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 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
20 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
21 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
22 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
23 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
24 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
25 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
27 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
28 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
30 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
31 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
32 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
33 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
36 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
37 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
38 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
39 check that this option enables.
41 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
42 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
44 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
45 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
47 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
48 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
49 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
50 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
51 links between the various manuals.
53 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
54 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
57 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
59 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
60 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
63 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
64 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
65 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
68 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
70 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
71 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
72 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
74 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
77 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
81 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
82 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
83 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
84 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
85 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
87 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
88 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
89 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
93 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
94 :background image specification property.
96 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
97 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
98 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
99 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
101 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
102 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
103 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
105 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
106 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
107 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
112 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
113 next and previous path separator, respectively.
115 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
116 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
117 non-nil before enabling the mode.
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 invoke
126 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
130 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
131 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
132 or expression to evaluate.
134 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
136 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
137 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
138 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
139 that support backtraces.
141 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
142 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
144 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
145 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
146 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
148 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
149 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
151 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
152 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
154 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
155 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
156 files (use this with caution).
158 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
159 variables on remote hosts.
161 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
162 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
164 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
165 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
167 ** Internationalization
169 *** New language environment: Persian.
171 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
173 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
175 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
177 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
181 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
183 ** Search and Replace
185 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
186 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
187 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
188 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
189 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
191 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
192 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
194 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
195 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
198 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
199 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
200 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
202 ** Navigation commands
204 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
206 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
208 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
209 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
211 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
212 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
213 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
215 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
216 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
217 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
219 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
221 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
222 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
224 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
225 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
228 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
229 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
233 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
235 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
236 the text to put between collected texts for use with
237 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
240 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
242 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
244 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
245 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
246 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
247 use the "cl--" prefix).
249 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
250 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
251 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
252 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
253 rather than `cl-foo*'.
255 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
256 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
258 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
259 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
260 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
261 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
263 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
264 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
265 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
266 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
269 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
270 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
271 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
273 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
274 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
275 to nil rather than being made unbound.
277 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
278 (use features from gv.el instead):
279 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
280 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
281 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
282 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
286 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
287 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
288 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
289 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
290 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
292 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
293 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
294 changes in context diffs.
296 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
297 whitespace introduced by a diff.
299 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
303 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
304 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
305 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
308 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
309 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
310 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
311 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
312 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
314 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
316 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
318 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
319 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
321 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
322 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
324 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
325 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
327 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
328 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
330 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
331 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
334 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
335 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
336 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
337 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
338 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
339 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
340 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
341 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
342 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
343 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
344 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
345 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
346 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
347 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
348 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
349 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
350 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
351 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
352 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
353 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
354 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
358 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
360 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
362 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
363 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
365 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
366 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
368 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
370 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
371 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
373 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
375 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
377 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
378 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
382 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
383 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
384 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
386 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
387 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
390 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
391 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
392 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
394 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
395 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
396 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
398 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
399 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
403 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
404 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
406 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
409 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
410 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
412 ** reStructuredText mode
414 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
415 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
418 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
420 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
421 Sphinx support has been improved.
423 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
425 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
427 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
429 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
433 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
435 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
437 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
441 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
443 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
445 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
447 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
451 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
452 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
453 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
455 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
456 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
460 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
462 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
463 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
467 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
468 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
470 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
472 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
473 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
475 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
479 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
481 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
482 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
487 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
488 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
490 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
491 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
492 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
496 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
498 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
502 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
503 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
504 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
505 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
506 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
508 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
509 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
510 in case that is not properly encoded.
512 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
513 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
516 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
517 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
518 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
520 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
521 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
522 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
524 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
525 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
527 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
528 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
530 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
531 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
533 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
535 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
536 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
537 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
539 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
540 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
541 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
542 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
544 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
545 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
546 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
548 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
549 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
551 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
554 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
555 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
557 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
559 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
560 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
561 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
562 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
563 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
564 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
565 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
566 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
567 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
568 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
569 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
570 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
571 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
572 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
573 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
574 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
575 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
576 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
577 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
578 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
579 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
580 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
581 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
586 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
587 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
588 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
603 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
605 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
606 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
607 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
610 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
611 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
612 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
613 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
615 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
616 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
617 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
618 sequence in later calls.
620 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
621 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
622 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
624 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
625 It does so even if the window was selected before.
627 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
628 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
629 depends on the graphical library.
631 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
632 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
634 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
636 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
637 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
638 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
639 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
640 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
642 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
643 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
644 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
646 ** Miscellaneous name changes
647 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
648 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
650 *** Renamed functions
651 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
652 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
653 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
654 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
655 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
656 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
657 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
658 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
661 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
662 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
663 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
664 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
665 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
667 *** Renamed variables
668 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
669 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
670 deactivate-current-input-method-function
672 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
673 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
674 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
675 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
676 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
677 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
678 *** `set-char-table-default'
679 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
680 *** `compile-internal'
682 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
683 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
684 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
685 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
686 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
687 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
688 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
689 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
690 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
691 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
694 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
696 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
697 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
698 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
699 `gv-define-setter', etc.
701 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
702 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
703 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
704 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
705 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
706 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
707 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
709 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
710 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
711 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
712 CPU time or memory allocations.
714 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
715 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
717 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
719 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
721 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
722 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
723 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
724 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
725 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
729 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
730 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
732 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
733 table, but with a different prefix.
737 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
738 These do not trigger the debugger.
740 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
741 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
743 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
744 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
745 to work out which code is doing something.
747 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
748 recursive invocations.
752 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
755 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
756 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
758 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
759 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
761 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
764 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
765 window's point when switching buffers.
767 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
768 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
770 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
771 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
773 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
774 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
777 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
778 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
780 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
781 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
783 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
784 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
786 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
788 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
789 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
791 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
792 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
793 **** `display-buffer-function'
794 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
795 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
796 **** `special-display-function'
797 **** `special-display-regexps'
801 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
802 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
803 by the underlying C implementation.
805 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
806 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
807 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
808 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
809 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
810 stamps are still accepted.
812 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
813 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
814 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
815 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
817 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
818 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
820 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
821 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
822 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
823 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
824 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
826 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
828 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
830 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
832 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
834 ** Miscellaneous new functions
836 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
837 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
839 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
841 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
843 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
845 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
847 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
849 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
851 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
853 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
855 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
857 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
858 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
859 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
860 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
861 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
862 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
863 *** `query-replace-interactive'
864 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
867 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
869 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
870 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
872 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
873 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
874 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
875 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
876 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
878 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
879 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
880 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
882 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
884 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
885 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
887 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
889 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
890 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
893 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
895 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
898 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
900 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
901 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
902 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
905 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
906 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
907 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
908 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
910 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
911 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
912 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
913 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
915 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
916 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
917 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
918 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
919 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
921 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
922 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
923 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
924 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
926 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
927 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
929 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
930 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
931 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
934 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
935 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
936 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
938 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
939 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
940 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
942 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
943 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
945 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
946 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
949 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
951 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
952 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
953 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
955 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
956 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
957 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
961 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
965 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
966 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
968 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
970 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
971 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
973 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
975 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
976 default completion style in certain circumstances.
978 *** New completion style `substring'.
980 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
982 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
986 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
987 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
988 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
989 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
990 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
991 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
993 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
994 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
995 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
997 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
998 and Mail mode changes
1000 ** Emacs server and client changes
1002 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1004 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1006 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1007 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1009 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1010 its exit status is 1.
1012 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1013 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1014 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1016 ** Internationalization changes
1018 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1019 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1020 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1021 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1022 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1023 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1025 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1026 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1028 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1029 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1030 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1031 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1034 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1035 the right window edge.
1037 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1038 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1039 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1040 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1041 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1043 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1044 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1046 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1047 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1049 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1050 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1051 automatically select it.
1053 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1054 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1055 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1057 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1058 selected for installation.
1060 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1062 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1063 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1064 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1066 ** Custom theme changes
1068 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1069 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1071 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1072 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1073 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1074 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1075 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1076 built-in Custom themes.
1078 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1079 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1080 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1081 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1083 ** Improved GTK integration
1085 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1086 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1088 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1089 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1090 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1092 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1093 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1094 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1097 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1098 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1100 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1101 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1103 ** Graphical interface changes
1105 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1106 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1107 displayed as a space.
1109 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1110 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1112 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1113 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1114 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1118 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1119 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1121 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1122 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1123 do the right thing in batch mode.
1125 ** Scrolling changes
1127 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1128 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1129 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1130 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1132 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1134 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1135 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1137 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1138 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1140 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1141 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1142 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1143 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1144 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1146 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1147 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1148 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1149 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1152 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1153 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1155 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1156 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1157 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1158 now includes the SELinux context.
1160 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1161 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1165 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1166 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1168 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1169 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1171 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1173 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1174 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1175 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1178 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1179 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1180 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1181 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1182 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1184 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1185 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1187 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1188 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1189 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1190 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1195 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1196 in the quitted window.
1198 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1199 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1201 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1203 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1204 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1205 for choosing the displaying window).
1207 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1208 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1210 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1211 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1213 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1214 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1215 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1216 from which such space was obtained.
1218 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1219 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1220 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1221 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1222 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1224 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1225 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1226 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1228 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1229 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1231 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1232 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1233 been shown in a specific window.
1235 ** Minibuffer changes
1237 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1238 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1239 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1241 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1242 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1243 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1245 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1247 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1249 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1250 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1251 successful operation.
1253 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1254 for `list-colors-display'.
1256 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1259 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1263 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1264 `isearch-yank-line'.
1266 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1267 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1269 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1271 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1273 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1274 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1275 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1276 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1279 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1280 also deletes newlines around point.
1284 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1285 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1286 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1289 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1290 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1291 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1293 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1294 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1295 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1296 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1298 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1300 ** Selection changes.
1302 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1303 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1304 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1305 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1307 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1308 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1310 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1311 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1312 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1313 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1315 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1316 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1317 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1318 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1319 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1321 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1323 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1324 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1325 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1327 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1329 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1330 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1331 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1333 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1334 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1336 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1337 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1338 between applications.
1340 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1342 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1343 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1344 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1345 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1346 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1348 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1350 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1351 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1353 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1354 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1355 number to count from and for a format string.
1357 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1358 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1359 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1360 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1361 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1363 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1364 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1365 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1366 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1367 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1369 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1370 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1371 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1372 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1373 follows `replace-match'.
1376 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1378 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1382 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1383 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1384 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1385 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1387 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1389 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1391 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1395 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1397 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1398 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1400 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1402 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1403 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1405 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1406 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1408 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1409 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1410 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1412 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1414 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1415 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1417 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1418 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1419 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1421 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1422 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1423 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1425 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1426 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1430 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1431 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1433 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1435 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1436 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1439 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1440 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1441 parsed as a statement continuation.
1443 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1447 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1448 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1450 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1451 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1452 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1454 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1455 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1456 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1461 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1462 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1463 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1465 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1466 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1468 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1470 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1471 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1475 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1478 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1479 optionally do not register names.
1481 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1482 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1486 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1487 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1488 instead of using the current buffer.
1490 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1491 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1495 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1496 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1498 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1499 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1500 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1501 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1505 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1506 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1507 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1511 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1512 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1513 debugging of several threads.
1517 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1518 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1522 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1523 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1524 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1525 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1526 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1528 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1529 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1530 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1533 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1535 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1537 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1538 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1539 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1541 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1542 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1544 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1546 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1548 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1549 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1550 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1551 default), this performs tag completion.
1553 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1554 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1556 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1557 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1558 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1562 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1563 in the Rmail incoming message.
1565 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1566 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1567 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1571 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1572 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1573 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1575 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1576 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1580 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1581 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1582 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1585 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1586 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1587 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1588 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1589 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1590 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1591 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1592 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1594 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1595 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1597 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1599 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1601 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1602 the credentials file.
1604 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1605 If you had that set, you need to put
1607 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1609 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1611 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1612 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1613 to the address you wish to use instead.
1617 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1618 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1620 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1621 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1622 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1623 connection is established.
1625 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1626 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1628 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1629 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1630 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1631 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1633 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1634 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1635 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1636 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1637 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1638 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1640 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1641 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1643 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1644 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1645 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1647 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1648 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1650 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1654 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1658 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1660 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1661 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1663 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1664 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1666 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1667 default value to "".
1669 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1670 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1672 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1673 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1674 the degree of parallelism.
1676 ** VC and related modes
1678 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1679 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1680 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1681 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1682 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1684 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1686 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1687 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1688 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1689 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1690 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1692 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1693 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1695 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1696 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1697 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1698 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1699 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1700 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1702 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1703 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1705 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1706 this was not advertised at the time.
1708 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1709 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1710 this was not advertised at the time.
1716 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1718 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1719 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1720 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1721 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1723 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1725 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1727 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1729 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1730 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1732 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1736 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1737 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1739 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1740 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1742 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1744 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1746 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1749 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1751 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1752 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1754 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1755 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1756 matching closing one.
1758 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1759 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1760 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1761 electric-indent-functions.
1763 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1764 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1765 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1767 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1768 from which other modes can be derived.
1770 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1772 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1773 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1774 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1775 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1778 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1779 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1781 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1782 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1784 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1786 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1787 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1788 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1789 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1790 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1791 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1794 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1796 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1797 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1799 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1801 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1802 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1803 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1804 command still toggles the minor mode.
1806 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1807 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1808 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1809 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1810 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1812 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1813 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1814 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1815 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1816 argument `bidi-class'.
1818 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1819 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1820 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1821 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1823 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1824 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1825 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1828 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1829 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1830 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1831 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1832 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1833 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1834 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1836 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1837 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1838 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1839 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1842 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1843 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1844 replaced all known uses.
1846 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1847 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1848 major mode is special).
1850 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1852 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1853 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1854 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1855 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1856 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1857 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1859 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1860 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1862 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1863 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1864 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1865 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1867 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1868 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1869 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1871 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1873 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1874 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1875 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1877 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1878 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1879 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1880 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1881 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1882 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1883 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1884 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1885 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1886 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1887 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1888 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1889 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1890 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1891 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1892 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1893 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1894 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1895 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1896 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1897 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1899 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1900 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1902 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1903 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1904 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1905 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1906 *** `e' (`float-e').
1908 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1909 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1911 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1912 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1913 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1914 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1916 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1917 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1918 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1921 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1923 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1924 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1925 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1926 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1929 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1930 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1932 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1933 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1935 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1937 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1938 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1940 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1941 declared as dynamically bound.
1943 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1945 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1946 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1947 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1949 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1951 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1952 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1954 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1955 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1956 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1957 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1958 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1959 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1961 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1962 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1963 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1967 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1968 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1969 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1970 buffer) in the window tree.
1972 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1975 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1976 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1977 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1978 act on any window including internal ones.
1980 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1981 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1982 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1983 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1984 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1986 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1987 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1988 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1989 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1990 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1992 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1993 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1994 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1995 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1996 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1997 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1999 *** Window resizing functions.
2000 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2001 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2002 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2004 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2005 live window on that frame instead.
2007 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2008 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2009 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2010 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2011 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2012 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2014 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2015 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2016 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2017 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2018 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2019 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2021 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2022 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2023 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2024 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2026 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2027 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2028 The old names are kept as aliases.
2032 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2033 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2034 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2035 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2037 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2039 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2040 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2041 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2042 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2043 are user-customizable variables.
2045 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2047 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2048 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2049 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2053 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2054 properties of the current completion:
2055 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2056 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2058 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2059 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2061 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2063 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2064 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2065 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2066 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2067 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2068 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2069 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2071 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2072 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2073 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2075 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2076 behavior of `completing-read'.
2078 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2079 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2081 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2082 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2086 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2087 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2088 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2089 non-nil return value.
2091 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2092 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2093 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2094 advertised at the time.)
2098 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2099 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2101 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2103 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2105 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2106 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2107 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2109 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2110 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2112 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2113 named Emacs server instances.
2115 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2116 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2118 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2119 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2121 ** New input reading functions
2123 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2124 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2126 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2127 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2130 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2132 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2133 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2134 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2137 ** Syntax parsing changes
2139 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2140 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2141 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2142 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2143 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2144 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2145 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2146 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2149 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2151 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2153 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2155 ** Major and minor mode changes
2157 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2158 as well as those in the -*- line.
2160 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2163 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2164 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2165 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2167 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2168 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2170 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2171 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2172 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2174 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2176 ** File-handling changes
2178 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2179 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2180 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2181 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2183 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2185 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2186 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2187 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2191 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2193 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2195 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2197 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2200 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2201 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2203 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2204 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2206 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2207 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2208 ImageMagick installation supports.
2210 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2211 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2214 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2215 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2217 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2218 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2219 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2220 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2222 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2223 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2224 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2225 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2227 ** XML and HTML parsing
2228 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2229 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2230 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2231 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2233 ** Networking and encryption changes
2235 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2236 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2237 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2238 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2239 must also be supplied.
2241 *** New library gnutls.el.
2242 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2243 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2244 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2245 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2246 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2247 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2250 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2251 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2252 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2256 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2258 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2259 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2260 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2261 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2262 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2263 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2265 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2266 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2268 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2269 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2270 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2271 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2272 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2273 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2275 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2277 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2278 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2279 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2280 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2282 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2283 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2285 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2286 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2287 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2288 an empty uninterned symbol.
2290 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2292 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2294 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2295 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2297 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2298 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2300 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2302 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2303 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2305 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2308 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2310 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2311 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2313 ** New configure.bat options
2315 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2317 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2319 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2321 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2323 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2325 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2326 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2328 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2329 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2331 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2332 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2335 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2336 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2338 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2339 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2340 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2341 (at your option) any later version.
2343 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2344 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2345 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2346 GNU General Public License for more details.
2348 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2349 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2354 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"