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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 \f
18 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
19
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.
26
27 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
28 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
29
30 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
31 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
32
33 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
34 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
35 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
36 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
37 the results may be useful to developers.
38
39 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
40 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
41 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
42 check that this option enables.
43
44 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
45 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
46
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.
52
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
55 to "emacs-VERSION".
56
57 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
58
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
61 you want them.
62
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).
66
67 \f
68 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
69
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.
73
74 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
75
76 \f
77 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
78
79 ** Help
80
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.
86
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).
90
91 ** ImageMagick
92
93 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
94 :background image specification property.
95
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.
100
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.)
104
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
108 treated as images.
109
110 ** Minibuffer
111
112 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
113 next and previous path separator, respectively.
114
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.
118
119 ** Mode line
120
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.
124
125 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
126 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
127
128 ** Server and client
129
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.
133
134 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
135
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.
140
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.
143
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.
147
148 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
149 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
150
151 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
152 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
153
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).
157
158 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
159 variables on remote hosts.
160
161 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
162 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
163
164 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
165 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
166
167 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
168 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
169 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
170 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
171
172 ** Internationalization
173
174 *** New language environment: Persian.
175
176 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
177
178 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
179
180 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
181
182 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
183 menu/toolbar.
184
185 \f
186 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
187
188 ** Search and Replace
189
190 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
191 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
192 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
193 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
194 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
195
196 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
197 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
198
199 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
200 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
201 The default is nil.
202
203 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
204 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
205 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
206
207 ** Navigation commands
208
209 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
210
211 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
212
213 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
214 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
215
216 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
217 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
218 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
219
220 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
221 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
222 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
223
224 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
225
226 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
227 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
228
229 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
230 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
231 accidentally type.
232
233 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
234 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
235
236 ** Registers
237
238 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
239
240 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
241 the text to put between collected texts for use with
242 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
243
244 \f
245 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
246
247 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
248
249 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
250 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
251 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
252 use the "cl--" prefix).
253
254 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
255 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
256 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
257 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
258 rather than `cl-foo*'.
259
260 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
261 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
262
263 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
264 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
265 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
266 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
267
268 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
269 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
270 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
271 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
272 is in use.
273
274 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
275 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
276 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
277
278 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
279 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
280 to nil rather than being made unbound.
281
282 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
283 (use features from gv.el instead):
284 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
285 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
286 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
287 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
288
289 ** Diff mode
290
291 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
292 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
293 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
294 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
295 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
296
297 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
298 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
299 changes in context diffs.
300
301 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
302 whitespace introduced by a diff.
303
304 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
305
306 ** Python mode
307
308 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
309 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
310 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
311 text based shell).
312
313 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
314 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
315 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
316 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
317 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
318
319 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
320
321 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
322
323 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
324 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
325
326 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
327 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
328
329 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
330 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
331
332 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
333 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
334
335 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
336 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
337 No longer relevant.
338
339 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
340 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
341 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
342 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
343 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
344 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
345 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
346 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
347 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
348 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
349 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
350 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
351 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
352 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
353 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
354 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
355 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
356 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
357 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
358 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
359 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
360
361 ** D-Bus
362
363 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
364
365 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
366
367 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
368 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
369
370 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
371 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
372
373 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
374
375 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
376 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
377
378 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
379
380 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
381
382 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
383 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
384
385 ** Dired
386
387 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
388 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
389 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
390
391 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
392 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
393 file at point.
394
395 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
396 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
397 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
398
399 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
400 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
401 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
402
403 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
404 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
405
406 ** ERC
407
408 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
409 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
410
411 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
412 channel keys found.
413
414 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
415 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
416
417 ** reStructuredText mode
418
419 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
420 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
421 and improved.
422
423 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
424
425 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
426 Sphinx support has been improved.
427
428 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
429
430 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
431
432 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
433
434 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
435
436 ** Shell Script mode
437
438 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
439
440 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
441
442 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
443
444 ** VHDL mode
445
446 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
447
448 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
449
450 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
451
452 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
453
454 ** Apropos
455
456 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
457 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
458 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
459
460 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
461 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
462
463 ** Buffer Menu
464
465 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
466
467 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
468 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
469
470 ** Calendar
471
472 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
473 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
474
475 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
476
477 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
478 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
479
480 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
481
482 ** Customize
483
484 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
485
486 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
487 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
488 these commands now).
489
490 ** Term
491
492 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
493 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
494
495 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
496 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
497 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
498
499 ** Tramp
500
501 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
502
503 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
504
505 ** URL
506
507 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
508 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
509 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
510 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
511 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
512
513 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
514 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
515 in case that is not properly encoded.
516
517 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
518 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
519 server properties.
520
521 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
522 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
523 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
524
525 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
526 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
527 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
528
529 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
530 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
531
532 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
533 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
534
535 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
536 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
537
538 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
539
540 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
541 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
542 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
543
544 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
545 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
546 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
547 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
548
549 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
550 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
551 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
552
553 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
554 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
555
556 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
557 it is enabled.
558
559 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
560 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
561
562 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
563
564 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
565 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
566 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
567 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
568 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
569 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
570 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
571 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
572 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
573 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
574 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
575 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
576 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
577 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
578 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
579 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
580 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
581 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
582 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
583 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
584 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
585 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
586 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
587
588 ** Obsolete packages
589
590 *** assoc.el
591 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
592 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
593 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
594 *** bruce.el
595 *** cust-print.el
596 *** ledit.el
597 *** mailpost.el
598 *** mouse-sel.el
599 *** patcomp.el
600
601 \f
602 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
603
604 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
605 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
606 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
607 `custom-variable-p'.
608
609 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
610 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
611 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
612 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
613
614 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
615 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
616 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
617 sequence in later calls.
618
619 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
620 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
621 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
622
623 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
624 It does so even if the window was selected before.
625
626 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
627 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
628 depends on the graphical library.
629
630 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
631 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
632
633 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
634
635 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
636 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
637 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
638 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
639 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
640
641 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
642 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
643 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
644
645 ** Miscellaneous name changes
646 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
647 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
648
649 *** Renamed functions
650 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
651 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
652 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
653 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
654 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
655 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
656 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
657 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
658
659 *** Renamed hooks
660 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
661 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
662 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
663 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
664 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
665
666 *** Renamed variables
667 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
668 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
669 deactivate-current-input-method-function
670
671 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
672 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
673 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
674 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
675 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
676 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
677 *** `set-char-table-default'
678 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
679 *** `compile-internal'
680 *** `modeline'
681 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
682 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
683 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
684 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
685 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
686 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
687 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
688 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
689 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
690 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
691
692 \f
693 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
694
695 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
696 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
697 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
698 `gv-define-setter', etc.
699
700 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
701 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
702 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
703 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
704 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
705 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
706 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
707
708 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
709 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
710 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
711 CPU time or memory allocations.
712
713 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
714 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
715
716 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
717
718 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
719
720 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
721 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
722 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
723 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
724 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
725
726 ** Completion
727
728 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
729 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
730
731 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
732 table, but with a different prefix.
733
734 ** Debugger
735
736 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
737 These do not trigger the debugger.
738
739 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
740 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
741
742 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
743 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
744 to work out which code is doing something.
745
746 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
747 recursive invocations.
748
749 ** Window handling
750
751 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
752 fit the contents.
753
754 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
755 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
756
757 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
758 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
759
760 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
761 reused.
762
763 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
764 window's point when switching buffers.
765
766 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
767 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
768
769 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
770 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
771
772 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
773 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
774 selected.
775
776 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
777 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
778
779 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
780 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
781
782 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
783 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
784
785 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
786
787 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
788 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
789 in Emacs 24.1:
790 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
791 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
792 **** `display-buffer-function'
793 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
794 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
795 **** `special-display-function'
796 **** `special-display-regexps'
797
798 ** Time
799
800 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
801 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
802 by the underlying C implementation.
803
804 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
805 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
806 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
807 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
808 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
809 stamps are still accepted.
810
811 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
812 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
813 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
814 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
815
816 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
817 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
818
819 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
820 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
821 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
822 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
823 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
824
825 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
826
827 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
828
829 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
830
831 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
832
833 ** Miscellaneous new functions
834
835 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
836 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
837
838 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
839
840 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
841
842 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
843
844 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
845
846 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
847
848 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
849
850 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
851
852 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
853
854 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
855
856 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
857 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
858 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
859 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
860 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
861 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
862 *** `query-replace-interactive'
863 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
864
865 \f
866 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
867
868 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
869 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
870
871 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
872 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
873 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
874 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
875 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
876
877 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
878 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
879 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
880
881 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
882
883 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
884 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
885
886 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
887
888 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
889 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
890
891 \f
892 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
893
894 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
895
896 \f
897 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
898
899 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
900 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
901 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
902 --without-gconf.
903
904 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
905 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
906 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
907 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
908
909 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
910 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
911 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
912 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
913
914 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
915 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
916 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
917 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
918 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
919
920 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
921 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
922 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
923 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
924
925 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
926 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
927
928 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
929 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
930 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
931 to about 2 GiB.
932
933 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
934 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
935 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
936
937 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
938 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
939 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
940
941 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
942 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
943
944 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
945 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
946
947 \f
948 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
949
950 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
951 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
952 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
953
954 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
955 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
956 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
957 Nextstep builds).
958
959 \f
960 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
961
962 ** Completion
963
964 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
965 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
966
967 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
968
969 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
970 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
971
972 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
973
974 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
975 default completion style in certain circumstances.
976
977 *** New completion style `substring'.
978
979 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
980
981 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
982
983 ** Mail changes
984
985 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
986 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
987 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
988 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
989 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
990 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
991
992 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
993 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
994 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
995 command.
996
997 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
998 and Mail mode changes
999
1000 ** Emacs server and client changes
1001
1002 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1003
1004 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1005
1006 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1007 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1008
1009 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1010 its exit status is 1.
1011
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.
1015
1016 ** Internationalization changes
1017
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.
1024
1025 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1026 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1027
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
1032 paragraph.
1033
1034 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1035 the right window edge.
1036
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.
1042
1043 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1044 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1045
1046 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1047 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1048
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.
1052
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.
1056
1057 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1058 selected for installation.
1059
1060 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1061
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'.
1065
1066 ** Custom theme changes
1067
1068 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1069 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1070
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.
1077
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.
1082
1083 ** Improved GTK integration
1084
1085 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1086 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1087
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.
1091
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
1095 entries for this.
1096
1097 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1098 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1099
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.
1102
1103 ** Graphical interface changes
1104
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.
1108
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.
1111
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
1115
1116 ** Exiting changes
1117
1118 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1119 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1120
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.
1124
1125 ** Scrolling changes
1126
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.
1131
1132 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1133
1134 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1135 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1136
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'.
1139
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.
1145
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
1150 margin.
1151
1152 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1153 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1154
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.
1159
1160 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1161 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1162
1163 ** Trash changes
1164
1165 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1166 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1167
1168 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1169 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1170
1171 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1172
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
1176 subdirectories.
1177
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.
1183
1184 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1185 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1186
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
1191 corresponding way.
1192
1193 ** Window changes
1194
1195 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1196 in the quitted window.
1197
1198 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1199 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1200
1201 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1202
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).
1206
1207 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1208 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1209
1210 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1211 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1212
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.
1217
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.
1223
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.
1227
1228 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1229 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1230
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.
1234
1235 ** Minibuffer changes
1236
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.
1240
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'.
1244
1245 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1246
1247 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1248
1249 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1250 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1251 successful operation.
1252
1253 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1254 for `list-colors-display'.
1255
1256 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1257
1258 \f
1259 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1260
1261 ** Search changes
1262
1263 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1264 `isearch-yank-line'.
1265
1266 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1267 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1268
1269 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1270
1271 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1272
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
1277 alias for it.
1278
1279 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1280 also deletes newlines around point.
1281
1282 ** Deletion changes
1283
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
1287 instead.
1288
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'.
1292
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.
1297
1298 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1299
1300 ** Selection changes.
1301
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.
1306
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.
1309
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).
1314
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.
1320
1321 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1322
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'.
1326
1327 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1328
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.
1332
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.
1335
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.
1339
1340 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1341
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.
1347
1348 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1349
1350 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1351 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1352
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.
1356
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.
1362
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).
1368
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'.
1374
1375 \f
1376 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1377
1378 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1379
1380 ** BibTeX mode
1381
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'.
1386
1387 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1388
1389 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1390
1391 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1392
1393 ** Browse-url
1394
1395 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1396
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.
1399
1400 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1401
1402 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1403 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1404
1405 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1406 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1407
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.
1411
1412 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1413
1414 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1415 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1416
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.
1420
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)
1424
1425 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1426 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1427
1428 ** CC Mode
1429
1430 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1431 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1432
1433 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1434
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,
1437 not the top level.
1438
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.
1442
1443 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1444
1445 ** Compilation mode
1446
1447 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1448 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1449
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'.
1453
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*
1457 buffer was used.
1458
1459 ** Customize
1460
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.
1464
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.
1467
1468 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1469
1470 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1471 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1472
1473 ** D-Bus
1474
1475 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1476 or session bus.
1477
1478 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1479 optionally do not register names.
1480
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.
1483
1484 ** Dired-x
1485
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.
1489
1490 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1491 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1492
1493 ** ERC changes
1494
1495 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1496 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1497
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.
1502
1503 ** Eshell changes
1504
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.
1508
1509 ** gdb-mi
1510
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.
1514
1515 ** Image mode
1516
1517 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1518 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1519
1520 ** Info
1521
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.
1527
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
1531 by default.
1532
1533 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1534
1535 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1536
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.
1540
1541 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1542 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1543
1544 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1545
1546 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1547
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.
1552
1553 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1554 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1555
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.
1559
1560 ** Rmail
1561
1562 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1563 in the Rmail incoming message.
1564
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.
1568
1569 ** Shell mode
1570
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.
1574
1575 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1576 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1577
1578 ** SMTPmail
1579
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'
1583 to change this.
1584
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
1593
1594 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1595 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1596
1597 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1598
1599 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1600
1601 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1602 the credentials file.
1603
1604 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1605 If you had that set, you need to put
1606
1607 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1608
1609 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1610
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.
1614
1615 ** SQL mode
1616
1617 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1618 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1619
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.
1624
1625 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1626 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1627
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'.
1632
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.
1639
1640 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1641 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1642
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.
1646
1647 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1648 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1649
1650 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1651
1652 ** TeX modes
1653
1654 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1655
1656 ** Tramp
1657
1658 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1659
1660 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1661 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1662
1663 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1664 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1665
1666 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1667 default value to "".
1668
1669 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1670 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1671
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.
1675
1676 ** VC and related modes
1677
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.
1683
1684 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1685
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.
1691
1692 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1693 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1694
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.
1701
1702 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1703 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1704
1705 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1706 this was not advertised at the time.
1707
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.
1711
1712 ** Obsolete modes
1713
1714 *** abbrevlist.el
1715
1716 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1717
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)
1722
1723 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1724
1725 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1726
1727 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1728
1729 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1730 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1731
1732 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1733
1734 ** Miscellaneous
1735
1736 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1737 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1738
1739 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1740 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1741
1742 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1743
1744 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1745
1746 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1747
1748 \f
1749 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1750
1751 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1752 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1753
1754 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1755 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1756 matching closing one.
1757
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.
1762
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.
1766
1767 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1768 from which other modes can be derived.
1769
1770 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1771
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
1776 secrets.
1777
1778 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1779 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1780
1781 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1782 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1783
1784 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1785
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.
1792
1793 \f
1794 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1795
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.
1798
1799 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1800
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.
1805
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".
1811
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'.
1817
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.
1822
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
1826 of the header line.
1827
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.
1835
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
1840 older Emacsen too.
1841
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.
1845
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).
1849
1850 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1851
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'.
1858
1859 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1860 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1861
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.
1866
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.
1870
1871 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1872
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):
1876
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')
1898
1899 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1900 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1901
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').
1907
1908 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1909 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1910
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'.
1915
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'.
1919
1920 \f
1921 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1922
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
1927 file.
1928
1929 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1930 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1931
1932 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1933 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1934
1935 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1936
1937 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1938 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1939
1940 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1941 declared as dynamically bound.
1942
1943 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1944
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.
1948
1949 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1950
1951 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1952 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1953
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.)
1960
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.
1964
1965 ** Window changes
1966
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.
1971
1972 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1973 windows.
1974
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.
1979
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.
1985
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.
1991
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.
1998
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.
2003
2004 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2005 live window on that frame instead.
2006
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.
2013
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.
2020
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.
2025
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.
2029
2030 *** Display actions
2031
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.
2036
2037 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2038
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.
2044
2045 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2046
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.
2050
2051 ** Completion
2052
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.
2057
2058 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2059 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2060
2061 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2062
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.
2070
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'.
2074
2075 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2076 behavior of `completing-read'.
2077
2078 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2079 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2080
2081 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2082 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2083
2084 ** New hook types
2085
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.
2090
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.)
2095
2096 ** Debugger changes
2097
2098 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2099 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2100
2101 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2102
2103 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2104
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.
2108
2109 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2110 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2111
2112 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2113 named Emacs server instances.
2114
2115 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2116 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2117
2118 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2119 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2120
2121 ** New input reading functions
2122
2123 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2124 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2125
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
2128 invalid input.
2129
2130 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2131
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
2135 obsolete alias.
2136
2137 ** Syntax parsing changes
2138
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
2147 syntactic rules.
2148
2149 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2150
2151 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2152
2153 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2154
2155 ** Major and minor mode changes
2156
2157 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2158 as well as those in the -*- line.
2159
2160 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2161 should be derived.
2162
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.
2166
2167 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2168 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2169
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.
2173
2174 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2175
2176 ** File-handling changes
2177
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).
2182
2183 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2184
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 "--")'.
2188
2189 ** Image API
2190
2191 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2192
2193 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2194
2195 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2196
2197 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2198 is being animated.
2199
2200 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2201 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2202
2203 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2204 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2205
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.
2209
2210 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2211 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2212 functions.
2213
2214 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2215 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2216
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'.
2221
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.
2226
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.
2232
2233 ** Networking and encryption changes
2234
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.
2240
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'
2248 greater than 0.
2249
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.
2253
2254 ** Isearch
2255
2256 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2257
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".
2264
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'.
2267
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'.
2274
2275 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2276
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))
2281
2282 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2283 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2284
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.
2289
2290 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2291
2292 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2293
2294 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2295 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2296
2297 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2298 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2299
2300 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2301
2302 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2303 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2304
2305 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2306
2307 \f
2308 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2309
2310 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2311 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2312
2313 ** New configure.bat options
2314
2315 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2316
2317 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2318
2319 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2320
2321 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2322
2323 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2324
2325 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2326 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2327
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.)
2330
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.
2333
2334 \f
2335 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2336 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2337
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.
2342
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.
2347
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/>.
2350
2351 \f
2352 Local variables:
2353 mode: outline
2354 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
2355 end: