1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
26 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
29 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
32 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
33 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
34 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
36 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
39 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
41 ** New macro cl-tagbody in cl-lib.
44 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
45 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
46 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
47 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
48 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
50 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
51 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
52 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
53 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
58 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
59 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
60 amounts of data into the ERC input.
62 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
63 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
64 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
65 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
67 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.4.
68 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
71 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
72 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
75 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
76 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
79 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
81 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
83 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
84 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
85 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
86 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
87 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
88 (point) when the function is invoked.
90 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
91 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
92 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
93 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
97 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
98 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-sdk-dir'
99 must be set to the Android SDK installation directory.
103 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
104 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
106 ** Obsolete packages:
108 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
110 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
113 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
114 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
116 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
117 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
118 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
119 much like `defadvice' does.
121 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
123 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
124 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
125 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
127 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
128 special-forms any more.
130 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
131 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
132 spurious warnings about an unused var.
134 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.4
136 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
137 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
138 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
139 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
140 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
144 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
145 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
146 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
147 property using the supplied face spec.
149 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
150 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
152 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
153 ** New function special-form-p.
154 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
155 text-property on the first char.
157 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
158 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
160 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on non-free operating systems
163 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
164 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
165 directory where Emacs was running.
168 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
171 ** The default toolkit has been changed to Gtk+ version 3.
172 If you don't pass --with-x-toolkit to configure or if you pass
173 --with-x-toolkit=gtk or --with-x-toolkit=yes, configure will try to build
174 with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
175 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
176 --with-x-toolkit=gtk2 or --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 to configure.
179 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
180 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
183 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
184 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
187 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
188 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
189 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
190 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
194 ** The configure option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
195 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
196 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
197 check that this option enables.
200 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
201 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
204 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
205 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
209 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
210 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
211 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
212 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
213 links between the various manuals.
216 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
219 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
220 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
224 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
225 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
226 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
229 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
232 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
233 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
234 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
237 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
240 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
243 ** Most y-or-n prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
244 Typing C-v or M-v at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
245 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
249 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
250 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
251 that does not have its own specialized help text.
253 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
254 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
259 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
260 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
261 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
262 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
263 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
266 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
267 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
268 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
270 ** Minibuffer changes
272 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
273 next and previous path separator, respectively.
275 *** minibuffer-electric-default-mode can rewrite (default ...) to [...].
276 Just set minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default to t before enabling the mode.
279 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
280 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
281 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
282 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
284 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
285 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
286 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
288 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
289 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
290 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
293 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
294 :background image spec property.
296 ** Server and client changes
298 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
299 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
300 or expression to evaluate.
302 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
305 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
306 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
309 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
310 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
313 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
314 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
315 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
316 that support backtraces.
319 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
320 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
323 ** New variable `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
324 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
325 files (use this with caution).
328 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
329 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
332 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
333 local variables on remote hosts.
336 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
337 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
339 ** Internationalization changes
341 *** New language environment: Persian.
343 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
345 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port changes
347 *** Fullscreen and frame parameter fullscreen is supported.
349 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
353 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
355 ** Navigation command changes
357 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
359 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
361 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
362 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
364 ** Search and Replace changes
366 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
367 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
368 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
369 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
370 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch).
372 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
373 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
375 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
376 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
379 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
380 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
381 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
384 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
385 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
388 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
389 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
393 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
394 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
395 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
399 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register.
401 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
402 the text to put between collected texts for use with M-x
403 append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
406 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
409 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
410 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
413 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
414 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
415 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
418 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
422 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
423 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
424 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
426 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
427 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
430 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
432 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
433 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
438 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
439 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
442 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
445 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
446 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
451 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
452 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
453 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
456 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
457 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
458 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
459 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
461 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
462 provide the old non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below.
465 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
466 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
467 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
468 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
471 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
472 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
473 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
474 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
477 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
478 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
479 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
482 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
483 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
484 rather than making them unbound.
487 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
488 (use features from gv.el instead):
489 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
490 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
491 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
492 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
495 ** New compilation option `compilation-always-kill'.
499 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
501 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
502 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
506 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
507 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
512 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
515 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
518 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
519 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
522 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
523 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
526 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
529 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
530 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
534 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
537 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
542 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
543 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
544 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
545 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
546 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
549 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
550 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
551 changes in context diffs.
554 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
555 whitespace introduced by a diff.
559 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
560 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
561 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
563 *** Typing M-n in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
564 `dired-do-chown', `dired-do-touch' pulls the file attributes of the
567 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
568 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
569 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
571 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
572 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
573 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
575 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
576 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
579 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
584 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
585 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
588 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
592 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
593 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
596 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
597 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
598 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
601 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
602 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
605 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
606 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
607 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
610 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
611 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
614 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
617 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
618 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
621 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
622 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
626 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
627 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
630 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
635 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
636 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
637 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
640 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
641 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
642 python-indent | python-indent-offset
643 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
644 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
645 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
647 *** Some user options have been removed:
649 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
651 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
652 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
654 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
655 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
657 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
658 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
660 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
661 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
663 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
664 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
667 *** Some commands have been replaced:
668 Old command | New command
669 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
670 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
671 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
672 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
673 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
674 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
675 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
676 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
677 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
678 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
679 python-beginning-of-defun-function | python-nav-beginning-of-defun
680 python-end-of-defun-function | python-nav-end-of-defun
681 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
682 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
683 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
684 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
685 python-shell-switch-to-shell
686 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
687 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
688 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
691 ** reStructuredText mode
693 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
694 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
697 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
699 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
700 Sphinx support has been improved.
702 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
704 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
706 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
708 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
713 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
715 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
717 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
720 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
721 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
722 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
725 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
726 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
727 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
728 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
730 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
732 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
733 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
737 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
738 now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
740 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
741 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
742 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
746 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
747 See the manual for details.
749 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
753 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
754 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
755 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
756 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
757 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
759 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
760 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
761 in case that is not properly encoded.
766 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
768 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
770 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
772 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
775 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
776 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
779 ** winner-mode-hook now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when it is
783 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
784 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
785 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
786 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
787 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
788 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
789 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
790 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
791 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
792 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
793 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
794 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
795 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
796 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
797 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
798 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
799 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
800 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
801 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
802 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
803 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
804 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
805 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
807 ** Obsolete packages:
810 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
811 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
812 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
827 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
830 ** set-buffer-multibyte now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
833 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
834 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
835 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
836 sequence in later calls.
839 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
840 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
841 depends on the graphical library.
844 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
845 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
846 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
849 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
850 It does so even if the window was selected before.
853 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
854 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
855 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
859 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
860 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
861 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
862 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
865 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
866 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
869 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
870 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
871 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
874 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
875 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
876 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
877 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
878 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
881 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
882 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
885 *** Renamed functions
887 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
888 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
889 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
890 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
891 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
892 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
893 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
894 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
898 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
899 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
900 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
901 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
902 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
905 *** Renamed Lisp variables
906 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
907 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
908 deactivate-current-input-method-function
911 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
912 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
913 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
914 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
915 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
916 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
917 *** `set-char-table-default'
918 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
919 *** `compile-internal'
921 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
922 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
923 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
924 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
925 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
926 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
927 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
928 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
929 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
930 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
933 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
935 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
936 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
937 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
938 CPU time or memory allocations.
941 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
942 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
943 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
944 `gv-define-setter', etc.
947 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
948 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
952 *** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
953 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
954 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via M-n
955 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
956 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
960 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
961 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
964 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
965 table, but with a different prefix.
970 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
971 These do not trigger the debugger.
974 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
975 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
978 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
979 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
980 to work out which code is doing something.
982 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
983 recursive invocations.
987 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
988 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
990 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
993 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
994 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
997 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1001 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1005 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1006 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1009 *** New option switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point to restore a
1010 window's point when switching buffers.
1012 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1013 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1015 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1016 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1019 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1020 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1022 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1023 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1025 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1026 to specify size of new window created by `display-buffer'.
1028 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1029 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1032 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1034 **** `special-display-regexps'
1036 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1038 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1040 **** `special-display-function'
1042 **** `display-buffer-function'
1044 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1048 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1049 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1050 by the underlying C implementation.
1052 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1053 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1054 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1055 functions that use this format, such as file-attributes and
1056 format-time-string, have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1057 stamps are still accepted.
1059 *** The format of timers in timer-list and timer-idle-list is now
1060 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1061 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1062 accessed via the new timer--psecs accessor.
1064 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1065 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1068 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1069 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args, e.g. (log -1.0).
1070 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1071 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1072 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1075 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1076 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1077 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1078 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1079 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1080 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1081 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1083 ** Miscellaneous new functions:
1085 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1087 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1089 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1091 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1093 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1095 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1097 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1098 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1100 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1102 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1104 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1107 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1109 ** Changes to special forms and macros
1111 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms
1113 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1116 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1119 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1121 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1123 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1125 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1127 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1129 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1131 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1133 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1135 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1138 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
1141 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1142 Pass --with-w32 to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1144 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1145 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1146 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1147 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1148 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1150 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1151 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
1152 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1155 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1158 ** On MS Windows, you can pass --without-libxml2 to configure.bat to omit
1159 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1162 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1165 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
1166 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1169 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1171 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1174 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1176 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1177 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1178 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1181 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1182 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1183 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1184 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1186 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1187 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1188 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1189 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1191 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1192 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1193 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1194 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1195 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1197 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1198 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1199 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1200 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1202 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1203 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1205 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1206 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1207 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1210 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1211 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1212 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1214 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1215 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1216 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1218 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1219 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1221 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1222 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1225 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1227 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1228 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1229 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1231 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1232 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1233 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1237 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1241 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1242 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1244 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1246 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1247 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1249 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1251 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1252 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1254 *** New completion style `substring'.
1256 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1258 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1262 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1263 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1264 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1265 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1266 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1267 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1269 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
1270 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
1271 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
1273 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1274 and Mail mode changes
1276 ** Emacs server and client changes
1278 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1280 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1282 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1283 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1285 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1286 its exit status is 1.
1288 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1289 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1290 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1292 ** Internationalization changes
1294 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1295 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1296 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1297 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1298 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1299 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1301 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1302 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1304 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1305 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1306 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1307 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1310 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1311 the right window edge.
1313 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1314 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1315 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1316 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1317 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1319 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1320 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1322 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1323 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1325 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1326 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1327 automatically select it.
1329 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1330 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1331 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1333 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1334 selected for installation.
1336 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1338 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1339 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1340 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1342 ** Custom theme changes
1344 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1345 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1347 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1348 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1349 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1350 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1351 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1352 built-in Custom themes.
1354 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1355 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1356 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1357 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1359 ** Improved GTK integration
1361 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1362 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1364 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1365 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1366 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1368 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1369 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1370 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1373 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1374 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1376 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1377 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1379 ** Graphical interface changes
1381 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1382 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1383 displayed as a space.
1385 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1386 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1388 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1389 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1390 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1394 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1395 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1397 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1398 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1399 do the right thing in batch mode.
1401 ** Scrolling changes
1403 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1404 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1405 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1406 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1408 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1410 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1411 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1413 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1414 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1416 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1417 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1418 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1419 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1420 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1422 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1423 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1424 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1425 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1428 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1429 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1431 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1432 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1433 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1434 now includes the SELinux context.
1436 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1437 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1441 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1442 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1444 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1445 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1447 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1449 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1450 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1451 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1454 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1455 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1456 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1457 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1458 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1460 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1461 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1463 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1464 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1465 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1466 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1471 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1472 in the quitted window.
1474 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1475 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1477 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1479 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1480 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1481 for choosing the displaying window).
1483 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1484 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1486 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1487 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1489 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1490 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1491 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1492 from which such space was obtained.
1494 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1495 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1496 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1497 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1498 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1500 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1501 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1502 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1504 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1505 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1507 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1508 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1509 been shown in a specific window.
1511 ** Minibuffer changes
1513 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1514 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1515 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1517 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1518 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1519 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1521 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1523 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1525 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1526 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1527 successful operation.
1529 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1530 for `list-colors-display'.
1532 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1535 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1539 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1540 `isearch-yank-line'.
1542 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1543 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1545 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1547 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1549 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1550 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1551 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1552 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1555 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1556 also deletes newlines around point.
1560 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1561 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1562 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1565 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1566 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1567 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1569 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1570 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1571 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1572 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1574 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1576 ** Selection changes.
1578 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1579 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1580 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1581 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1583 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1584 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1586 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1587 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1588 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1589 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1591 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1592 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1593 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1594 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1595 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1597 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1599 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1600 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1601 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1603 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1605 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1606 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1607 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1609 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1610 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1612 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1613 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1614 between applications.
1616 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1618 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1619 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1620 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1621 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1622 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1624 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1626 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1627 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1629 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1630 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1631 number to count from and for a format string.
1633 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1634 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1635 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1636 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1637 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1639 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1640 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1641 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1642 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1643 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1645 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1646 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1647 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1648 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1649 follows `replace-match'.
1652 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1654 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1658 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1659 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1660 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1661 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1663 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1665 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1667 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1671 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1673 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1674 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1676 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1678 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1679 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1681 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1682 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1684 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1685 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1686 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1688 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1690 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1691 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1693 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1694 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1695 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1697 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1698 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1699 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1701 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1702 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1706 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1707 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1709 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1711 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1712 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1715 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1716 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1717 parsed as a statement continuation.
1719 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1723 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1724 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1726 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1727 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1728 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1730 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1731 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1732 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1737 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1738 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1739 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1741 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1742 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1744 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1746 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1747 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1751 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1754 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1755 optionally do not register names.
1757 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1758 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1762 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1763 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1764 instead of using the current buffer.
1766 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1767 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1771 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1772 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1774 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1775 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1776 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1777 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1781 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1782 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1783 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1787 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1788 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1789 debugging of several threads.
1793 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1794 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1798 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1799 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1800 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1801 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1802 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1804 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1805 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1806 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1809 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1811 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1813 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1814 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1815 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1817 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1818 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1820 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1822 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1824 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1825 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1826 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1827 default), this performs tag completion.
1829 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1830 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1832 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1833 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1834 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1838 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1839 in the Rmail incoming message.
1841 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1842 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1843 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1847 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1848 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1849 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1851 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1852 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1856 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1857 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1858 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1861 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1862 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1863 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1864 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1865 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1866 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1867 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1868 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1870 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1871 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1873 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1875 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1877 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1878 the credentials file.
1880 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1881 If you had that set, you need to put
1883 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1885 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1887 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1888 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1889 to the address you wish to use instead.
1893 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1894 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1896 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1897 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1898 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1899 connection is established.
1901 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1902 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1904 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1905 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1906 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1907 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1909 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1910 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1911 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1912 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1913 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1914 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1916 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1917 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1919 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1920 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1921 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1923 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1924 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1926 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1930 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1934 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1936 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1937 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1939 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1940 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1942 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1943 default value to "".
1945 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1946 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1948 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1949 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1950 the degree of parallelism.
1952 ** VC and related modes
1954 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1955 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1956 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1957 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1958 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1960 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1962 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1963 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1964 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1965 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1966 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1968 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1969 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1971 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1972 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1973 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1974 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1975 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1976 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1978 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1979 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1981 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1982 this was not advertised at the time.
1984 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1985 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1986 this was not advertised at the time.
1992 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1994 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1995 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1996 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1997 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1999 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2001 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2003 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2005 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2006 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2008 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2012 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2013 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2015 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2016 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2018 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2020 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2022 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2025 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2027 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2028 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2030 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2031 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2032 matching closing one.
2034 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2035 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2036 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2037 electric-indent-functions.
2039 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2040 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2041 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2043 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2044 from which other modes can be derived.
2046 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2048 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2049 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2050 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2051 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2054 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2055 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2057 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2058 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2060 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2062 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2063 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2064 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2065 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2066 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2067 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2070 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2072 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2073 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2075 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2077 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2078 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2079 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2080 command still toggles the minor mode.
2082 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2083 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2084 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2085 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2086 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2088 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2089 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2090 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2091 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2092 argument `bidi-class'.
2094 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2095 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2096 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2097 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2099 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2100 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2101 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2104 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2105 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2106 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2107 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2108 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2109 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2110 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2112 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2113 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2114 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2115 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2118 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2119 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2120 replaced all known uses.
2122 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2123 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2124 major mode is special).
2126 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2128 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2129 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2130 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2131 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2132 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2133 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2135 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2136 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2138 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2139 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2140 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2141 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2143 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2144 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2145 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2147 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2149 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2150 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2151 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2153 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2154 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2155 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2156 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2157 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2158 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2159 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2160 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2161 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2162 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2163 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2164 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2165 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2166 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2167 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2168 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2169 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2170 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2171 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2172 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2173 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2175 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2176 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2178 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2179 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2180 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2181 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2182 *** `e' (`float-e').
2184 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2185 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2187 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2188 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2189 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2190 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2192 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2193 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2194 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2197 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
2199 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2200 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2201 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2202 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2205 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2206 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2208 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2209 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2211 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2213 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2214 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2216 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2217 declared as dynamically bound.
2219 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2221 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2222 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2223 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2225 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2227 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2228 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2230 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2231 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2232 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2233 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2234 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2235 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2237 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2238 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2239 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2243 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2244 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2245 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2246 buffer) in the window tree.
2248 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2251 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2252 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2253 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2254 act on any window including internal ones.
2256 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2257 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2258 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2259 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2260 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2262 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2263 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2264 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2265 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2266 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2268 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2269 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2270 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2271 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2272 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2273 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2275 *** Window resizing functions.
2276 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2277 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2278 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2280 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2281 live window on that frame instead.
2283 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2284 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2285 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2286 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2287 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2288 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2290 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2291 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2292 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2293 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2294 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2295 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2297 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2298 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2299 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2300 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2302 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2303 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2304 The old names are kept as aliases.
2308 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2309 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2310 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2311 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2313 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2315 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2316 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2317 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2318 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2319 are user-customizable variables.
2321 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2323 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2324 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2325 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2329 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2330 properties of the current completion:
2331 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2332 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2334 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2335 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2337 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2339 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2340 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2341 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2342 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2343 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2344 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2345 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2347 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2348 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2349 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2351 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2352 behavior of `completing-read'.
2354 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2355 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2357 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2358 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2362 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2363 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2364 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2365 non-nil return value.
2367 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2368 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2369 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2370 advertised at the time.)
2374 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2375 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2377 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2379 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2381 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2382 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2383 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2385 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2386 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2388 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2389 named Emacs server instances.
2391 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2392 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2394 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2395 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2397 ** New input reading functions
2399 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2400 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2402 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2403 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2406 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2408 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2409 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2410 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2413 ** Syntax parsing changes
2415 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2416 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2417 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2418 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2419 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2420 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2421 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2422 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2425 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2427 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2429 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2431 ** Major and minor mode changes
2433 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2434 as well as those in the -*- line.
2436 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2439 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2440 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2441 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2443 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2444 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2446 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2447 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2448 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2450 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2452 ** File-handling changes
2454 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2455 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2456 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2457 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2459 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2461 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2462 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2463 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2467 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2469 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2471 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2473 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2476 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2477 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2479 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2480 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2482 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2483 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2484 ImageMagick installation supports.
2486 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2487 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2490 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2491 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2493 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2494 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2495 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2496 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2498 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2499 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2500 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2501 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2503 ** XML and HTML parsing
2504 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2505 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2506 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2507 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2509 ** Networking and encryption changes
2511 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2512 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2513 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2514 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2515 must also be supplied.
2517 *** New library gnutls.el.
2518 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2519 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2520 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2521 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2522 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2523 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2526 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2527 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2528 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2532 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2534 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2535 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2536 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2537 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2538 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2539 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2541 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2542 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2544 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2545 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2546 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2547 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2548 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2549 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2551 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2553 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2554 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2555 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2556 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2558 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2559 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2561 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2562 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2563 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2564 an empty uninterned symbol.
2566 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2568 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2570 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2571 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2573 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2574 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2576 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2578 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2579 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2581 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2584 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2586 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2587 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2589 ** New configure.bat options
2591 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2593 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2595 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2597 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2599 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2601 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2602 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2604 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2605 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2607 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2608 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2611 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2612 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2614 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2615 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2616 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2617 (at your option) any later version.
2619 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2620 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2621 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2622 GNU General Public License for more details.
2624 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2625 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2630 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"