1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
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.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
27 ** The default toolkit has been changed to Gtk+ version 3.
28 If you don't pass --with-x-toolkit to configure or if you pass
29 --with-x-toolkit=gtk or --with-x-toolkit=yes, configure will try to build
30 with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
31 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
32 --with-x-toolkit=gtk2 or --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 to configure.
35 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
36 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
39 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
40 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
43 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
44 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
45 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
46 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
50 ** The configure option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
51 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
52 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
53 check that this option enables.
56 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
57 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
60 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
61 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
65 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
66 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
67 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
68 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
69 links between the various manuals.
72 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
75 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
76 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
80 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
81 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
84 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
85 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
86 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
89 ** The native Windows user interface is available for Cygwin. Passing
90 --with-w32 will configure a Cygwin emacs to use the Windows user
91 interface instead of the default, X11.
94 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
97 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
98 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
99 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
102 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
105 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
107 ** minibuffer-electric-default-mode can rewrite (default ...) to [...].
108 Just set minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default to t before enabling the mode.
111 ** Most y-or-n prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
112 Typing C-v or M-v at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
113 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
116 ** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
117 next and previous path separator, respectively.
121 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
122 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
123 that does not have its own specialized help text.
125 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to
126 invokes `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
131 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
132 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
133 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
134 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
135 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
138 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
139 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
140 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
142 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
143 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
144 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
145 automatically at startup, or when customizing a relevant imagemagick-
148 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
149 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
150 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
152 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
153 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
154 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
157 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
158 :background image spec property.
160 ** Server and client changes
162 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
163 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
164 or expression to evaluate.
166 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
168 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
169 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
172 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
173 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
175 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
176 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
177 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
178 that support backtraces.
181 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
182 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
185 ** New variable `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
186 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
187 files (use this with caution).
190 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
191 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
194 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
195 local variables on remote hosts.
198 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
199 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
201 ** Internationalization changes
203 *** New language environment: Persian.
205 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
207 ** NextStep/OSX port changes.
209 *** OSX 10.4 or newer is required to build Emacs.
211 *** Fullscreen and frame parameter fullscreen is supported.
213 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
217 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
219 ** Navigation command changes
221 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
223 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
225 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
226 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
228 ** Search and Replace changes
230 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
231 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
232 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
233 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
234 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch).
236 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
237 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
239 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
240 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
243 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
244 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
245 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
248 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
249 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
252 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
253 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
257 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
258 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
259 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
263 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register.
265 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
266 the text to put between collected texts for use with M-x
267 append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
270 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
273 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
274 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
276 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
277 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
278 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
281 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
285 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
286 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
287 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
289 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
290 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
293 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
295 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
296 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
301 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
302 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
305 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
308 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
309 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
313 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
314 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
315 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
318 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
319 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
320 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
321 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
323 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is just a bunch of aliases that
324 provide the old non-prefixed names.
326 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
327 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
329 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
330 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
331 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
332 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
334 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
335 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
336 rather than making them unbound.
340 *** New option `compilation-always-kill'.
344 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
346 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
347 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
352 *** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory. Desktop
353 files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
358 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
361 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
364 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
365 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
368 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
369 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
372 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
375 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
376 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
380 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
383 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
387 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
388 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
389 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition
390 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
391 and `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
393 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
394 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
395 changes in context diffs.
397 *** The new command `diff-remove-trailing-whitespace' fixes trailing
398 whitespace problems introduced by the diff.
402 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
403 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
404 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
406 *** Typing M-n in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
407 `dired-do-chown', `dired-do-touch' pulls the file attributes of the
410 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
411 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
412 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
414 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
415 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
416 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
418 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
419 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
421 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
423 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
424 channel keys found, if any.
426 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
427 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
428 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
432 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
434 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
435 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
439 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
440 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
441 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
444 `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
448 *** New `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
449 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
451 ** Mouse Avoidance mode
453 The new variable `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to
454 customize Mouse Avoidance mode further.
457 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
458 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
461 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
462 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
464 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
468 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
469 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
470 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
473 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
474 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
475 python-indent | python-indent-offset
476 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
477 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
478 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
480 *** Some user options have been removed:
482 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
484 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
485 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
487 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
488 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
490 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
491 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
493 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
494 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
496 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
497 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
500 *** Some commands have been replaced:
501 Old command | New command
502 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
503 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
504 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
505 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
506 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
507 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
508 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
509 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
510 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
511 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
512 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
513 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
514 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
515 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
516 python-shell-switch-to-shell
517 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
518 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
519 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
521 ** reStructuredText mode
523 *** Rebind nearly all keys making room for more keys and complying
524 better to usage in other modes. Describe bindings with C-c C-h.
526 *** Major revision of indentation working very similar to other
527 modes. TAB is your friend.
529 *** Major revision of filling working fine with most of
530 reStructuredText syntax. Support auto-filling.
532 *** Major revision of comment handling.
534 *** Major revision of fontification working with `jit-lock-mode'.
536 *** Cover reStructuredText syntax more closely. Improve
537 the experience for Sphinx users.
539 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
541 *** Extend correct and improve customization.
543 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
545 *** Reset window configuration after displaying TOC.
547 *** Package version in `rst-version'.
549 *** Support `imenu' and `which-func'.
553 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
555 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
557 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
561 *** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies what buffer to use
562 for a new asynchronous shell command when the default output buffer
563 `*Async Shell Command*' is already taken by another running command.
567 *** DB2 added `sql-db2-escape-newlines'
569 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
570 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
571 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
573 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
575 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
576 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
580 The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
581 now deprecated in favor of the `term-face' face, that you can
582 customize. Also, it is now possible to customize how are displayed the
583 ANSI terminal colors and styles by customizing the corresponding
584 `term-color-<COLOR>', `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold'
589 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy
590 definitions. See the manual for details.
592 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
596 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
597 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
598 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
599 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
600 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
602 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
603 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
604 in case that is not properly encoded.
608 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
610 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
612 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
614 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
616 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
619 ** winner-mode-hook now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when it is
622 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
625 ** Obsolete packages:
628 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
629 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
630 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
645 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
647 FIXME? erc-desktop-notifications.el, gv.el, profiler.el,
648 gnus-notifications.el, mm-archive.el
651 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
653 ** set-buffer-multibyte now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
656 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
657 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
658 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
659 sequence in later calls.
662 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
663 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
664 depends on the graphical library.
666 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
667 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
668 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
671 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
672 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
673 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
677 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
678 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, defun and
679 defmacro currently return the name of the newly defined function/macro
680 but this should not be relied upon.
683 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
684 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
687 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
688 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
689 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
692 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
693 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
695 *** Renamed functions
697 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
698 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
699 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
700 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
701 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
702 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
703 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
704 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
707 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
708 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
710 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
711 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
712 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
714 *** Renamed Lisp variables
716 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
717 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
718 deactivate-current-input-method-function
720 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces were removed:
722 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
723 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
724 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'.
725 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
726 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
727 *** `set-char-table-default'
728 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector').
729 *** `compile-internal'
730 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
731 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
732 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
733 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
734 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
735 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
736 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
737 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
738 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
742 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
744 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
745 Try M-x profiler-start ... M-x profiler-stop; and then M-x profiler-report.
746 The sampling rate can be based on CPU time (only supported on some
747 systems), or based on memory allocations.
749 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
750 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
752 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
753 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
757 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
758 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
760 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
761 table, but with a different prefix.
765 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
766 These do not trigger the debugger.
768 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill'.
770 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
771 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
772 to work out which code is doing something.
774 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
775 recursive invocations.
779 *** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
780 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
781 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via M-n
782 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
783 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
787 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
788 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
790 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
792 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window'.
794 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
797 *** New function `fit-frame-to-buffer' and new options
798 `fit-frame-to-buffer' and `fit-frame-to-buffer-bottom-margin'.
800 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
801 `display-buffer-at-bottom' and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
803 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
804 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
807 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
808 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
810 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
811 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
813 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
814 to specify size of new window created by `display-buffer'.
816 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
817 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
820 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
821 **** `special-display-regexps'
822 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
823 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
824 **** `special-display-function'
825 **** `display-buffer-function'
826 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
830 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
831 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
832 by the underlying C implementation.
834 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
835 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
836 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
837 functions that use this format, such as file-attributes and
838 format-time-string, have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
839 stamps are still accepted.
841 *** The format of timers in timer-list and timer-idle-list is now
842 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
843 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
844 accessed via the new timer--psecs accessor.
847 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
848 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args, e.g. (log -1.0).
849 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
850 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
851 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
853 ** Interpreted files are eagerly macro-expanded during load.
854 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
855 but can also bump into harmless and previously unnoticed cyclic
856 dependencies. These should not be fatal: they will simply cause the
857 macro-calls to be left for later expansion (as before), but will also
858 result in a warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle")
859 describing the cycle.
861 ** Miscellaneous new functions:
864 *** `autoload-do-load'
866 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
867 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
868 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
870 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
871 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary overlay map.
873 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
875 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
876 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
878 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
880 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
882 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
883 See the "Face Attributes" section of the Elisp manual.
885 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
887 *** `automount-dir-prefix'
888 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
889 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
890 *** `window-system-version'
891 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
892 *** `query-replace-interactive'
895 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
898 ** On MS Windows, you can pass --without-libxml2 to configure.bat to omit
899 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
901 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
902 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
903 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
905 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
906 `cygwin-convert-path-from-windows' and `cygwin-convert-path-to-windows'.
907 These functions allow Lisp code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping
908 machinery to convert between Cygwin and Windows-native file names.
910 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
912 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
914 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
917 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
919 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
920 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
921 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
924 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
925 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
926 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
927 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
929 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
930 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
931 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
932 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
934 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
935 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
936 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
937 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
938 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
940 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
941 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
942 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
943 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
945 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
946 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
948 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
949 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
950 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
953 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
954 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
955 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
957 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
958 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
959 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
961 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
962 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
964 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
965 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
968 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
970 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
971 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
972 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
974 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
975 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
976 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
980 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
984 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
985 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
987 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
989 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
990 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
992 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
994 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
995 default completion style in certain circumstances.
997 *** New completion style `substring'.
999 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1001 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1005 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1006 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1007 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1008 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1009 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1010 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1012 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
1013 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
1014 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
1016 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1017 and Mail mode changes
1019 ** Emacs server and client changes
1021 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1023 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1025 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1026 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1028 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1029 its exit status is 1.
1031 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1032 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1033 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1035 ** Internationalization changes
1037 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1038 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1039 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1040 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1041 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1042 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1044 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1045 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1047 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1048 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1049 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1050 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1053 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1054 the right window edge.
1056 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1057 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1058 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1059 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1060 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1062 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1063 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1065 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1066 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1068 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1069 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1070 automatically select it.
1072 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1073 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1074 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1076 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1077 selected for installation.
1079 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1081 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1082 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1083 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1085 ** Custom theme changes
1087 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1088 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1090 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1091 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1092 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1093 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1094 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1095 built-in Custom themes.
1097 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1098 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1099 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1100 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1102 ** Improved GTK integration
1104 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1105 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1107 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1108 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1109 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1111 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1112 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1113 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1116 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1117 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1119 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1120 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1122 ** Graphical interface changes
1124 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1125 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1126 displayed as a space.
1128 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1129 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1131 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1132 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1133 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1137 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1138 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1140 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1141 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1142 do the right thing in batch mode.
1144 ** Scrolling changes
1146 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1147 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1148 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1149 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1151 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1153 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1154 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1156 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1157 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1159 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1160 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1161 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1162 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1163 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1165 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1166 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1167 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1168 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1171 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1172 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1174 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1175 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1176 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1177 now includes the SELinux context.
1179 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1180 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1184 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1185 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1187 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1188 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1190 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1192 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1193 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1194 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1197 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1198 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1199 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1200 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1201 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1203 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1204 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1206 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1207 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1208 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1209 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1214 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1215 in the quitted window.
1217 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1218 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1220 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1222 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1223 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1224 for choosing the displaying window).
1226 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1227 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1229 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1230 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1232 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1233 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1234 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1235 from which such space was obtained.
1237 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1238 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1239 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1240 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1241 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1243 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1244 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1245 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1247 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1248 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1250 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1251 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1252 been shown in a specific window.
1254 ** Minibuffer changes
1256 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1257 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1258 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1260 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1261 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1262 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1264 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1266 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1268 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1269 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1270 successful operation.
1272 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1273 for `list-colors-display'.
1275 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1278 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1282 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1283 `isearch-yank-line'.
1285 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1286 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1288 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1290 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1292 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1293 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1294 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1295 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1298 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1299 also deletes newlines around point.
1303 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1304 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1305 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1308 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1309 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1310 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1312 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1313 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1314 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1315 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1317 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1319 ** Selection changes.
1321 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1322 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1323 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1324 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1326 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1327 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1329 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1330 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1331 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1332 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1334 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1335 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1336 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1337 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1338 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1340 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1342 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1343 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1344 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1346 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1348 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1349 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1350 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1352 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1353 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1355 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1356 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1357 between applications.
1359 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1361 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1362 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1363 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1364 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1365 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1367 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1369 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1370 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1372 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1373 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1374 number to count from and for a format string.
1376 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1377 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1378 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1379 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1380 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1382 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1383 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1384 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1385 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1386 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1388 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1389 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1390 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1391 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1392 follows `replace-match'.
1395 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1397 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1401 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1402 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1403 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1404 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1406 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1408 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1410 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1414 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1416 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1417 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1419 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1421 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1422 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1424 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1425 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1427 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1428 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1429 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1431 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1433 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1434 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1436 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1437 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1438 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1440 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1441 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1442 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1444 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1445 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1449 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1450 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1452 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1454 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1455 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1458 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1459 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1460 parsed as a statement continuation.
1462 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1466 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1467 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1469 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1470 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1471 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1473 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1474 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1475 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1480 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1481 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1482 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1484 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1485 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1487 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1489 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1490 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1494 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1497 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1498 optionally do not register names.
1500 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1501 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1505 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1506 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1507 instead of using the current buffer.
1509 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1510 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1514 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1515 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1517 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1518 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1519 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1520 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1524 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1525 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1526 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1530 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1531 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1532 debugging of several threads.
1536 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1537 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1541 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1542 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1543 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1544 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1545 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1547 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1548 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1549 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1552 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1554 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1556 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1557 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1558 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1560 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1561 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1563 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1565 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1567 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1568 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1569 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1570 default), this performs tag completion.
1572 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1573 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1575 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1576 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1577 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1581 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1582 in the Rmail incoming message.
1584 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1585 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1586 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1590 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1591 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1592 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1594 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1595 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1599 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1600 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1601 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1604 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1605 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1606 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1607 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1608 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1609 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1610 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1611 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1613 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1614 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1616 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1618 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1620 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1621 the credentials file.
1623 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1624 If you had that set, you need to put
1626 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1628 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1630 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1631 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1632 to the address you wish to use instead.
1636 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1637 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1639 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1640 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1641 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1642 connection is established.
1644 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1645 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1647 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1648 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1649 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1650 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1652 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1653 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1654 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1655 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1656 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1657 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1659 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1660 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1662 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1663 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1664 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1666 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1667 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1669 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1673 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1677 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1679 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1680 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1682 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1683 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1685 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1686 default value to "".
1688 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1689 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1691 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1692 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1693 the degree of parallelism.
1695 ** VC and related modes
1697 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1698 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1699 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1700 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1701 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1703 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1705 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1706 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1707 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1708 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1709 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1711 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1712 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1714 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1715 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1716 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1717 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1718 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1719 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1721 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1722 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1724 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1725 this was not advertised at the time.
1727 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1728 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1729 this was not advertised at the time.
1735 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1737 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1738 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1739 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1740 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1742 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1744 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1746 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1748 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1749 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1751 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1755 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1756 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1758 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1759 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1761 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1763 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1765 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1768 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1770 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1771 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1773 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1774 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1775 matching closing one.
1777 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1778 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1779 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1780 electric-indent-functions.
1782 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1783 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1784 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1786 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1787 from which other modes can be derived.
1789 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1791 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1792 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1793 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1794 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1797 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1798 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1800 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1801 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1803 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1805 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1806 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1807 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1808 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1809 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1810 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1813 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1815 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1816 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1818 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1820 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1821 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1822 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1823 command still toggles the minor mode.
1825 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1826 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1827 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1828 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1829 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1831 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1832 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1833 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1834 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1835 argument `bidi-class'.
1837 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1838 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1839 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1840 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1842 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1843 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1844 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1847 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1848 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1849 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1850 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1851 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1852 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1853 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1855 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1856 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1857 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1858 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1861 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1862 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1863 replaced all known uses.
1865 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1866 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1867 major mode is special).
1869 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1871 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1872 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1873 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1874 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1875 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1876 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1878 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1879 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1881 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1882 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1883 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1884 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1886 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1887 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1888 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1890 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1892 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1893 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1894 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1896 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1897 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1898 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1899 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1900 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1901 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1902 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1903 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1904 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1905 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1906 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1907 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1908 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1909 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1910 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1911 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1912 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1913 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1914 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1915 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1916 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1918 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1919 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1921 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1922 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1923 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1924 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1925 *** `e' (`float-e').
1927 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1928 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1930 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1931 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1932 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1933 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1935 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1936 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1937 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1940 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1942 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1943 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1944 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1945 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1948 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1949 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1951 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1952 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1954 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1956 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1957 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1959 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1960 declared as dynamically bound.
1962 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1964 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1965 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1966 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1968 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1970 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1971 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1973 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1974 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1975 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1976 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1977 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1978 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1980 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1981 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1982 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1986 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1987 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1988 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1989 buffer) in the window tree.
1991 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1994 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1995 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1996 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1997 act on any window including internal ones.
1999 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2000 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2001 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2002 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2003 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2005 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2006 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2007 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2008 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2009 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2011 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2012 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2013 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2014 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2015 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2016 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2018 *** Window resizing functions.
2019 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2020 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2021 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2023 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2024 live window on that frame instead.
2026 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2027 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2028 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2029 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2030 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2031 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2033 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2034 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2035 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2036 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2037 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2038 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2040 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2041 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2042 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2043 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2045 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2046 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2047 The old names are kept as aliases.
2051 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2052 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2053 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2054 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2056 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2058 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2059 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2060 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2061 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2062 are user-customizable variables.
2064 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2066 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2067 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2068 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2072 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2073 properties of the current completion:
2074 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2075 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2077 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2078 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2080 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2082 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2083 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2084 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2085 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2086 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2087 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2088 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2090 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2091 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2092 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2094 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2095 behavior of `completing-read'.
2097 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2098 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2100 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2101 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2105 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2106 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2107 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2108 non-nil return value.
2110 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2111 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2112 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2113 advertised at the time.)
2117 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2118 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2120 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2122 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2124 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2125 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2126 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2128 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2129 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2131 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2132 named Emacs server instances.
2134 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2135 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2137 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2138 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2140 ** New input reading functions
2142 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2143 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2145 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2146 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2149 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2151 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2152 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2153 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2156 ** Syntax parsing changes
2158 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2159 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2160 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2161 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2162 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2163 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2164 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2165 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2168 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2170 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2172 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2174 ** Major and minor mode changes
2176 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2177 as well as those in the -*- line.
2179 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2182 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2183 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2184 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2186 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2187 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2189 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2190 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2191 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2193 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2195 ** File-handling changes
2197 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2198 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2199 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2200 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2202 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2204 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2205 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2206 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2210 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2212 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2214 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2216 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2219 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2220 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2222 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2223 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2225 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2226 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2227 ImageMagick installation supports.
2229 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2230 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2233 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2234 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2236 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2237 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2238 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2239 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2241 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2242 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2243 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2244 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2246 ** XML and HTML parsing
2247 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2248 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2249 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2250 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2252 ** Networking and encryption changes
2254 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2255 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2256 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2257 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2258 must also be supplied.
2260 *** New library gnutls.el.
2261 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2262 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2263 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2264 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2265 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2266 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2269 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2270 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2271 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2275 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2277 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2278 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2279 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2280 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2281 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2282 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2284 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2285 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2287 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2288 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2289 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2290 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2291 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2292 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2294 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2296 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2297 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2298 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2299 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2301 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2302 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2304 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2305 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2306 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2307 an empty uninterned symbol.
2309 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2311 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2313 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2314 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2316 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2317 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2319 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2321 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2322 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2324 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2327 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2329 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2330 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2332 ** New configure.bat options
2334 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2336 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2338 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2340 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2342 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2344 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2345 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2347 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2348 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2350 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2351 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2354 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2355 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2357 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2358 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2359 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2360 (at your option) any later version.
2362 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2363 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2364 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2365 GNU General Public License for more details.
2367 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2368 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2373 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"