changes.
6471
6472 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
6473
6474 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
6475 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
6476 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
6477
6478 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
6479 a `local-map' text property.
6480
6481 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
6482 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
6483
6484 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
6485 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
6486 `local-map' property.
6487
6488 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
6489 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
6490 example.
6491
6492 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
6493 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
6494
6495 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
6496 variable mode-line-format to nil.
6497
6498 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
6499
6500 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
6501 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
6502 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
6503 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
6504 line.
6505
6506 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
6507 `header-line'.
6508
6509 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
6510 position in the header-line.
6511
6512 ** Text property `display'
6513
6514 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text,
6515 replace text with other text, display text in marginal area, and it is
6516 also used to control other aspects of how text displays. The value of
6517 the `display' property should be a display specification, as described
6518 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
6519
6520 *** Replacing text, displaying text in marginal areas
6521
6522 To replace the text having the `display' property with some other
6523 text, use a display specification of the form `(LOCATION STRING)'.
6524
6525 If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)', STRING is displayed in the left
6526 marginal area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in
6527 the right marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' STRING
6528 is displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
6529 simpler form STRING as property value.
6530
6531 *** Variable width and height spaces
6532
6533 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
6534 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
6535 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
6536 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
6537 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
6538 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
6539 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
6540
6541 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
6542 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
6543 properties described below.
6544
6545 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
6546 characters having the `display' property.
6547
6548 - :width WIDTH
6549
6550 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
6551 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
6552
6553 - :relative-width FACTOR
6554
6555 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
6556 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
6557 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
6558 width of that character by FACTOR.
6559
6560 - :align-to HPOS
6561
6562 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
6563 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
6564
6565 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
6566
6567 - :height HEIGHT
6568
6569 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
6570 normal line height.
6571
6572 - :relative-height FACTOR
6573
6574 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
6575 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
6576
6577 - :ascent ASCENT
6578
6579 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
6580 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
6581 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
6582 equal to 100.
6583
6584 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
6585
6586 *** Images
6587
6588 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
6589 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
6590 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
6591 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
6592 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
6593 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
6594 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
6595 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
6596 as display specification.
6597
6598 *** Other display properties
6599
6600 - (space-width FACTOR)
6601
6602 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
6603 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
6604 integer or float.
6605
6606 - (height HEIGHT)
6607
6608 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
6609
6610 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
6611 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
6612 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
6613 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
6614 a font is available counts as a step.
6615
6616 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
6617 as tall as the frame's default font.
6618
6619 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
6620 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
6621
6622 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
6623 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
6624
6625 - (raise FACTOR)
6626
6627 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
6628 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
6629 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
6630 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
6631 `height' subproperty.
6632
6633 *** Conditional display properties
6634
6635 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
6636 has the form `(when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC applies
6637 only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated. During the
6638 evaluation, `object' is bound to the string or buffer having the
6639 conditional display property; `position' and `buffer-position' are
6640 bound to the position within `object' and the buffer position where
6641 the display property was found, respectively. Both positions can be
6642 different when object is a string.
6643
6644 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
6645 `(when t . SPEC)'.
6646
6647 ** New menu separator types.
6648
6649 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
6650 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
6651 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
6652 to specify other menu separator types.
6653
6654 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
6655
6656 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
6657 separator occurs.
6658
6659 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
6660
6661 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
6662
6663 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
6664
6665 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
6666
6667 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
6668
6669 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
6670
6671 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
6672
6673 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
6674
6675 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
6676
6677 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the form
6678 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
6679
6680 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
6681
6682 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
6683
6684 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
6685
6686 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
6687
6688 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
6689
6690 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
6691
6692 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
6693
6694 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
6695
6696 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
6697
6698 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
6699
6700 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
6701
6702 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
6703
6704 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
6705
6706 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
6707
6708 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
6709 the corresponding single-line separators.
6710
6711 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
6712
6713 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
6714 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
6715 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
6716 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
6717 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
6718 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
6719 default foreground is black.
6720
6721 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
6722 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
6723 `ScrollBarBackground').
6724
6725 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
6726 settings for scroll bar colors.
6727
6728 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
6729 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
6730
6731 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
6732 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
6733 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
6734 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
6735 the original window start.
6736
6737 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
6738 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
6739 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
6740
6741 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
6742
6743 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
6744 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
6745 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
6746 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
6747
6748 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
6749 fixed-width and fixed-height.
6750
6751 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
6752
6753 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
6754 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
6755 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
6756 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
6757 temporarily to nil, for example
6758
6759 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
6760 (enlarge-window 10))
6761
6762 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
6763 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
6764
6765 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
6766 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
6767 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
6768 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
6769 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
6770 support a vertical-bar cursor).
6771
6772
6773 \f
6774 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
6775
6776 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
6777 input.
6778
6779 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
6780
6781 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
6782
6783 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
6784 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
6785 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
6786 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
6787 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
6788
6789 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
6790 been added.
6791
6792 \f
6793 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
6794
6795 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
6796
6797
6798 \f
6799 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
6800
6801 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
6802 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
6803 \f
6804 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
6805
6806 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
6807
6808 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
6809 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
6810 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
6811
6812 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
6813 is the one that is used.
6814
6815 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
6816 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
6817 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
6818 separate from the command's regular output.
6819 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
6820 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
6821 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
6822 the buffer name.
6823
6824 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
6825 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
6826 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
6827 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
6828
6829 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
6830 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
6831 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
6832 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
6833
6834 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
6835 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
6836 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
6837 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
6838
6839 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
6840 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
6841 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
6842 they never ignore case.
6843
6844 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
6845 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
6846 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
6847 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
6848 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
6849 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
6850 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
6851
6852 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
6853 the same format that was used in the file before.
6854
6855 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
6856 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
6857
6858 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
6859 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
6860 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
6861
6862 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
6863 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
6864 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
6865 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
6866 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
6867 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
6868 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
6869
6870 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
6871 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
6872 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
6873 format. You can now customize these variables.
6874
6875 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
6876 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
6877 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
6878 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
6879
6880 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
6881 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
6882 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
6883
6884 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
6885 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
6886 doesn't have any effect.
6887
6888 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
6889 not one per buffer.
6890
6891 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
6892 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
6893 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
6894
6895 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
6896 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
6897 `auto-show-mode' command.
6898
6899 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
6900 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
6901 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
6902 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
6903 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
6904
6905 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
6906 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
6907
6908 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
6909 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
6910 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
6911
6912 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
6913 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
6914 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
6915 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
6916
6917 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
6918
6919 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
6920 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
6921 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
6922 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
6923 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
6924
6925 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
6926 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
6927
6928 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
6929 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
6930 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
6931 `?' on other systems.
6932
6933 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
6934 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
6935 Unix.
6936
6937 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
6938 current codepage when it starts.
6939
6940 ** Mail changes
6941
6942 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
6943 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
6944 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
6945 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
6946 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
6947 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
6948 latin-1:
6949
6950 MIME-version: 1.0
6951 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
6952 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
6953
6954 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
6955 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
6956 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
6957 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
6958 buffer-file-coding-system.
6959
6960 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
6961 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
6962 mail.
6963
6964 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
6965 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
6966 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
6967 list of possible coding systems.
6968
6969 ** CC Mode changes
6970
6971 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
6972 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
6973 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
6974 docstring for details.
6975
6976 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
6977 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
6978 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
6979 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
6980 lineup functions use this feature currently.
6981
6982 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
6983 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
6984
6985 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
6986 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
6987
6988 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
6989 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
6990 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
6991 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
6992 anonymous classes.
6993
6994 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
6995 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
6996
6997 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
6998 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
6999 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
7000 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
7001
7002 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
7003 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
7004 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
7005 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
7006 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
7007
7008 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
7009
7010 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
7011
7012 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
7013 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
7014
7015 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
7016
7017 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
7018 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
7019 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
7020 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
7021 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
7022
7023 ** Gnus changes.
7024
7025 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
7026 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
7027 Gnus manual for the full story.
7028
7029 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
7030 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
7031 group, which is created automatically.
7032
7033 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
7034 values.
7035
7036 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
7037
7038 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
7039 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
7040
7041 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
7042 `C-u C-c C-c'.
7043
7044 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
7045
7046 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
7047 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
7048
7049 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
7050
7051 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
7052 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
7053
7054 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
7055 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
7056
7057 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
7058 control over simplification.
7059
7060 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
7061
7062 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
7063 limit.
7064
7065 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
7066
7067 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
7068
7069 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
7070 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
7071 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
7072
7073 *** Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
7074 `a' forces normal posting method.
7075
7076 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
7077 -- `W d'.
7078
7079 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
7080 to a non-nil value.
7081
7082 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
7083 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
7084
7085 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
7086 has been added.
7087
7088 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
7089
7090 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
7091
7092 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
7093 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
7094
7095 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
7096 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
7097
7098 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
7099
7100 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
7101 been added.
7102
7103 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
7104 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
7105
7106 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
7107 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
7108
7109 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
7110
7111 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
7112
7113 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
7114
7115 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
7116
7117 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
7118 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
7119 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
7120
7121 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
7122 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
7123 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
7124 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
7125 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
7126
7127 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
7128 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
7129 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
7130 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
7131
7132 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
7133 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
7134 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
7135 mismatch.
7136
7137 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
7138
7139 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
7140 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
7141
7142 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
7143 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
7144 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
7145 removed from the label.
7146
7147 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
7148 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
7149
7150 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
7151 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
7152
7153 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
7154 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
7155 expressions.
7156
7157 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
7158
7159 ** New/deleted modes and packages
7160
7161 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
7162 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
7163
7164 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
7165 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
7166 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
7167
7168 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
7169 changes with a special face.
7170
7171 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
7172 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
7173 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
7174 \f
7175 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
7176
7177 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
7178 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
7179 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
7180 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
7181 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
7182
7183 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
7184 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
7185 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
7186
7187 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
7188 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
7189 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
7190 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
7191 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
7192 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
7193 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
7194 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
7195 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
7196
7197 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
7198 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
7199 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
7200 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
7201 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
7202 program.
7203
7204 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
7205 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
7206 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
7207 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
7208 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
7209 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
7210
7211 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
7212 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
7213 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
7214 was not documented clearly before.
7215
7216 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
7217 This includes Tetris and Snake.
7218 \f
7219 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
7220
7221 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
7222 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
7223 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
7224 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
7225
7226 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
7227 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
7228 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
7229
7230 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
7231
7232 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
7233 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
7234
7235 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
7236 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
7237 integers.
7238
7239 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
7240 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
7241 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
7242 file names and attributes are returned.
7243
7244 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
7245 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
7246 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its attributes.
7247 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
7248 returns the result.
7249
7250 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
7251 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
7252
7253 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
7254
7255 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
7256 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
7257 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
7258 optionally.
7259
7260 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
7261 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
7262
7263 **
7264 The new function process-running-child-p
7265 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
7266 terminal to its own child process.
7267
7268 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
7269 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
7270 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
7271 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
7272
7273 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
7274 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
7275
7276 ** easymenu.el now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
7277 :included is an alias for :visible.
7278
7279 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
7280 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
7281 to move or copy menu entries.
7282
7283 ** Multibyte editing changes
7284
7285 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
7286 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
7287 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
7288 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
7289 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
7290 (setq char (sref str idx)
7291 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
7292 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
7293
7294 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
7295 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
7296 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
7297
7298 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
7299 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
7300 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
7301
7302 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibited
7303
7304 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
7305 across the boundary.
7306
7307 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
7308 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
7309 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
7310 contains 8-bit characters.
7311 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
7312 contains invalid characters.
7313
7314 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
7315 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
7316 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
7317 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
7318 way.
7319
7320 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
7321 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
7322 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
7323 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
7324
7325 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
7326 compose Thai characters in a string.
7327
7328 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
7329 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
7330 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
7331 menus should always use the third argument.
7332
7333 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
7334 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
7335 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
7336 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
7337
7338 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
7339 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
7340 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
7341 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
7342
7343 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
7344 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
7345 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
7346 echo area contents.
7347
7348 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
7349
7350 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
7351 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
7352 requested feature cannot be loaded.
7353
7354 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
7355 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
7356 means to clear out that attribute.
7357
7358 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
7359 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
7360
7361 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
7362 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
7363 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
7364 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
7365
7366 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
7367 the gap of the current buffer.
7368
7369 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
7370 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
7371 current buffer.
7372
7373 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
7374 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
7375 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
7376 it back in after any modifications have been made.
7377 \f
7378 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
7379
7380 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
7381 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
7382 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
7383 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
7384 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
7385
7386 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
7387 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
7388 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
7389 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
7390 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
7391
7392 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
7393 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
7394 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
7395
7396 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
7397 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
7398 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
7399 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
7400 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
7401 results.
7402
7403 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
7404 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
7405 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
7406 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
7407 \f
7408 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
7409
7410 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
7411 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
7412 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
7413 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
7414
7415 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
7416 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
7417 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
7418 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
7419 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
7420 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
7421 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
7422 region.
7423
7424 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
7425 selective undo.
7426
7427 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
7428 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
7429 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
7430 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
7431 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
7432
7433 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
7434 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
7435 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
7436 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
7437
7438 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
7439 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
7440 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
7441 something that most users not do.
7442
7443 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
7444 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
7445 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
7446 applications.
7447
7448 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
7449 pasting operations.
7450
7451 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
7452 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
7453 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
7454 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
7455 `ps-printer-name'.
7456
7457 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
7458 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
7459 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
7460 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
7461 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
7462 hits a new word.
7463
7464 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
7465 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
7466 to be confused by TeX commands.
7467
7468 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
7469 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
7470 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
7471 of various alternative replacements and actions.
7472
7473 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
7474 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
7475 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
7476 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
7477 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
7478
7479 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
7480 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
7481
7482 ** Changes in input method usage.
7483
7484 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
7485 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
7486 respectively.
7487
7488 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
7489
7490 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
7491 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
7492
7493 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
7494 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
7495
7496 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
7497
7498 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
7499
7500 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
7501 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
7502
7503 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
7504 given in the following case:
7505 o When you are using a complex input method.
7506 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
7507
7508 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
7509 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
7510 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
7511 setting it to t is helpful.
7512
7513 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
7514
7515 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
7516 keys:
7517 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
7518 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
7519 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
7520 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
7521 environment.
7522
7523 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
7524 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
7525 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
7526 get
7527
7528 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
7529
7530 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
7531
7532 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
7533 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
7534
7535 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
7536 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
7537 its owner and group.
7538
7539 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
7540 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
7541
7542 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
7543 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
7544
7545 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
7546 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
7547 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
7548 by the left edge of the rectangle.
7549
7550 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
7551 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
7552 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
7553 for writing keyboard macros.
7554
7555 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
7556 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
7557 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
7558 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
7559 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
7560 info.
7561
7562 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
7563
7564 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
7565 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
7566 contents only.
7567
7568 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
7569 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
7570 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
7571 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
7572
7573 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
7574 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
7575 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
7576
7577 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
7578 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
7579 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
7580 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
7581
7582 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
7583 failure if the command produces no output.
7584
7585 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
7586 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
7587 the mouse.
7588
7589 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
7590 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
7591 function and variable names.
7592
7593 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
7594 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
7595 file-coding-system-alist.
7596
7597 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
7598 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
7599 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
7600 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
7601 according to the current fontset.
7602
7603 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
7604
7605 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
7606 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
7607 nonascii-insert-offset.
7608
7609 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
7610 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
7611 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
7612 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
7613
7614 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
7615 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
7616
7617 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
7618 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
7619
7620 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
7621 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
7622 command keys.
7623
7624 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
7625 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
7626
7627 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
7628 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
7629 all variables that have documentation.
7630
7631 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
7632 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
7633 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
7634 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
7635 it should show; the default is 20.
7636
7637 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
7638 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
7639 of your input.
7640
7641 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
7642 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
7643 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
7644 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
7645 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
7646 Newly added options are included as well.
7647
7648 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
7649 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
7650 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
7651
7652 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
7653 Customize menu.
7654
7655 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
7656 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
7657
7658 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
7659 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
7660 invoked.
7661
7662 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
7663 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
7664 The default is 1.
7665
7666 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
7667 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
7668 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
7669 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
7670 sensibly.
7671
7672 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
7673
7674 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
7675 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
7676 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
7677
7678 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
7679 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
7680 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
7681 every night.
7682
7683 ** Desktop changes
7684
7685 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
7686 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
7687
7688 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
7689 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
7690
7691 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
7692 read and post multi-lingual articles.
7693
7694 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
7695 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
7696 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
7697 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
7698 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
7699 made invisible again.
7700
7701 ** Mail reading and sending changes
7702
7703 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
7704 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
7705 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
7706 toggle.
7707
7708 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
7709 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
7710 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
7711 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
7712 rmail-default-body-file.
7713
7714 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
7715 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
7716 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
7717
7718 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
7719 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
7720 is evaluated to insert the signature.
7721
7722 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
7723 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
7724 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
7725 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
7726 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
7727 especially interested in trying feedmail.
7728
7729 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
7730 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
7731 provided by feedmail are:
7732
7733 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
7734 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
7735 there is also a queue for draft messages
7736
7737 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
7738 be prompted for confirmation
7739
7740 **** does smart filling of address headers
7741
7742 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
7743 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
7744 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
7745
7746 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
7747 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
7748 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
7749 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
7750
7751 ** Dired changes
7752
7753 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
7754 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
7755
7756 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
7757 run Dired on the directory name at point.
7758
7759 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
7760 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
7761 for a specified regexp.
7762
7763 ** VC Changes
7764
7765 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
7766 conveniently.
7767
7768 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
7769 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
7770 Dired.
7771
7772 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
7773 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
7774 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
7775 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
7776
7777 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
7778 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
7779 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
7780 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
7781 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
7782
7783 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
7784 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
7785 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
7786 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
7787 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
7788
7789 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
7790 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
7791 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
7792 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
7793
7794 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
7795 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
7796 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
7797
7798 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
7799 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
7800 session to resolve them.
7801
7802 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
7803 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
7804 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
7805 uses as well).
7806
7807 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
7808 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
7809 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
7810 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
7811 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
7812 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
7813 using ediff.
7814
7815 ** Changes in Font Lock
7816
7817 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
7818 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
7819 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
7820 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
7821 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
7822
7823 ** Frame name display changes
7824
7825 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
7826 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
7827 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
7828 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
7829
7830 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
7831 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
7832 menu.
7833
7834 ** Comint (subshell) changes
7835
7836 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
7837 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
7838 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
7839
7840 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
7841
7842 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
7843 that is, the line after the last line you got.
7844 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
7845
7846 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
7847 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
7848 the following line.
7849
7850 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
7851 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
7852 previously sent input.
7853
7854 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
7855 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
7856 as the search string.
7857
7858 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
7859 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
7860
7861 ** C mode changes
7862
7863 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
7864 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
7865 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
7866 definition.
7867
7868 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
7869 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
7870 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
7871 style is still the default however.
7872
7873 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
7874
7875 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
7876 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
7877 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
7878
7879 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
7880 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
7881
7882 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
7883 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
7884
7885 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
7886 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
7887
7888 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
7889 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
7890
7891 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
7892 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
7893 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
7894 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
7895
7896 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
7897
7898 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
7899 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
7900 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
7901
7902 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
7903 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
7904 expanding dynamically.
7905
7906 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
7907 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
7908
7909 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
7910 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
7911 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
7912 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
7913
7914 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
7915
7916 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
7917
7918 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
7919 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
7920 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
7921 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
7922 against the first word in the title.
7923
7924 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
7925 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
7926 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
7927 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
7928 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
7929 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
7930
7931 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
7932 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
7933 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
7934 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
7935
7936 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
7937
7938 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
7939 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
7940 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
7941 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
7942 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
7943 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
7944
7945 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
7946 Editing group once the package is loaded.
7947
7948 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
7949 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
7950 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behavior.
7951
7952 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
7953 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
7954
7955 ** Ispell changes.
7956
7957 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
7958 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
7959 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
7960
7961 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
7962 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
7963 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
7964 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
7965 include:
7966
7967 o URLs are automatically skipped
7968 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
7969
7970 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
7971
7972 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
7973
7974 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
7975 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
7976 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
7977 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
7978
7979 *** New recursive parser.
7980
7981 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
7982 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
7983 recursive parser scans the individual files.
7984
7985 *** Parsing only part of a document.
7986
7987 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
7988 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
7989 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
7990
7991 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
7992
7993 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
7994
7995 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
7996
7997 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
7998
7999 *** Using multiple selection buffers
8000
8001 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
8002 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
8003
8004 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
8005
8006 *** References to external documents.
8007
8008 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
8009 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
8010 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
8011 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
8012 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
8013 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
8014 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
8015
8016 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
8017
8018 The built-in command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
8019 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
8020
8021 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
8022 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
8023
8024 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
8025
8026 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
8027 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
8028
8029 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
8030
8031 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
8032 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
8033 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
8034 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
8035 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
8036 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
8037 more.
8038
8039 *** Support for the varioref package
8040
8041 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
8042
8043 *** New hooks
8044
8045 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
8046 and citations are created. These hooks are
8047 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
8048 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
8049
8050 *** Citations outside LaTeX
8051
8052 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
8053 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
8054
8055 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
8056
8057 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
8058 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
8059 fontified, use
8060
8061 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
8062
8063 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
8064 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
8065 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
8066 directories that contain the same file name.
8067
8068 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
8069 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
8070 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
8071 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
8072 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
8073 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
8074 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
8075 directory.
8076
8077 ** New modes and packages
8078
8079 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
8080 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
8081 it, but some do not.
8082
8083 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
8084 code.
8085
8086 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
8087 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
8088 around in a buffer.
8089
8090 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
8091
8092 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
8093 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
8094 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
8095 established system of notation similar to Chess.
8096
8097 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
8098 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
8099 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
8100
8101 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
8102 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
8103 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
8104 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
8105 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
8106 the like.
8107
8108 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
8109 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
8110
8111 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
8112 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
8113 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
8114 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
8115
8116 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
8117
8118 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
8119 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
8120 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
8121 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
8122 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
8123 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
8124 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
8125 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
8126 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
8127 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
8128 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
8129
8130 Platform-specific modes:
8131
8132 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
8133 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
8134 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
8135 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
8136 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
8137 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
8138 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
8139 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
8140 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
8141 \f
8142 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
8143
8144 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
8145 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
8146 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
8147 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
8148
8149 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
8150 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
8151 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
8152
8153 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
8154 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
8155 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
8156 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
8157
8158 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
8159 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
8160 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
8161 environment.
8162
8163 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
8164 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
8165 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
8166 current input method for reading this one event.
8167
8168 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
8169 now control whether to output certain characters as
8170 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
8171 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
8172 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
8173 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
8174 \f
8175 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
8176
8177 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
8178 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
8179
8180 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
8181 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
8182 always increases point by 1.
8183
8184 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
8185 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
8186
8187 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
8188
8189 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
8190 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
8191 default value changed. For example,
8192
8193 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
8194 :type 'integer
8195 :group 'foo
8196 :version "20.3")
8197
8198 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
8199 :version "20.3")
8200
8201 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
8202 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
8203 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
8204 `:version' in the top level group.
8205
8206 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
8207
8208 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
8209 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
8210
8211 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
8212 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
8213 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
8214 to themselves.
8215
8216 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
8217 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
8218 values whatever.
8219
8220 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
8221 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
8222 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
8223
8224 ** Frame-local variables.
8225
8226 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
8227 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
8228 local bindings for that variable.
8229
8230 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
8231 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
8232 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
8233 parameter name.
8234
8235 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
8236 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
8237 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
8238 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
8239
8240 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
8241 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
8242 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
8243 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
8244
8245 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
8246 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
8247 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
8248 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
8249 See the documentation in sregex.el.
8250
8251 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
8252 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
8253 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
8254 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
8255
8256 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
8257 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
8258
8259 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
8260 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
8261 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
8262
8263 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
8264 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
8265 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
8266 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
8267
8268 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
8269 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
8270 empty input.
8271
8272 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
8273 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
8274 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
8275 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
8276 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
8277
8278 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
8279 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
8280 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
8281 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
8282
8283 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
8284 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
8285 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
8286 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
8287 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
8288
8289 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
8290 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
8291 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
8292 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
8293
8294 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
8295 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
8296 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
8297
8298 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
8299 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
8300 was directed to display this buffer.
8301
8302 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
8303 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
8304 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
8305 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
8306 set-window-configuration.
8307
8308 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
8309 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
8310 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
8311 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
8312
8313 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
8314 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
8315 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
8316
8317 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
8318 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
8319 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
8320
8321 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
8322 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
8323
8324 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
8325 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
8326
8327 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
8328 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
8329 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
8330
8331 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
8332 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
8333 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
8334 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
8335
8336 ** Menu changes
8337
8338 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
8339 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
8340 better supported.
8341
8342 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
8343 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
8344 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
8345 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
8346 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
8347
8348 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
8349
8350 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
8351 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
8352 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
8353 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
8354
8355 The format is:
8356 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
8357 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
8358 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
8359 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
8360 The supported properties include
8361
8362 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
8363 item is enabled.
8364 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
8365 item should appear in the menu.
8366 :filter FILTER-FN
8367 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
8368 which will be REAL-BINDING.
8369 It should return a binding to use instead.
8370 :keys DESCRIPTION
8371 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
8372 binding for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
8373 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
8374 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
8375 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
8376 keyboard binding.
8377 :key-sequence nil
8378 This means that the command normally has no
8379 keyboard equivalent.
8380 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
8381 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
8382 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
8383 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
8384 value says whether this button is currently selected.
8385
8386 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
8387 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
8388
8389 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
8390
8391 ** New event types
8392
8393 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
8394 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
8395 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
8396 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
8397
8398 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
8399
8400 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
8401 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
8402 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
8403 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
8404 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
8405 forward, away from the user.
8406
8407 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
8408
8409 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
8410 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
8411 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
8412 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
8413 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
8414
8415 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
8416
8417 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
8418 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
8419 that were dragged and dropped.
8420
8421 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
8422
8423 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
8424
8425 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
8426 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
8427 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
8428
8429 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
8430 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
8431 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
8432
8433 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
8434 in Emacs 19 and before.
8435
8436 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
8437 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
8438
8439 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
8440 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
8441 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
8442 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
8443
8444 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
8445 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
8446 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
8447 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
8448 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
8449
8450 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
8451 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
8452 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
8453 consistent with the new representation.
8454
8455 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
8456 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
8457 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
8458 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
8459
8460 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
8461 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
8462 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
8463
8464 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
8465 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
8466 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
8467
8468 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
8469 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
8470 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
8471
8472 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
8473 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
8474
8475 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
8476 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
8477
8478 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
8479 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
8480 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
8481 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
8482
8483 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
8484 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
8485
8486 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
8487 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
8488 buffer or string being searched.
8489
8490 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
8491 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
8492 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
8493 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
8494 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
8495 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
8496 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
8497
8498 *** Structure of coding system changed.
8499
8500 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
8501 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
8502 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
8503 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
8504 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
8505 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
8506 define-coding-system-alias.
8507
8508 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
8509 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
8510 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
8511 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
8512 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
8513 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
8514 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
8515 `iso-8859-1'.
8516
8517 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
8518 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
8519 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
8520 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
8521
8522 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
8523 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
8524 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
8525 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
8526
8527 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
8528 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
8529 This function requires a user interaction.
8530
8531 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
8532 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
8533 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
8534 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
8535 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
8536 select-safe-coding-system.
8537
8538 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
8539 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
8540 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
8541 was done.
8542
8543 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
8544 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
8545 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
8546
8547 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
8548 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
8549 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
8550 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
8551
8552 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
8553 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
8554 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
8555 converted.
8556
8557 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
8558 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
8559
8560 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
8561 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
8562 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
8563 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
8564 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
8565 range of characters.
8566
8567 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
8568 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
8569
8570 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
8571 in the current buffer at position POS.
8572
8573 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
8574 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
8575 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
8576 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
8577 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
8578 binding input-method-function to nil.
8579
8580 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
8581 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
8582 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
8583 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
8584 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
8585
8586 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
8587 subsequent events of a key sequence.
8588
8589 *** You can customize any language environment by using
8590 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
8591
8592 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
8593 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
8594 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
8595 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
8596 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
8597 \f
8598 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
8599
8600 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
8601 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
8602 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
8603 tree structure.
8604
8605 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
8606 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
8607
8608 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
8609 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
8610 in your .emacs file.)
8611
8612 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
8613 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
8614
8615 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
8616 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
8617
8618 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
8619 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
8620 kills the region.
8621
8622 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
8623 delete the character before point, as usual.
8624
8625 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
8626 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
8627 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
8628
8629 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
8630 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
8631 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
8632 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
8633 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
8634 past.)
8635
8636 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
8637 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
8638 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
8639 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
8640 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
8641
8642 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
8643 and is an alias for it.
8644
8645 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
8646 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
8647
8648 ** Scrolling changes
8649
8650 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
8651 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
8652
8653 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
8654 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
8655 where it started.
8656
8657 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
8658 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
8659 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
8660 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
8661
8662 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
8663 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
8664 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
8665 recenters the window.
8666
8667 ** International character set support (MULE)
8668
8669 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
8670 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
8671 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
8672 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
8673 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
8674 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
8675
8676 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
8677 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
8678 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
8679 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
8680 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
8681
8682 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
8683 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
8684 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
8685 language, to make it possible to type them.
8686
8687 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
8688 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
8689
8690 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
8691 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
8692
8693 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
8694
8695 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
8696
8697 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
8698 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
8699 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
8700 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
8701 characters for their work until they want to change.
8702
8703 *** Input methods
8704
8705 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
8706 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
8707 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
8708 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
8709 support several input methods.
8710
8711 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
8712 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
8713 work.
8714
8715 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
8716 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
8717 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
8718 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
8719 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
8720 letter.
8721
8722 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
8723 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
8724 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
8725 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
8726 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
8727
8728 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
8729 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
8730 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
8731 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
8732
8733 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
8734 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
8735 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
8736 the first guess is wrong.
8737
8738 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
8739 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
8740
8741 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
8742 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
8743 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
8744 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
8745
8746 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
8747 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
8748 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
8749 translate automatically to and from either one.
8750
8751 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
8752
8753 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
8754 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
8755 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
8756 what you want.
8757
8758 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
8759 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
8760 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
8761 multibyte characters in that buffer.
8762
8763 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
8764 character conversion as well.
8765
8766 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
8767
8768 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
8769 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
8770 requires using many fonts.
8771
8772 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
8773 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
8774
8775 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
8776 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
8777 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
8778 you would use a font.
8779
8780 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
8781 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
8782 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
8783
8784 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
8785 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
8786 characters).
8787
8788 *** Defining fontsets.
8789
8790 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
8791 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
8792 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
8793
8794 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
8795 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
8796 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
8797 standard fontset are created automatically.
8798
8799 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
8800 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
8801 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
8802 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
8803 name is `fontset-startup'.
8804
8805 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
8806 The resource value should have this form:
8807 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
8808 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
8809 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
8810 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
8811 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
8812 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
8813 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
8814 CHARSET-NAME should be the name of a character set, and FONT-NAME
8815 should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
8816
8817 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
8818 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
8819 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
8820
8821 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
8822 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
8823 following resource,
8824 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
8825 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
8826 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
8827 Here is the substitution rule:
8828 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
8829 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
8830 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
8831 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
8832 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
8833
8834 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
8835 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
8836 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
8837
8838 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
8839 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
8840 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
8841 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
8842 fontsets.
8843
8844 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
8845 defaults for a particular choice of language.
8846
8847 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
8848 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
8849 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
8850 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
8851 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
8852 system for new files that you create.
8853
8854 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
8855 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
8856 whole Emacs session.
8857
8858 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
8859 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
8860 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
8861
8862 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
8863 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
8864 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
8865 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
8866 coding systems that Emacs supports.
8867
8868 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
8869 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
8870 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
8871 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
8872 is used for *the immediately following command*.
8873
8874 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
8875 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
8876
8877 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
8878 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
8879
8880 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
8881 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
8882
8883 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
8884 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
8885 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
8886 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
8887 of the file.
8888
8889 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
8890 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
8891 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
8892 translated into that character code.
8893
8894 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
8895 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
8896
8897 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
8898
8899 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
8900 the coding system for keyboard input.
8901
8902 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
8903 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
8904 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
8905
8906 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
8907
8908 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
8909 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
8910 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
8911 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
8912 designed to work with terminals.
8913
8914 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
8915 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
8916 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
8917 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
8918 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
8919 in the corresponding buffer.
8920
8921 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
8922
8923 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
8924 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
8925 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
8926
8927 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
8928 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
8929 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
8930 want to use.
8931
8932 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
8933 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
8934
8935 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
8936 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
8937 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
8938 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
8939
8940 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
8941 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
8942 related information.
8943
8944 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
8945 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
8946 scripts.
8947
8948 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
8949 information about the support for a particular language.
8950 You specify the language as an argument.
8951
8952 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
8953 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
8954 first dash.
8955
8956 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
8957 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
8958 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
8959 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
8960
8961 A alternativnyj (Russian)
8962 B big5 (Chinese)
8963 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
8964 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
8965 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
8966 E euc-japan (Japanese)
8967 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
8968 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
8969 K euc-korea (Korean)
8970 R koi8 (Russian)
8971 Q tibetan
8972 S shift_jis (Japanese)
8973 T lao
8974 T tis620 (Thai)
8975 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
8976 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
8977 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
8978 v viqr (Vietnamese)
8979 z hz (Chinese)
8980
8981 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
8982 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
8983 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
8984 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
8985
8986 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
8987 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
8988
8989 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
8990 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
8991 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
8992 Rmail files themselves.
8993
8994 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
8995 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
8996
8997 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
8998 for sending mail:
8999
9000 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
9001 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
9002 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
9003 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
9004 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
9005
9006 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
9007 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
9008 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
9009 translations.
9010
9011 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
9012 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
9013 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
9014 without any conversion.
9015
9016 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
9017 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
9018 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
9019 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
9020
9021 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
9022 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
9023
9024 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
9025 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
9026
9027 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
9028 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
9029
9030 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
9031 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
9032 in the buffer before point.
9033
9034 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
9035 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
9036 you are using.
9037
9038 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
9039 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
9040
9041 ** File locking works with NFS now.
9042
9043 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
9044 in the same directory as FILENAME.
9045
9046 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
9047 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
9048 can become a bottleneck.
9049
9050 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
9051 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
9052 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
9053 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
9054 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
9055 so useful that the change is worth while.
9056
9057 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
9058 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
9059 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
9060 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
9061
9062 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
9063 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
9064 show-paren-mode.
9065
9066 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
9067 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
9068 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
9069
9070 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
9071 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
9072 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
9073
9074 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
9075 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
9076 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
9077
9078 ** Changes in View mode.
9079
9080 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
9081 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
9082
9083 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
9084 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
9085
9086 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
9087 previous state.
9088
9089 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
9090 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
9091
9092 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
9093 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
9094 not just the selected window.
9095
9096 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
9097 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
9098 turns View mode on or off.
9099
9100 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
9101 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
9102 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
9103
9104 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
9105 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
9106
9107 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
9108 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
9109 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
9110 which version to compare with.
9111
9112 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
9113 blocks if a match is inside the block.
9114
9115 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
9116 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
9117 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
9118 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
9119
9120 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
9121 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
9122 blocks, all of them or none.
9123
9124 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
9125 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
9126 confirmation first.
9127
9128 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
9129 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
9130 However, the mode will not be changed if
9131 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
9132 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
9133 not suitable for ordinary files, or
9134 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
9135
9136 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
9137
9138 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
9139 these commands do not change the major mode.
9140
9141 ** M-x occur changes.
9142
9143 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
9144 it performs a case-sensitive search.
9145
9146 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
9147 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
9148 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
9149
9150 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
9151 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
9152 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
9153 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
9154 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
9155
9156 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
9157 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
9158 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
9159 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
9160
9161 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
9162 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
9163 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
9164
9165 ** Outline mode changes.
9166
9167 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
9168
9169 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
9170
9171 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
9172 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
9173 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
9174 was already active.
9175
9176 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
9177 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
9178 get confused by it.
9179
9180 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
9181 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
9182
9183 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
9184
9185 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
9186 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
9187 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
9188 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
9189
9190 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
9191 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
9192 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
9193
9194 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
9195 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
9196 values.
9197
9198 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
9199 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
9200 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
9201 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
9202
9203 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
9204 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
9205 can be. The default value is 30.
9206
9207 ** Changes in Mail mode.
9208
9209 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
9210 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
9211 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
9212 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
9213 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
9214 behavior.
9215
9216 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
9217 compose-mail-other-frame.
9218
9219 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
9220 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
9221 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
9222 buffer that shows the original message.
9223
9224 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
9225 with separator lines around the contents.
9226
9227 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
9228 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
9229 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
9230 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
9231
9232 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
9233
9234 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
9235 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
9236 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
9237 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
9238
9239 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
9240 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
9241 /etc/passwd.
9242
9243 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
9244 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
9245 /etc/passwd.
9246
9247 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
9248 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
9249 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
9250 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
9251
9252 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
9253 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
9254 be taken to be magic.
9255
9256 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
9257 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
9258 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
9259
9260 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
9261 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
9262
9263 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
9264 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
9265
9266 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
9267
9268 new key dired.el binding old key
9269 ------- ---------------- -------
9270 * c dired-change-marks c
9271 * m dired-mark m
9272 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
9273 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
9274 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
9275 * u dired-unmark u
9276 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
9277 * ? dired-unmark-all-files C-M-?
9278 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
9279 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
9280 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
9281 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
9282
9283 ** Rmail changes.
9284
9285 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
9286 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
9287 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
9288 each time you run it.
9289
9290 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
9291 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
9292
9293 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
9294 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
9295 means to move in the opposite direction.
9296
9297 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
9298 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
9299
9300 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
9301 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
9302 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
9303 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
9304 for output.
9305
9306 ** Gnus changes.
9307
9308 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
9309
9310 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
9311 Gnus.
9312
9313 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
9314 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
9315
9316 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
9317 article mode line.
9318
9319 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
9320
9321 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
9322
9323 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
9324
9325 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
9326 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
9327 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
9328
9329 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
9330
9331 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
9332
9333 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
9334 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
9335
9336 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
9337 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
9338 used to pick articles.
9339
9340 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
9341 another have been added.
9342
9343 `M-x gnus-change-server'
9344
9345 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
9346 generating lines in buffers.
9347
9348 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
9349 `C-M-_'.
9350
9351 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
9352
9353 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
9354
9355 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
9356
9357 *** Scores can be decayed.
9358
9359 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
9360
9361 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
9362 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
9363
9364 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
9365 the native server.
9366
9367 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
9368
9369 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
9370 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `C-M-d'.
9371
9372 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
9373
9374 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
9375 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
9376
9377 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
9378 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
9379
9380 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
9381 a group.
9382
9383 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
9384 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
9385
9386 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
9387
9388 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
9389
9390 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
9391
9392 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
9393
9394 Use the `Y c' command.
9395
9396 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
9397
9398 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
9399
9400 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
9401
9402 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
9403 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
9404
9405 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
9406
9407 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
9408
9409 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
9410 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
9411
9412 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
9413
9414 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
9415 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
9416 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
9417 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
9418 this issue.)
9419
9420 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
9421 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
9422 particular news group. This can be done by:
9423
9424 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
9425
9426 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
9427 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
9428 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
9429 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
9430 for reading and posting).
9431
9432 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
9433 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
9434 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
9435 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
9436 there.
9437
9438 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
9439 default. Here are some of these default settings:
9440
9441 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
9442 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
9443 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
9444 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
9445 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
9446
9447 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
9448 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
9449
9450 ** CC mode changes.
9451
9452 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
9453 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
9454 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
9455 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
9456 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
9457 loaded.
9458
9459 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
9460 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
9461 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
9462 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
9463 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
9464 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
9465
9466 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
9467 of the current buffer.
9468
9469 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
9470 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
9471 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
9472
9473 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
9474 style that the Python developers like.
9475
9476 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
9477 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
9478 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
9479
9480 ** VC Changes [new]
9481
9482 *** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
9483 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
9484 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
9485
9486 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
9487 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
9488 developers.
9489
9490 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
9491 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
9492
9493 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
9494 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
9495 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
9496 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
9497
9498 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
9499 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
9500
9501 ** Calendar changes.
9502
9503 *** A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or
9504 subclasses of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow
9505 you do this for the year of the selected date, or the
9506 following/previous years.
9507
9508 *** There is now support for the Baha'i calendar system. Use `pb' in
9509 the *Calendar* buffer to display the current Baha'i date. The Baha'i
9510 calendar, or "Badi calendar" is a system of 19 months with 19 days
9511 each, and 4 intercalary days (5 during a Gregorian leap year). The
9512 calendar begins May 23, 1844, with each of the months named after a
9513 supposed attribute of God.
9514
9515 ** ps-print changes
9516
9517 There are some new user variables and subgroups for customizing the page
9518 layout.
9519
9520 *** Headers & Footers (subgroup)
9521
9522 Some printer systems print a header page and force the first page to
9523 be printed on the back of the header page when using duplex. If your
9524 printer system has this behavior, set variable
9525 `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' to t.
9526
9527 If variable `ps-banner-page-when-duplexing' is non-nil, it prints a
9528 blank page as the very first printed page. So, it behaves as if the
9529 very first character of buffer (or region) were a form feed ^L (\014).
9530
9531 The variable `ps-spool-config' specifies who is responsible for
9532 setting duplex mode and page size. Valid values are:
9533
9534 lpr-switches duplex and page size are configured by `ps-lpr-switches'.
9535 Don't forget to set `ps-lpr-switches' to select duplex
9536 printing for your printer.
9537
9538 setpagedevice duplex and page size are configured by ps-print using the
9539 setpagedevice PostScript operator.
9540
9541 nil duplex and page size are configured by ps-print *not* using
9542 the setpagedevice PostScript operator.
9543
9544 The variable `ps-spool-tumble' specifies how the page images on
9545 opposite sides of a sheet are oriented with respect to each other. If
9546 `ps-spool-tumble' is nil, ps-print produces output suitable for
9547 bindings on the left or right. If `ps-spool-tumble' is non-nil,
9548 ps-print produces output suitable for bindings at the top or bottom.
9549 This variable takes effect only if `ps-spool-duplex' is non-nil.
9550 The default value is nil.
9551
9552 The variable `ps-header-frame-alist' specifies a header frame
9553 properties alist. Valid frame properties are:
9554
9555 fore-color Specify the foreground frame color.
9556 Value should be a float number between 0.0 (black
9557 color) and 1.0 (white color), or a string which is a
9558 color name, or a list of 3 float numbers which
9559 correspond to the Red Green Blue color scale, each
9560 float number between 0.0 (dark color) and 1.0 (bright
9561 color). The default is 0 ("black").
9562
9563 back-color Specify the background frame color (similar to fore-color).
9564 The default is 0.9 ("gray90").
9565
9566 shadow-color Specify the shadow color (similar to fore-color).
9567 The default is 0 ("black").
9568
9569 border-color Specify the border color (similar to fore-color).
9570 The default is 0 ("black").
9571
9572 border-width Specify the border width.
9573 The default is 0.4.
9574
9575 Any other property is ignored.
9576
9577 Don't change this alist directly; instead use Custom, or the
9578 `ps-value', `ps-get', `ps-put' and `ps-del' functions (see there for
9579 documentation).
9580
9581 Ps-print can also print footers. The footer variables are:
9582 `ps-print-footer', `ps-footer-offset', `ps-print-footer-frame',
9583 `ps-footer-font-family', `ps-footer-font-size', `ps-footer-line-pad',
9584 `ps-footer-lines', `ps-left-footer', `ps-right-footer' and
9585 `ps-footer-frame-alist'. These variables are similar to those
9586 controlling headers.
9587
9588 *** Color management (subgroup)
9589
9590 If `ps-print-color-p' is non-nil, the buffer's text will be printed in
9591 color.
9592
9593 *** Face Management (subgroup)
9594
9595 If you need to print without worrying about face background colors,
9596 set the variable `ps-use-face-background' which specifies if face
9597 background should be used. Valid values are:
9598
9599 t always use face background color.
9600 nil never use face background color.
9601 (face...) list of faces whose background color will be used.
9602
9603 *** N-up printing (subgroup)
9604
9605 The variable `ps-n-up-printing' specifies the number of pages per
9606 sheet of paper.
9607
9608 The variable `ps-n-up-margin' specifies the margin in points (pt)
9609 between the sheet border and the n-up printing.
9610
9611 If variable `ps-n-up-border-p' is non-nil, a border is drawn around
9612 each page.
9613
9614 The variable `ps-n-up-filling' specifies how the page matrix is filled
9615 on each sheet of paper. Following are the valid values for
9616 `ps-n-up-filling' with a filling example using a 3x4 page matrix:
9617
9618 `left-top' 1 2 3 4 `left-bottom' 9 10 11 12
9619 5 6 7 8 5 6 7 8
9620 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4
9621
9622 `right-top' 4 3 2 1 `right-bottom' 12 11 10 9
9623 8 7 6 5 8 7 6 5
9624 12 11 10 9 4 3 2 1
9625
9626 `top-left' 1 4 7 10 `bottom-left' 3 6 9 12
9627 2 5 8 11 2 5 8 11
9628 3 6 9 12 1 4 7 10
9629
9630 `top-right' 10 7 4 1 `bottom-right' 12 9 6 3
9631 11 8 5 2 11 8 5 2
9632 12 9 6 3 10 7 4 1
9633
9634 Any other value is treated as `left-top'.
9635
9636 *** Zebra stripes (subgroup)
9637
9638 The variable `ps-zebra-color' controls the zebra stripes grayscale or
9639 RGB color.
9640
9641 The variable `ps-zebra-stripe-follow' specifies how zebra stripes
9642 continue on next page. Visually, valid values are (the character `+'
9643 to the right of each column indicates that a line is printed):
9644
9645 `nil' `follow' `full' `full-follow'
9646 Current Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
9647 1 XXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXX + 1 XXXXXX + 1 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9648 2 XXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXX + 2 XXXXXX + 2 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9649 3 XXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXX + 3 XXXXXX + 3 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9650 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 +
9651 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 +
9652 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 +
9653 7 XXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXX + 7 XXXXXX + 7 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9654 8 XXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXX + 8 XXXXXX + 8 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9655 9 XXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXX + 9 XXXXXX + 9 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9656 10 + 10 +
9657 11 + 11 +
9658 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
9659 Next Page -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
9660 12 XXXXX + 12 + 10 XXXXXX + 10 +
9661 13 XXXXX + 13 XXXXXXXX + 11 XXXXXX + 11 +
9662 14 XXXXX + 14 XXXXXXXX + 12 XXXXXX + 12 +
9663 15 + 15 XXXXXXXX + 13 + 13 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9664 16 + 16 + 14 + 14 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9665 17 + 17 + 15 + 15 XXXXXXXXXXXXX +
9666 18 XXXXX + 18 + 16 XXXXXX + 16 +
9667 19 XXXXX + 19 XXXXXXXX + 17 XXXXXX + 17 +
9668 20 XXXXX + 20 XXXXXXXX + 18 XXXXXX + 18 +
9669 21 + 21 XXXXXXXX +
9670 22 + 22 +
9671 -------- ----------- --------- ----------------
9672
9673 Any other value is treated as `nil'.
9674
9675
9676 *** Printer management (subgroup)
9677
9678 The variable `ps-printer-name-option' determines the option used by
9679 some utilities to indicate the printer name; it's used only when
9680 `ps-printer-name' is a non-empty string. If you're using the lpr
9681 utility to print, for example, `ps-printer-name-option' should be set
9682 to "-P".
9683
9684 The variable `ps-manual-feed' indicates if the printer requires manual
9685 paper feeding. If it's nil, automatic feeding takes place. If it's
9686 non-nil, manual feeding takes place.
9687
9688 The variable `ps-end-with-control-d' specifies whether C-d (\x04)
9689 should be inserted at end of the generated PostScript. Non-nil means
9690 do so.
9691
9692 *** Page settings (subgroup)
9693
9694 If variable `ps-warn-paper-type' is nil, it's *not* treated as an
9695 error if the PostScript printer doesn't have a paper with the size
9696 indicated by `ps-paper-type'; the default paper size will be used
9697 instead. If `ps-warn-paper-type' is non-nil, an error is signaled if
9698 the PostScript printer doesn't support a paper with the size indicated
9699 by `ps-paper-type'. This is used when `ps-spool-config' is set to
9700 `setpagedevice'.
9701
9702 The variable `ps-print-upside-down' determines the orientation for
9703 printing pages: nil means `normal' printing, non-nil means
9704 `upside-down' printing (that is, the page is rotated by 180 degrees).
9705
9706 The variable `ps-selected-pages' specifies which pages to print. If
9707 it's nil, all pages are printed. If it's a list, list elements may be
9708 integers specifying a single page to print, or cons cells (FROM . TO)
9709 specifying to print from page FROM to TO. Invalid list elements, that
9710 is integers smaller than one, or elements whose FROM is greater than
9711 its TO, are ignored.
9712
9713 The variable `ps-even-or-odd-pages' specifies how to print even/odd
9714 pages. Valid values are:
9715
9716 nil print all pages.
9717
9718 `even-page' print only even pages.
9719
9720 `odd-page' print only odd pages.
9721
9722 `even-sheet' print only even sheets.
9723 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
9724 `even-page', but for values greater than 1, it'll
9725 print only the even sheet of paper.
9726
9727 `odd-sheet' print only odd sheets.
9728 That is, if `ps-n-up-printing' is 1, it behaves like
9729 `odd-page'; but for values greater than 1, it'll print
9730 only the odd sheet of paper.
9731
9732 Any other value is treated as nil.
9733
9734 If you set `ps-selected-pages' (see there for documentation), pages
9735 are filtered by `ps-selected-pages', and then by
9736 `ps-even-or-odd-pages'. For example, if we have:
9737
9738 (setq ps-selected-pages '(1 4 (6 . 10) (12 . 16) 20))
9739
9740 and we combine this with `ps-even-or-odd-pages' and
9741 `ps-n-up-printing', we get:
9742
9743 `ps-n-up-printing' = 1:
9744 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
9745 nil 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20
9746 even-page 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
9747 odd-page 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
9748 even-sheet 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20
9749 odd-sheet 1, 7, 9, 13, 15
9750
9751 `ps-n-up-printing' = 2:
9752 `ps-even-or-odd-pages' PAGES PRINTED
9753 nil 1/4, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12, 13/14, 15/16, 20
9754 even-page 4/6, 8/10, 12/14, 16/20
9755 odd-page 1/7, 9/13, 15
9756 even-sheet 6/7, 10/12, 15/16
9757 odd-sheet 1/4, 8/9, 13/14, 20
9758
9759 *** Miscellany (subgroup)
9760
9761 The variable `ps-error-handler-message' specifies where error handler
9762 messages should be sent.
9763
9764 It is also possible to add a user-defined PostScript prologue code in
9765 front of all generated prologue code by setting the variable
9766 `ps-user-defined-prologue'.
9767
9768 The variable `ps-line-number-font' specifies the font for line numbers.
9769
9770 The variable `ps-line-number-font-size' specifies the font size in
9771 points for line numbers.
9772
9773 The variable `ps-line-number-color' specifies the color for line
9774 numbers. See `ps-zebra-color' for documentation.
9775
9776 The variable `ps-line-number-step' specifies the interval in which
9777 line numbers are printed. For example, if `ps-line-number-step' is set
9778 to 2, the printing will look like:
9779
9780 1 one line
9781 one line
9782 3 one line
9783 one line
9784 5 one line
9785 one line
9786 ...
9787
9788 Valid values are:
9789
9790 integer an integer specifying the interval in which line numbers are
9791 printed. If it's smaller than or equal to zero, 1
9792 is used.
9793
9794 `zebra' specifies that only the line number of the first line in a
9795 zebra stripe is to be printed.
9796
9797 Any other value is treated as `zebra'.
9798
9799 The variable `ps-line-number-start' specifies the starting point in
9800 the interval given by `ps-line-number-step'. For example, if
9801 `ps-line-number-step' is set to 3, and `ps-line-number-start' is set to
9802 3, the output will look like:
9803
9804 one line
9805 one line
9806 3 one line
9807 one line
9808 one line
9809 6 one line
9810 one line
9811 one line
9812 9 one line
9813 one line
9814 ...
9815
9816 The variable `ps-postscript-code-directory' specifies the directory
9817 where the PostScript prologue file used by ps-print is found.
9818
9819 The variable `ps-line-spacing' determines the line spacing in points,
9820 for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
9821 `ps-font-size').
9822
9823 The variable `ps-paragraph-spacing' determines the paragraph spacing,
9824 in points, for ordinary text, when generating PostScript (similar to
9825 `ps-font-size').
9826
9827 The variable `ps-paragraph-regexp' specifies the paragraph delimiter.
9828
9829 The variable `ps-begin-cut-regexp' and `ps-end-cut-regexp' specify the
9830 start and end of a region to cut out when printing.
9831
9832 ** hideshow changes.
9833
9834 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
9835 C++, ; for lisp).
9836
9837 *** Support for java-mode added.
9838
9839 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
9840 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
9841
9842 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the comments at
9843 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
9844 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
9845
9846 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
9847 robust and a lot faster.
9848
9849 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
9850
9851 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
9852 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
9853 documentation for more details.
9854
9855 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
9856
9857 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
9858 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
9859 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
9860 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
9861 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
9862
9863 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
9864 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
9865 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
9866 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
9867
9868 ** Font Lock mode
9869
9870 *** Custom support
9871
9872 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
9873 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
9874 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
9875 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
9876 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
9877 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
9878
9879 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
9880
9881 *** Maximum decoration
9882
9883 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
9884 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
9885 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
9886 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
9887 to get the old behavior.
9888
9889 *** New support
9890
9891 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
9892
9893 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
9894 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
9895
9896 *** Configurable support
9897
9898 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
9899 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
9900 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
9901 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
9902 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
9903 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
9904 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
9905
9906 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
9907 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
9908 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
9909
9910 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
9911
9912 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
9913 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
9914 for any mode.
9915
9916 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
9917
9918 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
9919
9920 in your ~/.emacs.
9921
9922 *** New faces
9923
9924 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
9925 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
9926 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
9927 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
9928
9929 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
9930
9931 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
9932 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
9933 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
9934
9935 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
9936
9937 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
9938 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
9939 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
9940 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
9941 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
9942 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
9943 Lock mode behavior and the behavior of Font Lock mode.
9944
9945 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
9946 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
9947 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
9948 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
9949 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
9950 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
9951
9952 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
9953
9954 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
9955 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
9956 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
9957 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
9958
9959 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
9960 settings.
9961
9962 ** Ada mode changes.
9963
9964 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
9965 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
9966 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
9967 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
9968 stubs.
9969
9970 *** There are two new commands:
9971 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
9972 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
9973
9974 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
9975 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
9976 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
9977
9978 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
9979 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
9980 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
9981
9982 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
9983 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
9984 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
9985 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
9986
9987 ** Scheme mode changes.
9988
9989 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
9990 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
9991 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
9992 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
9993 have any effect.
9994
9995 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
9996 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
9997 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
9998 variables as buffer-local variables.
9999
10000 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
10001 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
10002
10003 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
10004
10005 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
10006 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
10007 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
10008 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
10009
10010 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
10011 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
10012 buffer in Emacs.
10013
10014 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
10015 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
10016 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
10017 option takes precedence.
10018
10019 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
10020 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
10021 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
10022
10023 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
10024 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
10025 the current defun.
10026
10027 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
10028 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
10029
10030 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
10031 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
10032 necessary).
10033
10034 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
10035 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
10036 these register values no longer become completely useless.
10037 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
10038 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
10039 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
10040
10041 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
10042 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
10043 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
10044 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
10045
10046 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
10047 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
10048 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
10049 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
10050 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
10051
10052 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
10053 since it applies only to the current frame.
10054
10055 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
10056 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
10057 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
10058
10059 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
10060 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
10061 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
10062 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
10063 instead of just the file you are editing.
10064
10065 ** RefTeX mode
10066
10067 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
10068 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
10069 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
10070 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
10071 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
10072
10073 C-c ( reftex-label
10074 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
10075 knows which kind of label is needed.
10076
10077 C-c ) reftex-reference
10078 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
10079 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
10080
10081 C-c [ reftex-citation
10082 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
10083 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
10084
10085 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
10086 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
10087
10088 C-c = reftex-toc
10089 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
10090 can quickly jump to every section.
10091
10092 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
10093 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
10094 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
10095 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
10096 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
10097
10098 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
10099
10100 *** Info documentation is now available.
10101
10102 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
10103 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
10104
10105 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
10106 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
10107
10108 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
10109 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
10110
10111 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
10112 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
10113 appropriate functions.
10114
10115 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
10116 entries. They are bound by default to C-M-l and C-M-h.
10117
10118 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
10119 been cleaned.
10120
10121 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
10122 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
10123
10124 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
10125 shall be delimited.
10126
10127 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
10128 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
10129 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
10130
10131 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
10132 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
10133 prefixed with `ALT'.
10134
10135 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
10136 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
10137 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
10138 documentation).
10139
10140 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
10141 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
10142 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
10143
10144 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
10145 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
10146
10147 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
10148 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
10149 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
10150
10151 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
10152
10153 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
10154
10155 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
10156 from alien sources.
10157
10158 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
10159 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
10160 crossref entries.
10161
10162 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
10163 region.
10164
10165 *** Added support for imenu.
10166
10167 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
10168 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
10169 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
10170 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
10171
10172 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
10173 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
10174
10175 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
10176
10177 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
10178
10179 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
10180 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
10181 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
10182 as an argument.
10183
10184 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
10185 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
10186
10187 ** browse-url changes
10188
10189 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
10190 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
10191 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
10192 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
10193 customization variables.
10194
10195 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
10196
10197 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
10198 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
10199 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
10200
10201 ** Changes in Ediff
10202
10203 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
10204 pops up the Info file for this command.
10205
10206 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
10207 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
10208 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
10209 directories).
10210
10211 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
10212 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
10213 files in the same directory.
10214
10215 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
10216 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
10217 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
10218
10219 ** Changes in Viper
10220
10221 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
10222 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
10223 instead of vip-.
10224 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
10225 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
10226 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
10227 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
10228 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
10229 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
10230 color when Viper is in insert state.
10231 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
10232 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
10233 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
10234
10235 ** Etags changes.
10236
10237 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
10238 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
10239 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
10240 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
10241 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
10242
10243 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
10244
10245 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
10246 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
10247
10248 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
10249 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
10250 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
10251
10252 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
10253 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
10254 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
10255 methods and protocols.
10256
10257 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
10258 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
10259 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
10260 paragraph name.
10261
10262 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
10263 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
10264 at least M times and as many as N times.
10265
10266 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
10267 in files has changed slightly.
10268
10269 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
10270 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
10271 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
10272 with old time-stamp-format values.
10273
10274 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
10275 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
10276 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
10277 reasons.
10278
10279 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
10280 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
10281 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
10282 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
10283 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
10284 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
10285
10286 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
10287 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
10288 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
10289
10290 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
10291 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
10292 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
10293 recommended now will continue to work then.
10294
10295 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
10296 details.
10297
10298 ** There are some additional major modes:
10299
10300 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
10301 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
10302 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
10303
10304 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
10305 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
10306 into Emacs.
10307
10308 ** New Lisp packages include:
10309
10310 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
10311
10312 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
10313 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
10314
10315 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
10316
10317 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
10318 in shell buffers.
10319
10320 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
10321 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
10322 and `elint-defun'.
10323
10324 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
10325 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
10326 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
10327 strings or comments.
10328
10329 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
10330 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
10331 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
10332 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
10333 at these points.
10334
10335 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
10336 can visit them by short forms of their names.
10337
10338 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
10339 Emacs Lisp function at point.
10340
10341 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
10342
10343 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
10344 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
10345
10346 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
10347
10348 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
10349
10350 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
10351
10352 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
10353 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
10354
10355 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
10356 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
10357 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
10358 original place after inserting the copy.
10359
10360 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
10361 on the buffer.
10362
10363 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
10364 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
10365 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
10366
10367 Enable mouse-drag with:
10368 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
10369 -or-
10370 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
10371
10372 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
10373 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
10374
10375 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
10376 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
10377
10378 *** ogonek
10379
10380 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
10381 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
10382 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
10383 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
10384 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
10385 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
10386 instance) and vice versa.
10387
10388 To use this package load it using
10389 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
10390 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
10391 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
10392 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
10393 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
10394 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
10395
10396 *** Interface to ph.
10397
10398 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
10399
10400 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
10401 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
10402 these servers.
10403
10404 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
10405
10406 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
10407 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
10408 while the real cursor does not move.
10409
10410 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
10411 for visiting your favorite web sites.
10412
10413 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
10414 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
10415
10416 ** movemail change
10417
10418 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
10419 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
10420 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
10421 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
10422
10423 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
10424 \f
10425 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
10426
10427 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
10428
10429 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
10430 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
10431 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
10432 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
10433 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
10434
10435 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
10436 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
10437 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
10438 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
10439 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
10440 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
10441 \f
10442 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
10443
10444 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
10445 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
10446 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
10447 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
10448
10449 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
10450 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
10451
10452 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
10453 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
10454 "win".
10455
10456 ** Basic Lisp changes
10457
10458 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
10459 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
10460
10461 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
10462 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
10463 or by the user.
10464
10465 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
10466
10467 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
10468
10469 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
10470 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
10471
10472 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
10473 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
10474 its argument.
10475
10476 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
10477
10478 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
10479
10480 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
10481
10482 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
10483 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
10484 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
10485 `format' function.
10486
10487 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
10488 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
10489 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
10490
10491 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
10492 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
10493 adding one of these suffixes.
10494
10495 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
10496 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
10497 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
10498
10499 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
10500 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
10501
10502 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
10503
10504 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
10505 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
10506
10507 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
10508 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
10509
10510 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
10511
10512 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
10513 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
10514
10515 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
10516 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
10517 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
10518 works using `save-current-buffer'.
10519
10520 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
10521 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
10522 of the last form.
10523
10524 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
10525 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
10526 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
10527 as the last form.
10528
10529 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
10530 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
10531 matches.
10532
10533 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
10534
10535 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
10536 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
10537 Then it returns that string.
10538
10539 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
10540
10541 (with-output-to-string
10542 (princ "The buffer is ")
10543 (princ (buffer-name)))
10544
10545 returns "The buffer is foo".
10546
10547 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
10548 is non-nil.
10549
10550 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
10551 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
10552 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
10553
10554 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
10555 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
10556
10557 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
10558 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
10559 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
10560 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
10561 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
10562 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
10563
10564 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
10565 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
10566 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
10567 characters".
10568
10569 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
10570 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
10571 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
10572 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
10573 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
10574
10575 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
10576 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
10577 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
10578 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
10579
10580 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
10581 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
10582
10583 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
10584
10585 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
10586 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
10587 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
10588 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
10589 guaranteed.
10590
10591 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
10592 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
10593 character).
10594
10595 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
10596
10597 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
10598 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
10599 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
10600 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
10601 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
10602
10603 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
10604
10605 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
10606 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
10607 more than the number of characters.
10608
10609 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
10610 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
10611 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
10612 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
10613 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
10614 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
10615
10616 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
10617 and returns a string containing those characters.
10618
10619 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
10620 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
10621 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
10622 character, sref signals an error.
10623
10624 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
10625 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
10626 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
10627
10628 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
10629 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
10630 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
10631
10632 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
10633 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
10634 to a vector of the characters in it.
10635
10636 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
10637 of a string. You call it as follows:
10638
10639 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
10640
10641 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
10642 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
10643 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
10644 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
10645 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
10646
10647 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
10648 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
10649
10650 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
10651 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
10652
10653 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
10654 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
10655 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
10656 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
10657
10658 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
10659
10660 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
10661
10662 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
10663 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
10664 are not included in the resulting value.
10665
10666 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
10667 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
10668 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
10669 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
10670
10671 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
10672 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
10673 character extends across that column), then the padding character
10674 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
10675 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
10676 column START-COLUMN.
10677
10678 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
10679 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
10680 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
10681 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
10682 changed text, before the change.
10683
10684 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
10685 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
10686 one character set for each script, not for each language.
10687
10688 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
10689
10690 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
10691
10692 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
10693 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
10694
10695 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
10696 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
10697 which identify the character within that character set.
10698
10699 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
10700 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
10701 opposite of split-char.
10702
10703 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
10704 of all the characters between BEG and END.
10705
10706 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
10707 of all the characters in a string.
10708
10709 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
10710 and specifying coding systems.
10711
10712 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
10713 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
10714 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
10715 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
10716 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
10717 as what to do about code conversion.)
10718
10719 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
10720 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
10721
10722 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
10723 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
10724 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
10725
10726 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
10727 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
10728 to match against a file name.
10729
10730 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
10731 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
10732 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
10733 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
10734 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
10735 specifies the coding system for encoding.
10736
10737 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
10738 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
10739
10740 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
10741 the coding system to use for network sockets.
10742
10743 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
10744 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
10745 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
10746 service names.
10747
10748 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
10749 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
10750 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
10751 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
10752 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
10753 specifies the coding system for encoding.
10754
10755 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
10756 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
10757
10758 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
10759 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
10760 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
10761 start the subprocess.
10762
10763 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
10764 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
10765 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
10766 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
10767 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
10768
10769 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
10770 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
10771 subprocess.
10772
10773 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
10774 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
10775 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
10776 connection permanently or until overridden.
10777
10778 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
10779 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
10780 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
10781 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
10782 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
10783 system for one operation at a time.
10784
10785 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
10786 files, subprocesses or network connections.
10787
10788 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
10789 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
10790 The value is a cons cell,
10791 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
10792 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
10793 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
10794 input to the subprocess.
10795
10796 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
10797 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
10798
10799 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
10800 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
10801 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
10802
10803 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
10804 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
10805 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
10806 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
10807 customization.
10808
10809 Thus, instead of writing
10810
10811 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
10812 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
10813
10814 you would now write this:
10815
10816 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
10817 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
10818 :type 'boolean
10819 :group foo)
10820
10821 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
10822 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
10823 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
10824 for a description of them.
10825
10826 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
10827 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
10828
10829 (defgroup ispell nil
10830 "Spell checking using Ispell."
10831 :group 'processes)
10832
10833 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
10834 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
10835 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
10836 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
10837 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
10838
10839 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
10840 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
10841 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
10842 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
10843 first-level subgroups.
10844
10845 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
10846
10847 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
10848 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
10849
10850 ** easy-mmode
10851
10852 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
10853 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
10854 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
10855 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
10856 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
10857 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
10858
10859 ** Text property changes
10860
10861 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
10862 text property.
10863
10864 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
10865 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
10866 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
10867 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
10868 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
10869
10870 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
10871 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
10872 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
10873 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
10874
10875 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
10876 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
10877 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
10878
10879 ** Changes in invisibility features
10880
10881 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
10882 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
10883 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
10884 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
10885 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
10886 make the overlay visible.
10887
10888 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
10889 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
10890 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
10891 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
10892 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
10893 t when it should hide it.
10894
10895 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
10896
10897 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
10898 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
10899 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
10900 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
10901 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
10902 Here is an example of how to do this:
10903
10904 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
10905 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
10906 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
10907 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
10908
10909 ...
10910 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
10911
10912 ...
10913 ;; When done with the overlays:
10914 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
10915 ;; Or respectively:
10916 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
10917
10918 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
10919
10920 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
10921 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
10922 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
10923 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
10924
10925 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
10926 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
10927 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
10928
10929 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
10930 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
10931
10932 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
10933 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
10934
10935 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
10936 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
10937 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
10938
10939 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
10940 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
10941 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
10942 determine the syntax type of the character.
10943
10944 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
10945 of the current buffer.
10946
10947 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
10948 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
10949 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
10950
10951 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
10952 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
10953 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
10954 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
10955 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
10956
10957 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
10958 text property.
10959
10960 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
10961 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
10962 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
10963
10964 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
10965 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
10966 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
10967 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
10968 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
10969
10970 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
10971 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
10972 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
10973
10974 ** Changes in face features
10975
10976 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
10977 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
10978
10979 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
10980 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
10981
10982 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
10983 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
10984
10985 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
10986 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
10987
10988 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
10989 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
10990 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
10991 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
10992 overlay property).
10993
10994 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
10995 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
10996
10997 ** Changes in file-handling functions
10998
10999 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
11000 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
11001 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
11002 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
11003
11004 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
11005 begins with ~.
11006
11007 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
11008 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
11009
11010 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
11011 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
11012
11013 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
11014 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
11015
11016 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
11017 character code conversion as well as other things.
11018
11019 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
11020 (formerly it did not).
11021
11022 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
11023 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
11024
11025 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
11026 instead of constant strings.
11027
11028 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
11029 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
11030 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
11031
11032 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
11033 in the same way as before.
11034
11035 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
11036 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
11037 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
11038
11039 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
11040 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
11041 else, and returns nil.
11042
11043 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
11044 directory cannot be listed.
11045
11046 ** Changes in minibuffer input
11047
11048 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
11049 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
11050 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
11051 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
11052 ways:
11053
11054 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
11055 It is available through the history command M-n.
11056
11057 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
11058 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
11059 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
11060 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
11061 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
11062
11063 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
11064 argument in this way.
11065
11066 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
11067 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
11068 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
11069
11070 ** Echo area features
11071
11072 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
11073 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
11074 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
11075 after the echo area is cleared.
11076
11077 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
11078 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
11079
11080 ** Keyboard input features
11081
11082 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
11083 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
11084
11085 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
11086 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
11087 by keyboard macros.
11088
11089 ** Frame-related changes
11090
11091 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
11092 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
11093 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
11094
11095 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
11096 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
11097 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
11098
11099 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
11100 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
11101 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
11102 in the selected frame.
11103
11104 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
11105 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
11106 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
11107
11108 ** X Windows features
11109
11110 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
11111 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
11112 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
11113
11114 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
11115 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
11116
11117 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
11118 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
11119 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
11120
11121 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
11122 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
11123
11124 ** Subprocess features
11125
11126 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
11127 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
11128 automatically.
11129
11130 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
11131 and returns the output from the command as a string.
11132
11133 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
11134 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
11135
11136 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
11137 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
11138
11139 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
11140 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
11141 goes after the other menu items.
11142
11143 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
11144 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
11145 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
11146 are in use.
11147
11148 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
11149 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
11150
11151 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
11152 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
11153 form.
11154
11155 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
11156 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
11157 but its hook is still run.
11158
11159 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
11160 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
11161
11162 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
11163 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
11164 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
11165
11166 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
11167 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
11168 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
11169 warned.
11170
11171 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
11172 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
11173
11174 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
11175 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
11176 functions like display-time.
11177
11178 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
11179 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
11180
11181 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
11182 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
11183 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
11184
11185 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
11186 if there is an error in compilation.
11187
11188 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
11189 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
11190 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
11191 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
11192
11193 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
11194 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
11195 the *scratch* buffer.
11196
11197 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
11198 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
11199 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
11200 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
11201
11202 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
11203 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
11204 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
11205
11206 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
11207 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
11208 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
11209 and compose-mail-other-frame.
11210
11211 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
11212 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
11213 full name of the specified user will be returned.
11214
11215 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
11216 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
11217 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
11218 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
11219 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
11220 files at all.
11221
11222 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
11223 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
11224 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
11225 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
11226
11227 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
11228 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
11229 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
11230 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
11231
11232 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
11233
11234 ** imenu.el changes.
11235
11236 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
11237 item from menu created by imenu.
11238
11239 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
11240 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
11241 select one of those items.
11242 \f
11243 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
11244
11245 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
11246 Copyright information:
11247
11248 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
11249
11250 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
11251 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
11252 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
11253 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
11254
11255 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
11256 of this document, or of portions of it,
11257 under the above conditions, provided also that they
11258 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
11259 \f
11260 Local variables:
11261 mode: outline
11262 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
11263 end: