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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 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with POSIX ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--without-acl'.
30
31 \f
32 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
33
34 \f
35 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
36
37 +++
38 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
39 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
40 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
41 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
42 non-nil, they output the same results.
43
44 +++
45 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
46 if there is one.
47
48 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
49 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
50 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
51
52 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
53 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
54 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
55
56 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
57 initial buffer.
58
59 ** ACL support has been added.
60 +++
61 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
62 +++
63 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
64 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
65 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
66 POSIX ACL interfaces.
67
68 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
69 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
70 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
71 of the buffer is visible).
72
73 \f
74 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
75
76 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
77 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
78
79 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
80 Eg View mode, etc.
81
82 \f
83 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
84
85 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
86 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
87 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more
88 use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
89 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
90
91 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
92
93 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
94 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
95
96 ** Battery
97
98 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
99
100 ** cl-lib
101
102 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
103
104 +++
105 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
106
107 ** Calc
108
109 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
110 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
111 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
112 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
113 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
114
115 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
116 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
117 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
118 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
119 on the given date.
120
121 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
122
123 ** Dired
124
125 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
126
127 ** ERC
128
129 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
130 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
131 amounts of data into the ERC input.
132
133 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
134 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
135 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
136 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
137
138 ** Image mode
139
140 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
141 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
142 directory, respectively.
143
144 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
145 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
146 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
147
148 ---
149 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
150 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
151 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
152 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
153
154 ** Isearch
155
156 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
157 and adds it to the search string.
158
159 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.4.
160 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
161
162 ---
163 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
164 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
165
166 ---
167 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
168 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
169
170 +++
171 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
172
173 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
174 New features include:
175 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
176 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
177 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
178 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
179 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
180 (point) when the function is invoked.
181
182 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
183 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
184 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
185 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
186
187 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
188 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
189 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
190 leave different number of spaces.
191
192 ** Tramp
193
194 +++
195 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
196 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-sdk-dir'
197 must be set to the Android SDK installation directory.
198
199 *** The connection methods "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The
200 ssh option "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based
201 methods, when possible.
202
203 +++
204 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
205 which support POSIX ACLs.
206
207 ** Woman
208
209 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
210 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
211
212 ** Obsolete packages:
213
214 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
215
216 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
217
218 +++
219 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
220
221 \f
222 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
223 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
224 It is layered as:
225 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
226 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
227 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
228 much like `defadvice' does.
229
230 \f
231 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
232
233 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
234
235 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
236 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
237 value when looking up variables.
238
239 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
240 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
241 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
242
243 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
244 special-forms any more.
245
246 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
247 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
248 spurious warnings about an unused var.
249
250 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
251 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
252 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
253 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
254 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
255
256 \f
257 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
258
259 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
260 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
261 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
262 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
263 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
264
265 ** Changes in autorevert.el
266
267 ---
268 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
269 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
270 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
271 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
272 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
273 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
274
275 ---
276 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
277 of remote files when set to non-nil.
278
279 ** Face changes
280
281 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
282 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
283 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
284 property using the supplied face spec.
285
286 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
287 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
288
289 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
290 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
291
292 ** Image API
293
294 +++
295 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
296 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
297 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
298
299 +++
300 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
301 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
302
303 +++
304 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
305 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
306
307 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
308 ** New function special-form-p.
309 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
310 text-property on the first char.
311
312 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
313 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
314
315 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
316 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
317 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
318 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
319
320 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
321 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
322 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
323
324 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
325
326 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
327 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
328 and ACL entries.
329
330 \f
331 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
332
333 +++
334 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
335 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
336 directory where Emacs was running.
337
338 +++
339 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
340 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
341 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
342 modifying it has no effect.
343
344 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
345 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
346 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
347 native is the default.
348
349 \f
350 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
351
352 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
353 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
354 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
355 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
356 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
357 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
358
359 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
360 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
361
362 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
363 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
364
365 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
366 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
367 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
368 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
369 the results may be useful to developers.
370
371 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
372 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
373 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
374 check that this option enables.
375
376 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
377 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
378
379 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
380 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
381 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
382 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
383 links between the various manuals.
384
385 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
386 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
387 to "emacs-VERSION".
388
389 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
390
391 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
392 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
393 you want them.
394
395 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
396 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
397 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
398
399 \f
400 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
401
402 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
403 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
404 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
405
406 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
407
408 \f
409 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
410
411 ** Help
412
413 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
414 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
415 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
416 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
417 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
418
419 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
420 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
421 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
422
423 ** ImageMagick
424
425 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
426 :background image specification property.
427
428 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
429 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
430 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
431 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
432
433 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
434 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
435 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
436
437 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
438 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
439 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
440 treated as images.
441
442 ** Minibuffer
443
444 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
445 next and previous path separator, respectively.
446
447 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
448 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
449 non-nil before enabling the mode.
450
451 ** Mode line
452
453 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
454 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
455 that does not have its own specialized help text.
456
457 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
458 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
459
460 ** Server and client
461
462 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
463 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
464 or expression to evaluate.
465
466 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
467
468 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
469 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
470 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
471 that support backtraces.
472
473 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
474 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
475
476 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
477 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
478 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
479
480 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
481 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
482
483 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
484 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
485
486 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
487 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
488 files (use this with caution).
489
490 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
491 variables on remote hosts.
492
493 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
494 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
495
496 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
497 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
498
499 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
500 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
501 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
502 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
503
504 ** Internationalization
505
506 *** New language environment: Persian.
507
508 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
509
510 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
511
512 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
513
514 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
515 menu/toolbar.
516
517 \f
518 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
519
520 ** Search and Replace
521
522 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
523 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
524 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
525 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
526 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
527
528 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
529 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
530
531 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
532 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
533 The default is nil.
534
535 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
536 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
537 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
538
539 ** Navigation commands
540
541 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
542
543 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
544
545 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
546 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
547
548 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
549 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
550 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
551
552 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
553 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
554 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
555
556 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
557
558 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
559 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
560
561 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
562 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
563 accidentally type.
564
565 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
566 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
567
568 ** Registers
569
570 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
571
572 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
573 the text to put between collected texts for use with
574 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
575
576 \f
577 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
578
579 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
580
581 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
582 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
583 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
584 use the "cl--" prefix).
585
586 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
587 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
588 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
589 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
590 rather than `cl-foo*'.
591
592 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
593 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
594
595 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
596 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
597 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
598 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
599
600 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
601 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
602 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
603 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
604 is in use.
605
606 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
607 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
608 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
609
610 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
611 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
612 to nil rather than being made unbound.
613
614 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
615 (use features from gv.el instead):
616 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
617 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
618 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
619 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
620
621 ** Diff mode
622
623 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
624 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
625 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
626 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
627 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
628
629 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
630 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
631 changes in context diffs.
632
633 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
634 whitespace introduced by a diff.
635
636 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
637
638 ** Python mode
639
640 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
641 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
642 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
643 text based shell).
644
645 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
646 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
647 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
648 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
649 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
650
651 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
652
653 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
654
655 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
656 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
657
658 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
659 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
660
661 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
662 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
663
664 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
665 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
666
667 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
668 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
669 No longer relevant.
670
671 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
672 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
673 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
674 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
675 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
676 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
677 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
678 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
679 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
680 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
681 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
682 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
683 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
684 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
685 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
686 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
687 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
688 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
689 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
690 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
691 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
692
693 ** D-Bus
694
695 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
696
697 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
698
699 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
700 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
701
702 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
703 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
704
705 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
706
707 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
708 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
709
710 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
711
712 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
713
714 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
715 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
716
717 ** Dired
718
719 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
720 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
721 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
722
723 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
724 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
725 file at point.
726
727 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
728 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
729 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
730
731 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
732 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
733 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
734
735 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
736 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
737
738 ** ERC
739
740 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
741 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
742
743 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
744 channel keys found.
745
746 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
747 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
748
749 ** reStructuredText mode
750
751 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
752 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
753 and improved.
754
755 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
756
757 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
758 Sphinx support has been improved.
759
760 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
761
762 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
763
764 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
765
766 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
767
768 ** Shell Script mode
769
770 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
771
772 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
773
774 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
775
776 ** VHDL mode
777
778 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
779
780 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
781
782 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
783
784 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
785
786 ** Apropos
787
788 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
789 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
790 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
791
792 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
793 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
794
795 ** Buffer Menu
796
797 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
798
799 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
800 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
801
802 ** Calc
803
804 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
805 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
806 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
807
808 ** Calendar
809
810 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
811 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
812
813 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
814
815 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
816 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
817
818 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
819
820 ** Customize
821
822 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
823
824 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
825 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
826 these commands now).
827
828 ** Term
829
830 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
831 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
832
833 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
834 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
835 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
836
837 ** Tramp
838
839 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
840
841 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
842
843 ** URL
844
845 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
846 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
847 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
848 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
849 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
850
851 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
852 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
853 in case that is not properly encoded.
854
855 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
856 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
857 server properties.
858
859 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
860 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
861 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
862
863 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
864 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
865 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
866
867 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
868 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
869
870 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
871 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
872
873 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
874 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
875
876 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
877
878 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
879 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
880 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
881
882 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
883 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
884 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
885 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
886
887 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
888 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
889 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
890
891 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
892 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
893
894 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
895 it is enabled.
896
897 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
898 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
899
900 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
901
902 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
903 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
904 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
905 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
906 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
907 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
908 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
909 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
910 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
911 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
912 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
913 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
914 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
915 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
916 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
917 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
918 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
919 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
920 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
921 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
922 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
923 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
924 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
925
926 ** Obsolete packages
927
928 *** assoc.el
929 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
930 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
931 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
932 *** bruce.el
933 *** cust-print.el
934 *** ledit.el
935 *** mailpost.el
936 *** mouse-sel.el
937 *** patcomp.el
938
939 \f
940 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
941
942 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
943 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
944 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
945 `custom-variable-p'.
946
947 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
948 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
949 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
950 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
951
952 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
953 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
954 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
955 sequence in later calls.
956
957 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
958 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
959 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
960
961 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
962 It does so even if the window was selected before.
963
964 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
965 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
966 depends on the graphical library.
967
968 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
969 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
970
971 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
972
973 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
974 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
975 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
976 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
977 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
978
979 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
980 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
981 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
982
983 ** Miscellaneous name changes
984 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
985 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
986
987 *** Renamed functions
988 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
989 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
990 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
991 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
992 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
993 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
994 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
995 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
996
997 *** Renamed hooks
998 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
999 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1000 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1001 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1002 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1003
1004 *** Renamed variables
1005 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1006 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1007 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1008
1009 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1010 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1011 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1012 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1013 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1014 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1015 *** `set-char-table-default'
1016 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1017 *** `compile-internal'
1018 *** `modeline'
1019 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1020 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1021 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1022 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1023 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1024 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1025 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1026 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1027 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1028 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1029
1030 \f
1031 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1032
1033 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1034 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1035 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1036 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1037
1038 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1039 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1040 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1041 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1042 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1043 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1044 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1045
1046 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1047 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1048 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1049 CPU time or memory allocations.
1050
1051 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1052 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1053
1054 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1055
1056 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1057
1058 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1059 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1060 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1061 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1062 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1063
1064 ** Completion
1065
1066 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1067 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1068
1069 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1070 table, but with a different prefix.
1071
1072 ** Debugger
1073
1074 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1075 These do not trigger the debugger.
1076
1077 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1078 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1079
1080 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1081 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1082 to work out which code is doing something.
1083
1084 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1085 recursive invocations.
1086
1087 ** Window handling
1088
1089 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1090 fit the contents.
1091
1092 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1093 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1094
1095 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1096 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1097
1098 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1099 reused.
1100
1101 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1102 window's point when switching buffers.
1103
1104 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1105 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1106
1107 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1108 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1109
1110 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1111 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1112 selected.
1113
1114 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1115 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1116
1117 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1118 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1119
1120 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1121 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1122
1123 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1124
1125 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1126 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1127 in Emacs 24.1:
1128 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1129 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1130 **** `display-buffer-function'
1131 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1132 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1133 **** `special-display-function'
1134 **** `special-display-regexps'
1135
1136 ** Time
1137
1138 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1139 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1140 by the underlying C implementation.
1141
1142 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1143 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1144 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1145 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1146 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1147 stamps are still accepted.
1148
1149 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1150 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1151 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1152 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1153
1154 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1155 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1156
1157 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1158 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1159 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1160 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1161 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1162
1163 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1164
1165 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1166
1167 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1168
1169 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1170
1171 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1172
1173 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1174 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1175
1176 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1177
1178 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1179
1180 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1181
1182 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1183
1184 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1185
1186 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1187
1188 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1189
1190 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1191
1192 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1193
1194 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1195 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1196 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1197 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1198 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1199 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1200 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1201 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1202
1203 \f
1204 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1205
1206 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1207 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1208
1209 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1210 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1211 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1212 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1213 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1214
1215 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1216 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1217 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1218
1219 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1220
1221 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1222 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1223
1224 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1225
1226 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1227 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1228
1229 \f
1230 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1231
1232 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1233
1234 \f
1235 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1236
1237 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1238 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1239 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1240 --without-gconf.
1241
1242 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1243 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1244 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1245 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1246
1247 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1248 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1249 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1250 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1251
1252 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1253 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1254 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1255 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1256 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1257
1258 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1259 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1260 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1261 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1262
1263 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1264 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1265
1266 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1267 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1268 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1269 to about 2 GiB.
1270
1271 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1272 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1273 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1274
1275 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1276 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1277 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1278
1279 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1280 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1281
1282 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1283 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1284
1285 \f
1286 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1287
1288 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1289 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1290 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1291
1292 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1293 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1294 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1295 Nextstep builds).
1296
1297 \f
1298 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1299
1300 ** Completion
1301
1302 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1303 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1304
1305 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1306
1307 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1308 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1309
1310 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1311
1312 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1313 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1314
1315 *** New completion style `substring'.
1316
1317 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1318
1319 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1320
1321 ** Mail changes
1322
1323 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1324 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1325 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1326 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1327 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1328 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1329
1330 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
1331 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
1332 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
1333 command.
1334
1335 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1336 and Mail mode changes
1337
1338 ** Emacs server and client changes
1339
1340 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1341
1342 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1343
1344 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1345 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1346
1347 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1348 its exit status is 1.
1349
1350 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1351 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1352 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1353
1354 ** Internationalization changes
1355
1356 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1357 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1358 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1359 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1360 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1361 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1362
1363 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1364 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1365
1366 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1367 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1368 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1369 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1370 paragraph.
1371
1372 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1373 the right window edge.
1374
1375 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1376 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1377 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1378 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1379 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1380
1381 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1382 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1383
1384 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1385 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1386
1387 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1388 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1389 automatically select it.
1390
1391 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1392 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1393 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1394
1395 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1396 selected for installation.
1397
1398 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1399
1400 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1401 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1402 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1403
1404 ** Custom theme changes
1405
1406 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1407 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1408
1409 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1410 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1411 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1412 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1413 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1414 built-in Custom themes.
1415
1416 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1417 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1418 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1419 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1420
1421 ** Improved GTK integration
1422
1423 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1424 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1425
1426 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1427 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1428 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1429
1430 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1431 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1432 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1433 entries for this.
1434
1435 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1436 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1437
1438 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1439 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1440
1441 ** Graphical interface changes
1442
1443 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1444 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1445 displayed as a space.
1446
1447 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1448 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1449
1450 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1451 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1452 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1453
1454 ** Exiting changes
1455
1456 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1457 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1458
1459 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1460 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1461 do the right thing in batch mode.
1462
1463 ** Scrolling changes
1464
1465 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1466 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1467 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1468 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1469
1470 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1471
1472 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1473 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1474
1475 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1476 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1477
1478 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1479 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1480 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1481 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1482 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1483
1484 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1485 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1486 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1487 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1488 margin.
1489
1490 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1491 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1492
1493 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1494 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1495 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1496 now includes the SELinux context.
1497
1498 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1499 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1500
1501 ** Trash changes
1502
1503 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1504 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1505
1506 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1507 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1508
1509 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1510
1511 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1512 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1513 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1514 subdirectories.
1515
1516 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1517 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1518 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1519 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1520 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1521
1522 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1523 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1524
1525 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1526 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1527 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1528 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1529 corresponding way.
1530
1531 ** Window changes
1532
1533 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1534 in the quitted window.
1535
1536 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1537 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1538
1539 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1540
1541 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1542 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1543 for choosing the displaying window).
1544
1545 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1546 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1547
1548 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1549 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1550
1551 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1552 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1553 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1554 from which such space was obtained.
1555
1556 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1557 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1558 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1559 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1560 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1561
1562 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1563 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1564 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1565
1566 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1567 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1568
1569 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1570 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1571 been shown in a specific window.
1572
1573 ** Minibuffer changes
1574
1575 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1576 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1577 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1578
1579 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1580 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1581 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1582
1583 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1584
1585 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1586
1587 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1588 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1589 successful operation.
1590
1591 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1592 for `list-colors-display'.
1593
1594 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1595
1596 \f
1597 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1598
1599 ** Search changes
1600
1601 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1602 `isearch-yank-line'.
1603
1604 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1605 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1606
1607 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1608
1609 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1610
1611 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1612 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1613 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1614 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1615 alias for it.
1616
1617 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1618 also deletes newlines around point.
1619
1620 ** Deletion changes
1621
1622 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1623 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1624 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1625 instead.
1626
1627 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1628 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1629 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1630
1631 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1632 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1633 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1634 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1635
1636 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1637
1638 ** Selection changes.
1639
1640 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1641 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1642 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1643 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1644
1645 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1646 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1647
1648 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1649 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1650 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1651 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1652
1653 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1654 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1655 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1656 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1657 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1658
1659 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1660
1661 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1662 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1663 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1664
1665 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1666
1667 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1668 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1669 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1670
1671 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1672 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1673
1674 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1675 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1676 between applications.
1677
1678 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1679
1680 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1681 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1682 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1683 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1684 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1685
1686 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1687
1688 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1689 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1690
1691 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1692 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1693 number to count from and for a format string.
1694
1695 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1696 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1697 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1698 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1699 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1700
1701 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1702 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1703 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1704 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1705 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1706
1707 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1708 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1709 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1710 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1711 follows `replace-match'.
1712
1713 \f
1714 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1715
1716 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1717
1718 ** BibTeX mode
1719
1720 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1721 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1722 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1723 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1724
1725 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1726
1727 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1728
1729 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1730
1731 ** Browse-url
1732
1733 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1734
1735 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1736 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1737
1738 ** Calc
1739
1740 *** Support for musical notes.
1741
1742 *** Support for logarithmic units.
1743
1744 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
1745 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
1746
1747 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
1748
1749 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
1750
1751 *** New "O" option prefix.
1752
1753 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
1754
1755 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1756
1757 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1758 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1759
1760 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1761 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1762
1763 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1764 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1765 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1766
1767 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1768
1769 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1770 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1771
1772 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1773 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1774 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1775
1776 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1777 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1778 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1779
1780 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1781 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1782
1783 ** CC Mode
1784
1785 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1786 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1787
1788 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1789
1790 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1791 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1792 not the top level.
1793
1794 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1795 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1796 parsed as a statement continuation.
1797
1798 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1799
1800 ** Compilation mode
1801
1802 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1803 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1804
1805 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1806 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1807 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1808
1809 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1810 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1811 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1812 buffer was used.
1813
1814 ** Customize
1815
1816 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1817 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1818 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1819
1820 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1821 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1822
1823 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1824
1825 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1826 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1827
1828 ** D-Bus
1829
1830 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1831 or session bus.
1832
1833 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1834 optionally do not register names.
1835
1836 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1837 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1838
1839 ** Dired-x
1840
1841 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1842 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1843 instead of using the current buffer.
1844
1845 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1846 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1847
1848 ** ERC changes
1849
1850 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1851 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1852
1853 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1854 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1855 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1856 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1857
1858 ** Eshell changes
1859
1860 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1861 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1862 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1863
1864 ** gdb-mi
1865
1866 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1867 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1868 debugging of several threads.
1869
1870 ** Image mode
1871
1872 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1873 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1874
1875 ** Info
1876
1877 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1878 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1879 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1880 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1881 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1882
1883 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1884 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1885 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1886 by default.
1887
1888 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1889
1890 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1891
1892 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1893 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1894 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1895
1896 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1897 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1898
1899 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1900
1901 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1902
1903 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1904 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1905 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1906 default), this performs tag completion.
1907
1908 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1909 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1910
1911 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1912 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1913 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1914
1915 ** Rmail
1916
1917 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1918 in the Rmail incoming message.
1919
1920 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1921 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1922 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1923
1924 ** Shell mode
1925
1926 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1927 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1928 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1929
1930 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1931 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1932
1933 ** SMTPmail
1934
1935 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1936 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1937 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1938 to change this.
1939
1940 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1941 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1942 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1943 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1944 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1945 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1946 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1947 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1948
1949 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1950 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1951
1952 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1953
1954 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1955
1956 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1957 the credentials file.
1958
1959 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1960 If you had that set, you need to put
1961
1962 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1963
1964 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1965
1966 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1967 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1968 to the address you wish to use instead.
1969
1970 ** SQL mode
1971
1972 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1973 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1974
1975 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1976 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1977 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1978 connection is established.
1979
1980 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1981 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1982
1983 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1984 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1985 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1986 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1987
1988 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1989 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1990 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1991 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1992 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1993 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1994
1995 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1996 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1997
1998 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1999 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2000 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2001
2002 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2003 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2004
2005 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2006
2007 ** TeX modes
2008
2009 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2010
2011 ** Tramp
2012
2013 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2014
2015 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2016 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2017
2018 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2019 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2020
2021 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2022 default value to "".
2023
2024 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2025 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2026
2027 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2028 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2029 the degree of parallelism.
2030
2031 ** VC and related modes
2032
2033 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2034 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2035 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2036 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2037 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2038
2039 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2040
2041 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2042 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2043 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2044 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2045 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2046
2047 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2048 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2049
2050 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2051 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2052 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2053 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2054 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2055 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2056
2057 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2058 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2059
2060 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2061 this was not advertised at the time.
2062
2063 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2064 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2065 this was not advertised at the time.
2066
2067 ** Obsolete modes
2068
2069 *** abbrevlist.el
2070
2071 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2072
2073 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2074 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2075 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2076 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2077
2078 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2079
2080 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2081
2082 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2083
2084 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2085 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2086
2087 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2088
2089 ** Miscellaneous
2090
2091 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2092 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2093
2094 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2095 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2096
2097 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2098
2099 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2100
2101 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2102
2103 \f
2104 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2105
2106 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2107 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2108
2109 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2110 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2111 matching closing one.
2112
2113 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2114 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2115 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2116 electric-indent-functions.
2117
2118 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2119 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2120 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2121
2122 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2123 from which other modes can be derived.
2124
2125 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2126
2127 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2128 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2129 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2130 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2131 secrets.
2132
2133 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2134 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2135
2136 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2137 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2138
2139 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2140
2141 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2142 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2143 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2144 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2145 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2146 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2147
2148 \f
2149 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2150
2151 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2152 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2153
2154 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2155
2156 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2157 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2158 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2159 command still toggles the minor mode.
2160
2161 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2162 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2163 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2164 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2165 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2166
2167 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2168 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2169 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2170 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2171 argument `bidi-class'.
2172
2173 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2174 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2175 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2176 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2177
2178 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2179 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2180 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2181 of the header line.
2182
2183 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2184 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2185 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2186 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2187 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2188 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2189 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2190
2191 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2192 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2193 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2194 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2195 older Emacsen too.
2196
2197 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2198 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2199 replaced all known uses.
2200
2201 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2202 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2203 major mode is special).
2204
2205 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2206
2207 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2208 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2209 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2210 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2211 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2212 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2213
2214 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2215 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2216
2217 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2218 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2219 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2220 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2221
2222 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2223 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2224 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2225
2226 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2227
2228 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2229 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2230 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2231
2232 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2233 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2234 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2235 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2236 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2237 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2238 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2239 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2240 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2241 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2242 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2243 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2244 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2245 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2246 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2247 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2248 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2249 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2250 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2251 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2252 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2253
2254 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2255 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2256
2257 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2258 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2259 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2260 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2261 *** `e' (`float-e').
2262
2263 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2264 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2265
2266 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2267 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2268 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2269 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2270
2271 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2272 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2273 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2274
2275 \f
2276 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2277
2278 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2279 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2280 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2281 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2282 file.
2283
2284 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2285 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2286
2287 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2288 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2289
2290 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2291
2292 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2293 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2294
2295 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2296 declared as dynamically bound.
2297
2298 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2299
2300 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2301 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2302 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2303
2304 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2305
2306 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2307 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2308
2309 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2310 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2311 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2312 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2313 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2314 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2315
2316 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2317 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2318 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2319
2320 ** Window changes
2321
2322 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2323 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2324 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2325 buffer) in the window tree.
2326
2327 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2328 windows.
2329
2330 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2331 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2332 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2333 act on any window including internal ones.
2334
2335 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2336 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2337 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2338 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2339 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2340
2341 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2342 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2343 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2344 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2345 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2346
2347 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2348 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2349 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2350 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2351 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2352 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2353
2354 *** Window resizing functions.
2355 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2356 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2357 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2358
2359 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2360 live window on that frame instead.
2361
2362 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2363 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2364 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2365 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2366 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2367 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2368
2369 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2370 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2371 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2372 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2373 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2374 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2375
2376 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2377 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2378 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2379 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2380
2381 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2382 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2383 The old names are kept as aliases.
2384
2385 *** Display actions
2386
2387 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2388 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2389 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2390 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2391
2392 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2393
2394 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2395 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2396 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2397 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2398 are user-customizable variables.
2399
2400 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2401
2402 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2403 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2404 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2405
2406 ** Completion
2407
2408 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2409 properties of the current completion:
2410 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2411 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2412
2413 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2414 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2415
2416 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2417
2418 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2419 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2420 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2421 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2422 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2423 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2424 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2425
2426 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2427 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2428 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2429
2430 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2431 behavior of `completing-read'.
2432
2433 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2434 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2435
2436 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2437 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2438
2439 ** New hook types
2440
2441 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2442 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2443 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2444 non-nil return value.
2445
2446 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2447 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2448 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2449 advertised at the time.)
2450
2451 ** Debugger changes
2452
2453 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2454 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2455
2456 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2457
2458 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2459
2460 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2461 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2462 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2463
2464 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2465 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2466
2467 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2468 named Emacs server instances.
2469
2470 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2471 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2472
2473 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2474 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2475
2476 ** New input reading functions
2477
2478 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2479 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2480
2481 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2482 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2483 invalid input.
2484
2485 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2486
2487 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2488 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2489 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2490 obsolete alias.
2491
2492 ** Syntax parsing changes
2493
2494 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2495 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2496 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2497 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2498 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2499 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2500 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2501 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2502 syntactic rules.
2503
2504 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2505
2506 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2507
2508 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2509
2510 ** Major and minor mode changes
2511
2512 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2513 as well as those in the -*- line.
2514
2515 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2516 should be derived.
2517
2518 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2519 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2520 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2521
2522 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2523 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2524
2525 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2526 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2527 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2528
2529 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2530
2531 ** File-handling changes
2532
2533 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2534 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2535 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2536 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2537
2538 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2539
2540 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2541 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2542 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2543
2544 ** Image API
2545
2546 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2547
2548 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2549
2550 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2551
2552 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2553 is being animated.
2554
2555 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2556 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2557
2558 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2559 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2560
2561 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2562 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2563 ImageMagick installation supports.
2564
2565 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2566 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2567 functions.
2568
2569 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2570 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2571
2572 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2573 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2574 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2575 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2576
2577 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2578 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2579 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2580 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2581
2582 ** XML and HTML parsing
2583 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2584 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2585 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2586 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2587
2588 ** Networking and encryption changes
2589
2590 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2591 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2592 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2593 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2594 must also be supplied.
2595
2596 *** New library gnutls.el.
2597 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2598 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2599 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2600 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2601 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2602 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2603 greater than 0.
2604
2605 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2606 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2607 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2608
2609 ** Isearch
2610
2611 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2612
2613 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2614 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2615 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2616 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2617 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2618 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2619
2620 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2621 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2622
2623 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2624 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2625 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2626 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2627 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2628 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2629
2630 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2631
2632 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2633 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2634 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2635 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2636
2637 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2638 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2639
2640 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2641 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2642 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2643 an empty uninterned symbol.
2644
2645 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2646
2647 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2648
2649 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2650 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2651
2652 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2653 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2654
2655 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2656
2657 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2658 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2659
2660 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2661
2662 \f
2663 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
2664
2665 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2666 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2667
2668 ** New configure.bat options
2669
2670 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2671
2672 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2673
2674 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2675
2676 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2677
2678 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2679
2680 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2681 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2682
2683 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2684 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2685
2686 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2687 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2688
2689 \f
2690 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2691 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2692
2693 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2694 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2695 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2696 (at your option) any later version.
2697
2698 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2699 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2700 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2701 GNU General Public License for more details.
2702
2703 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2704 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2705
2706 \f
2707 Local variables:
2708 mode: outline
2709 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
2710 end: