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Revision 1.2150 - (show annotations) (download)
Sat Dec 12 22:49:55 2009 UTC (14 years, 4 months ago) by dzhus
Branch: MAIN
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NEWS entry for gdb-mi GSoC changes.

1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
10
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 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
18 Temporary note:
19 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
20 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
21 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
22 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
23
24
25 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.2
26
27 ** New configure options for Emacs developers
28 These are not new features; only the configure flags are new.
29
30 *** --enable-profiling builds Emacs with profiling enabled.
31 This might not work on all platforms.
32
33 *** --enable-checking[=OPTIONS] builds emacs with extra runtime checks.
34
35 ---
36 ** `make install' now consistently ignores umask, creating a
37 world-readable install.
38
39 ** Emacs compiles with Gconf support by default, if it is detected.
40 Use the configure option --without-gconf to disable this.
41
42 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.2
43
44 ** The command-line option -Q (--quick) also inhibits loading X resources.
45 However, if Emacs is compiled with the Lucid or Motif toolkit, X
46 resource settings for the graphical widgets are still applied.
47 On Windows, the -Q option causes Emacs to ignore Registry settings,
48 but environment variables set on the Registry are still honored.
49
50 *** The new variable `inhibit-x-resources' shows whether X resources
51 were loaded.
52
53 +++
54 ** New command-line option -mm (--maximized) maximizes the initial frame.
55
56 * Changes in Emacs 23.2
57
58 ** The maximum size of buffers (and the largest fixnum) is doubled.
59 On typical 32bit systems, buffers can now be up to 512MB.
60
61 ** The default value of `trash-directory' is now nil.
62 This means that `move-file-to-trash' trashes files according to
63 freedesktop.org specifications, the same method used by the Gnome,
64 KDE, and XFCE desktops. (This change has no effect on Windows, which
65 uses `system-move-file-to-trash' for trashing.)
66
67 ** The pointer now becomes invisible when typing.
68 Customize `make-pointer-invisible' to disable this feature.
69
70 ** Font changes
71
72 *** Emacs can use the system default monospaced font in Gnome.
73 To enable this feature, set `font-use-system-font' to non-nil (it is
74 nil by default). If the system default changes, Emacs changes also.
75 This feature requires Gconf support, which is automatically included
76 at compile-time if configure detects the gconf libraries (you can
77 disable this with the configure option --without-gconf).
78
79 *** On X11, Emacs reacts to Xft changes made by configuration tools,
80 via the XSETTINGS mechanism. This includes antialias, hinting,
81 hintstyle, RGBA, DPI and lcdfilter changes.
82
83 ** Killing a buffer with a running process now asks for confirmation.
84 To remove this query, remove `process-kill-buffer-query-function' from
85 `kill-buffer-query-functions', or set the appropriate process flag
86 with `set-process-query-on-exit-flag'.
87
88 ** File-local variable changes
89
90 *** Specifying a minor mode as a local variables enables that mode,
91 unconditionally. The previous behavior, toggling the mode, was
92 neither reliable nor generally desirable.
93
94 *** New commands for adding and removing file-local variables:
95 `add-file-local-variable', `delete-file-local-variable',
96 `add-file-local-variable-prop-line', and
97 `delete-file-local-variable-prop-line'.
98
99 *** New commands for adding and removing directory-local variables,
100 and copying them to and from file-local variable lists:
101 `add-dir-local-variable', `delete-dir-local-variable',
102 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals',
103 `copy-dir-locals-to-file-locals-prop-line' and
104 `copy-file-locals-to-dir-locals'.
105
106 ** Internationalization changes
107
108 *** Unibyte sessions are now considered obsolete.
109 This refers to the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable as well as the
110 --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte command line
111 arguments. Customizing enable-multibyte-characters and setting
112 default-enable-multibyte-characters are also deprecated.
113
114 *** New coding system `utf-8-hfs'.
115 This is suitable for default-file-name-coding-system on Mac OS X; see
116 international/ucs-normalize.el.
117
118 ** Function arguments in *Help* buffers are now shown in upper-case.
119 Customize `help-downcase-arguments' to t to show them in lower-case.
120
121
122 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.2
123
124 ** Kill-ring and selection changes
125 +++
126 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, any active region automatically
127 becomes the primary selection (for interaction with other window
128 applications). If you enable this, you might want to bind
129 `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
130
131 *** When `save-interprogram-paste-before-kill' is non-nil, the kill
132 commands save the interprogram-paste selection into the kill ring
133 before doing anything else. This avoids losing the selection.
134
135 *** When `kill-do-not-save-duplicates' is non-nil, identical
136 subsequent kills are not duplicated in the `kill-ring'.
137
138 ** Completion changes
139
140 *** The new command `completion-at-point' provides mode-sensitive completion.
141
142 *** tab-always-indent set to `complete' lets TAB do completion as well.
143
144 *** The new completion-style `initials' is available.
145 For instance, this can complete M-x lch to list-command-history.
146
147 *** The new variable `completions-format' determines how completions
148 are displayed in the *Completions* buffer. If you set it to
149 `vertical', completions are sorted vertically in columns.
150
151 +++
152 ** The default value of `blink-matching-paren-distance' is increased.
153
154 ** M-n provides more default values in the minibuffer for commands
155 that read file names. These include the file name at point (when ffap
156 is loaded without ffap-bindings), the file name on the current line
157 (in Dired buffers), and the directory names of adjacent Dired windows
158 (for Dired commands that operate on several directories, such as copy,
159 rename, or diff).
160
161 ** M-r is bound to the new `move-to-window-line-top-bottom'.
162 This moves point to the window center, top and bottom on successive
163 invocations, in the same spirit as the C-l (recenter-top-bottom)
164 command.
165
166 ** The new variable `recenter-positions' determines the default
167 cycling order of C-l (`recenter-top-bottom').
168
169
170 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
171
172 ** The bookmark menu has a narrowing search via bookmark-bmenu-search.
173
174 ** LaTeX mode now provides completion (via completion-at-point)
175
176 ** sym-comp.el is now declared obsolete, superceded by completion-at-point.
177
178 ** lucid.el and levents.el are now declared obsolete.
179
180 ** pcomplete provides a new command `pcomplete-std-completion' which
181 is similar to `pcomplete' but using the standard completion UI code.
182
183 ** .calc.el and .abbrev_defs obey user-emacs-directory.
184
185 ** Calc graphing commands (`g f' etc.) now work on MS-Windows,
186 if you have the native Windows port of Gnuplot version 3.8 or later
187 installed.
188
189 ** Calendar and diary
190
191 +++
192 *** Fancy diary display is now the default.
193 If you prefer the simple display, customize `diary-display-function'.
194
195 +++
196 *** The diary's fancy display now enables view-mode.
197
198 ---
199 *** The command `calendar-current-date' accepts an optional argument
200 giving an offset from today.
201
202 ** Desktop
203 ---
204 *** The default value for `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is nil.
205 This means Desktop will try restoring all buffers, when you restart
206 your Emacs session. Also, `desktop-buffers-not-to-save' is only
207 effective for buffers that have no associated file. If you want to
208 exempt buffers that do correspond to files, customize the value of
209 `desktop-files-not-to-save' instead.
210
211 ** Dired
212
213 *** The new variable `dired-auto-revert-buffer' allows to revert
214 dired buffers automatically on revisiting.
215
216 ** DocView
217
218 *** When `doc-view-continuous' is non-nil, scrolling a line
219 on the page edge advances to the next/previous page.
220
221 ** gdb-mi
222
223 *** GDB User Interface migrated to GDB Machine Interface and now
224 supports multithread non-stop debugging and debugging of several
225 threads simultaneously.
226
227 ** Grep
228
229 A new command `zrgrep' searches recursively in gzipped files.
230
231 ** Info
232
233 *** The new command `Info-virtual-index' bound to "I" displays a menu of
234 matched topics found in the index.
235
236 *** The new command `info-finder' replaces finder.el with a virtual Info
237 manual that generates an Info file which gives the same information
238 through a menu structure.
239
240 ** Message mode is now the default mode for composing mail.
241
242 The default for `mail-user-agent' is now message-user-agent, so the
243 C-x m (`compose-mail') command uses Message mode instead of Mail mode.
244
245 Message mode has been included in Emacs, as part of the Gnus package,
246 for several years. It provides several features that are absent in
247 Mail mode, such as MIME handling.
248
249 *** If the user has not customized mail-user-agent, `compose-mail'
250 checks for Mail mode customizations, and issues a warning if these
251 customizations are found. This alerts users who may otherwise be
252 unaware that their mail configuration has changed.
253
254 To disable this check, set compose-mail-user-agent-warnings to nil.
255
256 ** nXML mode is now the default for editing XML files.
257
258 ** Shell
259
260 *** ansi-color is now enabled by default.
261 To disable it, set ansi-color-for-comint-mode to nil.
262
263 +++
264 ** Tramp
265
266 *** New connection methods "rsyncc", "imap" and "imaps".
267 On systems which support GVFS-Fuse, Tramp offers also the new
268 connection methods "dav", "davs", "obex" and "synce".
269
270 ** VC and related modes
271
272 *** When using C-x v v or C-x v i on a unregistered file that is in a
273 directory not controlled by any VCS, ask the user what VC backend to
274 use to create a repository, create a new repository and register the
275 file.
276
277 *** FIXME: add info about the new VC functions: vc-root-diff and
278 vc-root-print-log once they stabilize.
279
280 *** The log functions (C-x v l and C-x v L) do not show the full log
281 by default anymore. The number of entries shown can be chosen
282 interactively with a prefix argument, by customizing
283 vc-log-show-limit. The log buffer display buttons that can be used
284 to change the number of entries shown.
285 RCS, SCCS, CVS do not support this feature.
286
287 *** vc-annotate supports annotations through file copies and renames,
288 it displays the old names for the files and it can show logs/diffs for
289 the corresponding lines. Currently only Git and Mercurial take
290 advantage of this feature.
291
292 *** The log command in vc-annotate can display a single log entry
293 instead of redisplaying the full log. The RCS, CVS and SCCS VC
294 backends do not support this.
295
296 *** When a file is not found, VC will not try to check it out of RCS anymore.
297
298 *** Diff and log operations can be used from dired buffers.
299
300 *** vc-git changes
301
302 **** The short log format for git makes use of the graph display, so
303 it's not supported on git versions earlier than 1.5.
304
305 **** The new variable vc-git-add-signoff can be used to add a
306 Signed-off-by line when committing.
307
308 **** Support for operating with stashes has been added to vc-dir: the stash list is
309 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, stashes can be created, removed, applied and
310 their content displayed.
311
312 **** vc-dir displays the stash status
313
314 *** vc-bzr supports operating with shelves: the shelve list is
315 displayed in the *vc-dir* header, shelves can be created, removed and applied.
316
317 *** log-edit-strip-single-file-name controls whether or not single filenames
318 are stripped when copying text from the ChangeLog to the *VC-Log* buffer.
319
320 ** Elint
321
322 ---
323 *** Elint now uses compilation-mode.
324
325 ---
326 *** Elint can now scan individual files and whole directories,
327 and can be run in batch mode.
328
329 ---
330 *** Elint does a more thorough initialization, and recognizes more built-in
331 functions and variables. Customize `elint-scan-preloaded' if you want
332 to sacrifice some accuracy for a faster startup.
333
334 ---
335 *** Elint attempts some basic understanding of featurep and (f)boundp tests.
336
337 ---
338 *** Customize `elint-ignored-warnings' to suppress some warnings.
339
340 ** Miscellaneous
341
342 *** The new command `async-shell-command' bound globally to `M-&' executes
343 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand to
344 the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
345 Command*'.
346
347 *** Isearch searches in the comint/shell input history when the new variable
348 `comint-history-isearch' is non-nil. New commands `comint-history-isearch-backward'
349 and `comint-history-isearch-backward-regexp' (bound to M-r) start Isearch
350 in the input history regardless of the value of `comint-history-isearch'.
351
352 *** Interactively `multi-isearch-buffers' and `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp'
353 read buffer names to search, one by one, ended with RET. With a prefix
354 argument, they ask for a regexp, and search in buffers whose names match
355 the specified regexp. Interactively `multi-isearch-files' and
356 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' read file names to search, one by one,
357 ended with RET. With a prefix argument, they ask for a wildcard, and
358 search in file buffers whose file names match the specified wildcard.
359
360 +++
361 *** Autorevert Tail mode now works also for remote files.
362
363 +++
364 *** The new built-in commands `su' and `sudo' support Tramp.
365 That means, they change `default-directory' to the new users value,
366 and let commands run under that user permissions. It works even when
367 `default-directory' is already remote. Calling the external commands
368 is possible by `*su' or `*sudo', repectively.
369
370 *** When running in a new enough xterm (newer than version 242), emacs
371 asks xterm what the background color is and it sets up faces
372 accordingly for a dark background if needed (the current default is to
373 consider the background light).
374
375
376 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.2
377
378 ** CEDET (the Collection of Emacs Development Tools) is now in Emacs.
379 This is a collection of packages to aid with using Emacs as an IDE
380 (integrated development environment):
381
382 *** The Semantic package allows the use of parsers to intelligently
383 edit and navigate source code. Parsers for C/C++, Java, Javascript,
384 and several other languages are included by default, and Semantic can
385 also interface with external tools such as GNU Global and GNU Idutils.
386
387 To enable Semantic, use the global minor mode `semantic-mode'.
388 See the Semantic manual for details.
389
390 *** EDE (Emacs Development Environment) is a package for managing code
391 projects, including features such as automatic Makefile generation.
392
393 To enable EDE, use the minor mode `global-ede-mode'.
394 See the EDE manual for details.
395
396 *** SRecode is a library for recoding Semantic tags back into source
397 code. It is currently used by some parts of Semantic and EDE; in the
398 future, it may be used for code generation features.
399
400 *** The EIEIO library implements a subset of the Common Lisp Object
401 System (CLOS). It is used by the other CEDET packages.
402
403 ** mpc.el is a front end for the Music Player Daemon. Run it with M-x mpc.
404
405 ** htmlfontify.el turns a fontified Emacs buffer into an HTML page.
406
407 ** js.el is a new major mode for JavaScript files.
408
409 ** imap-hash.el is a new library to address IMAP mailboxes as hashtables.
410
411
412 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.2
413
414 ** Several obsolete functions removed.
415 The functions have been obsolete since Emacs 19, and are unlikely to
416 be in use:
417
418 time-stamp-month-dd-yyyy, time-stamp-dd/mm/yyyy, time-stamp-mon-dd-yyyy
419 time-stamp-dd-mon-yy, time-stamp-yy/mm/dd, time-stamp-yyyy/mm/dd,
420 time-stamp-yyyy-mm-dd, time-stamp-yymmdd, time-stamp-hh:mm:ss,
421 time-stamp-hhmm, baud-rate
422
423 ---
424 ** Support for generating Emacs 18 compatible bytecode (by setting
425 the variable `byte-compile-compatibility') has been removed.
426
427 ** In image-mode.el `image-mode-maybe' is obsolete. Instead, you can
428 either use `image-mode' that displays an image file as the actual image
429 inititally, or `image-mode-as-text' when you want to display an image file
430 as text inititally. `image-mode-as-text' is a combination of a non-image
431 mode from `auto-mode-alist' (or Fundamental mode) and `image-minor-mode'.
432 `image-minor-mode' provides `C-c C-c' key binding to toggle image display.
433 `image-toggle-display-text' removes image properties.
434 `image-toggle-display-image' adds image properties.
435 `image-toggle-display' toggles between `image-mode-as-text' and
436 `image-mode'.
437
438
439 * Lisp changes in Emacs 23.2
440
441 ** make-network-socket can now also create `seqpacket' Unix sockets.
442
443 ** New function `completion-in-region' to use the standard completion
444 facilities on a particular region of text.
445
446 ** The 4th arg to all-completions (aka hide-spaces) is declared obsolete.
447
448 ** read-file-name-predicate is obsolete. It was used to pass the predicate
449 to read-file-name-internal because read-file-name-internal abused its `pred'
450 argument to pass the current directory, but this hack is not needed
451 any more.
452
453 ** Frame parameter changes
454
455 *** You can give the `fullscreen' frame parameter the value `maximized'.
456 This maximizes the frame.
457
458 +++
459 *** The new frame parameter `sticky' makes Emacs frames sticky in
460 virtual desktops.
461
462 ** completion-base-size is obsoleted by completion-base-position.
463 This change causes a few backward incompatibilities, mostly with
464 choose-completion-string-functions where the `mini-p' argument has
465 been replaced by a `base-position' argument, and where the `base-size'
466 argument is now always nil.
467
468 ** called-interactively-p now takes one argument and replaces interactive-p
469 which is now marked obsolete.
470 ** New function set-advertised-calling-convention makes it possible
471 to obsolete arguments as well as make some arguments mandatory.
472 ** eval-next-after-load is obsolete.
473 ** New hook `after-load-functions' run after loading an Elisp file.
474
475 ** You can control which binding is preferentially shown in menus and
476 docstrings by adding a `:advertised-binding' property to the corresponding
477 command's symbol. That property can hold a single binding or a list
478 of bindings.
479
480 ** New macro with-silent-modifications to tweak text properties without
481 affecting the buffer's modification state.
482 ** All the default-FOO variables that hold the default value of the FOO
483 variable, are now declared obsolete.
484
485 ** read-key is a function halfway between read-event and read-key-sequence.
486 It reads a single key, but obeys input and escape sequence decoding.
487
488 ** start-process-shell-command and start-file-process-shell-command
489 now only take a single `command' argument.
490
491 ** The variable `process-file-side-effects' shall be bound to nil, if
492 a `process-file' call does not change a remote file. By this, file
493 name handlers like Tramp can apply optimizations.
494
495 ** Hash tables have a new printed representation that is readable.
496 The feature `hashtable-print-readable' identifies this new
497 functionality.
498
499 ** Functions performing Unicode normalization are added. They are:
500 ucs-normalize-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-NFD-string,
501 ucs-normalize-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-NFC-string,
502 ucs-normalize-NFKD-region, ucs-normalize-NFKD-string,
503 ucs-normalize-NFKC-region, ucs-normalize-NFKC-string,
504 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFD-string,
505 ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-region, ucs-normalize-HFS-NFC-string.
506
507 ** completion-annotate-function specifies how to compute annotations
508 for completions displayed in *Completions*.
509
510 +++
511 ** Face aliases can now be marked as obsolete, using the macro
512 `define-obsolete-face-alias'.
513
514 ---
515 ** Changing the file-names generated by byte-compilation by redefining
516 the function `byte-compile-dest-file' before loading bytecomp.el is obsolete.
517 Instead, customize byte-compile-dest-file-function.
518
519 ---
520 ** `byte-compile-warnings' has new members, `constants' and `suspicious'.
521
522 ** `delete-directory' has an optional parameter RECURSIVE.
523
524 ** New function `copy-directory', which copies a directory recursively.
525
526 +++
527 ** New function `window-full-height-p', analogous to the full-width version.
528
529
530 * Changes in Emacs 23.2 on non-free operating systems
531
532 ---
533 ** On MS-Windows, `display-time' now displays the system load average
534 as well as the time, as it does on GNU and Unix.
535
536
537 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
538
539 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
540 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
541 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
542
543 ** New font code.
544 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
545 backends. This uses the freetype and fontconfig libraries.
546
547 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
548 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
549
550 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
551 where Emacs is running).
552
553 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
554
555 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
556 OpenType fonts.
557
558 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
559
560 ** Changes to image support
561
562 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
563 a GIF library.
564
565 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
566
567 *** Emacs now supports multi-page TIFF images.
568
569 ** New NeXTSTEP-based port
570 This provides support for GNUstep (via the GNUstep libraries) and Mac
571 OS X (via the Cocoa libraries).
572
573 Specify --with-ns to configure for this. By default, a self-contained
574 app will be built (containing all lisp). To install/share lisp with
575 other emacsen (e.g. X11 build) use --disable-ns-self-contained. See
576 nextstep/README and nextstep/INSTALL in the Emacs source directory.
577
578 ** Mac OS X is no longer supported via Carbon.
579 Use the NeXTSTEP port, described above.
580
581 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
582 bindings for Emacs.
583
584 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
585 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
586
587 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
588
589 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
590
591 *** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
592
593 ** The following platforms will be removed in a future Emacs version:
594 If you are still using Emacs on one of these platforms, please email
595 emacs-devel@gnu.org to inform the Emacs developers.
596
597 *** Old GNU/Linux systems based on libc version 5.
598
599 *** Old FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD systems based on the COFF
600 executable format.
601
602 *** Solaris versions 2.6 and below.
603
604 *** Solaris on IBM RS6000 machines.
605
606 *** UNIX System V (the original SysV, not later platforms based on it).
607
608 *** Unixware on non-x86 machines.
609
610 *** Platforms not supporting shared libraries (i.e., requiring the
611 NO_SHARED_LIBS compilation flag).
612
613 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
614 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
615 you need control over which C compiler is used.
616
617 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
618
619 ** The manuals are now licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License v1.3,
620 or any later version.
621
622 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
623 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
624 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
625
626 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
627
628 ** Improved X Window System support
629
630 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
631 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
632 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
633 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
634 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
635 There may be problems if a display exits unexpectedly and Emacs is compiled
636 with Gtk+, see etc/PROBLEMS.
637
638 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
639 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
640
641 *** Emacs starts in the background, as a daemon, when given the
642 --daemon command line argument. It disconnects from the terminal and
643 starts the server. Clients can connect and create graphical or
644 terminal frames using emacsclient.
645
646 **** emacsclient starts emacs in daemon mode and connects to it when
647 --alternate-editor="" is used (or when the evironment variable
648 ALTERNATE_EDITOR is set to "") and emacsclient cannot connect to an
649 emacs server.
650
651 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
652 remote display. There are some bugs for Gtk+. See etc/PROBLEMS.
653
654 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
655 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
656 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
657 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
658 for details about XEmbed.
659
660 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
661 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
662 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
663 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, on Mac
664 OS X, or on Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
665
666 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
667 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
668 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
669 active frame and INACTIVE is the opacity of non-active frames.
670
671 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
672 opacity; the default is 20.
673
674 ** Internationalization changes
675
676 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
677 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
678
679 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
680 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs' (`emacs-internal' is an alias
681 for this). This encoding is backward-compatible with Unicode's UTF-8
682 encoding. The internal encoding previously used by Emacs,
683 `emacs-mule', is still available for reading and writing files.
684
685 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
686 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
687 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
688 or 22 are loaded correctly as `emacs-mule' (whether or not they
689 contain multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it
690 may be worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be
691 shared with older Emacsen.
692
693 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
694
695 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
696 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
697 as tables of unicodes.
698
699 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
700 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
701 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
702
703 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
704 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
705
706 *** `ucs-insert' is bound to `C-x 8 RET' and in addition to hex numbers
707 accepts numbers in hash notation (e.g. #o21430 for octal, or #10r8984 for
708 decimal). It also accepts Unicode character names with completion.
709
710 *** The `cyrillic-translit' input method supports many new characters.
711 Common typographical characters available from Unicode were added to
712 `cyrillic-translit': punctuation marks, accented characters, fractions,
713 and others.
714
715 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
716 Windows. The new command `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal
717 on a serial port. The serial port can be configured at runtime with
718 the mode-line mouse menu.
719
720 ** Menu Bar changes
721
722 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
723 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
724 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
725 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
726 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
727
728 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
729 "Save Options" item is used.
730
731 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
732 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
733 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
734
735 *** In the Options menu, the "Truncate Long Lines in the Buffer" entry
736 has been replaced with a submenu offering three different ways to
737 handle long lines: truncation, continuation at the window edge, and
738 the new word wrapping behavior (see Editing Changes, below).
739
740 *** Improvements to menus for major and minor modes
741 More major and minor modes now have a mode specific menu, and existing
742 mode menus have been improved to include more functionality.
743
744 ** Mode-line changes
745
746 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
747 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
748
749 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
750 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
751
752 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
753 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
754
755 *** The mode-line tooltips have been improved to provide more details.
756
757 *** The VC, line/colum number and minor mode indicators on the mode
758 line are now interactive: mouse-1 can be used on them to pop up a menu.
759
760 ** File deletion can make use of the Recycle Bin or system Trash folder.
761 Set `delete-by-moving-to-trash' non-nil to use this. Deleted files
762 and directories will then be sent to the Recycle Bin on Windows, and
763 to `trash-directory' on other systems.
764
765 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
766 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-locals.el for directory-local
767 variables. For more information, see `dir-locals-set-directory-class'
768 and `dir-locals-set-class-variables'.
769
770 ** Emacs can now use `auth-source' for authentication.
771 `smtpmail' and `url' (Tramp and Gnus also) use `auth-source' to obtain
772 login names and passwords. The match, if found, is reported
773 in *Messages* with the password blanked out.
774
775 ** `where-is-preferred-modifier' can specify your favorite modifier.
776
777
778 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
779
780 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
781 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
782 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
783 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
784 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
785
786 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
787 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
788 file or directory.
789
790 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
791 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
792 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
793 following arguments.
794
795 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
796
797 ** Emacs now supports invocation by an X session manager.
798 It can save a session and restore it later. See the documentation of
799 the functions `emacs-session-save' and `emacs-session-restore'.
800 (Actually, this feature was introduced with Emacs 22, but it was not
801 documented.)
802
803 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
804
805 ** In Dired, `dired-flag-garbage-files' is rebound from `&' to `%&'
806 on the regexp command prefix map.
807
808 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
809 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
810 the history list.
811
812 ** In Isearch mode, a special case of typing `C-w' at the beginning of
813 the minibuffer that toggles word search (i.e. using key sequences
814 `C-s RET C-w' or `C-s M-e C-w') is obsolete. You can use the global key
815 `M-s w' to start word search, or type `M-s w' in Isearch mode to
816 toggle word search. To start nonincremental word search you can now use
817 `M-s w RET' and `M-s w C-r RET' instead of `C-s RET C-w' and `C-r RET C-w'.
818
819 ** In Info, `Info-search' is unbound from `M-s' to allow using `M-s w'
820 for word search as well as other search commands from the global prefix
821 key `M-s'. `Info-search' is still bound to `s', and also incremental
822 search commands `C-s', `C-M-s', `C-r', `C-M-r' are available for searching
823 through multiple Info nodes, together with their nonincremental versions
824 `C-s RET', `C-r RET', `C-M-s RET', `C-M-r RET', `M-s w RET'.
825
826 ** In Text mode, `center-line' and `center-paragraph' are rebound from
827 `M-s' and `M-S' to global keys `M-o M-s' and `M-o M-S' on the global
828 prefix map `M-o', which is intended for such formatting commands.
829
830 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
831 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
832 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
833 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
834 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
835 identical.
836
837
838 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
839
840 ** The C-n and C-p line-motion commands now move by screen lines,
841 taking continued lines and variable-width characters into account.
842 Setting `line-move-visual' to nil reverts this to the previous
843 behavior (i.e., motion by logical lines based on buffer contents
844 alone).
845
846 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
847 invokes `suspend-frame'. These changes are for compatibility with the
848 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
849
850 ** Mark changes
851
852 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
853
854 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
855
856 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
857 activating it.
858
859 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
860 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
861
862 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
863 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
864 word at point.
865
866 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
867 region is active.
868
869 *** The variable `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty
870 active region in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on
871 that empty region.
872
873 ** Temporarily active regions
874
875 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
876 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
877 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
878 region, similar to mouse-selection.
879
880 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
881 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
882 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
883 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
884 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
885 buffer).
886
887 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
888
889 *** Emacs may ask for confirmation before opening a non-existent file
890 or buffer. By default, Emacs requests confirmation if you type RET
891 immediately after TAB, and the resulting input is not an existing file
892 or buffer; this usually happens when the minibuffer input did not
893 complete far enough and you entered RET by mistake. In that case,
894 Emacs puts the message "[Confirm]" in the minibuffer; type RET again
895 to create the file or buffer.
896
897 The new variable confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer determines whether
898 Emacs asks for confirmation. The default value is `after-completion'.
899 If you change it to t, Emacs always asks for confirmation; if you
900 change it to nil, Emacs never asks for confirmation.
901
902 *** The rules for performing completion have been changed.
903 When generating completion alternatives, Emacs now takes the
904 minibuffer text after point, if any, into account: this text is
905 treated as a substring of the remaining part of the completion
906 alternative (i.e., the part not matched by the minibuffer text before
907 point). If no completion alternatives are found this way, Emacs
908 attempts to perform partial-completion. If still no completion
909 alternatives are found, we fall back on the Emacs 22 rules for
910 performing completion.
911
912 The new variable `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your
913 favorite completion style.
914
915 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
916 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
917 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
918 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
919 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
920 searching minibuffer completion items.
921
922 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
923
924 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
925 name of the current buffer.
926
927 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
928 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
929 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
930 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
931 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
932
933 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
934 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
935 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last Isearch
936 regexp, the last Isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
937
938 *** When enable-recursive-minibuffers is non-nil, operations which use
939 switch-to-buffer (such as C-x b and C-x C-f) do not fail any more when
940 used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they fallback on
941 using pop-to-buffer, which will use some other window. This change
942 has no effect when enable-recursive-minibuffers is nil (the default).
943
944 *** Isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
945 Reverse Isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
946 history elements, and forward Isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
947 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
948 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
949 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
950 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
951
952 *** The variable read-file-name-completion-ignore-case overrides
953 completion-ignore-case for file name completion.
954
955 *** The variable read-buffer-completion-ignore-case overrides
956 completion-ignore-case for buffer name completion.
957
958 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
959 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
960
961 *** If `completion-auto-help' is `lazy', Emacs shows the completions
962 buffer only on the second attempt to complete. This was already
963 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
964
965 ** Face changes
966
967 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
968 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
969 via face remapping (see Lisp changes, below).
970
971 *** New commands to change the default face size in the current buffer.
972 To increase it, type `C-x C-+' or `C-x C-='. To decrease it, type
973 `C-x C--'. To restore the default (global) face size, type `C-x C-0'.
974 These work via Text Scale mode, a new minor mode.
975
976 The final key in the above commands may be repeated without the
977 leading `C-x', e.g. `C-x C-= C-= C-=' increases the face height by
978 three steps. Each step scales the height of the default face by the
979 value of the variable `text-scale-mode-step'.
980
981 *** The commands buffer-face-mode and buffer-face-set can be used to
982 remap the default face in the current buffer. See "Buffer Face mode",
983 under New Modes and Packages.
984
985 ** Primary selection changes
986
987 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
988 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
989
990 ** Continuation lines can now be wrapped at word boundaries
991 (word-wrapping). This is controlled by the new per-buffer variable
992 `word-wrap'. Word wrapping does not take place if continuation lines
993 are not shown, e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil. The most convenient
994 way to enable word-wrapping is using the new minor mode Visual Line
995 mode; in addition to setting `word-wrap' to t, this rebinds some
996 editing commands to work on screen lines rather than text lines. See
997 New Modes and Packages, below.
998
999 ** Window management changes
1000
1001 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
1002 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
1003 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 50.
1004
1005 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
1006 vertically and horizontally.
1007
1008 *** pop-to-buffer now always sets input focus when the popped-to window
1009 is on a different frame.
1010
1011 ** Miscellaneous changes:
1012
1013 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
1014 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
1015 successive invocations.
1016
1017 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
1018
1019 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
1020 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
1021 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
1022
1023 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
1024 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
1025 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
1026
1027 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
1028 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
1029 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
1030 run processes remotely.
1031
1032 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
1033 matches a regexp.
1034
1035 *** The value of comment-style now defaults to `indent'.
1036 Thefore, comment-start markers are inserted at the current indentation
1037 of the region to comment, rather than the leftmost column.
1038
1039 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
1040 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
1041
1042 *** The new command `set-file-modes' allows to set file's mode bits.
1043 The mode bits can be specified in symbolic notation, like with GNU
1044 Coreutils, in addition to an octal number. `chmod' is a new
1045 convenience alias for this function.
1046
1047 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
1048 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
1049 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
1050
1051 *** When typing in a password in the echo area, C-y yanks the current
1052 kill into the password.
1053
1054 *** Tooltip frame parameters `font' and `color' in `tooltip-frame-parameters'
1055 are ignored. Customize the `tooltip' face instead.
1056
1057 *** `mkdir' is a new convenience alias for `make-directory'.
1058
1059 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1060
1061 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
1062 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
1063 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
1064
1065 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
1066
1067 ** Buffer Face mode is a minor mode for remapping the default face in
1068 the current buffer. The variable `buffer-face-mode-face' specifies
1069 the face to remap to. The command `buffer-face-set' prompts for a
1070 face name, sets `buffer-face-mode-face' to it, and enables
1071 buffer-face-mode. See "Face changes", under Editing Changes, for a
1072 description of face remapping.
1073
1074 ** butterfly flips the desired bit on the drive platter.
1075 See http://xkcd.com/378/
1076
1077 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
1078
1079 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
1080 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
1081 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
1082
1083 ** DocView mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
1084 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
1085 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
1086
1087 PDF and DVI files are now opened in Doc View mode by default.
1088
1089 In Postcript mode, C-c C-c launches Doc View minor mode for viewing
1090 the postscript file.
1091
1092 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
1093 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
1094 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
1095 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
1096
1097 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
1098 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
1099
1100 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
1101 current buffer.
1102
1103 ** mairix.el is an interface to mairix, a free tool for indexing and
1104 searching locally stored mail. It allows you to query mairix and
1105 display the search results with Rmail, Gnus and VM. Note that there
1106 is an existing Gnus back end, nnmairix.el, which should be used with
1107 Maildir/MH setups.
1108
1109 ** minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
1110
1111 ** nXML Mode
1112 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
1113 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
1114 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
1115
1116 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
1117 any invalid parts of your document.
1118
1119 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
1120 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
1121 allowed by the schema in that context.
1122
1123 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on
1124 processes. Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the
1125 current processes. You can use the normal Emacs commands to move
1126 around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on the
1127 processes listed. It is currently only functional on GNU/Linux,
1128 MS-Windows and Solaris.
1129
1130 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
1131 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
1132 Manual.
1133
1134 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing reStructuredText files.
1135
1136 ** Ruby mode is a major mode for Ruby files.
1137
1138 ** Visual Line mode provides support for editing by visual lines.
1139 It turns on word-wrapping in the current buffer, and rebinds C-a, C-e,
1140 and C-k to commands that operate by visual lines instead of logical
1141 lines. This is a more reliable replacement for longlines-mode.
1142 This can also be turned on using the menu bar, via
1143 Options -> Line Wrapping in this Buffer -> Word Wrap
1144
1145 ** xesam.el is an implementation of Xesam, an interface to (desktop)
1146 search engines like Beagle, Strigi, and Tracker. The Xesam API
1147 requires D-Bus for communication.
1148
1149 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
1150 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
1151 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
1152 which have installed this software.
1153
1154 ** There is a new `whitespace' package.
1155 (The pre-existing one has been renamed to `old-whitespace'.)
1156 Now, besides reporting bogus blanks, the whitespace package has a
1157 minor mode and a global minor mode to visualize blanks (TAB, (HARD)
1158 SPACE and NEWLINE). The visualization is made via faces and/or display
1159 table. It can also indicate lines that extend beyond a given column,
1160 trailing blanks, and empty lines at the start or end of a buffer.
1161 See `whitespace-style' for more details. The `whitespace-action' option
1162 specifies what to do when a buffer is visited, killed, or written.
1163
1164
1165 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
1166
1167 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
1168
1169 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
1170 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
1171
1172 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
1173
1174 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
1175 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
1176
1177 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
1178
1179 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
1180
1181 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
1182 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
1183
1184 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
1185 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
1186 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
1187
1188 ** Apropos
1189
1190 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
1191
1192 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
1193
1194 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
1195 Note, however, that the free version of the unrar command only handles
1196 versions 1 and 2 of the Rar format.
1197
1198 ** BibTeX mode
1199
1200 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
1201
1202 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
1203 `string', disabled by default.
1204
1205 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
1206 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
1207
1208 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
1209
1210 ** Bookmarks
1211
1212 *** bookmark.el saves bookmarks in a pre-Emacs-23-incompatible file format
1213 bookmark.el can read a .emacs.bmk file saved by an older Emacs, but an
1214 older Emacs cannot read one saved by Emacs 23.
1215
1216 ** Calendar and diary
1217
1218 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
1219 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
1220 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
1221 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
1222
1223 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
1224 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
1225 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
1226 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
1227 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
1228 using the new names.
1229
1230 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
1231 See the variables:
1232 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
1233 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
1234
1235 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
1236 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
1237
1238 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
1239 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
1240
1241 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
1242 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
1243
1244 ** Change Log mode
1245
1246 *** The new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file) finds the file
1247 associated with the current log entry.
1248
1249 *** The new command C-c C-c (change-log-goto-source) goes to the
1250 source code associated with a log entry.
1251
1252 ** Compile and grep modes
1253
1254 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
1255 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
1256 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
1257
1258 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
1259 the first error encountered during compilations.
1260
1261 *** compilation-scroll-output accepts a new value, `first-error', which
1262 says to stop auto scrolling at the first error that occurs.
1263
1264 *** The `cc' alias for C++ files in `grep-file-aliases' has been
1265 improved. `hh' can be used to match C++ header files and `cchh' both
1266 C++ sources and headers.
1267
1268 ** Copyright
1269
1270 *** You can specify your copyright holders' names.
1271 Only copyright lines with holders matching `copyright-names-regexp' are
1272 considered for update.
1273
1274 *** Copyrights can be at the end of the buffer.
1275 This is controlled by `copyright-at-end-flag' (used by, e.g., change-log-mode).
1276
1277 ** Custom
1278
1279 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
1280 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
1281
1282 ** Diff mode
1283
1284 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
1285 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
1286 diff-auto-refine-mode. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
1287
1288 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
1289 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
1290 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
1291
1292 *** Turning on `whitespace-mode' in a diff buffer will show trailing
1293 whitespace problems in the modified lines.
1294
1295 ** Dired
1296
1297 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
1298 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
1299 saving changes.
1300
1301 *** `&' runs the command `dired-do-async-shell-command' that executes
1302 the command asynchronously without the need to manually add ampersand
1303 to the end of the command. Its output appears in the buffer `*Async Shell
1304 Command*'.
1305
1306 *** `M-s f C-s' and `M-s f M-C-s' run Isearch that matches only at file names.
1307 When a new user option `dired-isearch-filenames' is t, then even ordinary
1308 Isearch started with `C-s' and `C-M-s' matches only at file names in the
1309 Dired buffer. When `dired-isearch-filenames' is `dwim' then activation of
1310 file name Isearch depends on the position of point - if point is on a file
1311 name initially, then Isearch matches only file names, otherwise it matches
1312 everywhere in the Dired buffer. You can toggle file names matching on or
1313 off by typing `M-s f' in Isearch mode.
1314
1315 *** `M-s a C-s' and `M-s a M-C-s' run multi-file Isearch on the marked files.
1316 They visit the first marked file in the sequence and display the usual Isearch
1317 prompt for a string or a regexp where all Isearch commands are available.
1318
1319 *** `Q' in Dired provides two new keys for multi-file replacement.
1320 The upper case key `Y' replaces all remaining matches in all remaining files
1321 with no more questions. The upper case key `N' stops doing replacements
1322 in the current file and skips to the next file. These multi-file keys
1323 are available for all commands that use `tags-query-replace'
1324 including `dired-do-query-replace-regexp', `vc-dir-query-replace-regexp',
1325 `reftex-query-replace-document'.
1326
1327 ** Fortran
1328
1329 *** The line length of fixed-form Fortran is not fixed at 72 any more.
1330 Customize the variable `fortran-line-length' to change it.
1331
1332 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
1333 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
1334
1335 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
1336
1337 ** Gnus
1338
1339 *** The Gnus package has been updated
1340 There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
1341 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
1342
1343 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
1344 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
1345 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
1346 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
1347
1348 *** Passwords are consistently loaded through `auth-source'
1349 Gnus can use `auth-source' for POP and IMAP passwords. Also see that
1350 `smtpmail' and `url' support `auth-source' for SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS/RSS
1351 authentication respectively.
1352
1353 ** Help mode
1354
1355 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
1356 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
1357
1358 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
1359 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
1360
1361 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits one to specify a new
1362 position for point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
1363
1364 ** Isearch
1365
1366 *** New command `isearch-forward-word' bound globally to `M-s w' starts
1367 incremental word search. New command `isearch-toggle-word' bound to the
1368 same key `M-s w' in Isearch mode toggles word searching on or off
1369 while Isearch is active.
1370
1371 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r' in Isearch
1372 mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer') with the current
1373 search string as its regexp argument. The same key `M-s h r' and
1374 other keys on the `M-s h' prefix are bound globally to the command
1375 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands.
1376
1377 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in Isearch mode
1378 runs `occur' with the current search string. The same key `M-s o'
1379 is bound globally to the command `occur'.
1380
1381 *** Isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
1382 When running Isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
1383 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
1384 if there is one (e.g. going from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
1385 This is enabled if multi-isearch-search is non-nil.
1386
1387 *** Two new commands to start Isearch on a list of marked buffers
1388 for buff-menu.el and ibuffer.el are bound to the keys `M-s a C-s' and
1389 `M-s a M-C-s'.
1390
1391 *** The part of an Isearch that failed to match is highlighted in
1392 `isearch-fail' face.
1393
1394 *** `C-h C-h' in Isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
1395 `C-h b' displays all Isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
1396 documentation of the given Isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
1397 documentation of Isearch mode. All the rest Help commands exit Isearch mode
1398 and execute their global definitions.
1399
1400 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
1401 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
1402
1403 ** MH-E
1404
1405 *** Upgraded to MH-E version 8.2. See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1406
1407 ** Python
1408 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
1409 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
1410
1411 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
1412 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
1413 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
1414 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
1415
1416 ** Recentf
1417
1418 *** The default value of `recentf-keep' prevents from checking of
1419 remote files, if there is no established connection to the
1420 corresponding remote host.
1421
1422 ** Rmail
1423
1424 *** Rmail no longer converts the messages to Babyl format.
1425 Instead, it uses UNIX mbox format, both on disk and in Rmail buffers,
1426 and does conversion and decoding when a message is displayed.
1427
1428 The first time you visit an Rmail file in Babyl format, Rmail
1429 automatically converts it to mbox format. This is a one-time
1430 conversion, but it can take a few minutes, depending on how fast is
1431 your machine and on the size of the file. You should find the rest of
1432 Rmail usage unaltered.
1433
1434 However, M-x set-rmail-inbox-list now lasts only for one session
1435 because there is no way to save the list of inbox files in an
1436 mbox-format file.
1437
1438 Also, whereas with Babyl format M-x find-file would switch to Rmail
1439 mode, with mbox format this is no longer the case (there being no way
1440 to add an "-*- rmail-*-" cookie to an mbox file). Use C-u M-x rmail
1441 instead.
1442
1443 If you have written any extensions to Rmail, they are likely to need
1444 updating. Conceptually, the Rmail buffer that you see is no longer
1445 just a narrowed portion of the whole. So you cannot access the whole
1446 of a message (or message collection) by a simple save-restriction and
1447 widen. Instead, there are two buffers: the rmail-buffer, and the
1448 rmail-view-buffer. The former is the buffer that you see, the latter
1449 is invisible. Most of the time, the invisible `view' buffer contains
1450 the full contents of the Rmail file, and the Rmail buffer contains a
1451 decoded copy of the current message (with only a subset of the
1452 headers). In this state, Rmail is said to be `swapped'.
1453
1454 You may find the following functions useful:
1455
1456 `rmail-get-header' and `rmail-set-header' get or set the value of a
1457 message header, whether or not it is currently visible.
1458
1459 `rmail-apply-in-message' is a general purpose function that calls a
1460 function (with arguments) which you specify on the full text of a given
1461 message. To further narrow to just the headers, search forward for "\n\n".
1462
1463 *** The new command `rmail-mime' displays MIME messages.
1464 It is bound to `v' in Rmail buffers and summaries. It displays plain
1465 text and multipart messages in a temporary buffer, and offers buttons
1466 to save attachments.
1467
1468 *** The command `rmail-redecode-body' no longer accepts the optional arg RAW.
1469 Since Rmail now holds messages in their original undecoded form in a
1470 separate buffer, `rmail-redecode-body' no longer encodes the original
1471 message, and therefore there should be no need to avoid encoding it.
1472
1473 *** The o command is now `rmail-output'. It is an all-purpose command
1474 for copying messages from Rmail and appending them to files. It
1475 handles Babyl-format files as well as mbox-format files, and it
1476 handles both kinds properly when they are visited in Emacs. It always
1477 copies the full headers of the message.
1478
1479 *** The C-o command is now `rmail-output-as-seen'. It uses
1480 the message as displayed, appending it to an mbox file.
1481
1482 *** The modified status of the Rmail buffer is reported in the mode-line.
1483 Previously, this information was hidden.
1484
1485 ** TeX modes
1486
1487 *** New option latex-indent-within-escaped-parens
1488 permits to customize indentation of LaTeX environments delimited
1489 by escaped parens.
1490
1491 ** T-mouse Mode
1492
1493 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
1494 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
1495 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
1496 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
1497 minibuffer.
1498
1499 ** Tramp
1500
1501 *** New connection methods.
1502 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
1503 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
1504 "tunnel" and "socks".
1505
1506 *** IPv6 addresses.
1507 IPv6 addresses are supported now as host names. They must be embedded
1508 in square brackets, like in "/ssh:[::1]:".
1509
1510 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
1511 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead, multi hops
1512 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
1513
1514 *** More default settings.
1515 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
1516 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
1517
1518 *** Connection information is cached.
1519 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
1520 connections is kept persistently in a file. The name of this file is
1521 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
1522
1523 *** Control of remote processes.
1524 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
1525 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
1526
1527 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
1528 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
1529 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
1530
1531 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
1532 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
1533 necessary.
1534
1535 ** VC and related modes
1536
1537 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
1538 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
1539 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
1540 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
1541 a single changeset.
1542
1543 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
1544 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file, a
1545 directory or a set of files/directories.
1546
1547 *** VC switches are no longer appended, rather the first non-nil value is used.
1548 (This was for the most part true in Emacs 22, but was not advertised).
1549 This is because there is an increasing variety of VC systems, and they
1550 do not all accept the same "common" options. For example, a CVS diff
1551 command used to append the values of `vc-cvs-diff-switches',
1552 `vc-diff-switches', and `diff-switches'. Now the first non-nil value
1553 from that sequence is used. The special value `t' means "no switches".
1554
1555 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
1556
1557 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
1558
1559 *** In VC Annotate mode, the key bindings have changed to use lower
1560 case keys instead of the upper case keys used in the past.
1561
1562 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1563 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1564 by typing the D key. Using the "Show changeset diff of revision at
1565 line" menu entry does the same thing.
1566
1567 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type v to toggle the annotation visibility.
1568
1569 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
1570 the current line.
1571
1572 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
1573 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
1574 active.
1575
1576 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
1577 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
1578 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
1579
1580 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
1581 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
1582 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
1583
1584 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
1585
1586 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
1587
1588 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of a maintainer able
1589 to update it to the new VC.
1590
1591 ** Miscellaneous
1592
1593 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
1594 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
1595 on the corresponding remote system.
1596
1597 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
1598 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
1599
1600 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
1601 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
1602 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
1603
1604 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
1605 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
1606
1607 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
1608 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
1609
1610 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
1611
1612 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
1613 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
1614
1615 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
1616 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
1617
1618 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
1619
1620 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
1621 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
1622
1623 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
1624 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
1625
1626 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
1627
1628 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
1629
1630 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
1631 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see
1632 smerge-auto-refine-mode.
1633
1634 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
1635
1636 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
1637 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
1638 several time zones.
1639
1640 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
1641 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
1642 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
1643 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
1644
1645 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
1646 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
1647
1648 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
1649 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
1650
1651
1652 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
1653
1654 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
1655 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
1656 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
1657 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
1658 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
1659
1660 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
1661 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
1662 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
1663 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
1664 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
1665
1666 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
1667 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
1668 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
1669
1670 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
1671 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
1672 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
1673 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
1674 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
1675
1676 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
1677 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
1678 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
1679 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
1680 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
1681
1682 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
1683 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
1684 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
1685 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
1686 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
1687 for the list of extra keys that are available.
1688
1689 ** BDF fonts no longer supported on MS-Windows.
1690 The font backend was completely rewritten for this release. The focus
1691 on Windows has been getting acceptable performance and full unicode
1692 support, including complex script shaping for native Windows fonts. A
1693 rewrite of the BDF font support has not happened due to lack of time
1694 and developers. If demand still exists for such a backend even with
1695 the improved language support for native Windows fonts, future
1696 development in this direction will most likely be based on the
1697 freetype library, giving access to a wider range of font formats.
1698
1699
1700 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1701
1702 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
1703
1704 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
1705 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
1706
1707 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
1708 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
1709 that range have the same value.
1710
1711 ** Process changes
1712
1713 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
1714
1715 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
1716 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
1717 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
1718 obsolete.
1719
1720 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
1721 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
1722 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
1723 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
1724 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
1725 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
1726 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
1727
1728 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
1729 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
1730
1731 ** The function x-font-family-list has been removed.
1732 Use the new function font-family-list (see Lisp Changes, below).
1733
1734 ** Internationalization changes
1735
1736 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
1737
1738 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
1739 have been removed.
1740
1741 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
1742 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
1743 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
1744
1745 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
1746 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
1747 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
1748
1749 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
1750 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
1751
1752 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
1753 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
1754
1755 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
1756 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
1757
1758 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
1759 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
1760
1761 *** The meaning of NAME argument of `set-fontset-font' is changed.
1762 Previously nil is accepted as the default fontset. Now, nil is for
1763 the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the default fontset.
1764
1765 *** The meaning of FONTSET argument of `print-fontset' is changed.
1766 Now, nil is for the fontset of the selected frame and t is for the
1767 default fontset.
1768
1769 ** If a function in write-region-annotate-functions returns with a
1770 different buffer current, Emacs no longer kills that buffer
1771 automatically. This behavior existed in previous versions of Emacs,
1772 but was undocumented. To kill a buffer after write-region, give the
1773 variable `write-region-post-annotation-function' a buffer-local value
1774 of `kill-buffer'.
1775
1776 ** The variable temp-file-name-pattern has been removed.
1777 This variable was only used by call-process-region, which now uses
1778 temporary-file-directory instead.
1779
1780 ** The COUNT and SYSTEM-FLAG arguments to define-abbrev have been
1781 removed. The function now takes extra arguments for specifying
1782 arbitrary abbrev properties.
1783
1784 ** end-of-defun-function is now guaranteed to work only when called
1785 from the start of a defun. It must now leave point exactly at the end
1786 of defun, since `end-of-defun' now itself moves forward over
1787 whitespace after calling it.
1788
1789
1790 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
1791
1792 ** The new variable `generate-autoload-cookie' controls the magic comment
1793 string used by `update-file-autoloads' to find autoloaded forms. The
1794 variable `generated-autoload-file' similarly controls the name of the
1795 file where `update-file-autoloads' writes the calls to `autoload'.
1796 The default values are ";;;###autoload" and `loaddefs.el',
1797 respectively.
1798
1799 ** New primitives `list-system-processes' and `process-attributes'
1800 let Lisp programs access the processes that are running on the local
1801 machine. See the doc strings of these functions for more details.
1802 Not all platforms support accessing this information; on those that
1803 don't, these primitives will return nil.
1804
1805 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
1806 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
1807
1808 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
1809 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
1810 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
1811
1812 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
1813 the selected frame.
1814
1815 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
1816 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
1817 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
1818 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
1819
1820 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
1821
1822 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
1823 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
1824 strings on the kill ring.
1825
1826 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
1827 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
1828 like this:
1829
1830 (condition-case nil
1831 (foo bar)
1832 ((debug error) nil))
1833
1834 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
1835
1836 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count given to
1837 `beginning-of-defun'. (N.B. `end-of-defun-function' doesn't take any
1838 arguments.)
1839
1840 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
1841 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
1842 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
1843 remote connection has been established already.
1844
1845 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
1846 undefined functions.
1847
1848 ** Changes to interactive function handling
1849
1850 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
1851 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
1852 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
1853
1854 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
1855 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
1856 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
1857
1858 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
1859 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
1860 interactive forms to subroutines.
1861
1862 ** Region changes
1863
1864 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
1865 an active region that they should operate on.
1866
1867 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
1868 enabled and the mark is active. Most commands that act specially on
1869 the active region in Transient Mark mode should use `use-region-p'
1870 instead of `region-active-p', because `use-region-p' obeys the new
1871 user option `use-empty-active-region' (see Editing Changes, above).
1872
1873 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
1874 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
1875 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
1876 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
1877 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
1878
1879 ** Emacs session information
1880
1881 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
1882 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
1883
1884 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
1885
1886 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
1887 Emacs initialization.
1888
1889 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
1890
1891 *** display-buffer tries to be smarter when splitting windows.
1892 The new option split-window-preferred-function lets you specify your own
1893 function to pop up new windows. Its default value split-window-sensibly
1894 can split a window either vertically or horizontally, whichever seems
1895 more suitable in the current configuration. You can tune the behavior
1896 of split-window-sensibly by customizing split-height-threshold and the
1897 new option split-width-threshold. Both options now take the value nil
1898 to inhibit splitting in one direction. Setting split-width-threshold to
1899 nil inhibits horizontal splitting and gets you the behavior of Emacs 22
1900 in this respect. In any case, display-buffer may now split the largest
1901 window vertically even when it is not as wide as the containing frame.
1902
1903 *** If pop-up-frames has the value `graphic-only', display-buffer only
1904 makes a separate frame on graphic displays.
1905
1906 *** select-frame and set-frame-selected-window have a new optional
1907 argument NORECORD. If non-nil, this will avoid messing with the order
1908 of recently selected windows and the buffer list.
1909
1910 ** Window parameters can now be defined.
1911 These are analogous to frame parameters, but are associated with
1912 individual windows.
1913
1914 *** The new functions window-parameters, window-parameter, and
1915 set-window-parameter are used to query and set window parameters.
1916
1917 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
1918
1919 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
1920 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
1921 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
1922 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
1923 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
1924
1925 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
1926 regexp defaults (string at point, last Isearch/replacement regexp/string)
1927 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
1928
1929 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
1930 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
1931
1932 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts the new
1933 values `confirm-only' and `confirm-after-completion'.
1934
1935 ** Search and replacement changes
1936
1937 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
1938
1939 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
1940 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
1941
1942 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
1943 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string. The
1944 function it specifies is called by `perform-replace' when its 4th
1945 argument is nil.
1946
1947 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
1948 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
1949 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
1950 `map-query-replace-regexp'. The function it specifies is called by
1951 `perform-replace' when its 4th argument is non-nil.
1952
1953 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
1954 for search related commands.
1955
1956 *** New keymap `multi-query-replace-map' contains additonal keys bound
1957 to `automatic-all' and `exit-current' for multi-buffer interactive replacement.
1958
1959 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
1960 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
1961
1962 *** New functions `word-search-forward-lax' and `word-search-backward-lax'.
1963 These are like `word-search-forward and `word-search-backward', except
1964 that the end of the search string need not match a word boundary,
1965 unless it ends in whitespace.
1966
1967 ** File handling changes
1968
1969 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
1970 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
1971
1972 *** file-local-variables-alist stores an alist of file-local
1973 variables defined in the current buffer.
1974
1975 ** Face-remapping
1976
1977 *** Each face can be remapped to a different face definition using the
1978 variable `face-remapping-alist'. This is an alist that maps faces to
1979 replacement definitions (which can be face names, lists of face names,
1980 or attribute/value plists. If this variable is buffer-local, the
1981 remapping occurs only in that buffer.
1982
1983 *** text-scale-mode remaps the default face to a larger or smaller
1984 size in the current buffer. This feature is used by the Buffer Face
1985 menu and the new `C-x C-+', `C-x C--', and `C-x C-0' commands (see
1986 Editing Changes, above).
1987
1988 *** New functions:
1989
1990 **** `face-remap-add-relative' adds a face remapping entry to the
1991 current buffer.
1992
1993 **** ``face-remap-remove-relative' removes a face remapping entry from
1994 the current buffer.
1995
1996 **** `face-remap-reset-base' restores a face to its global definition.
1997
1998 **** `face-remap-set-base' sets the base remapping of a face.
1999
2000 ** Process changes
2001
2002 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
2003 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
2004 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
2005 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
2006 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
2007
2008 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
2009 returns its output as a list of lines.
2010
2011 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
2012
2013 *** In multibyte buffers and strings, characters are represented by
2014 UTF-8 byte sequences. The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF
2015 with no gap; code points 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the
2016 same code points, while code points 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit
2017 bytes.
2018
2019 *** Generic characters no longer exist.
2020
2021 *** The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may
2022 belong to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
2023 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
2024
2025 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
2026 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
2027
2028 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
2029 characters for display.
2030
2031 *** The functions `split-char' and `make-char' now accept up to 4
2032 positional codes instead of just 2.
2033
2034 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
2035
2036 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
2037 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
2038
2039 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
2040 priorities of charsets.
2041
2042 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
2043 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
2044 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
2045 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
2046 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
2047 `titlecase'.
2048
2049 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
2050 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
2051 entries in that range of characters.
2052
2053 *** Use of `translation-table-for-input' for character code unification
2054 is now obsolete, since Emacs 23.1 and later uses Unicode as basis for
2055 internal representation of characters.
2056
2057 *** New functions:
2058
2059 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
2060 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
2061
2062 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
2063
2064 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
2065
2066 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
2067
2068 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
2069
2070 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
2071
2072 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
2073
2074 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
2075 a character code property.
2076
2077 *** New variables:
2078
2079 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
2080 search for a word boundary.
2081
2082 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
2083
2084 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
2085
2086 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
2087 property on printing a string.
2088
2089 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
2090
2091 ** Code conversion changes
2092
2093 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
2094 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
2095
2096 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
2097 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
2098 conversion should go.
2099
2100 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
2101 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
2102 of conversion.
2103
2104 *** The new variable `inhibit-null-byte-detection' controls whether to
2105 consider text with null bytes as binary data. By default, it is
2106 `nil', and Emacs uses `no-conversion' for any text containing null
2107 bytes.
2108
2109 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
2110
2111 *** New functions:
2112
2113 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
2114 coding system priority order.
2115
2116 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
2117 encodable by the specified coding systems.
2118
2119 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
2120
2121 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
2122 by a coding system.
2123
2124 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
2125 ordered by their priorities.
2126
2127 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
2128
2129 **** `coding-system-from-name' returns a coding system matching with
2130 the argument name.
2131
2132
2133 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
2134 It has three functionalities:
2135 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
2136 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
2137 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
2138 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
2139
2140 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
2141
2142 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
2143
2144 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
2145 as an input method.
2146
2147 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
2148 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
2149 character.
2150
2151 ** Changes related to the new font backend
2152
2153 *** Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource
2154 "FontBackend". For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
2155
2156 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
2157
2158 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
2159 available on your graphic device.
2160
2161 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
2162 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
2163 currently `x' and `xft'.
2164
2165 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
2166 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
2167 set the font.
2168
2169 *** New functions:
2170
2171 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
2172
2173 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
2174
2175 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
2176
2177 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
2178
2179 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
2180
2181 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
2182
2183 **** `find-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
2184
2185 **** `font-family-list' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
2186
2187 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
2188 entity, or font object.
2189
2190 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
2191
2192 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
2193
2194 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
2195 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
2196
2197 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
2198
2199 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
2200 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
2201 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
2202 takes a frame argument.
2203
2204 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
2205 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
2206
2207 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
2208 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
2209
2210 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
2211 session.
2212
2213 *** A new `terminal' data type.
2214 The functions `get-device-terminal', `terminal-parameters',
2215 `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter' use this data type.
2216
2217 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
2218 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
2219 which is not used directly any more.
2220
2221 *** New hooks:
2222
2223 **** before-hack-local-variables-hook is called after setting new
2224 variable file-local-variables-alist, and before actually applying the
2225 file-local variables.
2226
2227 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
2228 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
2229 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
2230 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
2231
2232 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
2233 deleting a terminal.
2234
2235 *** New functions:
2236
2237 **** `delete-terminal'
2238
2239 **** `suspend-tty'
2240
2241 **** `resume-tty'.
2242
2243 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
2244
2245 ** Redisplay changes
2246
2247 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
2248 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
2249
2250 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
2251 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
2252 This is convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer
2253 position (e.g. in before/after-strings).
2254
2255 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
2256
2257 *** `vertical-motion' can now be given a goal column.
2258 It now accepts a cons cell (COLS . LINES) in its first argument, which
2259 says to stop, where possible, at a pixel x-position equal to COLS
2260 times the default column width.
2261
2262 *** redisplay-end-trigger-functions, set-window-redisplay-end-trigger,
2263 and window-redisplay-end-trigger are obsolete. Use `jit-lock-register'
2264 instead.
2265
2266 *** The new variables `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' specify display
2267 specs which are appended at display-time to every continuation line
2268 and non-continuation line, respectively. In addition, Emacs
2269 recognizes the `wrap-prefix' and `line-prefix' text or overlay
2270 properties; these have the same effects as the variables of the same
2271 name, but take precedence.
2272
2273 ** The Lisp interpreter now treats non-breaking space as whitespace.
2274
2275 ** Miscellaneous new functions
2276
2277 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
2278
2279 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
2280 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
2281
2282 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' produces a single string from a list of strings
2283 sticking a separator string in between each pair, and quoting those
2284 strings that include the separator as their substring. Useful for
2285 consing shell command lines from the individual arguments.
2286
2287 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
2288 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
2289
2290 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
2291 attributes of a given face.
2292
2293 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
2294 string of days, hours, etc.
2295
2296 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
2297 specification.
2298
2299 *** `locate-user-emacs-file' helps packages to select the appropriate
2300 place to save user-specific files. It defaults to `user-emacs-directory'
2301 unless the file already exists at $HOME.
2302
2303 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
2304
2305 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
2306 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
2307
2308 *** `split-string-and-unquote' splits a string into a list of substrings
2309 on the boundaries of a given delimiter, and unquotes the substrings that
2310 are quoted. Useful for taking apart shell commands.
2311
2312 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
2313 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
2314 the match data.
2315
2316 *** The two new functions `make-serial-process' and
2317 `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp interface to the new serial
2318 port support (see Emacs changes, above).
2319
2320 ** Miscellaneous new variables
2321
2322 *** `auto-save-include-big-deletions', if non-nil, means auto-save is
2323 not turned off automatically after a big deletion.
2324
2325 *** `read-circle', if nil, disables the reading of recursive Lisp
2326 structures using the #N= and #N# syntax.
2327
2328 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
2329 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
2330
2331 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
2332 marker used for window-point.
2333
2334 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
2335 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
2336 relevant data.
2337
2338 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
2339 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
2340
2341
2342 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
2343
2344 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
2345
2346 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
2347 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
2348
2349 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
2350
2351 ** The package misearch.el has been added. It allows Isearch to search
2352 through multiple buffers. A variable `multi-isearch-next-buffer-function'
2353 defines the function to call to get the next buffer to search in the series
2354 of multiple buffers. Top-level functions `multi-isearch-buffers',
2355 `multi-isearch-buffers-regexp', `multi-isearch-files' and
2356 `multi-isearch-files-regexp' accept a single argument that specifies
2357 a list of buffers/files to search for a string/regexp.
2358
2359 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
2360 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
2361
2362
2363 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2364 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2365
2366 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2367 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2368 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2369 (at your option) any later version.
2370
2371 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2372 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2373 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2374 GNU General Public License for more details.
2375
2376 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2377 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2378
2379
2380 Local variables:
2381 mode: outline
2382 paragraph-separate: "[ ]*$"
2383 end:
2384
2385 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2

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