Tweak previous NEWS change
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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that all necessary documentation updates are complete.
19 (This means all relevant manuals in doc/ AND lisp doc-strings.)
20 --- means no change in the manuals is needed.
21 When you add a new item, use the appropriate mark if you are sure it applies,
22 otherwise leave it unmarked.
23
24 \f
25 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
26
27 ---
28 ** Emacs can now be compiled with ACL support.
29 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
30 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
31 configure option `--disable-acl'. See below for related features.
32
33 ---
34 ** Emacs can now be compiled with file notification support.
35 This happens by default if a suitable system library is found at
36 build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
37 `--without-file-notification'. See below for file-notify features.
38 This feature is not available for the Nextstep port.
39
40 ---
41 ** Emacs can now be compiled with zlib support.
42 This happens by default if zlib is present, which it normally is.
43 To prevent this, use the configure option `--without-zlib'.
44 This provides the function `zlib-decompress-region'; see below for details.
45
46 ---
47 ** The configure option `--without-compress-info' has been generalized,
48 and renamed to `--without-compress-install'. It now prevents compression
49 of _any_ files during installation.
50
51 ---
52 ** The configure option `--with-crt-dir' has been removed.
53 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked specially.
54
55 ---
56 ** Directories passed to configure option `--enable-locallisppath' are
57 no longer created during installation.
58
59 ---
60 ** Emacs for NS (Mac OS X, GNUstep) can be built with ImageMagick support.
61 This requires pkg-config to be available at build time.
62
63 \f
64 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
65
66 +++
67 ** When initializing `load-path', an empty element in the EMACSLOADPATH
68 environment variable (either leading, e.g., ":/foo"; trailing, e.g.,
69 "/foo:"; or embedded, e.g., "/foo::/bar") is replaced with the default
70 load-path (the one that would have been used if EMACSLOADPATH was unset).
71 This makes it easier to _extend_ the load-path via EMACSLOADPATH
72 (previously, EMACSLOADPATH had to specify the complete load-path,
73 including the defaults). (In older versions of Emacs, an empty element
74 was replaced by ".", so use an explicit "." now if that is what you want.)
75
76 +++
77 ** The -L option, which normally prepends its argument to load-path,
78 will instead append, if the argument begins with `:' (or `;' on MS Windows;
79 i.e., `path-separator').
80
81 +++
82 ** If you use either site-load.el or site-init.el to customize the dumped
83 Emacs executable, any changes to `load-path' that these files make
84 will no longer be present after dumping. To affect a permanent change
85 to `load-path', use the `--enable-locallisppath' option of `configure'.
86
87 +++
88 ** The user option `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function
89 to set up the initial buffer.
90
91 \f
92 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
93
94 +++
95 ** New function `zlib-decompress-region', which decompresses gzip- and
96 zlib-format compressed data using built-in zlib support, if available.
97
98 +++
99 ** New option `gnutls-verify-error', if non-nil, means that Emacs
100 should reject SSL/TLS certificates that GnuTLS determines as invalid.
101 (This option defaults to nil at present, but this is expected to change
102 in a future release.)
103
104 +++
105 ** Emacs now supports menus on text-mode terminals.
106 If the terminal supports a mouse, clicking on the menu bar, or on
107 sensitive portions of the mode line or header line, will drop down the
108 menu defined at that position. Likewise, clicking C-mouse-2 or
109 C-mouse-2 or C-mouse-3 on the text area will pop up the menus defined
110 for those locations.
111
112 If the text terminal does not support a mouse, you can activate the
113 first menu-bar menu by typing F10, which invokes `menu-bar-open'.
114
115 If you want the previous behavior, whereby F10 invoked `tmm-menubar',
116 customize the option `tty-menu-open-use-tmm' to a non-nil value.
117 (Typing M-` always invokes `tmm-menubar', even if `tty-menu-open-use-tmm'
118 is nil.)
119
120 +++
121 ** The *Messages* buffer is created in `messages-buffer-mode',
122 a new major mode, with read-only status. Any code that might create
123 the *Messages* buffer should call the function `messages-buffer' to do
124 so and set up the mode.
125
126 +++
127 ** Emacs can now support ACLs (access control lists).
128 This requires a suitable support library to be found at build time.
129 On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via libacl.
130 On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the POSIX interface.
131
132 +++
133 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
134 +++
135 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
136 entries of a file.
137
138 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
139
140 +++
141 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
142 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
143 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
144
145 +++
146 *** The functions `display-pixel-width' and `display-pixel-height' now
147 behave consistently among the platforms: they return the pixel width
148 or height for all physical monitors associated with the given display
149 as if they were on X. To get information for each physical
150 monitor, use the new functions above. Similar notes also apply to
151 `x-display-pixel-width', `x-display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
152 `display-mm-height', `x-display-mm-width', and `x-display-mm-height'.
153
154 +++
155 ** The cursor stops blinking after 10 blinks (by default) on X and NS.
156 You can change the default by customizing `blink-cursor-blinks'.
157
158 +++
159 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls forward, S-SPC now scrolls backward.
160 This affects View mode, etc.
161
162 ** The default value of `buffer-stale-function' is no longer nil.
163 Instead it defaults to a function that does what the nil value used to.
164
165 ** Help changes
166
167 +++
168 *** The command `apropos-variable' is renamed to `apropos-user-option'.
169 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
170 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
171 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
172 non-nil, they output the same results.
173
174 +++
175 *** The key `?' now describes prefix bindings, like `C-h'.
176
177 ---
178 *** The command `describe-function' has been extended for EIEIO.
179 Running it on constructors will show a full description of the
180 generated class. For generic functions, it will show all
181 implementations together with links to the source. The old commands
182 `describe-class', `describe-constructor' and `describe-generic' were
183 removed.
184
185 ---
186 *** The function `quail-help' is no longer an interactive command.
187 Use `C-h C-\' (`describe-input-method') instead.
188
189 ** ImageMagick
190
191 +++
192 *** ImageMagick images now support the :max-width and :max-height keywords.
193
194 +++
195 *** When using `create-image' with image data, you can pass a :format
196 attribute (via the property-list argument) in order to help
197 ImageMagick detect the image type. The value should be a MIME
198 content-type that is found in the new variable `image-format-suffixes'.
199
200 ** Frame and window changes
201
202 +++
203 *** The function `window-in-direction' introduced in Emacs 24.1 now
204 takes additional arguments for specifying a reference point, wrapping
205 selection around frame borders, and specifying ways to select the
206 minibuffer window.
207
208 +++
209 *** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
210 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
211
212 +++
213 *** New hooks `focus-in-hook', `focus-out-hook'.
214 These are normal hooks run when an Emacs frame gains or loses input focus.
215
216 +++
217 *** Emacs can now change frame sizes in units of pixels, rather than
218 text rows or columns. When maximizing a frame or making it fullscreen,
219 remaining extra pixels are no longer given to the minibuffer, the rightmost
220 fringe, or other unusable space, but are distributed among the text
221 areas of the frame's windows. If the new option `frame-resize-pixelwise'
222 is non-nil, all frame size changes happen pixelwise and set the
223 corresponding size hints for the window manager.
224
225 +++
226 *** Emacs can now change window sizes in units of pixels.
227 Mouse-dragging a mode line or window divider now changes the size of
228 adjacent windows pixelwise. If the new option `window-resize-pixelwise'
229 is non-nil, functions like `balance-windows-area' and `fit-window-to-buffer'
230 resize windows pixelwise. Most functions for changing or accessing
231 window sizes now have an additional argument that allows changes to apply,
232 or values to be returned, in pixels instead of lines/columns.
233
234 +++
235 *** The functions `window-body-height' and `window-body-width' now never
236 count partially visible lines or columns if called with a nil PIXELWISE
237 argument.
238
239 +++
240 *** Emacs can now draw dividers between adjacent windows. To put
241 dividers between side-by-side/vertically stacked windows customize the
242 frame parameters `right-divider-width' and `bottom-divider-width' to
243 some positive integer. You can drag dividers with the mouse (they show
244 a corresponding cursor when the mouse hovers over them). You can change
245 the appearance of dividers by customizing the faces `window-divider',
246 `window-divider-first-pixel', and `window-divider-last-pixel'. The last
247 two are useful to provide a 3D effect, or to better distinguish dividers
248 from surrounding display objects.
249
250 +++
251 *** New functions are provided to return the pixel sizes of window
252 components, namely `window-scroll-bar-width', `window-mode-line-height'
253 `window-header-line-height', `window-right-divider-width' and
254 `window-bottom-divider-width'.
255
256 +++
257 *** The new function `window-text-pixel-size' returns the size of the
258 text of a window's buffer in pixels. This allows functions like
259 `fit-frame-to-buffer' and `fit-window-to-buffer' to accurately fit a
260 window to its buffer as it will be displayed.
261
262 +++
263 *** `fit-window-to-buffer' can now resize windows in both dimensions.
264 This behavior is controlled by the new option
265 `fit-window-to-buffer-horizontally'. The new option
266 `fit-frame-to-buffer' allows to fit the window's frame to its buffer.
267
268 +++
269 *** `fit-frame-to-buffer' now fits frames in both dimensions. The new
270 options `fit-frame-to-buffer-margins' and `fit-frame-to-buffer-sizes'
271 control the size of the frame and its position on screen.
272
273 ---
274 *** Temp Buffer Resize Mode can now adjust height and width of windows
275 and frames. `temp-buffer-resize-mode' is now able to adjust the height
276 and the width of a window displaying a temporary buffer. The new option
277 `temp-buffer-max-width' allows to control the width of temporary buffer
278 windows. Moreover, if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil
279 and the buffer appears in the root window of a frame, Temp Buffer Resize
280 Mode will try to adjust width and/or height of the frame.
281
282 ---
283 *** `split-window' is now a non-interactive function, not a command.
284 As a command, it was a special case of `C-x 2' (`split-window-below'),
285 and as such superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its
286 interactive form was mistakenly retained.
287
288 +++
289 *** The functions `window-size' and `window-total-size' now have an
290 optional argument to return a rounded size value.
291
292 +++
293 *** `window-state-put' now allows to put a window state into internal
294 windows too.
295
296 +++
297 *** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
298 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
299 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
300 of the buffer is visible).
301
302 +++
303 *** New basic action function `display-buffer-in-previous-window' has
304 `display-buffer' display a buffer in a window previously showing that
305 buffer.
306
307 +++
308 *** New basic action function `display-buffer-at-bottom' has
309 `display-buffer' choose or make a window at the bottom of the selected
310 frame.
311
312 +++
313 *** New display action function `display-buffer-no-window' to not
314 display the buffer in a window.
315
316 +++
317 *** New display action alist entry `allow-no-window' to indicate the
318 caller of `display-buffer' is ready to handle the case of not
319 displaying the buffer in a window.
320
321 ** Lisp evaluation changes
322 +++
323 *** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
324 if there is one.
325
326 +++
327 *** The commands `eval-expression' (`M-:'), `eval-last-sexp' (`C-x C-e'),
328 and `eval-print-last-sexp' (`C-j' in Lisp Interaction mode) can take a
329 zero prefix argument. This disables truncation of lists in the output,
330 equivalent to setting `(eval-expression-)print-length' and
331 `(eval-expression-)print-level' to nil. Additionally, it causes integers
332 to be printed in other formats (octal, hexadecimal, and character).
333
334 ---
335 *** New hook `eval-expression-minibuffer-setup-hook' run by
336 `eval-expression' on entering the minibuffer.
337
338 ---
339 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
340
341 +++
342 ** `cache-long-line-scans' is now non-nil, and renamed to `cache-long-scans',
343 because it affects caching of paragraph scanning results as well.
344 There is no reason to set this to nil except for debugging purposes.
345
346 ---
347 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
348 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
349 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
350
351 ---
352 ** The default value of `comment-use-global-state' is now t,
353 and this variable has been marked obsolete.
354
355 ---
356 ** `emacs-bzr-version' has been renamed to `emacs-repository-version',
357 and works for git too, if you fetch the repository notes.
358
359 +++
360 ** New option `load-prefer-newer' affects how the `load' function chooses
361 the file to load. If this is non-nil, then when both .el and .elc
362 versions of a file exist, and the caller did not explicitly specify
363 which one to load, then the newer file is loaded. The default, nil,
364 means to always load the .elc file.
365
366 \f
367 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
368
369 ** Indentation changes
370
371 +++
372 *** `electric-indent-mode' is now enabled by default.
373 Typing RET reindents the current line and indents the new line.
374 `C-j' inserts a newline but does not indent. In some programming modes,
375 additional characters are electric (eg `{').
376
377 +++
378 *** New buffer-local `electric-indent-local-mode'.
379
380 +++
381 *** The behavior of `C-x TAB' (`indent-rigidly') has changed.
382 When invoked without a prefix argument, it now activates a transient
383 mode in which typing <left>, <right>, <S-left>, and <S-right> adjusts
384 the text indentation in the region. Typing any other key resumes
385 normal editing behavior.
386
387 +++
388 *** `tab-stop-list' is now implicitly extended to infinity by repeating
389 the last step. Its default value is changed to nil, which means a tab
390 stop every `tab-width' columns.
391
392 +++
393 ** New command `cycle-spacing' acts like a smarter `just-one-space'.
394 When called in succession, it cycles between spacing conventions:
395 one space, no spaces, original spacing.
396
397 +++
398 ** The new function `fill-single-char-nobreak-p' can stop fill from breaking
399 a line after a one-letter word, which is an error in some typographical
400 conventions. To use it, add it to the `fill-nobreak-predicate' hook.
401
402 +++
403 ** Uniquify is enabled by default, with `post-forward-angle-brackets' style.
404
405 +++
406 ** New command `C-x SPC' (`rectangle-mark-mode') makes a rectangular region.
407 Most commands are still unaware of it, but kill/yank do work on the rectangle.
408
409 +++
410 ** New option `visual-order-cursor-movement'.
411 If this is non-nil, cursor motion with arrow keys will follow the
412 visual order of characters on the screen: <left> always moves to the
413 left, <right> always moves to the right, disregarding the surrounding
414 bidirectional context.
415
416 ** Register changes
417
418 +++
419 *** All interactive commands that read a register (`copy-to-register', etc.)
420 now display a temporary window after `register-preview-delay' seconds
421 that summarizes existing registers. To disable this, set that option to nil.
422 Interactive commands that read registers and want to make use of this
423 should use `register-read-with-preview' to read register names.
424
425 +++
426 *** New command `frameset-to-register' bound to `C-x r f', replacing
427 `frame-configuration-to-register'. It offers similar functionality,
428 plus enhancements like the ability to restore deleted frames.
429 (`frame-configuration-to-register' still exists, but no longer has a
430 key binding.)
431
432 +++
433 *** New command `C-x C-k x' (`kmacro-to-register') stores keyboard
434 macros in registers.
435
436 +++
437 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines'.
438 This searches the region for identical lines, and removes all but one
439 copy of each repeated line. The lines need not be sorted.
440
441 +++
442 ** `blink-matching-paren' now only highlights the matching open-paren
443 by default, instead of moving cursor. Set this variable to `jump' to
444 enable the old behavior.
445
446 \f
447 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
448
449 +++
450 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
451 Affected files:
452 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
453 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
454 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
455 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
456 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
457 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
458 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave/ replaces ~/.idlwave/
459 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
460 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
461 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
462 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
463 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
464 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
465 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
466 Also the following files used by the now obsolete otodo-mode.el:
467 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
468 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
469 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
470
471 ** Backtrace and debugger
472
473 +++
474 *** New Lisp debugger command `v' (`debugger-toggle-locals') toggles the
475 display of local variables of the current stack frame.
476
477 +++
478 *** The Lisp debugger's `e' command (`debugger-eval-expression') now includes
479 the lexical environment when evaluating the code in the context at point
480 (and so allows you to access lexical variables).
481
482 ---
483 *** New minor mode `jit-lock-debug-mode' helps you debug code run via JIT Lock.
484
485 ---
486 ** Battery information can now be retrieved from BSD's `apm' utility.
487
488 ---
489 ** In the Buffer Menu, `M-s a C-o' shows matches for a regexp in marked buffers.
490
491 ** Calendar and Diary
492
493 ---
494 *** New faces `calendar-weekday-header', `calendar-weekend-header',
495 and `calendar-month-header'.
496
497 +++
498 *** New option `calendar-day-header-array'.
499
500 +++
501 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
502 `diary-from-outlook'.
503
504 ---
505 *** The variable `calendar-font-lock-keywords' is obsolete.
506
507 ** Calc
508
509 +++
510 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
511 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
512 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
513 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
514 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
515
516 +++
517 *** The new option `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure if
518 (and when) Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
519
520 +++
521 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
522
523 ** CEDET
524
525 *** EDE
526
527 +++
528 **** The cpp-root project now supports executing a compile command.
529 It can be set through the new :compile-command slot or the
530 buffer-local variable `compile-command'.
531
532 +++
533 **** Better selection of include directories for the 'linux' project.
534 Include directories now support out-of-tree build directories and
535 target architecture auto-detection.
536
537 ---
538 *** Semantic
539
540 **** Improved detection of used namespaces in current scope in C++.
541
542 **** Parsing of default values for variables and function arguments in C/C++.
543 They are also displayed by the summarize feature in the mode line.
544
545 **** Improved parsing of function pointers in C/C++.
546 This also includes parsing of function pointers as function arguments.
547
548 **** Parsing of C/C++ preprocessor macros that open new scope.
549 For example, this enables parsing of macros that open new namespaces.
550
551 **** Support for 'this' pointer in inline member functions in C++.
552
553 ** cl-lib
554
555 +++
556 *** New macro `cl-tagbody'.
557 This executes statements while allowing for control transfer to labels.
558
559 +++
560 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
561
562 ** CUA mode
563
564 +++
565 *** CUA mode now uses `delete-selection-mode' and `shift-select-mode'.
566 Hence, you can now enable it independently from those modes, and from
567 `transient-mark-mode'.
568
569 ---
570 *** `cua-highlight-region-shift-only' is now obsolete.
571 You can disable `transient-mark-mode' to get the same result.
572
573 +++
574 *** CUA's rectangles can now be used without CUA by calling the command
575 `cua-rectangle-mark-mode'.
576
577 ** CFEngine mode
578
579 ---
580 *** Support for completion, ElDoc, and Flycheck has been added.
581
582 ---
583 *** The current CFEngine syntax is parsed from "cf-promises -s json".
584 There is a fallback syntax available if you don't have cf-promises or
585 if your version doesn't support that option. See option `cfengine-cf-promises'.
586
587 ---
588 ** Delete Selection mode can now be used without Transient Mark mode.
589
590 ** Desktop
591
592 +++
593 *** `desktop-save-mode' by default now auto-saves an existing desktop file
594 after `desktop-auto-save-timeout'. To disable this, customize that option
595 to nil (or zero).
596
597 +++
598 *** Desktop now saves and restores the frame/window configuration.
599 To disable this, set `desktop-restore-frames' to nil.
600 See also related options `desktop-restore-reuses-frames',
601 `desktop-restore-in-current-display', and `desktop-restore-forces-onscreen'.
602
603 +++
604 ** New Dired minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' toggles whether details,
605 such as file ownership or permissions, are visible.
606
607 ---
608 ** You can enable ElDoc inside the `eval-expression' minibuffer with:
609 (add-hook 'eval-expression-minibuffer-setup-hook 'eldoc-mode)
610 The results display in the mode line.
611
612 ** Electric Pair mode
613
614 +++
615 *** New option `electric-pair-preserve-balance', enabled by default.
616 If non-nil, pairing/skipping only kicks in when that help the balance
617 of parentheses and quotes, i.e. the buffer should end up at least as
618 balanced as before.
619
620 You can further control this behavior by adjusting the predicates
621 stored in `electric-pair-inhibit-predicate' and `electric-pair-skip-self'.
622
623 +++
624 *** New option `electric-pair-delete-adjacent-pairs', enabled by default.
625 In `electric-pair-mode', the commands `backward-delete-char' and
626 `backward-delete-char-untabify' are now bound to electric variants
627 that delete the closer when invoked between adjacent pairs.
628
629 +++
630 *** New option `electric-pair-open-newline-between-pairs', enabled by default.
631 In `electric-pair-mode', inserting a newline between adjacent pairs
632 opens an extra newline after point, which is indented if
633 `electric-indent-mode' is also set.
634
635 +++
636 *** New option `electric-pair-skip-whitespace', enabled by default.
637 This controls if skipping over closing delimiters should jump over any
638 whitespace slack. Setting it to `chomp' makes it delete this
639 whitespace. See also the variable `electric-pair-skip-whitespace-chars'.
640
641 ---
642 *** New variables control the pairing in strings and comments.
643 You can customize `electric-pair-text-pairs' and
644 `electric-pair-text-syntax-table' to tweak pairing behavior inside
645 strings and comments.
646
647 +++
648 ** New EPA option `epa-mail-aliases'.
649 You can set this to a list of email address aliases that `epa-mail-encrypt'
650 should use to find keys.
651
652 ---
653 ** New ERC option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
654 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally pasting large
655 amounts of data into the ERC input.
656
657 +++
658 ** New ERT macro `skip-unless' allows skipping ERT tests.
659 See the ERT manual for details.
660
661 ** Eshell
662
663 +++
664 *** `eshell' now supports visual subcommands and options.
665 Eshell has been able to handle "visual" commands (interactive,
666 non-line oriented commands such as top that require display
667 capabilities not provided by eshell) by running them in an Emacs
668 terminal emulator. See `eshell-visual-commands'.
669
670 This feature has been extended to subcommands and options that make a
671 usually line-oriented command a visual command. Typical examples are
672 "git log" and "git <command> --help", which display their output in a
673 pager by default. See `eshell-visual-subcommands' and
674 `eshell-visual-options'.
675
676 ---
677 *** New Eshell-Tramp module.
678 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
679 Tramp-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
680 module.
681
682 ---
683 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
684
685 ** Icomplete
686 Icomplete is now more similar to Ido.
687
688 ---
689 *** Icomplete by default now applies to all forms of minibuffer completion.
690 The variable `icomplete-with-completion-tables' (now a user option)
691 controls this. To restore the old behavior, set it back to
692 '(internal-complete-buffer).
693
694 +++
695 *** You can navigate through and select completions using the keys
696 from `icomplete-minibuffer-map'.
697
698 ---
699 *** The string that separates potential completions is now a customizable
700 option (`icomplete-separator'). The default is " | " rather than ",".
701
702 ---
703 *** New face `icomplete-first-match'; and new options
704 `icomplete-hide-common-prefix' and `icomplete-show-matches-on-no-input'.
705
706 ---
707 *** The option `icomplete-show-key-bindings' has been removed.
708
709 ** Ido
710
711 +++
712 *** An Ido user manual is now included.
713
714 ---
715 *** The option `ido-use-virtual-buffers' can now take the value `auto'.
716 This means to use virtual buffers if the current ido input does not match
717 an existing buffer.
718
719 ---
720 *** The variable `ido-decorations' can optionally have two new elements,
721 which are the brackets to use around the sole remaining completion.
722
723 ** Image mode
724
725 +++
726 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
727 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
728 directory, respectively.
729
730 +++
731 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
732 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
733 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
734
735 +++
736 *** New commands to speed up, slow down, or reverse animation.
737 `a +' (`image-increase-speed') and `a -' (`image-decrease-speed') to
738 speed up and slow down the animation. `a r' (`image-reverse-speed')
739 to reverse it and `a 0' (`image-reset-speed') to reset it.
740
741 ---
742 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
743 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
744 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
745 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
746
747 ** Hi-Lock
748
749 +++
750 *** New global command `M-s h .' (`highlight-symbol-at-point') highlights
751 the symbol found near point.
752
753 +++
754 *** New option `hi-lock-auto-select-face'. When non-nil, hi-lock commands
755 will cycle through faces in `hi-lock-face-defaults' without prompting.
756
757 ---
758 ** New Imenu option `imenu-generic-skip-comments-and-strings'.
759
760 ** Info
761
762 ---
763 *** New Info face `info-index-match', used to highlight matches in index
764 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
765 `info-apropos'.
766
767 ---
768 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
769 has not been relevant for some time.
770
771 ** JS Mode
772
773 ---
774 *** New option `js-switch-indent-offset'.
775
776 ---
777 *** Better indentation of multiple-variable declarations.
778 If a declaration spans several lines, variables on the following lines
779 are lined up to the first one.
780
781 ---
782 *** Recognition and better indentation of continuations in array comprehensions.
783
784 +++
785 ** MH-E has been updated to version 8.5 - see separate MH-E-NEWS file.
786
787 +++
788 ** Octave mode
789
790 *** Font locking for Texinfo comments and new keywords.
791
792 *** Completion in Octave file buffers.
793
794 *** ElDoc support.
795
796 *** Jump to definition.
797
798 *** Documentation lookup/search.
799
800 +++
801 ** OPascal mode is the new name for Delphi mode
802
803 ---
804 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
805 Obsolete aliases exist for those likely to have been used externally.
806
807 ---
808 *** The option `delphi-newline-always-indents' has been removed.
809 Use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
810
811 ---
812 *** The TAB key runs the standard `indent-for-tab-command', not `delphi-tab'.
813
814 ** Package
815
816 +++
817 *** In the `list-packages' buffer, you can use `f' (`package-menu-filter')
818 to filter the list of packages by a keyword.
819
820 +++
821 *** In the `describe-package' buffer, there are now buttons listing the
822 keywords related to the package. Click on a button to see other packages
823 related to that keyword.
824
825 ---
826 *** The format of `archive-contents' files, generated by package
827 repositories, has changed to allow a new (fifth) element in the data
828 vectors, containing an associative list with extra properties.
829 (For example, `describe-package' uses the `:url' extra property to
830 display a "Homepage" header.)
831
832 ---
833 ** In Prolog mode, `prolog-use-smie' has been removed,
834 along with the non-SMIE indentation code.
835
836 ** Remember
837
838 +++
839 *** The new command `remember-notes' creates a buffer that is saved on exit.
840 You can use it as a more permanent *scratch* buffer.
841
842 +++
843 *** Remember can now store notes in separate files.
844 To use this, add `remember-store-in-files' to the `remember-handler-functions'
845 option. The files are saved in `remember-data-directory' using
846 names specified by `remember-directory-file-name-format'.
847
848 ** Rmail
849
850 +++
851 *** Customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects of
852 how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
853
854 ---
855 *** The `unrmail' command now converts from BABYL to mboxrd format,
856 rather than mboxo. Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
857
858 ** Ruby mode
859
860 ---
861 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
862
863 ---
864 *** New `electric-indent-mode' integration.
865
866 ---
867 *** New option `ruby-encoding-magic-comment-style'.
868
869 ---
870 *** New option `ruby-custom-encoding-magic-comment-template'.
871
872 ---
873 *** New option `ruby-align-to-stmt-keywords'.
874
875 ---
876 *** New option `ruby-align-chained-calls'.
877
878 ---
879 *** More Ruby file types have been added to `auto-mode-alist'.
880
881 ** Search and Replace
882
883 +++
884 *** New global command `M-s .' (`isearch-forward-symbol-at-point')
885 starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search forward with the
886 symbol found near point added to the search string initially.
887
888 +++
889 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
890 and adds it to the search string.
891
892 +++
893 *** `M-s i' in Isearch mode toggles whether search matches invisible text.
894
895 +++
896 *** `query-replace' skips invisible text when `search-invisible' is nil,
897 and opens overlays with hidden text when `search-invisible' is `open'.
898
899 +++
900 *** A negative prefix arg of replacement commands replaces backward.
901 `M-- M-%' replaces a string backward, `M-- C-M-%' replaces a regexp
902 backward, `M-s w words M-- M-%' replaces a sequence of words backward.
903
904 +++
905 *** By default, prefix arguments do not now terminate Isearch mode.
906 Set `isearch-allow-prefix' to nil to restore old behavior.
907
908 +++
909 *** More Isearch commands accept prefix arguments, namely
910 `isearch-printing-char', `isearch-quote-char', `isearch-yank-word',
911 `isearch-yank-line'.
912
913 +++
914 *** Word search now matches whitespace at the beginning/end
915 of the search string if it contains leading/trailing whitespace.
916 In an incremental word search or when using a non-nil LAX argument
917 of `word-search-regexp', the lax matching can also match part of
918 the first word (in addition to the lax matching of the last word).
919 The same rules are now applied to the symbol search with the difference
920 that it matches symbols, and non-symbol characters between symbols.
921
922 +++
923 ** New SES command `ses-rename-cell' allows assignment of names to SES cells.
924
925 ---
926 ** The shell.el option `explicit-bash-args' includes --noediting by default.
927 All non-ancient Bash versions support this option.
928
929 ** Shell Script mode
930
931 ---
932 *** The SMIE indentation engine is now used by default - see `sh-use-smie'.
933
934 ---
935 *** `sh-mode' now has its own setting for `add-log-current-defun-function'.
936
937 ** SMIE
938
939 +++
940 *** You can customize the SMIE indentation of a mode via `smie-config'.
941 The command `smie-config-guess' can help you derive the appropriate
942 indentation settings, if you provide it with an indented sample file.
943 Use `smie-config-save' to save the result.
944
945 +++
946 *** You can customize the SMIE indentation of a file by adding an entry to
947 the file's local variables of the form: `eval: (smie-config-local '(RULES))'.
948
949 +++
950 *** New commands `smie-config-show-indent' and `smie-config-set-indent'.
951
952 ---
953 ** SQL mode
954
955 *** Improved login monitoring and appropriate response to login failures.
956 New variable `sql-login-delay' defines maximum wait time for a connection.
957
958 *** Oracle support.
959 SQL*Plus script placeholders are properly highlighted and identified
960 in `sql-placeholders-filter'. When starting SQL*Plus, `sql-oracle-options'
961 are passed before the logon parameter, as required. The default now
962 includes `-L', to limit the number of logon attempts per invocation.
963
964 ---
965 ** New Term mode option `term-suppress-hard-newline'.
966
967 +++
968 ** Todo mode has been rewritten and enhanced.
969 The Todo mode user manual describes all commands and most user
970 options. To support some of these features, a new file format is
971 used, which is incompatible with the old format; however, you can
972 convert old todo and done item files to the new format on initializing
973 the first new todo file, or at any later time with the provided
974 conversion command. The previous version of todo-mode.el has been
975 renamed to otodo-mode.el and is now obsolete. New features include:
976
977 *** Support for multiple todo files and archive files of done items.
978
979 *** Renaming, reordering, moving, merging, and deleting categories.
980
981 *** Sortable tabular summaries of categories and the item types they contain.
982
983 *** Cross-category lists of items filtered by specific criteria.
984
985 *** More fine-grained interaction with the Emacs diary, by being able to
986 decide for each todo item whether it appears in the Fancy Diary display.
987
988 *** Highly flexible new item insertion and item editing.
989
990 *** Moving items between categories, storing done items in their category
991 or in archive files, undoing or unarchiving done items.
992
993 *** Reprioritizing items by inputting a numerical priority.
994
995 *** Extensive customizability of operation and display, including many faces.
996
997 ** Trace
998
999 ---
1000 *** `trace-function' and `trace-function-background' no longer prompt for
1001 the output buffer. Unless you use a prefix argument, they output to
1002 `trace-buffer'.
1003
1004 ---
1005 *** With a prefix argument, `trace-function' and `trace-function-background'
1006 will prompt for a "context". This is a Lisp expression, whose value at the
1007 time the function is entered/exited is printed along with the function's
1008 name and arguments.
1009
1010 ** Tramp
1011
1012 +++
1013 *** The experimental url syntax for remote file names has been removed.
1014
1015 +++
1016 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
1017 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
1018 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
1019
1020 +++
1021 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
1022 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
1023 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
1024 when possible. See `tramp-use-ssh-controlmaster-options'.
1025
1026 +++
1027 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
1028 which support POSIX ACLs.
1029
1030 +++
1031 *** Handlers for `file-notify-add-watch' and `file-notify-rm-watch'
1032 for remote machines which support filesystem notifications.
1033
1034 +++
1035 ** New URL command `url-cookie-list' displays the current cookies,
1036 and allows you to interactively remove cookies.
1037
1038 ** VC and related modes
1039
1040 +++
1041 *** In VC directory mode, `D' displays diffs between VC-controlled
1042 whole tree revisions.
1043
1044 +++
1045 *** In VC directory mode, `L' lists the change log for the current VC
1046 controlled tree in a window.
1047
1048 +++
1049 *** In VC directory mode, `I' shows a log of changes that will be
1050 received with a pull operation.
1051
1052 +++
1053 *** `C-x v G' (globally) and `G' (in VC directory mode) ignores a file
1054 under current version control system. When called with a prefix
1055 argument, you can remove a file from the ignored file list.
1056
1057 ** VHDL mode
1058
1059 ---
1060 *** New options: `vhdl-actual-generic-name', `vhdl-beautify-options'.
1061
1062 ---
1063 *** New commands: `vhdl-fix-statement-region', `vhdl-fix-statement-buffer'.
1064
1065 ---
1066 ** The Woman commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
1067 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-*' faces instead.
1068
1069 ** Obsolete packages
1070
1071 +++
1072 *** iswitchb.el; use icomplete-mode.
1073
1074 ---
1075 *** longlines.el; use visual-line-mode.
1076
1077 ---
1078 *** meese.el.
1079
1080 +++
1081 *** sup-mouse.el.
1082
1083 ---
1084 *** terminal.el; use term.el instead.
1085
1086 ---
1087 *** the old version of todo-mode.el (renamed to otodo-mode.el).
1088
1089 ---
1090 *** xesam.el (owing to the cancellation of the XESAM project).
1091
1092 +++
1093 *** yow.el; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
1094
1095 \f
1096 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
1097
1098 +++
1099 ** New package `eww' is a built-in web browser.
1100 It is only available if Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support.
1101
1102 +++
1103 ** New minor mode `superword-mode'.
1104 This overrides the default word motion commands to treat "symbol_words"
1105 as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does.
1106
1107 +++
1108 ** New package nadvice.el offers lighter-weight advice facilities.
1109 It is layered as:
1110
1111 *** add-function/remove-function, which can be used to add/remove code on any
1112 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
1113
1114 *** advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named
1115 function, much like `defadvice' does.
1116
1117 ** New package frameset.el.
1118 It provides a set of operations to save a frameset (the state of all
1119 or a subset of the existing frames and windows, somewhat similar to a
1120 frame configuration), both in-session and persistently, and restore it
1121 at some point in the future.
1122
1123 +++
1124 ** New package filenotify.el provides an interface for file system
1125 notifications. It requires that Emacs be compiled with one of the
1126 low-level libraries gfilenotify.c, inotify.c or w32notify.c.
1127
1128 \f
1129 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
1130
1131 ---
1132 ** `kill-region' has lost its `yank-handler' optional argument.
1133
1134 +++
1135 ** `(input-pending-p)' no longer runs other timers that are ready to run.
1136 The new optional CHECK-TIMERS parameter allows for the prior behavior.
1137
1138 +++
1139 ** `defvar' and `defcustom' in a let-binding affect the "external" default.
1140
1141 ---
1142 ** The syntax of ?» and ?« is now punctuation instead of matched parens.
1143 Some languages match those as »...«, and others as «...», so it is
1144 better for Emacs to stay neutral by default.
1145
1146 ---
1147 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
1148
1149 +++
1150 ** The default file coding for Emacs Lisp files is now utf-8.
1151 (See `file-coding-system-alist'.) In most cases, this change is
1152 transparent, but files that contain unusual characters without
1153 specifying an explicit coding system may fail to load with obscure
1154 errors. You should either convert them to utf-8 or add an explicit
1155 `coding:' cookie.
1156
1157 +++
1158 ** `overriding-terminal-local-map' no longer replaces the local keymaps.
1159 It used to disable the minor mode, major mode, and text-property keymaps,
1160 whereas now it simply has higher precedence.
1161
1162 +++
1163 ** Default process filters and sentinels are not nil any more.
1164 Instead they default to a function that does what the nil value used to do.
1165
1166 +++
1167 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
1168 As was the case in Emacs 22 and before, the decoding of terminal
1169 input, according to `keyboard-coding-system', is not performed in
1170 `read-event' any more. But unlike in Emacs 22, this decoding is still
1171 done before input-decode-map, function-key-map, etc.
1172
1173 ---
1174 ** The option `inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus' has been removed.
1175
1176 ---
1177 ** Frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
1178 More specifically, redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
1179 value when looking up variables.
1180
1181 +++
1182 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in `symbol-function'.
1183 `symbol-function' does not signal a `void-function' error any more.
1184 To determine if a symbol's function definition is void, use `fboundp'.
1185
1186 +++
1187 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
1188 special-forms any more.
1189
1190 ---
1191 ** `dolist' no longer binds VAR while evaluating the RESULT form,
1192 when lexical binding is enabled. Previously, VAR was bound to nil,
1193 which often led to spurious unused-variable warnings.
1194
1195 +++
1196 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1197 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
1198 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
1199 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
1200 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
1201
1202 +++
1203 ** By default `copy-file' no longer copies file permission bits to an
1204 existing destination; and it sets the file permission bits of a newly
1205 created destination to those of the source, masked by the default file
1206 permissions. To copy the file permission bits, pass t as the
1207 PRESERVE-PERMISSIONS argument of `copy-file'.
1208
1209 +++
1210 ** `visited-file-modtime' now returns -1 for nonexistent files.
1211 Formerly it returned a list (-1 LOW USEC PSEC), but this was ambiguous
1212 in the presence of files with negative time stamps.
1213
1214 +++
1215 ** The cars of the elements in `interpreter-mode-alist' are now
1216 treated as regexps rather than literal strings.
1217
1218 \f
1219 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
1220
1221 +++
1222 ** The second argument of `eval' can now specify a lexical environment.
1223
1224 +++
1225 ** New functions `special-form-p' and `macrop'.
1226
1227 +++
1228 ** New macro `define-alternatives' can be used to define generic commands.
1229 Generic commands are interactive functions whose implementation can be
1230 selected among several alternatives, as a matter of user preference.
1231
1232 +++
1233 ** If you give a symbol a `defalias-fset-function' property, `defalias'
1234 on that symbol will use the associated value as a function to call
1235 in place of `fset'.
1236
1237 +++
1238 ** New variable `enable-dir-local-variables'.
1239 Directory-local variables are ignored if this is nil. This may be
1240 useful for modes that want to ignore directory-locals while still
1241 respecting file-local variables.
1242
1243 +++
1244 ** New function `get-pos-property'.
1245
1246 +++
1247 ** `read-regexp' now uses the new variable `read-regexp-defaults-function'
1248 as a function to call to provide default values.
1249
1250 ** Completion changes
1251
1252 ---
1253 *** The separator used by `completing-read-multiple' is now a regexp.
1254 The default `crm-separator' has been changed to allow surrounding spaces
1255 around the comma.
1256
1257 +++
1258 *** The `common-substring' argument of `display-completion-list',
1259 which has been documented as obsolete since Emacs 23.1, is now _really_
1260 obsolete, and no longer advertised. Instead either call
1261 `completion-hilit-commonality' to add the highlighting; or use
1262 `completion-all-completions', which returns highlighted strings.
1263
1264 +++
1265 *** New function `completion-table-with-cache' is a wrapper for
1266 `completion-table-dynamic' that caches the result of the last lookup.
1267
1268 +++
1269 *** New function `completion-table-merge' to combine several
1270 completion tables by merging their completions.
1271
1272 +++
1273 ** New minor modes `prettify-symbols-mode' and `global-prettify-symbols-mode'
1274 display specified symbols as composed characters. E.g., in Emacs Lisp mode,
1275 this replaces the string "lambda" with the Greek lambda character.
1276
1277 ** Terminal changes
1278
1279 +++
1280 *** Functions to pop up menus and dialogs now work on all terminals,
1281 including TTYs. This includes `x-popup-menu', `x-popup-dialog',
1282 `message-box', `yes-or-no-p', etc.
1283
1284 The function `display-popup-menus-p' will now return non-nil for a
1285 display or frame whenever a mouse is supported on that display or
1286 frame.
1287
1288 +++
1289 *** New hook `tty-setup-hook', run at the end of initializing a text terminal.
1290
1291 +++
1292 *** The hook `term-setup-hook' is obsolete. It is entirely equivalent
1293 to `emacs-startup-hook'. See also the new `tty-setup-hook'.
1294
1295 +++
1296 ** New hook `pre-redisplay-function'.
1297
1298 +++
1299 ** New bool-vector set operation functions
1300 *** `bool-vector-exclusive-or'
1301 *** `bool-vector-union'
1302 *** `bool-vector-intersection'
1303 *** `bool-vector-set-difference'
1304 *** `bool-vector-not'
1305 *** `bool-vector-subsetp'
1306 *** `bool-vector-count-consecutive'
1307 *** `bool-vector-count-population'
1308
1309 +++
1310 ** Comparison functions =, <, >, <=, >= can now take many arguments.
1311
1312 ** Error-handling changes
1313
1314 +++
1315 *** New function `define-error'.
1316
1317 +++
1318 *** `with-demoted-errors' takes an additional argument `format'.
1319
1320 +++
1321 ** New macro `with-eval-after-load'.
1322 This is like the old `eval-after-load', but better behaved.
1323
1324 ---
1325 ** New library subr-x.el with miscellaneous small utility functions
1326 *** `hash-table-keys'
1327 *** `hash-table-values'
1328 *** `string-blank-p'
1329 *** `string-empty-p'
1330 *** `string-join'
1331 *** `string-reverse'
1332 *** `string-trim-left'
1333 *** `string-trim-right'
1334 *** `string-trim'
1335 *** `string-remove-prefix'
1336 *** `string-remove-suffix'
1337
1338 +++
1339 ** Obsoleted functions
1340 *** `log10'
1341 *** `dont-compile'
1342 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
1343 *** `field-complete'
1344 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
1345 *** `isearch-nonincremental-exit-minibuffer'
1346 *** `isearch-filter-visible'
1347 *** `generic-make-keywords-list'
1348 *** `get-upcase-table' (use `case-table-get-table' instead).
1349
1350 +++
1351 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
1352 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
1353 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
1354 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
1355 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
1356
1357 +++
1358 ** `byte-compile-interactive-only-functions' is now obsolete.
1359 To specify that a command should only be called interactively, give it
1360 a non-nil `interactive-only' property.
1361
1362 +++
1363 ** `split-string' now takes an optional argument TRIM.
1364 The value, if non-nil, is a regexp that specifies what to trim from
1365 the start and end of each substring.
1366
1367 +++
1368 ** New function `string-suffix-p'.
1369
1370 ** File-handling changes
1371
1372 +++
1373 *** Support for filesystem notifications.
1374 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
1375 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
1376 `glib' API, or the 'inotify' API (on GNU/Linux systems only). On
1377 MS-Windows systems, this is supported for Windows XP and newer
1378 versions.
1379
1380 +++
1381 *** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
1382 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
1383 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
1384 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
1385
1386 +++
1387 *** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
1388 PRESERVE-PERMISSIONS as it now handles ACL entries and the traditional
1389 Unix file permission bits as well as SELinux context.
1390
1391 +++
1392 *** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
1393 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
1394 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
1395
1396 ---
1397 *** The function `set-visited-file-modtime' now accepts a 0 or -1
1398 argument, with the same interpretation as the returned value of
1399 `visited-file-modtime'.
1400
1401 ** Revert and Autorevert changes
1402
1403 *** The default values of `buffer-stale-function', `revert-buffer-function',
1404 and `revert-buffer-insert-file-contents-function' are no longer nil.
1405 Instead they default to functions that do what the nil value used to.
1406
1407 ---
1408 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, it uses notifications
1409 instead of checking file time stamps. To disable this, set the user option
1410 `auto-revert-use-notify' to nil. Alternatively, you can specify a regular
1411 expression matching directories to be excluded from file notifications via
1412 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
1413
1414 ---
1415 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
1416 of remote files, if set to non-nil.
1417
1418 ** Face changes
1419
1420 +++
1421 *** The function `face-spec-set' is now like `setq' for face specs.
1422 Its third arg now accepts values specifying a face spec type (defface,
1423 custom, or override spec), and the relevant spec is set accordingly.
1424
1425 +++
1426 *** New function `add-face-text-property', which can be used to
1427 conveniently prepend/append new face properties.
1428
1429 ---
1430 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
1431 rather than inheriting from it. In other words, setting a face via a
1432 theme now behaves like setting it via Customize: you only need to
1433 specify the attributes that you want, you don't need to unset those
1434 that you don't want.
1435
1436 ---
1437 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
1438 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
1439
1440 +++
1441 *** New face spec attribute :distant-foreground
1442 specifies foreground to use if background color is near the foreground
1443 color that would otherwise have been used.
1444
1445 ** Image API
1446
1447 +++
1448 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
1449 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
1450 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
1451
1452 +++
1453 *** New variable `image-default-frame-delay' gives the frame delay for
1454 animated images which do not specify a frame delay.
1455
1456 +++
1457 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
1458 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
1459
1460 ** EIEIO
1461
1462 +++
1463 *** Namespace cleanup by obsolete-aliasing functions to use `eieio-' prefix.
1464 **** object-name -> eieio-object-name
1465 **** object-class -> eieio-object-class
1466 **** object-class-fast -> eieio--object-class
1467 **** object-class-name -> eieio-object-class-name
1468 **** object-name-string -> eieio-object-name-string
1469 **** object-num-slots -> eieio--object-num-slots
1470 **** object-set-name-string -> eieio-object-set-name-string
1471 **** class-of -> eieio-object-class
1472 **** class-name -> eieio-class-name
1473 **** class-parent -> eieio-class-parent
1474 **** class-parents -> eieio-class-parents
1475 **** class-parents-fast -> eieio-class-parents-fast
1476 **** class-children -> eieio-class-children
1477 **** class-num-slots -> eieio--class-num-slots
1478 **** class-precedence-list -> eieio-class-precedence-list
1479 **** class-direct-subclasses -> eieio-class-children
1480 **** class-direct-superclasses -> eieio-class-parents
1481
1482 ** Changes in encoding and decoding of text
1483
1484 ---
1485 *** New coding-system `prefer-utf-8'.
1486 This is like `undecided' but prefers UTF-8 on decoding if the text to
1487 be decoded does not contain any invalid UTF-8 sequences. On encoding,
1488 any non-ASCII characters are automatically encoded as UTF-8.
1489
1490 ---
1491 *** New attributes of coding-systems whose type is `undecided'.
1492 Two new attributes, `:inhibit-null-byte-detection' and
1493 `:inhibit-iso-escape-detection', determine how to detect encoding of
1494 text that includes null bytes and ISO-2022 escape sequences,
1495 respectively. Each of these attributes can be either nil, zero, or
1496 t. If it is t, decoding text ignores null bytes and, respectively,
1497 ISO-2022 sequences. If it is nil, null bytes cause text to be decoded
1498 with no-conversion and ISO-2022 sequences cause Emacs to assume the
1499 text is encoded in one of the ISO-2022 encodings, such as
1500 iso-2022-7bit. If the value is zero, Emacs consults the variables
1501 inhibit-null-byte-detection and inhibit-iso-escape-detection, which
1502 see.
1503 The new attribute `:prefer-utf-8', if non-nil, causes Emacs to prefer
1504 UTF-8 encoding and decoding, whenever possible.
1505
1506 These attributes are only meaningful for coding-systems of type
1507 `undecided'. (The type of a coding-system is determined by its
1508 `:coding-type' attribute and can be accessed by calling the
1509 `coding-system-type' function.)
1510
1511 ---
1512 ** The `time-to-seconds' alias to `float-time' is no longer marked obsolete.
1513
1514 +++
1515 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
1516
1517 ---
1518 ** The spelling of the rx.el category `chinese-two-byte' has been
1519 corrected (the first 'e' was missing).
1520
1521 ---
1522 ** Minor internal changes to the details of lock files.
1523 The lock for DIR/FILE is now _always_ DIR/.#FILE.
1524 If DIR/.#FILE already exists and is not an Emacs lock file,
1525 Emacs makes no attempt to lock DIR/FILE. (Previously, it fell back to
1526 numbered lock files DIR/.#FILE.0...).
1527 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
1528 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
1529
1530 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
1531
1532 +++
1533 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
1534 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
1535 meant to be used by other packages.
1536
1537 \f
1538 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1539
1540 ---
1541 ** The procedure for building Emacs on MS-Windows has changed.
1542 It is now built by running the same configure script as on all other
1543 platforms. This requires the MSYS environment and MinGW development
1544 tools. See the updated instructions in nt/INSTALL for details.
1545
1546 Using the Posix configure script and Makefile's also means a change in
1547 the directory structure of the Emacs installation on Windows. It is
1548 now the same as on GNU and Unix systems. In particular, the auxiliary
1549 programs, such as cmdproxy.exe and hexl.exe, are in
1550 libexec/emacs/VERSION/i686-pc-mingw32 (where VERSION is the Emacs
1551 version), version-independent site-lisp is in share/emacs/site-lisp,
1552 version-specific Lisp files are in share/emacs/VERSION/lisp and in
1553 share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, Info docs are in share/info, and data
1554 files are in share/emacs/VERSION/etc. (Emacs knows about all these
1555 directories and will find the files in there automatically; there's no
1556 need to set any variables due to this change.)
1557
1558 +++
1559 ** Emacs on Windows 2000 and later can now access files and directories
1560 whose names cannot be encoded in the current system codepage.
1561
1562 The new variable `w32-unicode-filenames' controls this feature: if it
1563 is t, Emacs uses Unicode APIs to pass file names to system calls,
1564 which lifts the limitation of file names to the current locale.
1565
1566 +++
1567 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
1568 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
1569 directory where Emacs was running.
1570
1571 +++
1572 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
1573 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
1574 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
1575 modifying it has no effect.
1576
1577 ---
1578 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
1579 This helps to prevent losing your edits if the same file is being
1580 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
1581 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
1582 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
1583
1584 ** New Core Text based font backend for Mac OS X 10.5 and newer.
1585 GNUstep and Mac OS X 10.4 use the old font backend.
1586 To use the old backend by default, do on the command line:
1587 % defaults write org.gnu.Emacs FontBackend ns
1588
1589 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
1590 Emacs supports both native (Mac OS X 10.7 and newer) and "old style" fullscreen.
1591 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change the style.
1592 For Mac OS X 10.7 and newer, native is the default.
1593
1594 ** On Mac OS X 10.7 and newer, Emacs uses sRGB colorspace by default.
1595 Customize `ns-use-srgb-colorspace' to disable this. Note that this
1596 does not apply to images.
1597
1598 \f
1599 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
1600
1601 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
1602 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
1603 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
1604 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
1605 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
1606 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
1607
1608 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
1609 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
1610
1611 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
1612 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
1613
1614 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
1615 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
1616 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
1617 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
1618 the results may be useful to developers.
1619
1620 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
1621 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
1622 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
1623 check that this option enables.
1624
1625 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
1626 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
1627
1628 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
1629 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
1630 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
1631 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
1632 links between the various manuals.
1633
1634 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
1635 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
1636 to "emacs-VERSION".
1637
1638 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
1639
1640 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
1641 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
1642 you want them.
1643
1644 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
1645 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
1646 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
1647
1648 \f
1649 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
1650
1651 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
1652 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
1653 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
1654
1655 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
1656
1657 \f
1658 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
1659
1660 ** Help
1661
1662 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
1663 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
1664 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
1665 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
1666 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
1667
1668 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
1669 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
1670 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
1671
1672 ** ImageMagick
1673
1674 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
1675 :background image specification property.
1676
1677 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
1678 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
1679 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
1680 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
1681
1682 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
1683 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
1684 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
1685
1686 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
1687 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
1688 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
1689 treated as images.
1690
1691 ** Minibuffer
1692
1693 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
1694 next and previous path separator, respectively.
1695
1696 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
1697 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
1698 non-nil before enabling the mode.
1699
1700 ** Mode line
1701
1702 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
1703 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
1704 that does not have its own specialized help text.
1705
1706 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
1707 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
1708
1709 ** Server and client
1710
1711 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
1712 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
1713 or expression to evaluate.
1714
1715 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
1716
1717 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
1718 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
1719 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
1720 that support backtraces.
1721
1722 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
1723 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
1724
1725 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
1726 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
1727 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
1728
1729 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
1730 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
1731
1732 ** If your Emacs was built from a repository checkout, the new variable
1733 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
1734
1735 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
1736 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
1737 files (use this with caution).
1738
1739 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
1740 variables on remote hosts.
1741
1742 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
1743 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
1744
1745 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
1746 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
1747
1748 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
1749 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
1750 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
1751 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
1752
1753 ** Internationalization
1754
1755 *** New language environment: Persian.
1756
1757 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
1758
1759 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
1760
1761 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
1762
1763 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
1764 menu/toolbar.
1765
1766 \f
1767 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
1768
1769 ** Search and Replace
1770
1771 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
1772 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
1773 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
1774 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
1775 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
1776
1777 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
1778 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
1779
1780 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
1781 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
1782 The default is nil.
1783
1784 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
1785 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
1786 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
1787
1788 ** Navigation commands
1789
1790 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
1791
1792 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
1793
1794 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
1795 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
1796
1797 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
1798 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
1799 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
1800
1801 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
1802 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
1803 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
1804
1805 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
1806
1807 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
1808 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
1809
1810 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
1811 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
1812 accidentally type.
1813
1814 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
1815 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
1816
1817 ** Registers
1818
1819 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
1820
1821 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
1822 the text to put between collected texts for use with
1823 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
1824
1825 \f
1826 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
1827
1828 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
1829
1830 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
1831 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
1832 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
1833 use the "cl--" prefix).
1834
1835 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
1836 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
1837 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
1838 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
1839 rather than `cl-foo*'.
1840
1841 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
1842 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
1843
1844 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
1845 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
1846 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
1847 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
1848
1849 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
1850 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
1851 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
1852 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
1853 is in use.
1854
1855 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
1856 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
1857 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
1858
1859 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
1860 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
1861 to nil rather than being made unbound.
1862
1863 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
1864 (use features from gv.el instead):
1865 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
1866 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
1867 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
1868 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
1869
1870 ** Diff mode
1871
1872 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
1873 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
1874 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
1875 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
1876 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
1877
1878 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
1879 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
1880 changes in context diffs.
1881
1882 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
1883 whitespace introduced by a diff.
1884
1885 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
1886
1887 ** Python mode
1888
1889 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
1890 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
1891 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
1892 text based shell).
1893
1894 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
1895 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
1896 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
1897 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
1898 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
1899
1900 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
1901
1902 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
1903
1904 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
1905 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
1906
1907 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
1908 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
1909
1910 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
1911 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
1912
1913 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
1914 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
1915
1916 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
1917 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
1918 No longer relevant.
1919
1920 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
1921 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
1922 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
1923 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
1924 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
1925 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
1926 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
1927 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
1928 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
1929 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
1930 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
1931 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
1932 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
1933 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
1934 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
1935 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
1936 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
1937 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
1938 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
1939 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
1940 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
1941
1942 ** D-Bus
1943
1944 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
1945
1946 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
1947
1948 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
1949 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
1950
1951 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
1952 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
1953
1954 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
1955
1956 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
1957 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
1958
1959 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
1960
1961 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
1962
1963 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
1964 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
1965
1966 ** Dired
1967
1968 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
1969 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
1970 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
1971
1972 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
1973 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
1974 file at point.
1975
1976 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
1977 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
1978 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
1979
1980 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff') has changed.
1981 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
1982 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
1983
1984 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
1985 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
1986
1987 ** ERC
1988
1989 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
1990 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
1991
1992 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
1993 channel keys found.
1994
1995 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
1996 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
1997
1998 ** reStructuredText mode
1999
2000 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
2001 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
2002 and improved.
2003
2004 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
2005
2006 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
2007 Sphinx support has been improved.
2008
2009 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
2010
2011 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
2012
2013 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
2014
2015 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
2016
2017 ** Ruby mode
2018
2019 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
2020 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
2021 steps definitions.
2022
2023 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
2024
2025 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
2026
2027 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
2028
2029 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
2030
2031 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
2032
2033 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
2034 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
2035 and `end-of-defun-function'.
2036
2037 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
2038 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
2039
2040 ** Shell Script mode
2041
2042 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
2043
2044 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
2045
2046 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
2047
2048 ** VHDL mode
2049
2050 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
2051
2052 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
2053
2054 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
2055
2056 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
2057
2058 ** Apropos
2059
2060 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
2061 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
2062 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
2063
2064 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
2065 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', `apropos-label-face',
2066 `apropos-match-face' and `apropos-property-face'.).
2067
2068 ** Buffer Menu
2069
2070 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
2071
2072 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
2073 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
2074
2075 ** Calc
2076
2077 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
2078 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
2079 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
2080
2081 ** Calendar
2082
2083 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
2084 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
2085
2086 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
2087
2088 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
2089 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
2090
2091 ** CEDET
2092
2093 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
2094 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
2095 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
2096
2097 *** EDE
2098
2099 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
2100 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
2101
2102 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
2103
2104 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
2105
2106 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
2107
2108 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
2109
2110 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
2111
2112 *** Semantic
2113
2114 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
2115
2116 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
2117
2118 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
2119 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
2120 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
2121
2122 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
2123
2124 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
2125
2126 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
2127
2128 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
2129
2130 **** Improved tooltip completion.
2131
2132 *** SRecode
2133
2134 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
2135
2136 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
2137 include differentiation.
2138
2139 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
2140 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
2141 mode (like Java).
2142
2143 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
2144
2145 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
2146 default -> c++ -> arduino.
2147
2148 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
2149
2150 ** Customize
2151
2152 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
2153
2154 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
2155 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
2156 these commands now).
2157
2158 ** Term
2159
2160 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
2161 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
2162
2163 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
2164 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
2165 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
2166
2167 ** Tramp
2168
2169 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
2170
2171 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
2172
2173 ** URL
2174
2175 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
2176 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
2177 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
2178 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
2179 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
2180
2181 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
2182 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
2183 in case that is not properly encoded.
2184
2185 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
2186 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
2187 server properties.
2188
2189 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
2190 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
2191 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
2192
2193 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
2194 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
2195 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
2196
2197 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
2198 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
2199
2200 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
2201 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
2202
2203 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
2204 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
2205
2206 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
2207
2208 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
2209 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
2210 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
2211
2212 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
2213 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
2214 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
2215 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
2216
2217 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
2218 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
2219 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
2220
2221 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
2222 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
2223
2224 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
2225 it is enabled.
2226
2227 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
2228 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
2229
2230 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
2231
2232 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
2233 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
2234 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
2235 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
2236 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
2237 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
2238 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
2239 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
2240 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
2241 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
2242 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
2243 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
2244 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
2245 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
2246 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
2247 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
2248 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
2249 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
2250 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
2251 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
2252 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
2253 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
2254 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
2255
2256 ** Obsolete packages
2257
2258 *** assoc.el
2259 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
2260 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
2261 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
2262 *** bruce.el
2263 *** cust-print.el
2264 *** ledit.el
2265 *** mailpost.el
2266 *** mouse-sel.el
2267 *** patcomp.el
2268
2269 \f
2270 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
2271
2272 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
2273 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
2274 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
2275 `custom-variable-p'.
2276
2277 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
2278 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
2279 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
2280 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
2281
2282 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
2283 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
2284 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
2285 sequence in later calls.
2286
2287 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
2288 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
2289 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
2290
2291 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
2292 It does so even if the window was selected before.
2293
2294 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
2295 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
2296 depends on the graphical library.
2297
2298 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
2299 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
2300
2301 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
2302
2303 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
2304 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
2305 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
2306 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
2307 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
2308
2309 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
2310 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
2311 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
2312
2313 ** Miscellaneous name changes
2314 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
2315 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
2316
2317 *** Renamed functions
2318 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
2319 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
2320 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
2321 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
2322 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
2323 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
2324 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
2325 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
2326
2327 *** Renamed hooks
2328 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
2329 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
2330 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
2331 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
2332 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
2333
2334 *** Renamed variables
2335 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
2336 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
2337 deactivate-current-input-method-function
2338
2339 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
2340 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
2341 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
2342 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
2343 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
2344 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
2345 *** `set-char-table-default'
2346 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
2347 *** `compile-internal'
2348 *** `modeline'
2349 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
2350 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
2351 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
2352 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
2353 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
2354 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
2355 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
2356 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
2357 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
2358 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
2359
2360 \f
2361 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
2362
2363 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
2364 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
2365 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
2366 `gv-define-setter', etc.
2367
2368 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
2369 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
2370 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
2371 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
2372 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
2373 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
2374 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
2375
2376 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
2377 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
2378 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
2379 CPU time or memory allocations.
2380
2381 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
2382 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
2383
2384 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
2385
2386 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
2387
2388 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
2389 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
2390 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
2391 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
2392 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
2393
2394 ** Completion
2395
2396 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
2397 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
2398
2399 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
2400 table, but with a different prefix.
2401
2402 ** Debugger
2403
2404 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
2405 These do not trigger the debugger.
2406
2407 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
2408 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
2409
2410 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
2411 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
2412 to work out which code is doing something.
2413
2414 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
2415 recursive invocations.
2416
2417 ** Window handling
2418
2419 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
2420 fit the contents.
2421
2422 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
2423 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
2424
2425 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
2426 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
2427
2428 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
2429 reused.
2430
2431 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
2432 window's point when switching buffers.
2433
2434 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
2435 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
2436
2437 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
2438 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
2439
2440 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
2441 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
2442 selected.
2443
2444 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
2445 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
2446
2447 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
2448 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
2449
2450 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
2451 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
2452
2453 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
2454
2455 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
2456 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
2457 in Emacs 24.1:
2458 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
2459 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
2460 **** `display-buffer-function'
2461 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
2462 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
2463 **** `special-display-function'
2464 **** `special-display-regexps'
2465
2466 ** Time
2467
2468 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
2469 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
2470 by the underlying C implementation.
2471
2472 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
2473 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
2474 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
2475 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
2476 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
2477 stamps are still accepted.
2478
2479 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
2480 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
2481 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
2482 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
2483
2484 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
2485 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
2486
2487 ** EIEIO
2488
2489 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
2490
2491 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
2492 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
2493 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
2494 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
2495 warning is issued.
2496
2497 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
2498 without evaluation of suspicious code.
2499
2500 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
2501 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
2502
2503 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
2504 of filename support to generated symbols.
2505
2506 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
2507 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
2508 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
2509 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
2510 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
2511
2512 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
2513
2514 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
2515
2516 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
2517
2518 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
2519
2520 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2521
2522 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
2523 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
2524
2525 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
2526
2527 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
2528
2529 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
2530
2531 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
2532
2533 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
2534
2535 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
2536
2537 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
2538
2539 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
2540
2541 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
2542
2543 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2544 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
2545 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
2546 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
2547 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
2548 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
2549 *** `query-replace-interactive'
2550 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
2551
2552 \f
2553 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2554
2555 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
2556 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
2557
2558 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
2559 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
2560 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
2561 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
2562 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
2563
2564 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
2565 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
2566 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
2567
2568 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
2569
2570 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
2571 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
2572
2573 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
2574
2575 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
2576 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
2577
2578 \f
2579 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
2580
2581 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
2582
2583 \f
2584 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
2585
2586 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
2587 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
2588 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
2589 --without-gconf.
2590
2591 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
2592 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2593 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2594 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
2595
2596 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
2597 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2598 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2599 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
2600
2601 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
2602 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2603 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2604 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
2605 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
2606
2607 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
2608 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
2609 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
2610 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
2611
2612 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
2613 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
2614
2615 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
2616 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
2617 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
2618 to about 2 GiB.
2619
2620 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
2621 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
2622 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
2623
2624 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
2625 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
2626 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
2627
2628 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
2629 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
2630
2631 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
2632 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
2633
2634 \f
2635 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
2636
2637 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
2638 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
2639 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
2640
2641 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
2642 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
2643 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
2644 Nextstep builds).
2645
2646 \f
2647 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
2648
2649 ** Completion
2650
2651 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
2652 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
2653
2654 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
2655
2656 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
2657 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
2658
2659 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
2660
2661 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
2662 default completion style in certain circumstances.
2663
2664 *** New completion style `substring'.
2665
2666 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
2667
2668 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
2669
2670 ** Mail changes
2671
2672 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
2673 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
2674 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
2675 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
2676 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
2677 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
2678
2679 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
2680 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
2681 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
2682 command.
2683
2684 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
2685 and Mail mode changes
2686
2687 ** Emacs server and client changes
2688
2689 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
2690
2691 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
2692
2693 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
2694 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
2695
2696 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
2697 its exit status is 1.
2698
2699 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
2700 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
2701 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
2702
2703 ** Internationalization changes
2704
2705 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
2706 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
2707 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
2708 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
2709 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
2710 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
2711
2712 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
2713 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
2714
2715 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2716 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
2717 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
2718 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
2719 paragraph.
2720
2721 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
2722 the right window edge.
2723
2724 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
2725 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
2726 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
2727 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
2728 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
2729
2730 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
2731 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
2732
2733 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
2734 (U+2010 and U+2011).
2735
2736 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
2737 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
2738 automatically select it.
2739
2740 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
2741 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
2742 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
2743
2744 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
2745 selected for installation.
2746
2747 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
2748
2749 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
2750 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
2751 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
2752
2753 ** Custom theme changes
2754
2755 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
2756 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
2757
2758 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
2759 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
2760 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
2761 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
2762 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
2763 built-in Custom themes.
2764
2765 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
2766 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
2767 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
2768 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
2769
2770 ** Improved GTK integration
2771
2772 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
2773 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
2774
2775 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
2776 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
2777 the default is taken from desktop settings.
2778
2779 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
2780 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
2781 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
2782 entries for this.
2783
2784 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
2785 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
2786
2787 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
2788 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
2789
2790 ** Graphical interface changes
2791
2792 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
2793 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
2794 displayed as a space.
2795
2796 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
2797 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
2798
2799 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
2800 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
2801 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
2802
2803 ** Exiting changes
2804
2805 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
2806 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
2807
2808 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
2809 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
2810 do the right thing in batch mode.
2811
2812 ** Scrolling changes
2813
2814 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
2815 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
2816 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
2817 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
2818
2819 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
2820
2821 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
2822 scroll a line instead of full screen.
2823
2824 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
2825 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
2826
2827 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
2828 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
2829 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
2830 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
2831 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
2832
2833 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
2834 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
2835 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
2836 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
2837 margin.
2838
2839 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
2840 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
2841
2842 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
2843 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
2844 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
2845 now includes the SELinux context.
2846
2847 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2848 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
2849
2850 ** Trash changes
2851
2852 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
2853 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
2854
2855 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
2856 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
2857
2858 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
2859
2860 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
2861 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
2862 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
2863 subdirectories.
2864
2865 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
2866 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
2867 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
2868 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
2869 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
2870
2871 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
2872 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
2873
2874 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
2875 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
2876 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
2877 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
2878 corresponding way.
2879
2880 ** Window changes
2881
2882 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
2883 in the quitted window.
2884
2885 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
2886 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
2887
2888 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
2889
2890 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
2891 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
2892 for choosing the displaying window).
2893
2894 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
2895 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
2896
2897 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
2898 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
2899
2900 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
2901 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
2902 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
2903 from which such space was obtained.
2904
2905 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
2906 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
2907 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
2908 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
2909 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
2910
2911 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
2912 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
2913 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
2914
2915 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
2916 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
2917
2918 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
2919 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
2920 been shown in a specific window.
2921
2922 ** Minibuffer changes
2923
2924 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
2925 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
2926 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
2927
2928 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
2929 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
2930 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
2931
2932 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
2933
2934 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
2935
2936 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
2937 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
2938 successful operation.
2939
2940 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
2941 for `list-colors-display'.
2942
2943 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
2944
2945 \f
2946 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
2947
2948 ** Search changes
2949
2950 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
2951 `isearch-yank-line'.
2952
2953 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
2954 `isearch-yank-kill'.
2955
2956 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
2957
2958 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
2959
2960 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
2961 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
2962 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
2963 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
2964 alias for it.
2965
2966 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
2967 also deletes newlines around point.
2968
2969 ** Deletion changes
2970
2971 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
2972 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
2973 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
2974 instead.
2975
2976 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
2977 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
2978 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
2979
2980 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
2981 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
2982 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
2983 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
2984
2985 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
2986
2987 ** Selection changes.
2988
2989 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
2990 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
2991 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
2992 mouse commands use the primary selection.
2993
2994 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
2995 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
2996
2997 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
2998 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
2999 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
3000 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
3001
3002 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
3003 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
3004 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
3005 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
3006 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
3007
3008 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
3009
3010 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
3011 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
3012 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
3013
3014 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
3015
3016 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
3017 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
3018 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
3019
3020 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
3021 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
3022
3023 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
3024 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
3025 between applications.
3026
3027 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
3028
3029 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
3030 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
3031 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
3032 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
3033 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
3034
3035 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
3036
3037 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
3038 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
3039
3040 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
3041 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
3042 number to count from and for a format string.
3043
3044 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
3045 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
3046 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
3047 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
3048 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
3049
3050 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
3051 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
3052 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
3053 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
3054 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
3055
3056 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
3057 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
3058 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
3059 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
3060 follows `replace-match'.
3061
3062 \f
3063 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
3064
3065 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
3066
3067 ** BibTeX mode
3068
3069 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
3070 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
3071 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
3072 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
3073
3074 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
3075
3076 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
3077
3078 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
3079
3080 ** Browse-url
3081
3082 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
3083
3084 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
3085 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
3086
3087 ** Calc
3088
3089 *** Support for musical notes.
3090
3091 *** Support for logarithmic units.
3092
3093 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
3094 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
3095
3096 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
3097
3098 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
3099
3100 *** New "O" option prefix.
3101
3102 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
3103
3104 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
3105
3106 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
3107 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
3108
3109 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
3110 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
3111
3112 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
3113 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
3114 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
3115
3116 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
3117
3118 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
3119 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
3120
3121 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
3122 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
3123 Use `appt-activate' instead.
3124
3125 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
3126 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
3127 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
3128
3129 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
3130 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
3131
3132 ** CC Mode
3133
3134 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
3135 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
3136
3137 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
3138
3139 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
3140 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
3141 not the top level.
3142
3143 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
3144 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
3145 parsed as a statement continuation.
3146
3147 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
3148
3149 ** Compilation mode
3150
3151 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
3152 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
3153
3154 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
3155 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
3156 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
3157
3158 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
3159 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
3160 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
3161 buffer was used.
3162
3163 ** Customize
3164
3165 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
3166 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
3167 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
3168
3169 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
3170 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
3171
3172 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
3173
3174 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
3175 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
3176
3177 ** D-Bus
3178
3179 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
3180 or session bus.
3181
3182 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
3183 optionally do not register names.
3184
3185 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
3186 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
3187
3188 ** Dired-x
3189
3190 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
3191 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
3192 instead of using the current buffer.
3193
3194 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
3195 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
3196
3197 ** ERC changes
3198
3199 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
3200 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
3201
3202 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
3203 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
3204 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
3205 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
3206
3207 ** Eshell changes
3208
3209 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
3210 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
3211 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
3212
3213 ** gdb-mi
3214
3215 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
3216 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
3217 debugging of several threads.
3218
3219 ** Image mode
3220
3221 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
3222 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
3223
3224 ** Info
3225
3226 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
3227 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
3228 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
3229 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
3230 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
3231
3232 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
3233 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
3234 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
3235 by default.
3236
3237 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
3238
3239 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
3240
3241 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
3242 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
3243 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
3244
3245 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
3246 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
3247
3248 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
3249
3250 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
3251
3252 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
3253 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
3254 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
3255 default), this performs tag completion.
3256
3257 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
3258 See ORG-NEWS for details.
3259
3260 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
3261 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
3262 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
3263
3264 ** Rmail
3265
3266 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
3267 in the Rmail incoming message.
3268
3269 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
3270 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
3271 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
3272
3273 ** Shell mode
3274
3275 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
3276 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
3277 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
3278
3279 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
3280 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
3281
3282 ** SMTPmail
3283
3284 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
3285 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
3286 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
3287 to change this.
3288
3289 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
3290 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
3291 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
3292 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
3293 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
3294 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
3295 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
3296 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
3297
3298 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
3299 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
3300
3301 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
3302
3303 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
3304
3305 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
3306 the credentials file.
3307
3308 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
3309 If you had that set, you need to put
3310
3311 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
3312
3313 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
3314
3315 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
3316 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
3317 to the address you wish to use instead.
3318
3319 ** SQL mode
3320
3321 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
3322 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
3323
3324 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
3325 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
3326 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
3327 connection is established.
3328
3329 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
3330 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
3331
3332 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
3333 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
3334 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
3335 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
3336
3337 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
3338 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
3339 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
3340 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
3341 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
3342 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
3343
3344 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
3345 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
3346
3347 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
3348 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
3349 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
3350
3351 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
3352 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
3353
3354 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
3355
3356 ** TeX modes
3357
3358 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
3359
3360 ** Tramp
3361
3362 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
3363
3364 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
3365 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
3366
3367 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
3368 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
3369
3370 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
3371 default value to "".
3372
3373 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
3374 for remote machines which support SELinux.
3375
3376 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
3377 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
3378 the degree of parallelism.
3379
3380 ** VC and related modes
3381
3382 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
3383 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
3384 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
3385 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
3386 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
3387
3388 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
3389
3390 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
3391 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
3392 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
3393 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
3394 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
3395
3396 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
3397 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
3398
3399 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
3400 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
3401 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
3402 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
3403 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
3404 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
3405
3406 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
3407 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
3408
3409 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
3410 this was not advertised at the time.
3411
3412 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
3413 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
3414 this was not advertised at the time.
3415
3416 ** Obsolete modes
3417
3418 *** abbrevlist.el
3419
3420 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
3421
3422 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
3423 You can get a comparable behavior with:
3424 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
3425 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
3426
3427 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
3428
3429 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
3430
3431 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
3432
3433 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
3434 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
3435
3436 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
3437
3438 ** Miscellaneous
3439
3440 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
3441 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
3442
3443 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
3444 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
3445
3446 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
3447
3448 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
3449
3450 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
3451
3452 \f
3453 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
3454
3455 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
3456 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
3457
3458 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
3459 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
3460 matching closing one.
3461
3462 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
3463 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
3464 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
3465 electric-indent-functions.
3466
3467 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
3468 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
3469 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
3470
3471 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
3472 from which other modes can be derived.
3473
3474 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
3475
3476 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
3477 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
3478 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
3479 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
3480 secrets.
3481
3482 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
3483 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
3484
3485 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
3486 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
3487
3488 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
3489
3490 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
3491 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
3492 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
3493 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
3494 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
3495 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
3496
3497 \f
3498 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
3499
3500 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
3501 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
3502
3503 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
3504
3505 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
3506 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
3507 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
3508 command still toggles the minor mode.
3509
3510 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
3511 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
3512 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
3513 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
3514 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
3515
3516 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
3517 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
3518 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
3519 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
3520 argument `bidi-class'.
3521
3522 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
3523 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
3524 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
3525 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
3526
3527 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
3528 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
3529 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
3530 of the header line.
3531
3532 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
3533 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
3534 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
3535 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
3536 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
3537 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
3538 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
3539
3540 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
3541 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
3542 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
3543 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
3544 older Emacsen too.
3545
3546 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
3547 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
3548 replaced all known uses.
3549
3550 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
3551 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
3552 major mode is special).
3553
3554 ** Menu and tool bar changes
3555
3556 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
3557 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
3558 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
3559 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
3560 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
3561 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
3562
3563 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
3564 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
3565
3566 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
3567 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
3568 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
3569 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
3570
3571 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
3572 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
3573 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
3574
3575 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
3576
3577 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
3578 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
3579 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
3580
3581 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
3582 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
3583 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
3584 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
3585 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
3586 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
3587 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
3588 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
3589 *** `x-make-font-bold' and `x-make-font-demibold' (`make-face-bold')
3590 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
3591 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
3592 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
3593 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
3594 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
3595 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
3596 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
3597 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
3598 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
3599 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
3600 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
3601 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
3602
3603 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
3604 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
3605
3606 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
3607 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
3608 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
3609 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
3610 *** `e' (`float-e').
3611
3612 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
3613 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
3614
3615 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
3616 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
3617 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
3618 `finder-keywords-hash'.
3619
3620 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
3621 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
3622 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
3623
3624 \f
3625 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
3626
3627 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
3628 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
3629 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
3630 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
3631 file.
3632
3633 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
3634 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
3635
3636 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
3637 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
3638
3639 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
3640
3641 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
3642 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
3643
3644 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
3645 declared as dynamically bound.
3646
3647 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
3648
3649 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
3650 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
3651 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
3652
3653 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
3654
3655 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
3656 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
3657
3658 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
3659 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
3660 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
3661 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
3662 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
3663 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
3664
3665 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
3666 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
3667 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
3668
3669 ** Window changes
3670
3671 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
3672 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
3673 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
3674 buffer) in the window tree.
3675
3676 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
3677 windows.
3678
3679 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
3680 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
3681 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
3682 act on any window including internal ones.
3683
3684 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
3685 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
3686 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
3687 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
3688 and `window-body-height' are provided.
3689
3690 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
3691 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
3692 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
3693 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
3694 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
3695
3696 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
3697 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
3698 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
3699 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
3700 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
3701 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
3702
3703 *** Window resizing functions.
3704 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
3705 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
3706 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
3707
3708 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
3709 live window on that frame instead.
3710
3711 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
3712 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
3713 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
3714 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
3715 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
3716 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
3717
3718 *** Window-local buffer lists.
3719 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
3720 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
3721 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
3722 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
3723 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
3724
3725 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
3726 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
3727 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
3728 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
3729
3730 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
3731 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
3732 The old names are kept as aliases.
3733
3734 *** Display actions
3735
3736 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
3737 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
3738 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
3739 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
3740
3741 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
3742
3743 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
3744 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
3745 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
3746 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
3747 are user-customizable variables.
3748
3749 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
3750
3751 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
3752 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
3753 frame or window as an Elisp object.
3754
3755 ** Completion
3756
3757 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
3758 properties of the current completion:
3759 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
3760 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
3761
3762 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
3763 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
3764
3765 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
3766
3767 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
3768 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
3769 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
3770 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
3771 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
3772 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
3773 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
3774
3775 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
3776 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
3777 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
3778
3779 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
3780 behavior of `completing-read'.
3781
3782 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
3783 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
3784
3785 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
3786 Instead, the offending function is removed.
3787
3788 ** New hook types
3789
3790 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
3791 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
3792 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
3793 non-nil return value.
3794
3795 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
3796 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
3797 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
3798 advertised at the time.)
3799
3800 ** Debugger changes
3801
3802 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
3803 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
3804
3805 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
3806
3807 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
3808
3809 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
3810 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
3811 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
3812
3813 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
3814 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
3815
3816 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
3817 named Emacs server instances.
3818
3819 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
3820 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
3821
3822 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
3823 for higher-resolution time stamps.
3824
3825 ** New input reading functions
3826
3827 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
3828 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
3829
3830 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
3831 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
3832 invalid input.
3833
3834 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
3835
3836 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
3837 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
3838 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
3839 obsolete alias.
3840
3841 ** Syntax parsing changes
3842
3843 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
3844 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
3845 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
3846 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
3847 Together with this new variable come a new hook
3848 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
3849 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
3850 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
3851 syntactic rules.
3852
3853 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
3854
3855 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
3856
3857 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
3858
3859 ** Major and minor mode changes
3860
3861 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
3862 as well as those in the -*- line.
3863
3864 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
3865 should be derived.
3866
3867 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
3868 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
3869 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
3870
3871 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
3872 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
3873
3874 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
3875 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
3876 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
3877
3878 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
3879
3880 ** File-handling changes
3881
3882 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
3883 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
3884 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
3885 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
3886
3887 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
3888
3889 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
3890 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
3891 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
3892
3893 ** Image API
3894
3895 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
3896
3897 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
3898
3899 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
3900
3901 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
3902 is being animated.
3903
3904 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
3905 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
3906
3907 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
3908 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
3909
3910 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
3911 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
3912 ImageMagick installation supports.
3913
3914 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
3915 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
3916 functions.
3917
3918 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
3919 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
3920
3921 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
3922 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
3923 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
3924 `image-transform-set-scale'.
3925
3926 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
3927 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
3928 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
3929 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
3930
3931 ** XML and HTML parsing
3932 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
3933 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
3934 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
3935 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
3936
3937 ** Networking and encryption changes
3938
3939 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
3940 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
3941 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
3942 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
3943 must also be supplied.
3944
3945 *** New library gnutls.el.
3946 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
3947 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
3948 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
3949 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
3950 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
3951 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
3952 greater than 0.
3953
3954 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
3955 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
3956 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
3957
3958 ** Isearch
3959
3960 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
3961
3962 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
3963 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
3964 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
3965 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
3966 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
3967 displayed with a "spinning bar".
3968
3969 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
3970 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
3971
3972 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
3973 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
3974 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
3975 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
3976 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
3977 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
3978
3979 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
3980
3981 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
3982 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
3983 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
3984 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
3985
3986 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
3987 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
3988
3989 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
3990 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
3991 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
3992 an empty uninterned symbol.
3993
3994 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
3995
3996 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
3997
3998 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
3999 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
4000
4001 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
4002 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
4003
4004 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
4005
4006 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
4007 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
4008
4009 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
4010
4011 \f
4012 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
4013
4014 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
4015 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
4016
4017 ** New configure.bat options
4018
4019 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
4020
4021 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
4022
4023 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
4024
4025 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
4026
4027 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
4028
4029 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
4030 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
4031
4032 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
4033 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
4034
4035 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
4036 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
4037
4038 \f
4039 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
4040 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
4041
4042 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
4043 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
4044 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
4045 (at your option) any later version.
4046
4047 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
4048 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
4049 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
4050 GNU General Public License for more details.
4051
4052 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
4053 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
4054
4055 \f
4056 Local variables:
4057 mode: outline
4058 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
4059 end: