1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
4 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5 See the end of the file for license conditions.
7 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
8 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
10 This file is about changes in Emacs version 22.
12 See files NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17 for changes
13 in older Emacs versions.
15 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
16 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 * About external Lisp packages
20 When you upgrade to Emacs 22 from a previous version, some older
21 versions of external Lisp packages are known to behave badly.
22 So in general, it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest
23 versions of any external Lisp packages that you are using.
25 You should also be aware that many Lisp packages have been included
26 with Emacs 22 (see the extensive list below), and you should remove
27 any older versions of these packages to ensure that the Emacs 22
28 version is used. You can use M-x list-load-path-shadows to find such
31 Some specific packages that are known to cause problems are:
33 ** Semantic (used by CEDET, ECB, JDEE): upgrade to latest version.
35 ** cua.el, cua-mode.el: remove old versions.
37 * Installation Changes in Emacs 22.2
39 ** Emacs is now licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 (or later).
41 * Changes in Emacs 22.2
43 ** The values of `dired-recursive-deletes' and `dired-recursive-copies'
44 have been changed to `top'. This means that the user is asked once,
45 before deleting/copying the indicated directory recursively.
47 ** In Image mode, whenever the displayed image is wider and/or higher
48 than the window, the usual keys for moving the cursor cause the image
49 to be scrolled horizontally or vertically instead.
51 ** Scrollbars follow the system theme on Windows XP and later.
52 Windows XP introduced themed scrollbars, but applications have to take
53 special steps to use them. Emacs now has the appropriate resources linked
54 in to make it use the scrollbars from the system theme.
56 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.2
58 ** The new package css-mode.el provides a major mode for editing CSS files.
60 ** The new package vera-mode.el provides a major mode for editing Vera files.
62 ** The new package socks.el implements the SOCKS v5 protocol.
66 *** VC backends can provide completion of revision names.
68 *** VC has some support for Mercurial (hg).
70 *** VC has some support for Git.
73 * Installation Changes in Emacs 22.1
75 ** You can build Emacs with Gtk+ widgets by specifying `--with-x-toolkit=gtk'
76 when you run configure. This requires Gtk+ 2.4 or newer. This port
77 provides a way to display multilingual text in menus (with some caveats).
79 ** The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is now part of the distribution.
81 The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual in Info format is built as part of the
82 Emacs build procedure and installed together with the Emacs User
83 Manual. A menu item was added to the menu bar to make it easily
84 accessible (Help->More Manuals->Emacs Lisp Reference).
86 ** The Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp manual is now part of
89 This manual is now part of the standard distribution and is installed,
90 together with the Emacs User Manual, into the Info directory. A menu
91 item was added to the menu bar to make it easily accessible
92 (Help->More Manuals->Introduction to Emacs Lisp).
94 ** Leim is now part of the Emacs distribution.
95 You no longer need to download a separate tarball in order to build
98 ** Support for MacOS X was added.
99 See the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
101 ** Mac OS 9 port now uses the Carbon API by default. You can also
102 create a non-Carbon build by specifying `NonCarbon' as a target. See
103 the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL for build instructions.
105 ** Support for a Cygwin build of Emacs was added.
107 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on X86-64 machines was added.
109 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on S390 machines was added.
111 ** Support for GNU/Linux systems on Tensilica Xtensa machines was added.
113 ** Support for FreeBSD/Alpha has been added.
115 ** New translations of the Emacs Tutorial are available in the
116 following languages: Brasilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese (both
117 with simplified and traditional characters), French, Russian, and
118 Italian. Type `C-u C-h t' to choose one of them in case your language
119 setup doesn't automatically select the right one.
121 ** New translations of the Emacs reference card are available in the
122 Brasilian Portuguese and Russian. The corresponding PostScript files
125 ** A French translation of the `Emacs Survival Guide' is available.
127 ** Emacs now supports new configure options `--program-prefix',
128 `--program-suffix' and `--program-transform-name' that affect the names of
131 ** By default, Emacs now uses a setgid helper program to update game
132 scores. The directory ${localstatedir}/games/emacs is the normal
133 place for game scores to be stored. You can control this with the
134 configure option `--with-game-dir'. The specific user that Emacs uses
135 to own the game scores is controlled by `--with-game-user'. If access
136 to a game user is not available, then scores will be stored separately
137 in each user's home directory.
139 ** Emacs now includes support for loading image libraries on demand.
140 (Currently this feature is only used on MS Windows.) You can configure
141 the supported image types and their associated dynamic libraries by
142 setting the variable `image-library-alist'.
144 ** Emacs can now be built without sound support.
146 ** Emacs Lisp source files are compressed by default if `gzip' is available.
148 ** All images used in Emacs have been consolidated in etc/images and subdirs.
149 See also the changes to `find-image', documented below.
151 ** Emacs comes with a new set of icons.
152 These icons are displayed on the taskbar and/or titlebar when Emacs
153 runs in a graphical environment. Source files for these icons can be
154 found in etc/images/icons. (You can't change the icons displayed by
155 Emacs by changing these files directly. On X, the icon is compiled
156 into the Emacs executable; see gnu.h in the source tree. On MS
157 Windows, see nt/icons/emacs.ico.)
159 ** The `emacsserver' program has been removed, replaced with Lisp code.
161 ** The `yow' program has been removed.
162 Use the corresponding Emacs feature instead.
164 ** The Emacs terminal emulation in term.el uses a different terminfo name.
165 The Emacs terminal emulation in term.el now uses "eterm-color" as its
166 terminfo name, since term.el now supports color.
168 ** The script etc/emacs-buffer.gdb can be used with gdb to retrieve the
169 contents of buffers from a core dump and save them to files easily, should
172 ** Building with -DENABLE_CHECKING does not automatically build with union
173 types any more. Add -DUSE_LISP_UNION_TYPE if you want union types.
175 ** When pure storage overflows while dumping, Emacs now prints how
176 much pure storage it will approximately need.
179 * Startup Changes in Emacs 22.1
182 If the init file ~/.emacs does not exist, Emacs will try
183 ~/.emacs.d/init.el or ~/.emacs.d/init.elc. Likewise, if the shell init file
184 ~/.emacs_SHELL is not found, Emacs will try ~/.emacs.d/init_SHELL.sh.
186 ** Emacs can now be invoked in full-screen mode on a windowed display.
187 When Emacs is invoked on a window system, the new command-line options
188 `--fullwidth', `--fullheight', and `--fullscreen' produce a frame
189 whose width, height, or both width and height take up the entire
190 screen size. (For now, this does not work with some window managers.)
192 ** Emacs now displays a splash screen by default even if command-line
193 arguments were given. The new command-line option --no-splash
194 disables the splash screen; see also the variable
195 `inhibit-splash-screen' (which is also aliased as
196 `inhibit-startup-message').
198 ** New user option `inhibit-startup-buffer-menu'.
199 When loading many files, for instance with `emacs *', Emacs normally
200 displays a buffer menu. This option turns the buffer menu off.
202 ** New command line option -nbc or --no-blinking-cursor disables
203 the blinking cursor on graphical terminals.
205 ** The option --script FILE runs Emacs in batch mode and loads FILE.
206 It is useful for writing Emacs Lisp shell script files, because they
207 can start with this line:
209 #!/usr/bin/emacs --script
211 ** The -f option, used from the command line to call a function,
212 now reads arguments for the function interactively if it is
213 an interactively callable function.
215 ** The option --directory DIR now modifies `load-path' immediately.
216 Directories are added to the front of `load-path' in the order they
217 appear on the command line. For example, with this command line:
219 emacs -batch -L .. -L /tmp --eval "(require 'foo)"
221 Emacs looks for library `foo' in the parent directory, then in /tmp, then
222 in the other directories in `load-path'. (-L is short for --directory.)
224 ** When you specify a frame size with --geometry, the size applies to
225 all frames you create. A position specified with --geometry only
226 affects the initial frame.
228 ** Emacs built for MS-Windows now behaves like Emacs on X does,
229 with respect to its frame position: if you don't specify a position
230 (in your .emacs init file, in the Registry, or with the --geometry
231 command-line option), Emacs leaves the frame position to the Windows'
234 ** The command line option --no-windows has been changed to
235 --no-window-system. The old one still works, but is deprecated.
237 ** If the environment variable DISPLAY specifies an unreachable X display,
238 Emacs will now startup as if invoked with the --no-window-system option.
240 ** Emacs now reads the standard abbrevs file ~/.abbrev_defs
241 automatically at startup, if it exists. When Emacs offers to save
242 modified buffers, it saves the abbrevs too if they have changed. It
243 can do this either silently or asking for confirmation first,
244 according to the value of `save-abbrevs'.
246 ** New command line option -Q or --quick.
247 This is like using -q --no-site-file, but in addition it also disables
248 the fancy startup screen.
250 ** New command line option -D or --basic-display.
251 Disables the menu-bar, the tool-bar, the scroll-bars, tool tips, and
254 ** The default is now to use a bitmap as the icon.
255 The command-line options --icon-type, -i have been replaced with
256 options --no-bitmap-icon, -nbi to turn the bitmap icon off.
258 ** If the environment variable EMAIL is defined, Emacs now uses its value
259 to compute the default value of `user-mail-address', in preference to
260 concatenation of `user-login-name' with the name of your host machine.
263 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
265 ** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
267 See below for more details.
269 ** When the undo information of the current command gets really large
270 (beyond the value of `undo-outer-limit'), Emacs discards it and warns
273 ** When Emacs prompts for file names, SPC no longer completes the file name.
274 This is so filenames with embedded spaces could be input without the
275 need to quote the space with a C-q. The underlying changes in the
276 keymaps that are active in the minibuffer are described below under
277 "New keymaps for typing file names".
279 If you want the old behavior back, put these two key bindings to your
282 (define-key minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map
283 " " 'minibuffer-complete-word)
284 (define-key minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map
285 " " 'minibuffer-complete-word)
287 ** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
288 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
289 it remains unchanged.
291 ** In incremental search, C-w is changed. M-%, C-M-w and C-M-y are special.
293 See below under "incremental search changes".
295 ** M-g is now a prefix key.
296 M-g g and M-g M-g run goto-line.
297 M-g n and M-g M-n run next-error (like C-x `).
298 M-g p and M-g M-p run previous-error.
300 ** C-u M-g M-g switches to the most recent previous buffer,
301 and goes to the specified line in that buffer.
303 When goto-line starts to execute, if there's a number in the buffer at
304 point then it acts as the default argument for the minibuffer.
306 ** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
307 M-o M-o requests refontification.
309 ** C-x C-f RET (find-file), typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer
312 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
313 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
314 directory with Dired.
316 You can get the old behavior by typing C-x C-f M-n RET, which fetches
317 the actual file name into the minibuffer.
319 ** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
320 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
321 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
322 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
323 doublequotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
324 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
326 ** The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
327 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
329 ** `apply-macro-to-region-lines' now operates on all lines that begin
330 in the region, rather than on all complete lines in the region.
332 ** line-move-ignore-invisible now defaults to t.
334 ** Adaptive filling misfeature removed.
335 It no longer treats `NNN.' or `(NNN)' as a prefix.
337 ** The old bindings C-M-delete and C-M-backspace have been deleted,
338 since there are situations where one or the other will shut down
339 the operating system or your X server.
341 ** The register compatibility key bindings (deprecated since Emacs 19)
343 C-x / point-to-register (Use: C-x r SPC)
344 C-x j jump-to-register (Use: C-x r j)
345 C-x x copy-to-register (Use: C-x r s)
346 C-x g insert-register (Use: C-x r i)
349 * Editing Changes in Emacs 22.1
351 ** The max size of buffers and integers has been doubled.
352 On 32bit machines, it is now 256M (i.e. 268435455).
354 ** !MEM FULL! at the start of the mode line indicates that Emacs
355 cannot get any more memory for Lisp data. This often means it could
356 crash soon if you do things that use more memory. On most systems,
357 killing buffers will get out of this state. If killing buffers does
358 not make !MEM FULL! disappear, you should save your work and start
361 ** `undo-only' does an undo which does not redo any previous undo.
363 ** Yanking text now discards certain text properties that can
364 be inconvenient when you did not expect them. The variable
365 `yank-excluded-properties' specifies which ones. Insertion
366 of register contents and rectangles also discards these properties.
368 ** New command `kill-whole-line' kills an entire line at once.
369 By default, it is bound to C-S-<backspace>.
371 ** M-SPC (just-one-space) when given a numeric argument N
372 converts whitespace around point to N spaces.
374 ** You can now switch buffers in a cyclic order with C-x C-left
375 (previous-buffer) and C-x C-right (next-buffer). C-x left and
376 C-x right can be used as well. The functions keep a different buffer
377 cycle for each frame, using the frame-local buffer list.
379 ** C-x 5 C-o displays a specified buffer in another frame
380 but does not switch to that frame. It's the multi-frame
381 analogue of C-x 4 C-o.
383 ** `special-display-buffer-names' and `special-display-regexps' now
384 understand two new boolean pseudo-frame-parameters `same-frame' and
387 ** New commands to operate on pairs of open and close characters:
388 `insert-pair', `delete-pair', `raise-sexp'.
390 ** M-x setenv now expands environment variable references.
392 Substrings of the form `$foo' and `${foo}' in the specified new value
393 now refer to the value of environment variable foo. To include a `$'
394 in the value, use `$$'.
396 ** The default values of paragraph-start and indent-line-function have
397 been changed to reflect those used in Text mode rather than those used
398 in Paragraph-Indent Text mode.
400 ** The default for the paper size (variable ps-paper-type) is taken
403 ** Help command changes:
405 *** Changes in C-h bindings:
407 C-h e displays the *Messages* buffer.
409 C-h d runs apropos-documentation.
411 C-h r visits the Emacs Manual in Info.
413 C-h followed by a control character is used for displaying files
416 C-h C-f displays the FAQ.
417 C-h C-e displays the PROBLEMS file.
419 The info-search bindings on C-h C-f, C-h C-k and C-h C-i
420 have been moved to C-h F, C-h K and C-h S.
422 C-h c, C-h k, C-h w, and C-h f now handle remapped interactive commands.
423 - C-h c and C-h k report the actual command (after possible remapping)
424 run by the key sequence.
425 - C-h w and C-h f on a command which has been remapped now report the
426 command it is remapped to, and the keys which can be used to run
429 For example, if C-k is bound to kill-line, and kill-line is remapped
430 to new-kill-line, these commands now report:
431 - C-h c and C-h k C-k reports:
432 C-k runs the command new-kill-line
433 - C-h w and C-h f kill-line reports:
434 kill-line is remapped to new-kill-line which is on C-k, <deleteline>
435 - C-h w and C-h f new-kill-line reports:
436 new-kill-line is on C-k
438 *** The apropos commands now accept a list of words to match.
439 When more than one word is specified, at least two of those words must
440 be present for an item to match. Regular expression matching is still
443 *** The new option `apropos-sort-by-scores' causes the matching items
444 to be sorted according to their score. The score for an item is a
445 number calculated to indicate how well the item matches the words or
446 regular expression that you entered to the apropos command. The best
447 match is listed first, and the calculated score is shown for each
450 *** Help commands `describe-function' and `describe-key' now show function
451 arguments in lowercase italics on displays that support it. To change the
452 default, customize face `help-argument-name' or redefine the function
453 `help-default-arg-highlight'.
455 *** C-h v and C-h f commands now include a hyperlink to the C source for
456 variables and functions defined in C (if the C source is available).
458 *** Help mode now only makes hyperlinks for faces when the face name is
459 preceded or followed by the word `face'. It no longer makes
460 hyperlinks for variables without variable documentation, unless
461 preceded by one of the words `variable' or `option'. It now makes
462 hyperlinks to Info anchors (or nodes) if the anchor (or node) name is
463 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `info anchor' or `Info
464 anchor' (in addition to earlier `info node' and `Info node'). In
465 addition, it now makes hyperlinks to URLs as well if the URL is
466 enclosed in single quotes and preceded by `URL'.
468 *** The new command `describe-char' (C-u C-x =) pops up a buffer with
469 description various information about a character, including its
470 encodings and syntax, its text properties, how to input, overlays, and
471 widgets at point. You can get more information about some of them, by
472 clicking on mouse-sensitive areas or moving there and pressing RET.
474 *** The command `list-text-properties-at' has been deleted because
475 C-u C-x = gives the same information and more.
477 *** New command `display-local-help' displays any local help at point
478 in the echo area. It is bound to `C-h .'. It normally displays the
479 same string that would be displayed on mouse-over using the
480 `help-echo' property, but, in certain cases, it can display a more
481 keyboard oriented alternative.
483 *** New user option `help-at-pt-display-when-idle' allows you to
484 automatically show the help provided by `display-local-help' on
485 point-over, after suitable idle time. The amount of idle time is
486 determined by the user option `help-at-pt-timer-delay' and defaults
487 to one second. This feature is turned off by default.
489 ** Mark command changes:
491 *** A prefix argument is no longer required to repeat a jump to a
492 previous mark if you set `set-mark-command-repeat-pop' to t. I.e. C-u
493 C-SPC C-SPC C-SPC ... cycles through the mark ring. Use C-u C-u C-SPC
494 to set the mark immediately after a jump.
496 *** Marking commands extend the region when invoked multiple times.
498 If you type C-M-SPC (mark-sexp), M-@ (mark-word), M-h
499 (mark-paragraph), or C-M-h (mark-defun) repeatedly, the marked region
500 extends each time, so you can mark the next two sexps with M-C-SPC
501 M-C-SPC, for example. This feature also works for
502 mark-end-of-sentence, if you bind that to a key. It also extends the
503 region when the mark is active in Transient Mark mode, regardless of
504 the last command. To start a new region with one of marking commands
505 in Transient Mark mode, you can deactivate the active region with C-g,
506 or set the new mark with C-SPC.
508 *** Some commands do something special in Transient Mark mode when the
509 mark is active--for instance, they limit their operation to the
510 region. Even if you don't normally use Transient Mark mode, you might
511 want to get this behavior from a particular command. There are two
512 ways you can enable Transient Mark mode and activate the mark, for one
515 One method is to type C-SPC C-SPC; this enables Transient Mark mode
516 and sets the mark at point. The other method is to type C-u C-x C-x.
517 This enables Transient Mark mode temporarily but does not alter the
520 After these commands, Transient Mark mode remains enabled until you
521 deactivate the mark. That typically happens when you type a command
522 that alters the buffer, but you can also deactivate the mark by typing
525 *** Movement commands `beginning-of-buffer', `end-of-buffer',
526 `beginning-of-defun', `end-of-defun' do not set the mark if the mark
527 is already active in Transient Mark mode.
529 *** M-h (mark-paragraph) now accepts a prefix arg.
531 With positive arg, M-h marks the current and the following paragraphs;
532 if the arg is negative, it marks the current and the preceding
535 ** Incremental Search changes:
537 *** M-% typed in isearch mode invokes `query-replace' or
538 `query-replace-regexp' (depending on search mode) with the current
539 search string used as the string to replace.
541 *** C-w in incremental search now grabs either a character or a word,
542 making the decision in a heuristic way. This new job is done by the
543 command `isearch-yank-word-or-char'. To restore the old behavior,
544 bind C-w to `isearch-yank-word' in `isearch-mode-map'.
546 *** C-y in incremental search now grabs the next line if point is already
547 at the end of a line.
549 *** C-M-w deletes and C-M-y grabs a character in isearch mode.
550 Another method to grab a character is to enter the minibuffer by `M-e'
551 and to type `C-f' at the end of the search string in the minibuffer.
553 *** Vertical scrolling is now possible within incremental search.
554 To enable this feature, customize the new user option
555 `isearch-allow-scroll'. User written commands which satisfy stringent
556 constraints can be marked as "scrolling commands". See the Emacs manual
559 *** Isearch no longer adds `isearch-resume' commands to the command
560 history by default. To enable this feature, customize the new
561 user option `isearch-resume-in-command-history'.
563 ** Replace command changes:
565 *** When used interactively, the commands `query-replace-regexp' and
566 `replace-regexp' allow \,expr to be used in a replacement string,
567 where expr is an arbitrary Lisp expression evaluated at replacement
568 time. `\#' in a replacement string now refers to the count of
569 replacements already made by the replacement command. All regular
570 expression replacement commands now allow `\?' in the replacement
571 string to specify a position where the replacement string can be
572 edited for each replacement. `query-replace-regexp-eval' is now
573 deprecated since it offers no additional functionality.
575 *** query-replace uses isearch lazy highlighting when the new user option
576 `query-replace-lazy-highlight' is non-nil.
578 *** The current match in query-replace is highlighted in new face
579 `query-replace' which by default inherits from isearch face.
581 *** New user option `query-replace-skip-read-only': when non-nil,
582 `query-replace' and related functions simply ignore
583 a match if part of it has a read-only property.
585 ** Local variables lists:
587 *** If the local variables list contains any variable-value pairs that
588 are not known to be safe, Emacs shows a prompt asking whether to apply
589 the local variables list as a whole. In earlier versions, a prompt
590 was only issued for variables explicitly marked as risky (for the
591 definition of risky variables, see `risky-local-variable-p').
593 At the prompt, you can choose to save the contents of this local
594 variables list to `safe-local-variable-values'. This new customizable
595 option is a list of variable-value pairs that are known to be safe.
596 Variables can also be marked as safe with the existing
597 `safe-local-variable' property (see `safe-local-variable-p').
598 However, risky variables will not be added to
599 `safe-local-variable-values' in this way.
601 *** The variable `enable-local-variables' controls how local variable
602 lists are handled. t, the default, specifies the standard querying
603 behavior. :safe means use only safe values, and ignore the rest.
604 :all means set all variables, whether or not they are safe.
605 nil means ignore them all. Anything else means always query.
607 *** The variable `safe-local-eval-forms' specifies a list of forms that
608 are ok to evaluate when they appear in an `eval' local variables
609 specification. Normally Emacs asks for confirmation before evaluating
610 such a form, but if the form appears in this list, no confirmation is
613 *** If a function has a non-nil `safe-local-eval-function' property,
614 that means it is ok to evaluate some calls to that function when it
615 appears in an `eval' local variables specification. If the property
616 is t, then any form calling that function with constant arguments is
617 ok. If the property is a function or list of functions, they are called
618 with the form as argument, and if any returns t, the form is ok to call.
620 If the form is not "ok to call", that means Emacs asks for
621 confirmation as before.
623 *** In processing a local variables list, Emacs strips the prefix and
624 suffix from every line before processing all the lines.
626 *** Text properties in local variables.
628 A file local variables list cannot specify a string with text
629 properties--any specified text properties are discarded.
631 ** File operation changes:
633 *** Unquoted `$' in file names do not signal an error any more when
634 the corresponding environment variable does not exist.
635 Instead, the `$ENVVAR' text is left as is, so that `$$' quoting
636 is only rarely needed.
638 *** C-x C-f RET, typing nothing in the minibuffer, is no longer a special case.
640 Since the default input is the current directory, this has the effect
641 of specifying the current directory. Normally that means to visit the
642 directory with Dired.
644 *** C-x s (save-some-buffers) now offers an option `d' to diff a buffer
645 against its file, so you can see what changes you would be saving.
647 *** Auto Compression mode is now enabled by default.
649 *** If the user visits a file larger than `large-file-warning-threshold',
650 Emacs asks for confirmation.
652 *** The commands copy-file, rename-file, make-symbolic-link and
653 add-name-to-file, when given a directory as the "new name" argument,
654 convert it to a file name by merging in the within-directory part of
655 the existing file's name. (This is the same convention that shell
656 commands cp, mv, and ln follow.) Thus, M-x copy-file RET ~/foo RET
657 /tmp RET copies ~/foo to /tmp/foo.
659 *** require-final-newline now has two new possible values:
661 `visit' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's needed
662 when visiting the file.
664 `visit-save' means add a newline (as an undoable change) if it's
665 needed when visiting the file, and also add a newline if it's needed
666 when saving the file.
668 *** The new option mode-require-final-newline controls how certain
669 major modes enable require-final-newline. Any major mode that's
670 designed for a kind of file that should normally end in a newline
671 sets require-final-newline based on mode-require-final-newline.
672 So you can customize mode-require-final-newline to control what these
675 *** When you are root, and you visit a file whose modes specify
676 read-only, the Emacs buffer is now read-only too. Type C-x C-q if you
677 want to make the buffer writable. (As root, you can in fact alter the
680 *** find-file-read-only visits multiple files in read-only mode,
681 when the file name contains wildcard characters.
683 *** find-alternate-file replaces the current file with multiple files,
684 when the file name contains wildcard characters. It now asks if you
685 wish save your changes and not just offer to kill the buffer.
687 *** When used interactively, `format-write-file' now asks for confirmation
688 before overwriting an existing file, unless a prefix argument is
689 supplied. This behavior is analogous to `write-file'.
691 *** The variable `auto-save-file-name-transforms' now has a third element that
692 controls whether or not the function `make-auto-save-file-name' will
693 attempt to construct a unique auto-save name (e.g. for remote files).
695 *** The new option `write-region-inhibit-fsync' disables calls to fsync
696 in `write-region'. This can be useful on laptops to avoid spinning up
697 the hard drive upon each file save. Enabling this variable may result
698 in data loss, use with care.
700 ** Minibuffer changes:
702 *** The completion commands TAB, SPC and ? in the minibuffer apply only
703 to the text before point. If there is text in the buffer after point,
704 it remains unchanged.
706 *** The new file-name-shadow-mode is turned ON by default, so that when
707 entering a file name, any prefix which Emacs will ignore is dimmed.
709 *** There's a new face `minibuffer-prompt'.
710 Emacs adds this face to the list of text properties stored in the
711 variable `minibuffer-prompt-properties', which is used to display the
714 *** Enhanced visual feedback in `*Completions*' buffer.
716 Completions lists use faces to highlight what all completions
717 have in common and where they begin to differ.
719 The common prefix shared by all possible completions uses the face
720 `completions-common-part', while the first character that isn't the
721 same uses the face `completions-first-difference'. By default,
722 `completions-common-part' inherits from `default', and
723 `completions-first-difference' inherits from `bold'. The idea of
724 `completions-common-part' is that you can use it to make the common
725 parts less visible than normal, so that the rest of the differing
726 parts is, by contrast, slightly highlighted.
728 Above fontification is always done when listing completions is
729 triggered at minibuffer. If you want to fontify completions whose
730 listing is triggered at the other normal buffer, you have to pass
731 the common prefix of completions to `display-completion-list' as
734 *** File-name completion can now ignore specified directories.
735 If an element of the list in `completion-ignored-extensions' ends in a
736 slash `/', it indicates a subdirectory that should be ignored when
737 completing file names. Elements of `completion-ignored-extensions'
738 which do not end in a slash are never considered when a completion
739 candidate is a directory.
741 *** New user option `history-delete-duplicates'.
742 If set to t when adding a new history element, all previous identical
743 elements are deleted from the history list.
745 ** Redisplay changes:
747 *** The new face `mode-line-inactive' is used to display the mode line
748 of non-selected windows. The `mode-line' face is now used to display
749 the mode line of the currently selected window.
751 The new variable `mode-line-in-non-selected-windows' controls whether
752 the `mode-line-inactive' face is used.
754 *** The mode line position information now comes before the major mode.
755 When the file is maintained under version control, that information
756 appears between the position information and the major mode.
758 *** You can now customize the use of window fringes. To control this
759 for all frames, use M-x fringe-mode or the Show/Hide submenu of the
760 top-level Options menu, or customize the `fringe-mode' variable. To
761 control this for a specific frame, use the command M-x
764 *** Angle icons in the fringes can indicate the buffer boundaries. In
765 addition, up and down arrow bitmaps in the fringe indicate which ways
766 the window can be scrolled.
768 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
769 `indicate-buffer-boundaries' to a non-nil value. The default value of
770 this variable is found in `default-indicate-buffer-boundaries'.
772 If value is `left' or `right', both angle and arrow bitmaps are
773 displayed in the left or right fringe, resp.
775 The value can also be an alist which specifies the presence and
776 position of each bitmap individually.
778 For example, ((top . left) (t . right)) places the top angle bitmap
779 in left fringe, the bottom angle bitmap in right fringe, and both
780 arrow bitmaps in right fringe. To show just the angle bitmaps in the
781 left fringe, but no arrow bitmaps, use ((top . left) (bottom . left)).
783 *** On window systems, lines which are exactly as wide as the window
784 (not counting the final newline character) are no longer broken into
785 two lines on the display (with just the newline on the second line).
786 Instead, the newline now "overflows" into the right fringe, and the
787 cursor will be displayed in the fringe when positioned on that newline.
789 The new user option 'overflow-newline-into-fringe' can be set to nil to
790 revert to the old behavior of continuing such lines.
792 *** A window can now have individual fringe and scroll-bar settings,
793 in addition to the individual display margin settings.
795 Such individual settings are now preserved when windows are split
796 horizontally or vertically, a saved window configuration is restored,
797 or when the frame is resized.
799 *** When a window has display margin areas, the fringes are now
800 displayed between the margins and the buffer's text area, rather than
801 outside those margins.
803 *** New face `escape-glyph' highlights control characters and escape glyphs.
805 *** Non-breaking space and hyphens are now displayed with a special
806 face, either nobreak-space or escape-glyph. You can turn this off or
807 specify a different mode by setting the variable `nobreak-char-display'.
809 *** The parameters of automatic hscrolling can now be customized.
810 The variable `hscroll-margin' determines how many columns away from
811 the window edge point is allowed to get before automatic hscrolling
812 will horizontally scroll the window. The default value is 5.
814 The variable `hscroll-step' determines how many columns automatic
815 hscrolling scrolls the window when point gets too close to the
816 window edge. If its value is zero, the default, Emacs scrolls the
817 window so as to center point. If its value is an integer, it says how
818 many columns to scroll. If the value is a floating-point number, it
819 gives the fraction of the window's width to scroll the window.
821 The variable `automatic-hscrolling' was renamed to
822 `auto-hscroll-mode'. The old name is still available as an alias.
824 *** Moving or scrolling through images (and other lines) taller than
825 the window now works sensibly, by automatically adjusting the window's
828 *** Preemptive redisplay now adapts to current load and bandwidth.
830 To avoid preempting redisplay on fast computers, networks, and displays,
831 the arrival of new input is now performed at regular intervals during
832 redisplay. The new variable `redisplay-preemption-period' specifies
833 the period; the default is to check for input every 0.1 seconds.
835 *** The %c and %l constructs are now ignored in frame-title-format.
836 Due to technical limitations in how Emacs interacts with windowing
837 systems, these constructs often failed to render properly, and could
838 even cause Emacs to crash.
840 *** If value of `auto-resize-tool-bars' is `grow-only', the tool bar
841 will expand as needed, but not contract automatically. To contract
842 the tool bar, you must type C-l.
844 *** New customize option `overline-margin' controls the space between
847 *** New variable `x-underline-at-descent-line' controls the relative
848 position of the underline. When set, it overrides the
849 `x-use-underline-position-properties' variables.
853 *** `mode-line-highlight' is the standard face indicating mouse sensitive
854 elements on mode-line (and header-line) like `highlight' face on text
857 *** `mode-line-buffer-id' is the standard face for buffer identification
858 parts of the mode line.
860 *** `shadow' face defines the appearance of the "shadowed" text, i.e.
861 the text which should be less noticeable than the surrounding text.
862 This can be achieved by using shades of grey in contrast with either
863 black or white default foreground color. This generic shadow face
864 allows customization of the appearance of shadowed text in one place,
865 so package-specific faces can inherit from it.
867 *** `vertical-border' face is used for the vertical divider between windows.
869 ** Font-Lock (syntax highlighting) changes:
871 *** All modes now support using M-x font-lock-mode to toggle
872 fontification, even those such as Occur, Info, and comint-derived
873 modes that do their own fontification in a special way.
875 The variable `Info-fontify' is no longer applicable; to disable
876 fontification in Info, remove `turn-on-font-lock' from
879 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-comment-delimiter-face'.
881 *** New standard font-lock face `font-lock-preprocessor-face'.
883 *** Easy to overlook single character negation can now be font-locked.
884 You can use the new variable `font-lock-negation-char-face' and the face of
885 the same name to customize this. Currently the cc-modes, sh-script-mode,
886 cperl-mode and make-mode support this.
888 *** Font-Lock mode: in major modes such as Lisp mode, where some Emacs
889 features assume that an open-paren in column 0 is always outside of
890 any string or comment, Font-Lock now highlights any such open-paren in
891 bold-red if it is inside a string or a comment, to indicate that it
892 can cause trouble. You should rewrite the string or comment so that
893 the open-paren is not in column 0.
895 *** M-o now is the prefix key for setting text properties;
896 M-o M-o requests refontification.
898 *** The default settings for JIT stealth lock parameters are changed.
899 The default value for the user option jit-lock-stealth-time is now nil
900 instead of 3. This setting of jit-lock-stealth-time disables stealth
901 fontification: on today's machines, it may be a bug in font lock
902 patterns if fontification otherwise noticeably degrades interactivity.
903 If you find movement in infrequently visited buffers sluggish (and the
904 major mode maintainer has no better idea), customizing
905 jit-lock-stealth-time to a non-nil value will let Emacs fontify
906 buffers in the background when it considers the system to be idle.
907 jit-lock-stealth-nice is now 0.5 instead of 0.125 which is supposed to
908 cause less load than the old defaults.
910 *** jit-lock can now be delayed with `jit-lock-defer-time'.
912 If this variable is non-nil, its value should be the amount of Emacs
913 idle time in seconds to wait before starting fontification. For
914 example, if you set `jit-lock-defer-time' to 0.25, fontification will
915 only happen after 0.25s of idle time.
917 *** contextual refontification is now separate from stealth fontification.
919 jit-lock-defer-contextually is renamed jit-lock-contextually and
920 jit-lock-context-time determines the delay after which contextual
921 refontification takes place.
923 *** lazy-lock is considered obsolete.
925 The `lazy-lock' package is superseded by `jit-lock' and is considered
926 obsolete. `jit-lock' is activated by default; if you wish to continue
927 using `lazy-lock', activate it in your ~/.emacs like this:
928 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'lazy-lock-mode)
930 If you invoke `lazy-lock-mode' directly rather than through
931 `font-lock-support-mode', it now issues a warning:
932 "Use font-lock-support-mode rather than calling lazy-lock-mode"
936 *** A menu item "Show/Hide" was added to the top-level menu "Options".
937 This menu allows you to turn various display features on and off (such
938 as the fringes, the tool bar, the speedbar, and the menu bar itself).
939 You can also move the vertical scroll bar to either side here or turn
940 it off completely. There is also a menu-item to toggle displaying of
941 current date and time, current line and column number in the mode-line.
943 *** Speedbar has moved from the "Tools" top level menu to "Show/Hide".
945 *** The menu item "Open File..." has been split into two items, "New File..."
946 and "Open File...". "Open File..." now opens only existing files. This is
947 to support existing GUI file selection dialogs better.
949 *** The file selection dialog for Gtk+, Mac, W32 and Motif/LessTif can be
950 disabled by customizing the variable `use-file-dialog'.
952 *** The pop up menus for Lucid now stay up if you do a fast click and can
953 be navigated with the arrow keys (like Gtk+, Mac and W32).
955 *** The menu bar for Motif/LessTif/Lucid/Gtk+ can be navigated with keys.
956 Pressing F10 shows the first menu in the menu bar. Navigation is done with
957 the arrow keys, select with the return key and cancel with the escape keys.
959 *** The Lucid menus can display multilingual text in your locale. You have
960 to explicitly specify a fontSet resource for this to work, for example
961 `-xrm "Emacs*fontSet: -*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*,*"'.
963 *** Dialogs for Lucid/Athena and LessTif/Motif now pop down on pressing
964 ESC, like they do for Gtk+, Mac and W32.
966 *** For the Gtk+ version, you can make Emacs use the old file dialog
967 by setting the variable `x-gtk-use-old-file-dialog' to t. Default is to use
970 *** You can exit dialog windows and menus by typing C-g.
972 ** Buffer Menu changes:
974 *** The new options `buffers-menu-show-directories' and
975 `buffers-menu-show-status' let you control how buffers are displayed
976 in the menu dropped down when you click "Buffers" from the menu bar.
978 `buffers-menu-show-directories' controls whether the menu displays
979 leading directories as part of the file name visited by the buffer.
980 If its value is `unless-uniquify', the default, directories are
981 shown unless uniquify-buffer-name-style' is non-nil. The value of nil
982 and t turn the display of directories off and on, respectively.
984 `buffers-menu-show-status' controls whether the Buffers menu includes
985 the modified and read-only status of the buffers. By default it is
986 t, and the status is shown.
988 Setting these variables directly does not take effect until next time
989 the Buffers menu is regenerated.
991 *** New command `Buffer-menu-toggle-files-only' toggles display of file
992 buffers only in the Buffer Menu. It is bound to T in Buffer Menu
995 *** `buffer-menu' and `list-buffers' now list buffers whose names begin
996 with a space, when those buffers are visiting files. Normally buffers
997 whose names begin with space are omitted.
1001 *** You can now follow links by clicking Mouse-1 on the link.
1003 Traditionally, Emacs uses a Mouse-1 click to set point and a Mouse-2
1004 click to follow a link, whereas most other applications use a Mouse-1
1005 click for both purposes, depending on whether you click outside or
1006 inside a link. Now the behavior of a Mouse-1 click has been changed
1007 to match this context-sensitive dual behavior. (If you prefer the old
1008 behavior, set the user option `mouse-1-click-follows-link' to nil.)
1010 Depending on the current mode, a Mouse-2 click in Emacs can do much
1011 more than just follow a link, so the new Mouse-1 behavior is only
1012 activated for modes which explicitly mark a clickable text as a "link"
1013 (see the new function `mouse-on-link-p' for details). The Lisp
1014 packages that are included in release 22.1 have been adapted to do
1015 this, but external packages may not yet support this. However, there
1016 is no risk in using such packages, as the worst thing that could
1017 happen is that you get the original Mouse-1 behavior when you click
1018 on a link, which typically means that you set point where you click.
1020 If you want to get the original Mouse-1 action also inside a link, you
1021 just need to press the Mouse-1 button a little longer than a normal
1022 click (i.e. press and hold the Mouse-1 button for half a second before
1025 Dragging the Mouse-1 inside a link still performs the original
1026 drag-mouse-1 action, typically copy the text.
1028 You can customize the new Mouse-1 behavior via the new user options
1029 `mouse-1-click-follows-link' and `mouse-1-click-in-non-selected-windows'.
1031 *** If you set the new variable `mouse-autoselect-window' to a non-nil
1032 value, windows are automatically selected as you move the mouse from
1033 one Emacs window to another, even within a frame. A minibuffer window
1034 can be selected only when it is active.
1036 *** On X, when the window manager requires that you click on a frame to
1037 select it (give it focus), the selected window and cursor position
1038 normally changes according to the mouse click position. If you set
1039 the variable x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position to t, the selected
1040 window and cursor position do not change when you click on a frame
1043 *** Emacs normally highlights mouse sensitive text whenever the mouse
1044 is over the text. By setting the new variable `mouse-highlight', you
1045 can optionally enable mouse highlighting only after you move the
1046 mouse, so that highlighting disappears when you press a key. You can
1047 also disable mouse highlighting.
1049 *** You can now customize if selecting a region by dragging the mouse
1050 shall not copy the selected text to the kill-ring by setting the new
1051 variable mouse-drag-copy-region to nil.
1053 *** Under X, mouse-wheel-mode is turned on by default.
1055 *** Emacs ignores mouse-2 clicks while the mouse wheel is being moved.
1057 People tend to push the mouse wheel (which counts as a mouse-2 click)
1058 unintentionally while turning the wheel, so these clicks are now
1059 ignored. You can customize this with the mouse-wheel-click-event and
1060 mouse-wheel-inhibit-click-time variables.
1062 *** mouse-wheels can now scroll a specific fraction of the window
1063 (rather than a fixed number of lines) and the scrolling is `progressive'.
1065 ** Multilingual Environment (Mule) changes:
1067 *** You can disable character translation for a file using the -*-
1068 construct. Include `enable-character-translation: nil' inside the
1069 -*-...-*- to disable any character translation that may happen by
1070 various global and per-coding-system translation tables. You can also
1071 specify it in a local variable list at the end of the file. For
1072 shortcut, instead of using this long variable name, you can append the
1073 character "!" at the end of coding-system name specified in -*-
1074 construct or in a local variable list. For example, if a file has the
1075 following header, it is decoded by the coding system `iso-latin-1'
1076 without any character translation:
1077 ;; -*- coding: iso-latin-1!; -*-
1079 *** Language environment and various default coding systems are setup
1080 more correctly according to the current locale name. If the locale
1081 name doesn't specify a charset, the default is what glibc defines.
1082 This change can result in using the different coding systems as
1083 default in some locale (e.g. vi_VN).
1085 *** The keyboard-coding-system is now automatically set based on your
1086 current locale settings if you are not using a window system. This
1087 can mean that the META key doesn't work but generates non-ASCII
1088 characters instead, depending on how the terminal (or terminal
1089 emulator) works. Use `set-keyboard-coding-system' (or customize
1090 keyboard-coding-system) if you prefer META to work (the old default)
1091 or if the locale doesn't describe the character set actually generated
1092 by the keyboard. See Info node `Unibyte Mode'.
1094 *** The new command `set-file-name-coding-system' (C-x RET F) sets
1095 coding system for encoding and decoding file names. A new menu item
1096 (Options->Mule->Set Coding Systems->For File Name) invokes this
1099 *** The new command `revert-buffer-with-coding-system' (C-x RET r)
1100 revisits the current file using a coding system that you specify.
1102 *** New command `recode-region' decodes the region again by a specified
1105 *** The new command `recode-file-name' changes the encoding of the name
1108 *** New command `ucs-insert' inserts a character specified by its
1111 *** New command quail-show-key shows what key (or key sequence) to type
1112 in the current input method to input a character at point.
1114 *** Limited support for character `unification' has been added.
1115 Emacs now knows how to translate between different representations of
1116 the same characters in various Emacs charsets according to standard
1117 Unicode mappings. This applies mainly to characters in the ISO 8859
1118 sets plus some other 8-bit sets, but can be extended. For instance,
1119 translation works amongst the Emacs ...-iso8859-... charsets and the
1120 mule-unicode-... ones.
1122 By default this translation happens automatically on encoding.
1123 Self-inserting characters are translated to make the input conformant
1124 with the encoding of the buffer in which it's being used, where
1127 You can force a more complete unification with the user option
1128 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode. That maps all the Latin-N character sets
1129 into Unicode characters (from the latin-iso8859-1 and
1130 mule-unicode-0100-24ff charsets) on decoding. Note that this mode
1131 will often effectively clobber data with an iso-2022 encoding.
1133 *** New language environments (set up automatically according to the
1134 locale): Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chinese-EUC-TW, Croatian, Esperanto,
1135 French, Georgian, Italian, Latin-7, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam,
1136 Russian, Russian, Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, UTF-8,Ukrainian,
1137 Welsh,Latin-6, Windows-1255.
1139 *** New input methods: latin-alt-postfix, latin-postfix, latin-prefix,
1140 belarusian, bulgarian-bds, bulgarian-phonetic, chinese-sisheng (for
1141 Chinese Pinyin characters), croatian, dutch, georgian, latvian-keyboard,
1142 lithuanian-numeric, lithuanian-keyboard, malayalam-inscript, rfc1345,
1143 russian-computer, sgml, slovenian, tamil-inscript, ukrainian-computer,
1144 ucs, vietnamese-telex, welsh.
1146 *** There is support for decoding Greek and Cyrillic characters into
1147 either Unicode (the mule-unicode charsets) or the iso-8859 charsets,
1148 when possible. The latter are more space-efficient.
1149 This is controlled by user option utf-fragment-on-decoding.
1151 *** Improved Thai support. A new minor mode `thai-word-mode' (which is
1152 automatically activated if you select Thai as a language
1153 environment) changes key bindings of most word-oriented commands to
1154 versions which recognize Thai words. Affected commands are
1158 M-DEL (backward-kill-word)
1159 M-t (transpose-words)
1160 M-q (fill-paragraph)
1162 *** Indian support has been updated.
1163 The in-is13194 coding system is now Unicode-based. CDAC fonts are
1164 assumed. There is a framework for supporting various Indian scripts,
1165 but currently only Devanagari, Malayalam and Tamil are supported.
1167 *** The utf-8/16 coding systems have been enhanced.
1168 By default, untranslatable utf-8 sequences are simply composed into
1169 single quasi-characters. User option `utf-translate-cjk-mode' (it is
1170 turned on by default) arranges to translate many utf-8 CJK character
1171 sequences into real Emacs characters in a similar way to the Mule-UCS
1172 system. As this loads a fairly big data on demand, people who are not
1173 interested in CJK characters may want to customize it to nil.
1174 You can augment/amend the CJK translation via hash tables
1175 `ucs-mule-cjk-to-unicode' and `ucs-unicode-to-mule-cjk'. The utf-8
1176 coding system now also encodes characters from most of Emacs's
1177 one-dimensional internal charsets, specifically the ISO-8859 ones.
1178 The utf-16 coding system is affected similarly.
1180 *** A UTF-7 coding system is available in the library `utf-7'.
1182 *** A new coding system `euc-tw' has been added for traditional Chinese
1183 in CNS encoding; it accepts both Big 5 and CNS as input; on saving,
1184 Big 5 is then converted to CNS.
1186 *** Many new coding systems are available in the `code-pages' library.
1187 These include complete versions of most of those in codepage.el, based
1188 on Unicode mappings. `codepage-setup' is now obsolete and is used
1189 only in the MS-DOS port of Emacs. All coding systems defined in
1190 `code-pages' are auto-loaded.
1192 *** New variable `utf-translate-cjk-unicode-range' controls which
1193 Unicode characters to translate in `utf-translate-cjk-mode'.
1195 *** iso-10646-1 (`Unicode') fonts can be used to display any range of
1196 characters encodable by the utf-8 coding system. Just specify the
1197 fontset appropriately.
1199 ** Customize changes:
1201 *** Custom themes are collections of customize options. Create a
1202 custom theme with M-x customize-create-theme. Use M-x load-theme to
1203 load and enable a theme, and M-x disable-theme to disable it. Use M-x
1204 enable-theme to enable a disabled theme.
1206 *** The commands M-x customize-face and M-x customize-face-other-window
1207 now look at the character after point. If a face or faces are
1208 specified for that character, the commands by default customize those
1211 *** The face-customization widget has been reworked to be less confusing.
1212 In particular, when you enable a face attribute using the corresponding
1213 check-box, there's no longer a redundant `*' option in value selection
1214 for that attribute; the values you can choose are only those which make
1215 sense for the attribute. When an attribute is de-selected by unchecking
1216 its check-box, then the (now ignored, but still present temporarily in
1217 case you re-select the attribute) value is hidden.
1219 *** When you set or reset a variable's value in a Customize buffer,
1220 the previous value becomes the "backup value" of the variable.
1221 You can go back to that backup value by selecting "Use Backup Value"
1222 under the "[State]" button.
1226 *** In Dired's ! command (dired-do-shell-command), `*' and `?' now
1227 control substitution of the file names only when they are surrounded
1228 by whitespace. This means you can now use them as shell wildcards
1229 too. If you want to use just plain `*' as a wildcard, type `*""'; the
1230 double quotes make no difference in the shell, but they prevent
1231 special treatment in `dired-do-shell-command'.
1233 *** The Dired command `dired-goto-file' is now bound to j, not M-g.
1234 This is to avoid hiding the global key binding of M-g.
1236 *** New faces dired-header, dired-mark, dired-marked, dired-flagged,
1237 dired-ignored, dired-directory, dired-symlink, dired-warning
1238 introduced for Dired mode instead of font-lock faces.
1240 *** New Dired command `dired-compare-directories' marks files
1241 with different file attributes in two dired buffers.
1243 *** New Dired command `dired-do-touch' (bound to T) changes timestamps
1244 of marked files with the value entered in the minibuffer.
1246 *** In Dired, the w command now stores the current line's file name
1247 into the kill ring. With a zero prefix arg, it stores the absolute file name.
1249 *** In Dired-x, Omitting files is now a minor mode, dired-omit-mode.
1251 The mode toggling command is bound to M-o. A new command
1252 dired-mark-omitted, bound to * O, marks omitted files. The variable
1253 dired-omit-files-p is obsoleted, use the mode toggling function
1256 *** The variables dired-free-space-program and dired-free-space-args
1257 have been renamed to directory-free-space-program and
1258 directory-free-space-args, and they now apply whenever Emacs puts a
1259 directory listing into a buffer.
1263 *** The new INSIDE_EMACS environment variable is set to "t" in subshells
1264 running inside Emacs. This supersedes the EMACS environment variable,
1265 which will be removed in a future Emacs release. Programs that need
1266 to know whether they are started inside Emacs should check INSIDE_EMACS
1269 *** The comint prompt can now be made read-only, using the new user
1270 option `comint-prompt-read-only'. This is not enabled by default,
1271 except in IELM buffers. The read-only status of IELM prompts can be
1272 controlled with the new user option `ielm-prompt-read-only', which
1273 overrides `comint-prompt-read-only'.
1275 The new commands `comint-kill-whole-line' and `comint-kill-region'
1276 support editing comint buffers with read-only prompts.
1278 `comint-kill-whole-line' is like `kill-whole-line', but ignores both
1279 read-only and field properties. Hence, it always kill entire
1280 lines, including any prompts.
1282 `comint-kill-region' is like `kill-region', except that it ignores
1283 read-only properties, if it is safe to do so. This means that if any
1284 part of a prompt is deleted, then the entire prompt must be deleted
1285 and that all prompts must stay at the beginning of a line. If this is
1286 not the case, then `comint-kill-region' behaves just like
1287 `kill-region' if read-only properties are involved: it copies the text
1288 to the kill-ring, but does not delete it.
1290 *** The new command `comint-insert-previous-argument' in comint-derived
1291 modes (shell-mode, etc.) inserts arguments from previous command lines,
1292 like bash's `ESC .' binding. It is bound by default to `C-c .', but
1293 otherwise behaves quite similarly to the bash version.
1295 *** `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' has been renamed
1296 `comint-use-prompt-regexp'. The old name has been kept as an alias,
1297 but declared obsolete.
1299 ** M-x Compile changes:
1301 *** M-x compile has become more robust and reliable
1303 Quite a few more kinds of messages are recognized. Messages that are
1304 recognized as warnings or informational come in orange or green, instead of
1305 red. Informational messages are by default skipped with `next-error'
1306 (controlled by `compilation-skip-threshold').
1308 Location data is collected on the fly as the *compilation* buffer changes.
1309 This means you could modify messages to make them point to different files.
1310 This also means you can not go to locations of messages you may have deleted.
1312 The variable `compilation-error-regexp-alist' has now become customizable. If
1313 you had added your own regexps to this, you'll probably need to include a
1314 leading `^', otherwise they'll match anywhere on a line. There is now also a
1315 `compilation-mode-font-lock-keywords' and it nicely handles all the checks
1316 that configure outputs and -o options so you see at a glance where you are.
1318 The new file etc/compilation.txt gives examples of each type of message.
1320 *** New user option `compilation-environment'.
1321 This option allows you to specify environment variables for inferior
1322 compilation processes without affecting the environment that all
1323 subprocesses inherit.
1325 *** New user option `compilation-disable-input'.
1326 If this is non-nil, send end-of-file as compilation process input.
1328 *** New options `next-error-highlight' and `next-error-highlight-no-select'
1329 specify the method of highlighting of the corresponding source line
1330 in new face `next-error'.
1332 *** A new minor mode `next-error-follow-minor-mode' can be used in
1333 compilation-mode, grep-mode, occur-mode, and diff-mode (i.e. all the
1334 modes that can use `next-error'). In this mode, cursor motion in the
1335 buffer causes automatic display in another window of the corresponding
1336 matches, compilation errors, etc. This minor mode can be toggled with
1339 *** When the left fringe is displayed, an arrow points to current message in
1340 the compilation buffer.
1342 *** The new variable `compilation-context-lines' controls lines of leading
1343 context before the current message. If nil and the left fringe is displayed,
1344 it doesn't scroll the compilation output window. If there is no left fringe,
1345 no arrow is displayed and a value of nil means display the message at the top
1348 ** Occur mode changes:
1350 *** The new command `multi-occur' is just like `occur', except it can
1351 search multiple buffers. There is also a new command
1352 `multi-occur-in-matching-buffers' which allows you to specify the
1353 buffers to search by their filenames or buffer names. Internally,
1354 Occur mode has been rewritten, and now uses font-lock, among other
1357 *** You can now use next-error (C-x `) and previous-error to advance to
1358 the next/previous matching line found by M-x occur.
1360 *** In the *Occur* buffer, `o' switches to it in another window, and
1361 C-o displays the current line's occurrence in another window without
1366 *** Grep has been decoupled from compilation mode setup.
1368 There's a new separate package grep.el, with its own submenu and
1369 customization group.
1371 *** `grep-find' is now also available under the name `find-grep' where
1372 people knowing `find-grep-dired' would probably expect it.
1374 *** New commands `lgrep' (local grep) and `rgrep' (recursive grep) are
1375 more user-friendly versions of `grep' and `grep-find', which prompt
1376 separately for the regular expression to match, the files to search,
1377 and the base directory for the search. Case sensitivity of the
1378 search is controlled by the current value of `case-fold-search'.
1380 These commands build the shell commands based on the new variables
1381 `grep-template' (lgrep) and `grep-find-template' (rgrep).
1383 The files to search can use aliases defined in `grep-files-aliases'.
1385 Subdirectories listed in `grep-find-ignored-directories' such as those
1386 typically used by various version control systems, like CVS and arch,
1387 are automatically skipped by `rgrep'.
1389 *** The grep commands provide highlighting support.
1391 Hits are fontified in green, and hits in binary files in orange. Grep buffers
1392 can be saved and automatically revisited.
1394 *** New option `grep-highlight-matches' highlights matches in *grep*
1395 buffer. It uses a special feature of some grep programs which accept
1396 --color option to output markers around matches. When going to the next
1397 match with `next-error' the exact match is highlighted in the source
1398 buffer. Otherwise, if `grep-highlight-matches' is nil, the whole
1399 source line is highlighted.
1401 *** New key bindings in grep output window:
1402 SPC and DEL scrolls window up and down. C-n and C-p moves to next and
1403 previous match in the grep window. RET jumps to the source line of
1404 the current match. `n' and `p' shows next and previous match in
1405 other window, but does not switch buffer. `{' and `}' jumps to the
1406 previous or next file in the grep output. TAB also jumps to the next
1409 *** M-x grep now tries to avoid appending `/dev/null' to the command line
1410 by using GNU grep `-H' option instead. M-x grep automatically
1411 detects whether this is possible or not the first time it is invoked.
1412 When `-H' is used, the grep command line supplied by the user is passed
1413 unchanged to the system to execute, which allows more complicated
1414 command lines to be used than was possible before.
1416 *** The new variables `grep-window-height' and `grep-scroll-output' override
1417 the corresponding compilation mode settings, for grep commands only.
1419 ** Cursor display changes:
1421 *** Emacs can produce an underscore-like (horizontal bar) cursor.
1422 The underscore cursor is set by putting `(cursor-type . hbar)' in
1423 default-frame-alist. It supports variable heights, like the `bar'
1426 *** The variable `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' can now be set to any
1427 of the recognized cursor types.
1429 *** Display of hollow cursors now obeys the buffer-local value (if any)
1430 of `cursor-in-non-selected-windows' in the buffer that the cursor
1433 *** On text terminals, the variable `visible-cursor' controls whether Emacs
1434 uses the "very visible" cursor (the default) or the normal cursor.
1436 *** The X resource cursorBlink can be used to turn off cursor blinking.
1438 *** On X, MS Windows, and Mac OS, the blinking cursor's "off" state is
1439 now controlled by the variable `blink-cursor-alist'.
1441 ** X Windows Support:
1443 *** Emacs now supports drag and drop for X. Dropping a file on a window
1444 opens it, dropping text inserts the text. Dropping a file on a dired
1445 buffer copies or moves the file to that directory.
1447 *** Under X11, it is possible to swap Alt and Meta (and Super and Hyper).
1448 The new variables `x-alt-keysym', `x-hyper-keysym', `x-meta-keysym',
1449 and `x-super-keysym' can be used to choose which keysyms Emacs should
1450 use for the modifiers. For example, the following two lines swap
1452 (setq x-alt-keysym 'meta)
1453 (setq x-meta-keysym 'alt)
1455 *** The X resource useXIM can be used to turn off use of XIM, which can
1456 speed up Emacs with slow networking to the X server.
1458 If the configure option `--without-xim' was used to turn off use of
1459 XIM by default, the X resource useXIM can be used to turn it on.
1461 *** The new variable `x-select-request-type' controls how Emacs
1462 requests X selection. The default value is nil, which means that
1463 Emacs requests X selection with types COMPOUND_TEXT and UTF8_STRING,
1464 and use the more appropriately result.
1466 *** The scrollbar under LessTif or Motif has a smoother drag-scrolling.
1467 On the other hand, the size of the thumb does not represent the actual
1468 amount of text shown any more (only a crude approximation of it).
1472 *** If you enable Xterm Mouse mode, Emacs will respond to mouse clicks
1473 on the mode line, header line and display margin, when run in an xterm.
1475 *** Improved key bindings support when running in an xterm.
1476 When Emacs is running in an xterm more key bindings are available.
1477 The following should work:
1478 {C,S,C-S,A}-{right,left,up,down,prior,next,delete,insert,F1-12}.
1479 These key bindings work on xterm from X.org 6.8 (and later versions),
1480 they might not work on some older versions of xterm, or on some
1481 proprietary versions.
1482 The various keys generated by xterm when the "modifyOtherKeys"
1483 resource is set are also supported.
1485 ** Character terminal color support changes:
1487 *** The new command-line option --color=MODE lets you specify a standard
1488 mode for a tty color support. It is meant to be used on character
1489 terminals whose capabilities are not set correctly in the terminal
1490 database, or with terminal emulators which support colors, but don't
1491 set the TERM environment variable to a name of a color-capable
1492 terminal. "emacs --color" uses the same color commands as GNU `ls'
1493 when invoked with "ls --color", so if your terminal can support colors
1494 in "ls --color", it will support "emacs --color" as well. See the
1495 user manual for the possible values of the MODE parameter.
1497 *** Emacs now supports several character terminals which provide more
1498 than 8 colors. For example, for `xterm', 16-color, 88-color, and
1499 256-color modes are supported. Emacs automatically notes at startup
1500 the extended number of colors, and defines the appropriate entries for
1501 all of these colors.
1503 *** Emacs now uses the full range of available colors for the default
1504 faces when running on a color terminal, including 16-, 88-, and
1505 256-color xterms. This means that when you run "emacs -nw" on an
1506 88-color or 256-color xterm, you will see essentially the same face
1509 *** There's a new support for colors on `rxvt' terminal emulator.
1513 *** New option `ebnf-arrow-extra-width' which specify extra width for arrow
1515 The extra width is used to avoid that the arrowhead and the terminal border
1516 overlap. It depends on `ebnf-arrow-shape' and `ebnf-line-width'.
1518 *** New option `ebnf-arrow-scale' which specify the arrow scale.
1519 Values lower than 1.0, shrink the arrow.
1520 Values greater than 1.0, expand the arrow.
1522 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1
1524 ** CUA mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1526 The new cua package provides CUA-like keybindings using C-x for
1527 cut (kill), C-c for copy, C-v for paste (yank), and C-z for undo.
1528 With cua, the region can be set and extended using shifted movement
1529 keys (like pc-selection-mode) and typed text replaces the active
1530 region (like delete-selection-mode). Do not enable these modes with
1531 cua-mode. Customize the variable `cua-mode' to enable cua.
1533 The cua-selection-mode enables the CUA keybindings for the region but
1534 does not change the bindings for C-z/C-x/C-c/C-v. It can be used as a
1535 replacement for pc-selection-mode.
1537 In addition, cua provides unified rectangle support with visible
1538 rectangle highlighting: Use C-return to start a rectangle, extend it
1539 using the movement commands (or mouse-3), and cut or copy it using C-x
1540 or C-c (using C-w and M-w also works).
1542 Use M-o and M-c to `open' or `close' the rectangle, use M-b or M-f, to
1543 fill it with blanks or another character, use M-u or M-l to upcase or
1544 downcase the rectangle, use M-i to increment the numbers in the
1545 rectangle, use M-n to fill the rectangle with a numeric sequence (such
1546 as 10 20 30...), use M-r to replace a regexp in the rectangle, and use
1547 M-' or M-/ to restrict command on the rectangle to a subset of the
1548 rows. See the commentary in cua-base.el for more rectangle commands.
1550 Cua also provides unified support for registers: Use a numeric
1551 prefix argument between 0 and 9, i.e. M-0 .. M-9, for C-x, C-c, and
1552 C-v to cut or copy into register 0-9, or paste from register 0-9.
1554 The last text deleted (not killed) is automatically stored in
1555 register 0. This includes text deleted by typing text.
1557 Finally, cua provides a global mark which is set using S-C-space.
1558 When the global mark is active, any text which is cut or copied is
1559 automatically inserted at the global mark position. See the
1560 commentary in cua-base.el for more global mark related commands.
1562 The features of cua also works with the standard Emacs bindings for
1563 kill, copy, yank, and undo. If you want to use cua mode, but don't
1564 want the C-x, C-c, C-v, and C-z bindings, you can customize the
1565 `cua-enable-cua-keys' variable.
1567 Note: This version of cua mode is not backwards compatible with older
1568 versions of cua.el and cua-mode.el. To ensure proper operation, you
1569 must remove older versions of cua.el or cua-mode.el as well as the
1570 loading and customization of those packages from the .emacs file.
1572 ** Tramp is now part of the distribution.
1574 This package is similar to Ange-FTP: it allows you to edit remote
1575 files. But whereas Ange-FTP uses FTP to access the remote host,
1576 Tramp uses a shell connection. The shell connection is always used
1577 for filename completion and directory listings and suchlike, but for
1578 the actual file transfer, you can choose between the so-called
1579 `inline' methods (which transfer the files through the shell
1580 connection using base64 or uu encoding) and the `out-of-band' methods
1581 (which invoke an external copying program such as `rcp' or `scp' or
1582 `rsync' to do the copying).
1584 Shell connections can be acquired via `rsh', `ssh', `telnet' and also
1585 `su' and `sudo'. Ange-FTP is still supported via the `ftp' method.
1587 If you want to disable Tramp you should set
1589 (setq tramp-default-method "ftp")
1591 Removing Tramp, and re-enabling Ange-FTP, can be achieved by M-x
1594 ** The image-dired.el package allows you to easily view, tag and in
1595 other ways manipulate image files and their thumbnails, using dired as
1596 the main interface. Image-Dired provides functionality to generate
1597 simple image galleries.
1599 ** Image files are normally visited in Image mode, which lets you toggle
1600 between viewing the image and viewing the text using C-c C-c.
1602 ** The new python.el package is used to edit Python and Jython programs.
1604 ** The URL package (which had been part of W3) is now part of Emacs.
1606 ** Calc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1608 Calc is an advanced desk calculator and mathematical tool written in
1609 Emacs Lisp. The prefix for Calc has been changed to `C-x *' and Calc
1610 can be started with `C-x * *'. The Calc manual is separate from the
1611 Emacs manual; within Emacs, type "C-h i m calc RET" to read the
1612 manual. A reference card is available in `etc/calccard.tex' and
1615 ** Org mode is now part of the Emacs distribution
1617 Org mode is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining ToDo lists, and
1618 doing project planning with a fast and effective plain-text system.
1619 It also contains a plain-text table editor with spreadsheet-like
1622 The Org mode table editor can be integrated into any major mode by
1623 activating the minor Orgtbl-mode.
1625 The documentation for org-mode is in a separate manual; within Emacs,
1626 type "C-h i m org RET" to read that manual. A reference card is
1627 available in `etc/orgcard.tex' and `etc/orgcard.ps'.
1629 ** ERC is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1631 ERC is a powerful, modular, and extensible IRC client for Emacs.
1633 To see what modules are available, type
1634 M-x customize-option erc-modules RET.
1636 To start an IRC session with ERC, type M-x erc, and follow the prompts
1637 for server, port, and nick.
1639 ** Rcirc is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1641 Rcirc is an Internet relay chat (IRC) client. It supports
1642 simultaneous connections to multiple IRC servers. Each discussion
1643 takes place in its own buffer. For each connection you can join
1644 several channels (many-to-many) and participate in private
1645 (one-to-one) chats. Both channel and private chats are contained in
1648 To start an IRC session using the default parameters, type M-x irc.
1649 If you type C-u M-x irc, it prompts you for the server, nick, port and
1650 startup channel parameters before connecting.
1652 ** The new package ibuffer provides a powerful, completely
1653 customizable replacement for buff-menu.el.
1655 ** Newsticker is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1657 Newsticker asynchronously retrieves headlines (RSS) from a list of news
1658 sites, prepares these headlines for reading, and allows for loading the
1659 corresponding articles in a web browser. Its documentation is in a
1662 ** The wdired.el package allows you to use normal editing commands on Dired
1663 buffers to change filenames, permissions, etc...
1665 ** Ido mode is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1667 The ido (interactively do) package is an extension of the iswitchb
1668 package to do interactive opening of files and directories in addition
1669 to interactive buffer switching. Ido is a superset of iswitchb (with
1670 a few exceptions), so don't enable both packages.
1672 ** The new global minor mode `file-name-shadow-mode' modifies the way
1673 filenames being entered by the user in the minibuffer are displayed, so
1674 that it's clear when part of the entered filename will be ignored due to
1675 Emacs' filename parsing rules. The ignored portion can be made dim,
1676 invisible, or otherwise less visually noticeable. The display method can
1677 be displayed by customizing the variable `file-name-shadow-properties'.
1679 ** Emacs' keyboard macro facilities have been enhanced by the new
1682 Keyboard macros are now defined and executed via the F3 and F4 keys:
1683 F3 starts a macro, F4 ends the macro, and pressing F4 again executes
1684 the last macro. While defining the macro, F3 inserts a counter value
1685 which automatically increments every time the macro is executed.
1687 There is now a keyboard macro ring which stores the most recently
1690 The C-x C-k sequence is now a prefix for the kmacro keymap which
1691 defines bindings for moving through the keyboard macro ring,
1692 C-x C-k C-p and C-x C-k C-n, editing the last macro C-x C-k C-e,
1693 manipulating the macro counter and format via C-x C-k C-c,
1694 C-x C-k C-a, and C-x C-k C-f. See the commentary in kmacro.el
1697 The original macro bindings C-x (, C-x ), and C-x e are still
1698 available, but they now interface to the keyboard macro ring too.
1700 The C-x e command now automatically terminates the current macro
1701 before calling it, if used while defining a macro.
1703 In addition, when ending or calling a macro with C-x e, the macro can
1704 be repeated immediately by typing just the `e'. You can customize
1705 this behavior via the variables kmacro-call-repeat-key and
1706 kmacro-call-repeat-with-arg.
1708 Keyboard macros can now be debugged and edited interactively.
1709 C-x C-k SPC steps through the last keyboard macro one key sequence
1710 at a time, prompting for the actions to take.
1712 ** The new keypad setup package provides several common bindings for
1713 the numeric keypad which is available on most keyboards. The numeric
1714 keypad typically has the digits 0 to 9, a decimal point, keys marked
1715 +, -, /, and *, an Enter key, and a NumLock toggle key. The keypad
1716 package only controls the use of the digit and decimal keys.
1718 By customizing the variables `keypad-setup', `keypad-shifted-setup',
1719 `keypad-numlock-setup', and `keypad-numlock-shifted-setup', or by
1720 using the function `keypad-setup', you can rebind all digit keys and
1721 the decimal key of the keypad in one step for each of the four
1722 possible combinations of the Shift key state (not pressed/pressed) and
1723 the NumLock toggle state (off/on).
1725 The choices for the keypad keys in each of the above states are:
1726 `Plain numeric keypad' where the keys generates plain digits,
1727 `Numeric keypad with decimal key' where the character produced by the
1728 decimal key can be customized individually (for internationalization),
1729 `Numeric Prefix Arg' where the keypad keys produce numeric prefix args
1730 for Emacs editing commands, `Cursor keys' and `Shifted Cursor keys'
1731 where the keys work like (shifted) arrow keys, home/end, etc., and
1732 `Unspecified/User-defined' where the keypad keys (kp-0, kp-1, etc.)
1733 are left unspecified and can be bound individually through the global
1736 ** The printing package is now part of the Emacs distribution.
1738 If you enable the printing package by including (require 'printing) in
1739 the .emacs file, the normal Print item on the File menu is replaced
1740 with a Print sub-menu which allows you to preview output through
1741 ghostview, use ghostscript to print (if you don't have a PostScript
1742 printer) or send directly to printer a PostScript code generated by
1743 `ps-print' package. Use M-x pr-help for more information.
1745 ** The new package longlines.el provides a minor mode for editing text
1746 files composed of long lines, based on the `use-hard-newlines'
1747 mechanism. The long lines are broken up by inserting soft newlines,
1748 which are automatically removed when saving the file to disk or
1749 copying into the kill ring, clipboard, etc. By default, Longlines
1750 mode inserts soft newlines automatically during editing, a behavior
1751 referred to as "soft word wrap" in other text editors. This is
1752 similar to Refill mode, but more reliable. To turn the word wrap
1753 feature off, set `longlines-auto-wrap' to nil.
1755 ** SES mode (ses-mode) is a new major mode for creating and editing
1756 spreadsheet files. Besides the usual Emacs features (intuitive command
1757 letters, undo, cell formulas in Lisp, plaintext files, etc.) it also offers
1758 viral immunity and import/export of tab-separated values.
1760 ** The new package table.el implements editable, WYSIWYG, embedded
1761 `text tables' in Emacs buffers. It simulates the effect of putting
1762 these tables in a special major mode. The package emulates WYSIWYG
1763 table editing available in modern word processors. The package also
1764 can generate a table source in typesetting and markup languages such
1765 as latex and html from the visually laid out text table.
1767 ** Filesets are collections of files. You can define a fileset in
1768 various ways, such as based on a directory tree or based on
1769 program files that include other program files.
1771 Once you have defined a fileset, you can perform various operations on
1772 all the files in it, such as visiting them or searching and replacing
1775 ** The minor mode Reveal mode makes text visible on the fly as you
1776 move your cursor into hidden regions of the buffer.
1777 It should work with any package that uses overlays to hide parts
1778 of a buffer, such as outline-minor-mode, hs-minor-mode, hide-ifdef-mode, ...
1780 There is also Global Reveal mode which affects all buffers.
1782 ** New minor mode, Visible mode, toggles invisibility in the current buffer.
1783 When enabled, it makes all invisible text visible. When disabled, it
1784 restores the previous value of `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
1786 ** The new package flymake.el does on-the-fly syntax checking of program
1787 source files. See the Flymake's Info manual for more details.
1789 ** savehist saves minibuffer histories between sessions.
1790 To use this feature, turn on savehist-mode in your `.emacs' file.
1792 ** The ruler-mode.el library provides a minor mode for displaying an
1793 "active" ruler in the header line. You can use the mouse to visually
1794 change the `fill-column', `window-margins' and `tab-stop-list'
1797 ** The file t-mouse.el is now part of Emacs and provides access to mouse
1798 events from the console. It still requires gpm to work but has been updated
1799 for Emacs 22. In particular, the mode-line is now position sensitive.
1801 ** The new package scroll-lock.el provides the Scroll Lock minor mode
1802 for pager-like scrolling. Keys which normally move point by line or
1803 paragraph will scroll the buffer by the respective amount of lines
1804 instead and point will be kept vertically fixed relative to window
1805 boundaries during scrolling.
1807 ** The new global minor mode `size-indication-mode' (off by default)
1808 shows the size of accessible part of the buffer on the mode line.
1810 ** The new package conf-mode.el handles thousands of configuration files, with
1811 varying syntaxes for comments (;, #, //, /* */ or !), assignment (var = value,
1812 var : value, var value or keyword var value) and sections ([section] or
1813 section { }). Many files under /etc/, or with suffixes like .cf through
1814 .config, .properties (Java), .desktop (KDE/Gnome), .ini and many others are
1817 ** GDB-Script-mode is used for files like .gdbinit.
1819 ** The new package dns-mode.el adds syntax highlighting of DNS master files.
1820 It is a modern replacement for zone-mode.el, which is now obsolete.
1822 ** `cfengine-mode' is a major mode for editing GNU Cfengine
1823 configuration files.
1825 ** The TCL package tcl-mode.el was replaced by tcl.el.
1826 This was actually done in Emacs-21.1, and was not documented.
1828 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 22.1:
1832 *** Bindings for Image-Dired added.
1833 Several new keybindings, all starting with the C-t prefix, have been
1834 added to Dired. They are all bound to commands in Image-Dired. As a
1835 starting point, mark some image files in a dired buffer and do C-t d
1836 to display thumbnails of them in a separate buffer.
1838 ** Info mode changes
1840 *** Images in Info pages are supported.
1842 Info pages show embedded images, in Emacs frames with image support.
1843 Info documentation that includes images, processed with makeinfo
1844 version 4.7 or newer, compiles to Info pages with embedded images.
1846 *** `Info-index' offers completion.
1848 *** http and ftp links in Info are now operational: they look like cross
1849 references and following them calls `browse-url'.
1851 *** isearch in Info uses Info-search and searches through multiple nodes.
1853 Before leaving the initial Info node isearch fails once with the error
1854 message [initial node], and with subsequent C-s/C-r continues through
1855 other nodes. When isearch fails for the rest of the manual, it wraps
1856 around the whole manual to the top/final node. The user option
1857 `Info-isearch-search' controls whether to use Info-search for isearch,
1858 or the default isearch search function that wraps around the current
1861 *** New search commands: `Info-search-case-sensitively' (bound to S),
1862 `Info-search-backward', and `Info-search-next' which repeats the last
1863 search without prompting for a new search string.
1865 *** New command `info-apropos' searches the indices of the known
1866 Info files on your system for a string, and builds a menu of the
1869 *** New command `Info-history-forward' (bound to r and new toolbar icon)
1870 moves forward in history to the node you returned from after using
1871 `Info-history-back' (renamed from `Info-last').
1873 *** New command `Info-history' (bound to L) displays a menu of visited nodes.
1875 *** New command `Info-toc' (bound to T) creates a node with table of contents
1876 from the tree structure of menus of the current Info file.
1878 *** New command `Info-copy-current-node-name' (bound to w) copies
1879 the current Info node name into the kill ring. With a zero prefix
1880 arg, puts the node name inside the `info' function call.
1882 *** New face `info-xref-visited' distinguishes visited nodes from unvisited
1883 and a new option `Info-fontify-visited-nodes' to control this.
1885 *** A numeric prefix argument of `info' selects an Info buffer
1886 with the number appended to the `*info*' buffer name (e.g. "*info*<2>").
1888 *** Info now hides node names in menus and cross references by default.
1890 If you prefer the old behavior, you can set the new user option
1891 `Info-hide-note-references' to nil.
1893 *** The default value for `Info-scroll-prefer-subnodes' is now nil.
1895 ** Emacs server changes
1897 *** You can have several Emacs servers on the same machine.
1899 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "foo")' -f server-start &
1900 % emacs --eval '(setq server-name "bar")' -f server-start &
1901 % emacsclient -s foo file1
1902 % emacsclient -s bar file2
1904 *** The `emacsclient' command understands the options `--eval' and
1905 `--display' which tell Emacs respectively to evaluate the given Lisp
1906 expression and to use the given display when visiting files.
1908 *** User option `server-mode' can be used to start a server process.
1912 *** By default, reverting the *Locate* buffer now just runs the last
1913 `locate' command back over again without offering to update the locate
1914 database (which normally only works if you have root privileges). If
1915 you prefer the old behavior, set the new customizable option
1916 `locate-update-when-revert' to t.
1920 *** Desktop saving is now a minor mode, `desktop-save-mode'.
1922 *** The variable `desktop-enable' is obsolete.
1924 Customize `desktop-save-mode' to enable desktop saving.
1926 *** Buffers are saved in the desktop file in the same order as that in the
1929 *** The desktop package can be customized to restore only some buffers
1930 immediately, remaining buffers are restored lazily (when Emacs is
1933 *** New command line option --no-desktop
1936 - desktop-revert reverts to the last loaded desktop.
1937 - desktop-change-dir kills current desktop and loads a new.
1938 - desktop-save-in-desktop-dir saves desktop in the directory from which
1940 - desktop-lazy-complete runs the desktop load to completion.
1941 - desktop-lazy-abort aborts lazy loading of the desktop.
1943 *** New customizable variables:
1944 - desktop-save. Determines whether the desktop should be saved when it is
1946 - desktop-file-name-format. Format in which desktop file names should be saved.
1947 - desktop-path. List of directories in which to lookup the desktop file.
1948 - desktop-locals-to-save. List of local variables to save.
1949 - desktop-globals-to-clear. List of global variables that `desktop-clear' will clear.
1950 - desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp. Regexp identifying buffers that `desktop-clear'
1952 - desktop-restore-eager. Number of buffers to restore immediately. Remaining buffers are
1953 restored lazily (when Emacs is idle).
1954 - desktop-lazy-verbose. Verbose reporting of lazily created buffers.
1955 - desktop-lazy-idle-delay. Idle delay before starting to create buffers.
1958 - desktop-after-read-hook run after a desktop is loaded.
1959 - desktop-no-desktop-file-hook run when no desktop file is found.
1963 The recent file list is now automatically cleaned up when recentf mode is
1964 enabled. The new option `recentf-auto-cleanup' controls when to do
1967 The ten most recent files can be quickly opened by using the shortcut
1968 keys 1 to 9, and 0, when the recent list is displayed in a buffer via
1969 the `recentf-open-files', or `recentf-open-more-files' commands.
1971 The `recentf-keep' option replaces `recentf-keep-non-readable-files-p'
1972 and provides a more general mechanism to customize which file names to
1973 keep in the recent list.
1975 With the more advanced option `recentf-filename-handlers', you can
1976 specify functions that successively transform recent file names. For
1977 example, if set to `file-truename' plus `abbreviate-file-name', the
1978 same file will not be in the recent list with different symbolic
1979 links, and the file name will be abbreviated.
1981 To follow naming convention, `recentf-menu-append-commands-flag'
1982 replaces the misnamed option `recentf-menu-append-commands-p'. The
1983 old name remains available as alias, but has been marked obsolete.
1985 ** Auto-Revert changes
1987 *** You can now use Auto Revert mode to `tail' a file.
1989 If point is at the end of a file buffer before reverting, Auto Revert
1990 mode keeps it at the end after reverting. Similarly if point is
1991 displayed at the end of a file buffer in any window, it stays at the end
1992 of the buffer in that window. This allows you to "tail" a file: just
1993 put point at the end of the buffer and it stays there. This rule
1994 applies to file buffers. For non-file buffers, the behavior can be mode
1997 If you are sure that the file will only change by growing at the end,
1998 then you can tail the file more efficiently by using the new minor
1999 mode Auto Revert Tail mode. The function `auto-revert-tail-mode'
2002 *** Auto Revert mode is now more careful to avoid excessive reverts and
2003 other potential problems when deciding which non-file buffers to
2004 revert. This matters especially if Global Auto Revert mode is enabled
2005 and `global-auto-revert-non-file-buffers' is non-nil. Auto Revert
2006 mode only reverts a non-file buffer if the buffer has a non-nil
2007 `revert-buffer-function' and a non-nil `buffer-stale-function', which
2008 decides whether the buffer should be reverted. Currently, this means
2009 that auto reverting works for Dired buffers (although this may not
2010 work properly on all operating systems) and for the Buffer Menu.
2012 *** If the new user option `auto-revert-check-vc-info' is non-nil, Auto
2013 Revert mode reliably updates version control info (such as the version
2014 control number in the mode line), in all version controlled buffers in
2015 which it is active. If the option is nil, the default, then this info
2016 only gets updated whenever the buffer gets reverted.
2018 ** Changes in Shell Mode
2020 *** Shell output normally scrolls so that the input line is at the
2021 bottom of the window -- thus showing the maximum possible text. (This
2022 is similar to the way sequential output to a terminal works.)
2024 ** Changes in Hi Lock
2026 *** hi-lock-mode now only affects a single buffer, and a new function
2027 `global-hi-lock-mode' enables Hi Lock in all buffers. By default, if
2028 hi-lock-mode is used in what appears to be the initialization file, a
2029 warning message suggests to use global-hi-lock-mode instead. However,
2030 if the new variable `hi-lock-archaic-interface-deduce' is non-nil,
2031 using hi-lock-mode in an initialization file will turn on Hi Lock in all
2032 buffers and no warning will be issued (for compatibility with the
2033 behavior in older versions of Emacs).
2035 ** Changes in Allout
2037 *** Topic cryptography added, enabling easy gpg topic encryption and
2038 decryption. Per-topic basis enables interspersing encrypted-text and
2039 clear-text within a single file to your heart's content, using symmetric
2040 and/or public key modes. Time-limited key caching, user-provided
2041 symmetric key hinting and consistency verification, auto-encryption of
2042 pending topics on save, and more, make it easy to use encryption in
2043 powerful ways. Encryption behavior customization is collected in the
2044 allout-encryption customization group.
2046 *** Default command prefix was changed to "\C-c " (control-c space), to
2047 avoid intruding on user's keybinding space. Customize the
2048 `allout-command-prefix' variable to your preference.
2050 *** Some previously rough topic-header format edge cases are reconciled.
2051 Level 1 topics use the mode's comment format, and lines starting with the
2052 asterisk - for instance, the comment close of some languages (eg, c's "*/"
2053 or mathematica's "*)") - at the beginning of line are no longer are
2054 interpreted as level 1 topics in those modes.
2056 *** Many or most commonly occurring "accidental" topics are disqualified.
2057 Text in item bodies that looks like a low-depth topic is no longer mistaken
2058 for one unless its first offspring (or that of its next sibling with
2059 offspring) is only one level deeper.
2061 For example, pasting some text with a bunch of leading asterisks into a
2062 topic that's followed by a level 3 or deeper topic will not cause the
2063 pasted text to be mistaken for outline structure.
2065 The same constraint is applied to any level 2 or 3 topics.
2067 This settles an old issue where typed or pasted text needed to be carefully
2068 reviewed, and sometimes doctored, to avoid accidentally disrupting the
2069 outline structure. Now that should be generally unnecessary, as the most
2070 prone-to-occur accidents are disqualified.
2072 *** Allout now refuses to create "containment discontinuities", where a
2073 topic is shifted deeper than the offspring-depth of its container. On the
2074 other hand, allout now operates gracefully with existing containment
2075 discontinuities, revealing excessively contained topics rather than either
2076 leaving them hidden or raising an error.
2078 *** Navigation within an item is easier. Repeated beginning-of-line and
2079 end-of-line key commands (usually, ^A and ^E) cycle through the
2080 beginning/end-of-line and then beginning/end of topic, etc. See new
2081 customization vars `allout-beginning-of-line-cycles' and
2082 `allout-end-of-line-cycles'.
2084 *** New or revised allout-mode activity hooks enable creation of
2085 cooperative enhancements to allout mode without changes to the mode,
2088 See `allout-exposure-change-hook', `allout-structure-added-hook',
2089 `allout-structure-deleted-hook', and `allout-structure-shifted-hook'.
2091 `allout-exposure-change-hook' replaces the existing
2092 `allout-view-change-hook', which is being deprecated. Both are still
2093 invoked, but `allout-view-change-hook' will eventually be ignored.
2094 `allout-exposure-change-hook' is called with explicit arguments detailing
2095 the specifics of each change (as are the other new hooks), making it easier
2096 to use than the old version.
2098 There is a new mode deactivation hook, `allout-mode-deactivate-hook', for
2099 coordinating with deactivation of allout-mode. Both that and the mode
2100 activation hook, `allout-mode-hook' are now run after the `allout-mode'
2101 variable is changed, rather than before.
2103 *** Allout now uses text overlay's `invisible' property for concealed text,
2104 instead of selective-display. This simplifies the code, in particular
2105 avoiding the need for kludges for isearch dynamic-display, discretionary
2106 handling of edits of concealed text, undo concerns, etc.
2108 *** There are many other fixes and refinements, including:
2110 - repaired inhibition of inadvertent edits to concealed text, without
2111 inhibiting undo; we now reveal undo changes within concealed text.
2112 - auto-fill-mode is now left inactive when allout-mode starts, if it
2113 already was inactive. also, `allout-inhibit-auto-fill' custom
2114 configuration variable makes it easy to disable auto fill in allout
2115 outlines in general or on a per-buffer basis.
2116 - allout now tolerates fielded text in outlines without disruption.
2117 - hot-spot navigation now is modularized with a new function,
2118 `allout-hotspot-key-handler', enabling easier use and enhancement of
2119 the functionality in allout addons.
2120 - repaired retention of topic body hanging indent upon topic depth shifts
2121 - bulleting variation is simpler and more accommodating, both in the
2122 default behavior and in ability to vary when creating new topics
2123 - mode deactivation now does cleans up effectively, more properly
2124 restoring affected variables and hooks to former state, removing
2125 overlays, etc. see `allout-add-resumptions' and
2126 `allout-do-resumptions', which replace the old `allout-resumptions'.
2127 - included a few unit-tests for interior functionality. developers can
2128 have them automatically run at the end of module load by customizing
2129 the option `allout-run-unit-tests-on-load'.
2130 - many, many other, more minor tweaks, fixes, and refinements.
2131 - version number incremented to 2.2
2133 ** Hideshow mode changes
2135 *** New variable `hs-set-up-overlay' allows customization of the overlay
2136 used to effect hiding for hideshow minor mode. Integration with isearch
2137 handles the overlay property `display' specially, preserving it during
2138 temporary overlay showing in the course of an isearch operation.
2140 *** New variable `hs-allow-nesting' non-nil means that hiding a block does
2141 not discard the hidden state of any "internal" blocks; when the parent
2142 block is later shown, the internal blocks remain hidden. Default is nil.
2146 *** New ffap commands and keybindings:
2148 C-x C-r (`ffap-read-only'),
2149 C-x C-v (`ffap-alternate-file'), C-x C-d (`ffap-list-directory'),
2150 C-x 4 r (`ffap-read-only-other-window'), C-x 4 d (`ffap-dired-other-window'),
2151 C-x 5 r (`ffap-read-only-other-frame'), C-x 5 d (`ffap-dired-other-frame').
2153 *** FFAP accepts wildcards in a file name by default.
2155 C-x C-f passes the file name to `find-file' with non-nil WILDCARDS
2156 argument, which visits multiple files, and C-x d passes it to `dired'.
2158 ** Changes in Skeleton
2160 *** In skeleton.el, `-' marks the `skeleton-point' without interregion interaction.
2162 `@' has reverted to only setting `skeleton-positions' and no longer
2163 sets `skeleton-point'. Skeletons which used @ to mark
2164 `skeleton-point' independent of `_' should now use `-' instead. The
2165 updated `skeleton-insert' docstring explains these new features along
2166 with other details of skeleton construction.
2168 *** The variables `skeleton-transformation', `skeleton-filter', and
2169 `skeleton-pair-filter' have been renamed to
2170 `skeleton-transformation-function', `skeleton-filter-function', and
2171 `skeleton-pair-filter-function'. The old names are still available
2174 ** HTML/SGML changes
2176 *** Emacs now tries to set up buffer coding systems for HTML/XML files
2179 *** SGML mode has indentation and supports XML syntax.
2180 The new variable `sgml-xml-mode' tells SGML mode to use XML syntax.
2181 When this option is enabled, SGML tags are inserted in XML style,
2182 i.e., there is always a closing tag.
2183 By default, its setting is inferred on a buffer-by-buffer basis
2184 from the file name or buffer contents.
2186 *** The variable `sgml-transformation' has been renamed to
2187 `sgml-transformation-function'. The old name is still available as
2190 *** `xml-mode' is now an alias for `sgml-mode', which has XML support.
2194 *** New major mode Doctex mode, for *.dtx files.
2196 *** C-c C-c prompts for a command to run, and tries to offer a good default.
2198 *** The user option `tex-start-options-string' has been replaced
2199 by two new user options: `tex-start-options', which should hold
2200 command-line options to feed to TeX, and `tex-start-commands' which should hold
2201 TeX commands to use at startup.
2203 *** verbatim environments are now highlighted in courier by font-lock
2204 and super/sub-scripts are made into super/sub-scripts.
2206 ** RefTeX mode changes
2208 *** Changes to RefTeX's table of contents
2210 The new command keys "<" and ">" in the TOC buffer promote/demote the
2211 section at point or all sections in the current region, with full
2212 support for multifile documents.
2214 The new command `reftex-toc-recenter' (`C-c -') shows the current
2215 section in the TOC buffer without selecting the TOC window.
2216 Recentering can happen automatically in idle time when the option
2217 `reftex-auto-recenter-toc' is turned on. The highlight in the TOC
2218 buffer stays when the focus moves to a different window. A dedicated
2219 frame can show the TOC with the current section always automatically
2220 highlighted. The frame is created and deleted from the toc buffer
2223 The toc window can be split off horizontally instead of vertically.
2224 See new option `reftex-toc-split-windows-horizontally'.
2226 Labels can be renamed globally from the table of contents using the
2229 The new command `reftex-goto-label' jumps directly to a label
2232 *** Changes related to citations and BibTeX database files
2234 Commands that insert a citation now prompt for optional arguments when
2235 called with a prefix argument. Related new options are
2236 `reftex-cite-prompt-optional-args' and `reftex-cite-cleanup-optional-args'.
2238 The new command `reftex-create-bibtex-file' creates a BibTeX database
2239 with all entries referenced in the current document. The keys "e" and
2240 "E" allow to produce a BibTeX database file from entries marked in a
2241 citation selection buffer.
2243 The command `reftex-citation' uses the word in the buffer before the
2244 cursor as a default search string.
2246 The support for chapterbib has been improved. Different chapters can
2247 now use BibTeX or an explicit `thebibliography' environment.
2249 The macros which specify the bibliography file (like \bibliography)
2250 can be configured with the new option `reftex-bibliography-commands'.
2252 Support for jurabib has been added.
2254 *** Global index matched may be verified with a user function.
2256 During global indexing, a user function can verify an index match.
2257 See new option `reftex-index-verify-function'.
2259 *** Parsing documents with many labels can be sped up.
2261 Operating in a document with thousands of labels can be sped up
2262 considerably by allowing RefTeX to derive the type of a label directly
2263 from the label prefix like `eq:' or `fig:'. The option
2264 `reftex-trust-label-prefix' needs to be configured in order to enable
2265 this feature. While the speed-up is significant, this may reduce the
2266 quality of the context offered by RefTeX to describe a label.
2268 *** Miscellaneous changes
2270 The macros which input a file in LaTeX (like \input, \include) can be
2271 configured in the new option `reftex-include-file-commands'.
2273 RefTeX supports global incremental search.
2277 *** The new command `bibtex-url' browses a URL for the BibTeX entry at
2278 point (bound to C-c C-l and mouse-2, RET on clickable fields).
2280 *** The new command `bibtex-entry-update' (bound to C-c C-u) updates
2281 an existing BibTeX entry by inserting fields that may occur but are not
2284 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `required-fields', enabled by default.
2286 *** `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' can take values `plain',
2287 `crossref', and `entry-class' which control the sorting scheme used
2288 for BibTeX entries. `bibtex-sort-entry-class' controls the sorting
2289 scheme `entry-class'. TAB completion for reference keys and
2290 automatic detection of duplicates does not require anymore that
2291 `bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries' is non-nil.
2293 *** The new command `bibtex-complete' completes word fragment before
2294 point according to context (bound to M-tab).
2296 *** In BibTeX mode the command `fill-paragraph' (M-q) fills
2297 individual fields of a BibTeX entry.
2299 *** The new variable `bibtex-autofill-types' contains a list of entry
2300 types for which fields are filled automatically (if possible).
2302 *** The new commands `bibtex-find-entry' and `bibtex-find-crossref'
2303 locate entries and crossref'd entries (bound to C-c C-s and C-c C-x).
2304 Crossref fields are clickable (bound to mouse-2, RET).
2306 *** The new variables `bibtex-files' and `bibtex-file-path' define a set
2307 of BibTeX files that are searched for entry keys.
2309 *** The new command `bibtex-validate-globally' checks for duplicate keys
2310 in multiple BibTeX files.
2312 *** If the new variable `bibtex-autoadd-commas' is non-nil,
2313 automatically add missing commas at end of BibTeX fields.
2315 *** The new command `bibtex-copy-summary-as-kill' pushes summary
2316 of BibTeX entry to kill ring (bound to C-c C-t).
2318 *** If the new variable `bibtex-parse-keys-fast' is non-nil,
2319 use fast but simplified algorithm for parsing BibTeX keys.
2321 *** The new variables bibtex-expand-strings and
2322 bibtex-autokey-expand-strings control the expansion of strings when
2323 extracting the content of a BibTeX field.
2325 *** The variables `bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert' and
2326 `bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert' have been renamed to
2327 `bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert-function' and
2328 `bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert-function'. The old names are
2329 still available as aliases.
2333 *** The new package gdb-ui.el provides an enhanced graphical interface to
2334 GDB. You can interact with GDB through the GUD buffer in the usual way, but
2335 there are also further buffers which control the execution and describe the
2336 state of your program. It can separate the input/output of your program from
2337 that of GDB and watches expressions in the speedbar. It also uses features of
2338 Emacs 21/22 such as the toolbar, and bitmaps in the fringe to indicate
2341 To use this package just type M-x gdb. See the Emacs manual if you want the
2344 *** GUD mode has its own tool bar for controlling execution of the inferior
2345 and other common debugger commands.
2347 *** In GUD mode, when talking to GDB, C-x C-a C-j "jumps" the program
2348 counter to the specified source line (the one where point is).
2350 *** The variable tooltip-gud-tips-p has been removed. GUD tooltips can now be
2351 toggled independently of normal tooltips with the minor mode
2354 *** In graphical mode, with a C program, GUD Tooltips have been extended to
2355 display the #define directive associated with an identifier when program is
2358 *** GUD mode improvements for jdb:
2360 **** Search for source files using jdb classpath and class information.
2361 Fast startup since there is no need to scan all source files up front.
2362 There is also no need to create and maintain lists of source
2363 directories to scan. Look at `gud-jdb-use-classpath' and
2364 `gud-jdb-classpath' customization variables documentation.
2366 **** The previous method of searching for source files has been
2367 preserved in case someone still wants/needs to use it.
2368 Set `gud-jdb-use-classpath' to nil.
2370 **** Supports the standard breakpoint (gud-break, gud-clear)
2371 set/clear operations from Java source files under the classpath, stack
2372 traversal (gud-up, gud-down), and run until current stack finish
2375 **** Supports new jdb (Java 1.2 and later) in addition to oldjdb
2378 *** Added jdb Customization Variables
2380 **** `gud-jdb-command-name'. What command line to use to invoke jdb.
2382 **** `gud-jdb-use-classpath'. Allows selection of java source file searching
2383 method: set to t for new method, nil to scan `gud-jdb-directories' for
2384 java sources (previous method).
2386 **** `gud-jdb-directories'. List of directories to scan and search for Java
2387 classes using the original gud-jdb method (if `gud-jdb-use-classpath'
2390 *** Minor Improvements
2392 **** The STARTTLS wrapper (starttls.el) can now use GNUTLS
2393 instead of the OpenSSL based `starttls' tool. For backwards
2394 compatibility, it prefers `starttls', but you can toggle
2395 `starttls-use-gnutls' to switch to GNUTLS (or simply remove the
2398 **** Do not allow debugger output history variable to grow without bounds.
2400 ** Lisp mode changes
2402 *** Lisp mode now uses `font-lock-doc-face' for doc strings.
2404 *** C-u C-M-q in Emacs Lisp mode pretty-prints the list after point.
2406 *** New features in evaluation commands
2408 **** The function `eval-defun' (C-M-x) called on defface reinitializes
2409 the face to the value specified in the defface expression.
2411 **** Typing C-x C-e twice prints the value of the integer result
2412 in additional formats (octal, hexadecimal, character) specified
2413 by the new function `eval-expression-print-format'. The same
2414 function also defines the result format for `eval-expression' (M-:),
2415 `eval-print-last-sexp' (C-j) and some edebug evaluation functions.
2417 ** Changes to cmuscheme
2419 *** Emacs now offers to start Scheme if the user tries to
2420 evaluate a Scheme expression but no Scheme subprocess is running.
2422 *** If the file ~/.emacs_NAME or ~/.emacs.d/init_NAME.scm (where NAME
2423 is the name of the Scheme interpreter) exists, its contents are sent
2424 to the Scheme subprocess upon startup.
2426 *** There are new commands to instruct the Scheme interpreter to trace
2427 procedure calls (`scheme-trace-procedure') and to expand syntactic forms
2428 (`scheme-expand-current-form'). The commands actually sent to the Scheme
2429 subprocess are controlled by the user options `scheme-trace-command',
2430 `scheme-untrace-command' and `scheme-expand-current-form'.
2434 *** The new function `ewoc-delete' deletes specified nodes.
2436 *** `ewoc-create' now takes optional arg NOSEP, which inhibits insertion of
2437 a newline after each pretty-printed entry and after the header and footer.
2438 This allows you to create multiple-entry ewocs on a single line and to
2439 effect "invisible" nodes by arranging for the pretty-printer to not print
2440 anything for those nodes.
2442 For example, these two sequences of expressions behave identically:
2445 (defun PP (data) (insert (format "%S" data)))
2446 (ewoc-create 'PP "start\n")
2449 (defun PP (data) (insert (format "%S\n" data)))
2450 (ewoc-create 'PP "start\n\n" "\n" t)
2454 *** The CC Mode manual has been extensively revised.
2455 The information about using CC Mode has been separated from the larger
2456 and more difficult chapters about configuration.
2459 **** Electric Minor Mode toggles the electric action of non-alphabetic keys.
2460 The new command c-toggle-electric-mode is bound to C-c C-l. Turning the
2461 mode off can be helpful for editing chaotically indented code and for
2462 users new to CC Mode, who sometimes find electric indentation
2463 disconcerting. Its current state is displayed in the mode line with an
2466 **** Subword Minor Mode makes Emacs recognize word boundaries at upper case
2467 letters in StudlyCapsIdentifiers. You enable this feature by C-c C-w. It can
2468 also be used in non-CC Mode buffers. :-) Contributed by Masatake YAMATO.
2470 *** Support for the AWK language.
2471 Support for the AWK language has been introduced. The implementation is
2472 based around GNU AWK version 3.1, but it should work pretty well with
2473 any AWK. As yet, not all features of CC Mode have been adapted for AWK.
2476 **** Indentation Engine
2477 The CC Mode indentation engine fully supports AWK mode.
2479 AWK mode handles code formatted in the conventional AWK fashion: `{'s
2480 which start actions, user-defined functions, or compound statements are
2481 placed on the same line as the associated construct; the matching `}'s
2482 are normally placed under the start of the respective pattern, function
2483 definition, or structured statement.
2485 The predefined line-up functions haven't yet been adapted for AWK
2486 mode, though some of them may work serendipitously. There shouldn't
2487 be any problems writing custom indentation functions for AWK mode.
2490 There is a single level of font locking in AWK mode, rather than the
2491 three distinct levels the other modes have. There are several
2492 idiosyncrasies in AWK mode's font-locking due to the peculiarities of
2493 the AWK language itself.
2495 **** Comment and Movement Commands
2496 These commands all work for AWK buffers. The notion of "defun" has
2497 been augmented to include AWK pattern-action pairs - the standard
2498 "defun" commands on key sequences C-M-a, C-M-e, and C-M-h use this
2499 extended definition.
2501 **** "awk" style, Auto-newline Insertion and Clean-ups
2502 A new style, "awk" has been introduced, and this is now the default
2503 style for AWK code. With auto-newline enabled, the clean-up
2504 c-one-liner-defun (see above) is useful.
2506 *** Font lock support.
2507 CC Mode now provides font lock support for all its languages. This
2508 supersedes the font lock patterns that have been in the core font lock
2509 package for C, C++, Java and Objective-C. Like indentation, font
2510 locking is done in a uniform way across all languages (except the new
2511 AWK mode - see below). That means that the new font locking will be
2512 different from the old patterns in various details for most languages.
2514 The main goal of the font locking in CC Mode is accuracy, to provide a
2515 dependable aid in recognizing the various constructs. Some, like
2516 strings and comments, are easy to recognize while others like
2517 declarations and types can be very tricky. CC Mode can go to great
2518 lengths to recognize declarations and casts correctly, especially when
2519 the types aren't recognized by standard patterns. This is a fairly
2520 demanding analysis which can be slow on older hardware, and it can
2521 therefore be disabled by choosing a lower decoration level with the
2522 variable font-lock-maximum-decoration.
2524 Note that the most demanding font lock level has been tuned with lazy
2525 fontification in mind; Just-In-Time-Lock mode should be enabled for
2526 the highest font lock level (by default, it is). Fontifying a file
2527 with several thousand lines in one go can take the better part of a
2530 **** The (c|c++|objc|java|idl|pike)-font-lock-extra-types variables
2531 are now used by CC Mode to recognize identifiers that are certain to
2532 be types. (They are also used in cases that aren't related to font
2533 locking.) At the maximum decoration level, types are often recognized
2534 properly anyway, so these variables should be fairly restrictive and
2535 not contain patterns for uncertain types.
2537 **** Support for documentation comments.
2538 There is a "plugin" system to fontify documentation comments like
2539 Javadoc and the markup within them. It's independent of the host
2540 language, so it's possible to e.g. turn on Javadoc font locking in C
2541 buffers. See the variable c-doc-comment-style for details.
2543 Currently three kinds of doc comment styles are recognized: Sun's
2544 Javadoc, Autodoc (which is used in Pike) and GtkDoc (used in C). (The
2545 last was contributed by Masatake YAMATO). This is by no means a
2546 complete list of the most common tools; if your doc comment extractor
2547 of choice is missing then please drop a note to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2549 **** Better handling of C++ templates.
2550 As a side effect of the more accurate font locking, C++ templates are
2551 now handled much better. The angle brackets that delimit them are
2552 given parenthesis syntax so that they can be navigated like other
2555 This also improves indentation of templates, although there still is
2556 work to be done in that area. E.g. it's required that multiline
2557 template clauses are written in full and then refontified to be
2558 recognized, and the indentation of nested templates is a bit odd and
2559 not as configurable as it ought to be.
2561 **** Improved handling of Objective-C and CORBA IDL.
2562 Especially the support for Objective-C and IDL has gotten an overhaul.
2563 The special "@" declarations in Objective-C are handled correctly.
2564 All the keywords used in CORBA IDL, PSDL, and CIDL are recognized and
2565 handled correctly, also wrt indentation.
2567 *** Changes in Key Sequences
2568 **** c-toggle-auto-hungry-state is no longer bound to C-c C-t.
2570 **** c-toggle-hungry-state is no longer bound to C-c C-d.
2571 This binding has been taken over by c-hungry-delete-forwards.
2573 **** c-toggle-auto-state (C-c C-t) has been renamed to c-toggle-auto-newline.
2574 c-toggle-auto-state remains as an alias.
2576 **** The new commands c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forwards
2577 have key bindings C-c C-DEL (or C-c DEL, for the benefit of TTYs) and
2578 C-c C-d (or C-c C-<delete> or C-c <delete>) respectively. These
2579 commands delete entire blocks of whitespace with a single
2580 key-sequence. [N.B. "DEL" is the <backspace> key.]
2582 **** The new command c-toggle-electric-mode is bound to C-c C-l.
2584 **** The new command c-subword-mode is bound to C-c C-w.
2586 *** C-c C-s (`c-show-syntactic-information') now highlights the anchor
2589 *** New syntactic symbols in IDL mode.
2590 The top level constructs "module" and "composition" (from CIDL) are
2591 now handled like "namespace" in C++: They are given syntactic symbols
2592 module-open, module-close, inmodule, composition-open,
2593 composition-close, and incomposition.
2595 *** New functions to do hungry delete without enabling hungry delete mode.
2596 The new functions `c-hungry-backspace' and `c-hungry-delete-forward'
2597 provide hungry deletion without having to toggle a mode. They are
2598 bound to C-c C-DEL and C-c C-d (and several variants, for the benefit
2599 of different keyboard setups. See "Changes in key sequences" above).
2601 *** Better control over `require-final-newline'.
2603 The variable `c-require-final-newline' specifies which of the modes
2604 implemented by CC mode should insert final newlines. Its value is a
2605 list of modes, and only those modes should do it. By default the list
2606 includes C, C++ and Objective-C modes.
2608 Whichever modes are in this list will set `require-final-newline'
2609 based on `mode-require-final-newline'.
2611 *** Format change for syntactic context elements.
2613 The elements in the syntactic context returned by `c-guess-basic-syntax'
2614 and stored in `c-syntactic-context' has been changed somewhat to allow
2615 attaching more information. They are now lists instead of single cons
2616 cells. E.g. a line that previously had the syntactic analysis
2618 ((inclass . 11) (topmost-intro . 13))
2622 ((inclass 11) (topmost-intro 13))
2624 In some cases there are more than one position given for a syntactic
2627 This change might affect code that calls `c-guess-basic-syntax'
2628 directly, and custom lineup functions if they use
2629 `c-syntactic-context'. However, the argument given to lineup
2630 functions is still a single cons cell with nil or an integer in the
2633 *** API changes for derived modes.
2635 There have been extensive changes "under the hood" which can affect
2636 derived mode writers. Some of these changes are likely to cause
2637 incompatibilities with existing derived modes, but on the other hand
2638 care has now been taken to make it possible to extend and modify CC
2639 Mode with less risk of such problems in the future.
2641 **** New language variable system.
2642 These are variables whose values vary between CC Mode's different
2643 languages. See the comment blurb near the top of cc-langs.el.
2645 **** New initialization functions.
2646 The initialization procedure has been split up into more functions to
2647 give better control: `c-basic-common-init', `c-font-lock-init', and
2648 `c-init-language-vars'.
2650 *** Changes in analysis of nested syntactic constructs.
2651 The syntactic analysis engine has better handling of cases where
2652 several syntactic constructs appear nested on the same line. They are
2653 now handled as if each construct started on a line of its own.
2655 This means that CC Mode now indents some cases differently, and
2656 although it's more consistent there might be cases where the old way
2657 gave results that's more to one's liking. So if you find a situation
2658 where you think that the indentation has become worse, please report
2659 it to bug-cc-mode@gnu.org.
2661 **** New syntactic symbol substatement-label.
2662 This symbol is used when a label is inserted between a statement and
2663 its substatement. E.g:
2669 *** Better handling of multiline macros.
2671 **** Syntactic indentation inside macros.
2672 The contents of multiline #define's are now analyzed and indented
2673 syntactically just like other code. This can be disabled by the new
2674 variable `c-syntactic-indentation-in-macros'. A new syntactic symbol
2675 `cpp-define-intro' has been added to control the initial indentation
2678 **** New lineup function `c-lineup-cpp-define'.
2680 Now used by default to line up macro continuation lines. The behavior
2681 of this function closely mimics the indentation one gets if the macro
2682 is indented while the line continuation backslashes are temporarily
2683 removed. If syntactic indentation in macros is turned off, it works
2684 much line `c-lineup-dont-change', which was used earlier, but handles
2685 empty lines within the macro better.
2687 **** Automatically inserted newlines continues the macro if used within one.
2688 This applies to the newlines inserted by the auto-newline mode, and to
2689 `c-context-line-break' and `c-context-open-line'.
2691 **** Better alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2692 `c-backslash-region' tries to adapt to surrounding backslashes. New
2693 variable `c-backslash-max-column' puts a limit on how far out
2694 backslashes can be moved.
2696 **** Automatic alignment of line continuation backslashes.
2697 This is controlled by the new variable `c-auto-align-backslashes'. It
2698 affects `c-context-line-break', `c-context-open-line' and newlines
2699 inserted in Auto-Newline mode.
2701 **** Line indentation works better inside macros.
2702 Regardless whether syntactic indentation and syntactic indentation
2703 inside macros are enabled or not, line indentation now ignores the
2704 line continuation backslashes. This is most noticeable when syntactic
2705 indentation is turned off and there are empty lines (save for the
2706 backslash) in the macro.
2708 *** indent-for-comment is more customizable.
2709 The behavior of M-; (indent-for-comment) is now configurable through
2710 the variable `c-indent-comment-alist'. The indentation behavior is
2711 based on the preceding code on the line, e.g. to get two spaces after
2712 #else and #endif but indentation to `comment-column' in most other
2713 cases (something which was hardcoded earlier).
2715 *** New function `c-context-open-line'.
2716 It's the open-line equivalent of `c-context-line-break'.
2720 **** `comment-close-slash'.
2721 With this clean-up, a block (i.e. c-style) comment can be terminated by
2722 typing a slash at the start of a line.
2724 **** `c-one-liner-defun'
2725 This clean-up compresses a short enough defun (for example, an AWK
2726 pattern/action pair) onto a single line. "Short enough" is configurable.
2728 *** New lineup functions
2730 **** `c-lineup-string-cont'
2731 This lineup function lines up a continued string under the one it
2734 result = prefix + "A message "
2735 "string."; <- c-lineup-string-cont
2737 **** `c-lineup-cascaded-calls'
2738 Lines up series of calls separated by "->" or ".".
2740 **** `c-lineup-knr-region-comment'
2741 Gives (what most people think is) better indentation of comments in
2742 the "K&R region" between the function header and its body.
2744 **** `c-lineup-gcc-asm-reg'
2745 Provides better indentation inside asm blocks.
2747 **** `c-lineup-argcont'
2748 Lines up continued function arguments after the preceding comma.
2750 *** Added toggle for syntactic indentation.
2751 The function `c-toggle-syntactic-indentation' can be used to toggle
2752 syntactic indentation.
2754 *** Better caching of the syntactic context.
2755 CC Mode caches the positions of the opening parentheses (of any kind)
2756 of the lists surrounding the point. Those positions are used in many
2757 places as anchor points for various searches. The cache is now
2758 improved so that it can be reused to a large extent when the point is
2759 moved. The less it moves, the less needs to be recalculated.
2761 The effect is that CC Mode should be fast most of the time even when
2762 opening parens are hung (i.e. aren't in column zero). It's typically
2763 only the first time after the point is moved far down in a complex
2764 file that it'll take noticeable time to find out the syntactic
2767 *** Statements are recognized in a more robust way.
2768 Statements are recognized most of the time even when they occur in an
2769 "invalid" context, e.g. in a function argument. In practice that can
2770 happen when macros are involved.
2772 *** Improved the way `c-indent-exp' chooses the block to indent.
2773 It now indents the block for the closest sexp following the point
2774 whose closing paren ends on a different line. This means that the
2775 point doesn't have to be immediately before the block to indent.
2776 Also, only the block and the closing line is indented; the current
2777 line is left untouched.
2779 ** Changes in Makefile mode
2781 *** Makefile mode has submodes for automake, gmake, makepp, BSD make and imake.
2783 The former two couldn't be differentiated before, and the latter three
2784 are new. Font-locking is robust now and offers new customizable
2787 *** The variable `makefile-query-one-target-method' has been renamed
2788 to `makefile-query-one-target-method-function'. The old name is still
2793 *** The variable `sql-product' controls the highlighting of different
2794 SQL dialects. This variable can be set globally via Customize, on a
2795 buffer-specific basis via local variable settings, or for the current
2796 session using the new SQL->Product submenu. (This menu replaces the
2797 SQL->Highlighting submenu.)
2799 The following values are supported:
2801 ansi ANSI Standard (default)
2815 The current product name will be shown on the mode line following the
2818 The technique of setting `sql-mode-font-lock-defaults' directly in
2819 your `.emacs' will no longer establish the default highlighting -- Use
2820 `sql-product' to accomplish this.
2822 ANSI keywords are always highlighted.
2824 *** The function `sql-add-product-keywords' can be used to add
2825 font-lock rules to the product specific rules. For example, to have
2826 all identifiers ending in `_t' under MS SQLServer treated as a type,
2827 you would use the following line in your .emacs file:
2829 (sql-add-product-keywords 'ms
2830 '(("\\<\\w+_t\\>" . font-lock-type-face)))
2832 *** Oracle support includes keyword highlighting for Oracle 9i.
2834 Most SQL and PL/SQL keywords are implemented. SQL*Plus commands are
2835 highlighted in `font-lock-doc-face'.
2837 *** Microsoft SQLServer support has been significantly improved.
2839 Keyword highlighting for SqlServer 2000 is implemented.
2840 sql-interactive-mode defaults to use osql, rather than isql, because
2841 osql flushes its error stream more frequently. Thus error messages
2842 are displayed when they occur rather than when the session is
2845 If the username and password are not provided to `sql-ms', osql is
2846 called with the `-E' command line argument to use the operating system
2847 credentials to authenticate the user.
2849 *** Postgres support is enhanced.
2850 Keyword highlighting of Postgres 7.3 is implemented. Prompting for
2851 the username and the pgsql `-U' option is added.
2853 *** MySQL support is enhanced.
2854 Keyword highlighting of MySql 4.0 is implemented.
2856 *** Imenu support has been enhanced to locate tables, views, indexes,
2857 packages, procedures, functions, triggers, sequences, rules, and
2860 *** Added SQL->Start SQLi Session menu entry which calls the
2861 appropriate `sql-interactive-mode' wrapper for the current setting of
2864 *** sql.el supports the SQLite interpreter--call 'sql-sqlite'.
2866 ** Fortran mode changes
2868 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have support for `hs-minor-mode' (hideshow).
2869 It cannot deal with every code format, but ought to handle a sizeable
2872 *** F90 mode and Fortran mode have new navigation commands
2873 `f90-end-of-block', `f90-beginning-of-block', `f90-next-block',
2874 `f90-previous-block', `fortran-end-of-block',
2875 `fortran-beginning-of-block'.
2877 *** Fortran mode does more font-locking by default. Use level 3
2878 highlighting for the old default.
2880 *** Fortran mode has a new variable `fortran-directive-re'.
2881 Adapt this to match the format of any compiler directives you use.
2882 Lines that match are never indented, and are given distinctive font-locking.
2884 *** The new function `f90-backslash-not-special' can be used to change
2885 the syntax of backslashes in F90 buffers.
2887 ** Miscellaneous programming mode changes
2889 *** In sh-script, a continuation line is only indented if the backslash was
2890 preceded by a SPC or a TAB.
2892 *** Perl mode has a new variable `perl-indent-continued-arguments'.
2894 *** The old Octave mode bindings C-c f and C-c i have been changed
2895 to C-c C-f and C-c C-i. The C-c C-i subcommands now have duplicate
2896 bindings on control characters--thus, C-c C-i C-b is the same as
2897 C-c C-i b, and so on.
2899 *** Prolog mode has a new variable `prolog-font-lock-keywords'
2900 to support use of font-lock.
2904 *** New backends for Subversion and Meta-CVS.
2906 *** The new variable `vc-cvs-global-switches' specifies switches that
2907 are passed to any CVS command invoked by VC.
2909 These switches are used as "global options" for CVS, which means they
2910 are inserted before the command name. For example, this allows you to
2911 specify a compression level using the `-z#' option for CVS.
2913 *** The key C-x C-q only changes the read-only state of the buffer
2914 (toggle-read-only). It no longer checks files in or out.
2916 We made this change because we held a poll and found that many users
2917 were unhappy with the previous behavior. If you do prefer this
2918 behavior, you can bind `vc-toggle-read-only' to C-x C-q in your
2921 (global-set-key "\C-x\C-q" 'vc-toggle-read-only)
2923 The function `vc-toggle-read-only' will continue to exist.
2925 *** VC-Annotate mode enhancements
2927 In VC-Annotate mode, you can now use the following key bindings for
2928 enhanced functionality to browse the annotations of past revisions, or
2929 to view diffs or log entries directly from vc-annotate-mode:
2931 P: annotates the previous revision
2932 N: annotates the next revision
2933 J: annotates the revision at line
2934 A: annotates the revision previous to line
2935 D: shows the diff of the revision at line with its previous revision
2936 L: shows the log of the revision at line
2937 W: annotates the workfile (most up to date) version
2941 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d y' command to view the diffs
2942 between the local version of the file and yesterday's head revision
2945 *** In pcl-cvs mode, there is a new `d r' command to view the changes
2946 anyone has committed to the repository since you last executed
2947 `checkout', `update' or `commit'. That means using cvs diff options
2952 *** M-x diff uses Diff mode instead of Compilation mode.
2954 *** Diff mode key bindings changed.
2956 These are the new bindings:
2958 C-c C-e diff-ediff-patch (old M-A)
2959 C-c C-n diff-restrict-view (old M-r)
2960 C-c C-r diff-reverse-direction (old M-R)
2961 C-c C-u diff-context->unified (old M-U)
2962 C-c C-w diff-refine-hunk (old C-c C-r)
2964 To convert unified to context format, use C-u C-c C-u.
2965 In addition, C-c C-u now operates on the region
2966 in Transient Mark mode when the mark is active.
2970 *** When comparing directories.
2971 Typing D brings up a buffer that lists the differences between the contents of
2972 directories. Now it is possible to use this buffer to copy the missing files
2973 from one directory to another.
2975 *** When comparing files or buffers.
2976 Typing the = key now offers to perform the word-by-word comparison of the
2977 currently highlighted regions in an inferior Ediff session. If you answer 'n'
2978 then it reverts to the old behavior and asks the user to select regions for
2981 *** The new command `ediff-backup' compares a file with its most recent
2982 backup using `ediff'. If you specify the name of a backup file,
2983 `ediff-backup' compares it with the file of which it is a backup.
2987 *** New regular expressions features
2989 **** New syntax for regular expressions, multi-line regular expressions.
2991 The syntax --ignore-case-regexp=/regex/ is now undocumented and retained
2992 only for backward compatibility. The new equivalent syntax is
2993 --regex=/regex/i. More generally, it is --regex=/TAGREGEX/TAGNAME/MODS,
2994 where `/TAGNAME' is optional, as usual, and MODS is a string of 0 or
2995 more characters among `i' (ignore case), `m' (multi-line) and `s'
2996 (single-line). The `m' and `s' modifiers behave as in Perl regular
2997 expressions: `m' allows regexps to match more than one line, while `s'
2998 (which implies `m') means that `.' matches newlines. The ability to
2999 span newlines allows writing of much more powerful regular expressions
3000 and rapid prototyping for tagging new languages.
3002 **** Regular expressions can use char escape sequences as in GCC.
3004 The escaped character sequence \a, \b, \d, \e, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v,
3005 respectively, stand for the ASCII characters BEL, BS, DEL, ESC, FF, NL,
3008 **** Regular expressions can be bound to a given language.
3010 The syntax --regex={LANGUAGE}REGEX means that REGEX is used to make tags
3011 only for files of language LANGUAGE, and ignored otherwise. This is
3012 particularly useful when storing regexps in a file.
3014 **** Regular expressions can be read from a file.
3016 The --regex=@regexfile option means read the regexps from a file, one
3017 per line. Lines beginning with space or tab are ignored.
3019 *** New language parsing features
3021 **** New language HTML.
3023 Tags are generated for `title' as well as `h1', `h2', and `h3'. Also,
3024 when `name=' is used inside an anchor and whenever `id=' is used.
3026 **** New language PHP.
3028 Functions, classes and defines are tags. If the --members option is
3029 specified to etags, variables are tags also.
3031 **** New language Lua.
3033 All functions are tagged.
3035 **** The `::' qualifier triggers C++ parsing in C file.
3037 Previously, only the `template' and `class' keywords had this effect.
3039 **** The GCC __attribute__ keyword is now recognized and ignored.
3041 **** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for #undef
3043 **** In Makefiles, constants are tagged.
3045 If you want the old behavior instead, thus avoiding to increase the
3046 size of the tags file, use the --no-globals option.
3048 **** In Perl, packages are tags.
3050 Subroutine tags are named from their package. You can jump to sub tags
3051 as you did before, by the sub name, or additionally by looking for
3054 **** In Prolog, etags creates tags for rules in addition to predicates.
3056 **** New default keywords for TeX.
3058 The new keywords are def, newcommand, renewcommand, newenvironment and
3061 *** Honor #line directives.
3063 When Etags parses an input file that contains C preprocessor's #line
3064 directives, it creates tags using the file name and line number
3065 specified in those directives. This is useful when dealing with code
3066 created from Cweb source files. When Etags tags the generated file, it
3067 writes tags pointing to the source file.
3069 *** New option --parse-stdin=FILE.
3071 This option is mostly useful when calling etags from programs. It can
3072 be used (only once) in place of a file name on the command line. Etags
3073 reads from standard input and marks the produced tags as belonging to
3076 *** The --members option is now the default.
3078 Use --no-members if you want the old default behaviour of not tagging
3079 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
3083 *** Ctags now allows duplicate tags
3087 *** Support for `movemail' from GNU mailutils was added to Rmail.
3089 This version of `movemail' allows you to read mail from a wide range of
3090 mailbox formats, including remote POP3 and IMAP4 mailboxes with or
3091 without TLS encryption. If GNU mailutils is installed on the system
3092 and its version of `movemail' can be found in exec-path, it will be
3093 used instead of the native one.
3095 *** The new commands rmail-end-of-message and rmail-summary end-of-message,
3096 by default bound to `/', go to the end of the current mail message in
3097 Rmail and Rmail summary buffers.
3099 *** Rmail now displays 5-digit message ids in its summary buffer.
3103 *** Gnus now includes Sieve and PGG
3105 Sieve is a library for managing Sieve scripts. PGG is a library to handle
3108 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
3110 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "Oort Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
3114 Upgraded to MH-E version 8.0.3. There have been major changes since
3115 version 5.0.2; see MH-E-NEWS for details.
3117 ** Miscellaneous mail changes
3119 *** The new variable `mail-default-directory' specifies
3120 `default-directory' for mail buffers. This directory is used for
3121 auto-save files of mail buffers. It defaults to "~/".
3123 *** The mode line can indicate new mail in a directory or file.
3125 See the documentation of the user option `display-time-mail-directory'.
3129 *** There is a new calendar package, icalendar.el, that can be used to
3130 convert Emacs diary entries to/from the iCalendar format.
3132 *** The new package cal-html.el writes HTML files with calendar and
3135 *** The new functions `diary-from-outlook', `diary-from-outlook-gnus',
3136 and `diary-from-outlook-rmail' can be used to import diary entries
3137 from Outlook-format appointments in mail messages. The variable
3138 `diary-outlook-formats' can be customized to recognize additional
3141 *** The procedure for activating appointment reminders has changed:
3142 use the new function `appt-activate'. The new variable
3143 `appt-display-format' controls how reminders are displayed, replacing
3144 `appt-issue-message', `appt-visible', and `appt-msg-window'.
3146 *** The function `simple-diary-display' now by default sets a header line.
3147 This can be controlled through the variables `diary-header-line-flag'
3148 and `diary-header-line-format'.
3150 *** Diary sexp entries can have custom marking in the calendar.
3151 Diary sexp functions which only apply to certain days (such as
3152 `diary-block' or `diary-cyclic') now take an optional parameter MARK,
3153 which is the name of a face or a single-character string indicating
3154 how to highlight the day in the calendar display. Specifying a
3155 single-character string as @var{mark} places the character next to the
3156 day in the calendar. Specifying a face highlights the day with that
3157 face. This lets you have different colors or markings for vacations,
3158 appointments, paydays or anything else using a sexp.
3160 *** The meanings of C-x < and C-x > have been interchanged.
3161 < means to scroll backward in time, and > means to scroll forward.
3163 *** You can now use < and >, instead of C-x < and C-x >, to scroll
3164 the calendar left or right.
3166 *** The new function `calendar-goto-day-of-year' (g D) prompts for a
3167 year and day number, and moves to that date. Negative day numbers
3168 count backward from the end of the year.
3170 *** The new Calendar function `calendar-goto-iso-week' (g w)
3171 prompts for a year and a week number, and moves to the first
3172 day of that ISO week.
3174 *** The functions `holiday-easter-etc' and `holiday-advent' now take
3175 optional arguments, in order to only report on the specified holiday
3176 rather than all. This makes customization of variables such as
3177 `christian-holidays' simpler.
3179 *** The new variable `calendar-minimum-window-height' affects the
3180 window generated by the function `generate-calendar-window'.
3184 *** Speedbar items can now be selected by clicking mouse-1, based on
3185 the `mouse-1-click-follows-link' mechanism.
3187 *** The new command `speedbar-toggle-line-expansion', bound to SPC,
3188 contracts or expands the line under the cursor.
3190 *** New command `speedbar-create-directory', bound to `M'.
3192 *** The new commands `speedbar-expand-line-descendants' and
3193 `speedbar-contract-line-descendants', bound to `[' and `]'
3194 respectively, expand and contract the line under cursor with all of
3197 *** The new user option `speedbar-use-tool-tips-flag', if non-nil,
3198 means to display tool-tips for speedbar items.
3200 *** The new user option `speedbar-query-confirmation-method' controls
3201 how querying is performed for file operations. A value of 'always
3202 means to always query before file operations; 'none-but-delete means
3203 to not query before any file operations, except before a file
3206 *** The new user option `speedbar-select-frame-method' specifies how
3207 to select a frame for displaying a file opened with the speedbar. A
3208 value of 'attached means to use the attached frame (the frame that
3209 speedbar was started from.) A number such as 1 or -1 means to pass
3210 that number to `other-frame'.
3212 *** SPC and DEL are no longer bound to scroll up/down in the speedbar
3215 *** The frame management code in speedbar.el has been split into a new
3216 `dframe' library. Emacs Lisp code that makes use of the speedbar
3217 should use `dframe-attached-frame' instead of
3218 `speedbar-attached-frame', `dframe-timer' instead of `speedbar-timer',
3219 `dframe-close-frame' instead of `speedbar-close-frame', and
3220 `dframe-activity-change-focus-flag' instead of
3221 `speedbar-activity-change-focus-flag'. The variables
3222 `speedbar-update-speed' and `speedbar-navigating-speed' are also
3223 obsolete; use `dframe-update-speed' instead.
3225 ** battery.el changes
3227 *** display-battery-mode replaces display-battery.
3229 *** battery.el now works on recent versions of OS X.
3233 *** The game `mpuz' is enhanced.
3235 `mpuz' now allows the 2nd factor not to have two identical digits. By
3236 default, all trivial operations involving whole lines are performed
3237 automatically. The game uses faces for better visual feedback.
3239 ** Obsolete and deleted packages
3241 *** fast-lock.el and lazy-lock.el are obsolete. Use jit-lock.el instead.
3243 *** iso-acc.el is now obsolete. Use one of the latin input methods instead.
3245 *** zone-mode.el is now obsolete. Use dns-mode.el instead.
3247 *** cplus-md.el has been deleted.
3251 *** The variable `woman-topic-at-point' is renamed
3252 to `woman-use-topic-at-point' and behaves differently: if this
3253 variable is non-nil, the `woman' command uses the word at point
3254 automatically, without asking for a confirmation. Otherwise, the word
3255 at point is suggested as default, but not inserted at the prompt.
3257 *** You can now customize `fill-nobreak-predicate' to control where
3258 filling can break lines. The value is now normally a list of
3259 functions, but it can also be a single function, for compatibility.
3261 Emacs provide two predicates, `fill-single-word-nobreak-p' and
3262 `fill-french-nobreak-p', for use as the value of
3263 `fill-nobreak-predicate'.
3265 *** M-x view-file and commands that use it now avoid interfering
3266 with special modes such as Tar mode.
3268 *** `global-whitespace-mode' is a new alias for `whitespace-global-mode'.
3270 *** The saveplace.el package now filters out unreadable files.
3272 When you exit Emacs, the saved positions in visited files no longer
3273 include files that aren't readable, e.g. files that don't exist.
3274 Customize the new option `save-place-forget-unreadable-files' to nil
3275 to get the old behavior. The new options `save-place-save-skipped'
3276 and `save-place-skip-check-regexp' allow further fine-tuning of this
3279 *** Commands `winner-redo' and `winner-undo', from winner.el, are now
3280 bound to C-c <left> and C-c <right>, respectively. This is an
3281 incompatible change.
3283 *** The type-break package now allows `type-break-file-name' to be nil
3284 and if so, doesn't store any data across sessions. This is handy if
3285 you don't want the `.type-break' file in your home directory or are
3286 annoyed by the need for interaction when you kill Emacs.
3288 *** `ps-print' can now print characters from the mule-unicode charsets.
3290 Printing text with characters from the mule-unicode-* sets works with
3291 `ps-print', provided that you have installed the appropriate BDF
3292 fonts. See the file INSTALL for URLs where you can find these fonts.
3294 *** New command `strokes-global-set-stroke-string'.
3295 This is like `strokes-global-set-stroke', but it allows you to bind
3296 the stroke directly to a string to insert. This is convenient for
3297 using strokes as an input method.
3299 *** In Outline mode, `hide-body' no longer hides lines at the top
3300 of the file that precede the first header line.
3302 *** `hide-ifdef-mode' now uses overlays rather than selective-display
3303 to hide its text. This should be mostly transparent but slightly
3304 changes the behavior of motion commands like C-e and C-p.
3306 *** In Artist mode the variable `artist-text-renderer' has been
3307 renamed to `artist-text-renderer-function'. The old name is still
3310 *** In Enriched mode, `set-left-margin' and `set-right-margin' are now
3311 by default bound to `C-c [' and `C-c ]' instead of the former `C-c C-l'
3314 *** `partial-completion-mode' now handles partial completion on directory names.
3316 *** You can now disable pc-selection-mode after enabling it.
3318 M-x pc-selection-mode behaves like a proper minor mode, and with no
3319 argument it toggles the mode. Turning off PC-Selection mode restores
3320 the global key bindings that were replaced by turning on the mode.
3322 *** `uniquify-strip-common-suffix' tells uniquify to prefer
3323 `file|dir1' and `file|dir2' to `file|dir1/subdir' and `file|dir2/subdir'.
3325 *** New user option `add-log-always-start-new-record'.
3327 When this option is enabled, M-x add-change-log-entry always
3328 starts a new record regardless of when the last record is.
3330 *** M-x compare-windows now can automatically skip non-matching text to
3331 resync points in both windows.
3333 *** PO translation files are decoded according to their MIME headers
3334 when Emacs visits them.
3336 *** Telnet now prompts you for a port number with C-u M-x telnet.
3338 *** calculator.el now has radix grouping mode.
3340 To enable this, set `calculator-output-radix' non-nil. In this mode a
3341 separator character is used every few digits, making it easier to see
3342 byte boundaries etc. For more info, see the documentation of the
3343 variable `calculator-radix-grouping-mode'.
3345 *** LDAP support now defaults to ldapsearch from OpenLDAP version 2.
3347 *** The terminal emulation code in term.el has been improved; it can
3348 run most curses applications now.
3350 *** Support for `magic cookie' standout modes has been removed.
3352 Emacs still works on terminals that require magic cookies in order to
3353 use standout mode, but they can no longer display mode-lines in
3357 * Changes in Emacs 22.1 on non-free operating systems
3359 ** The HOME directory defaults to Application Data under the user profile.
3361 If you used a previous version of Emacs without setting the HOME
3362 environment variable and a `.emacs' was saved, then Emacs will continue
3363 using C:/ as the default HOME. But if you are installing Emacs afresh,
3364 the default location will be the "Application Data" (or similar
3365 localized name) subdirectory of your user profile. A typical location
3366 of this directory is "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data",
3367 where USERNAME is your user name.
3369 This change means that users can now have their own `.emacs' files on
3370 shared computers, and the default HOME directory is less likely to be
3371 read-only on computers that are administered by someone else.
3373 ** Images are now supported on MS Windows.
3375 PBM and XBM images are supported out of the box. Other image formats
3376 depend on external libraries. All of these libraries have been ported
3377 to Windows, and can be found in both source and binary form at
3378 http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. Note that libpng also depends on
3379 zlib, and tiff depends on the version of jpeg that it was compiled
3380 against. For additional information, see nt/INSTALL.
3382 ** Sound is now supported on MS Windows.
3384 WAV format is supported on all versions of Windows, other formats such
3385 as AU, AIFF and MP3 may be supported in the more recent versions of
3386 Windows, or when other software provides hooks into the system level
3387 sound support for those formats.
3389 ** Tooltips now work on MS Windows.
3391 See the Emacs 21.1 NEWS entry for tooltips for details.
3393 ** Pointing devices with more than 3 buttons are now supported on MS Windows.
3395 The new variable `w32-pass-extra-mouse-buttons-to-system' controls
3396 whether Emacs should handle the extra buttons itself (the default), or
3397 pass them to Windows to be handled with system-wide functions.
3399 ** Passing resources on the command line now works on MS Windows.
3401 You can use --xrm to pass resource settings to Emacs, overriding any
3402 existing values. For example:
3404 emacs --xrm "Emacs.Background:red" --xrm "Emacs.Geometry:100x20"
3406 will start up Emacs on an initial frame of 100x20 with red background,
3407 irrespective of geometry or background setting on the Windows registry.
3409 ** Emacs takes note of colors defined in Control Panel on MS-Windows.
3411 The Control Panel defines some default colors for applications in much
3412 the same way as wildcard X Resources do on X. Emacs now adds these
3413 colors to the colormap prefixed by System (eg SystemMenu for the
3414 default Menu background, SystemMenuText for the foreground), and uses
3415 some of them to initialize some of the default faces.
3416 `list-colors-display' shows the list of System color names, in case
3417 you wish to use them in other faces.
3419 ** Running in a console window in Windows now uses the console size.
3421 Previous versions of Emacs erred on the side of having a usable Emacs
3422 through telnet, even though that was inconvenient if you use Emacs in
3423 a local console window with a scrollback buffer. The default value of
3424 w32-use-full-screen-buffer is now nil, which favors local console
3425 windows. Recent versions of Windows telnet also work well with this
3426 setting. If you are using an older telnet server then Emacs detects
3427 that the console window dimensions that are reported are not sane, and
3428 defaults to 80x25. If you use such a telnet server regularly at a size
3429 other than 80x25, you can still manually set
3430 w32-use-full-screen-buffer to t.
3432 ** Different shaped mouse pointers are supported on MS Windows.
3434 The mouse pointer changes shape depending on what is under the pointer.
3436 ** On MS Windows, the "system caret" now follows the cursor.
3438 This enables Emacs to work better with programs that need to track the
3439 cursor, for example screen magnifiers and text to speech programs.
3440 When such a program is in use, the system caret is made visible
3441 instead of Emacs drawing its own cursor. This seems to be required by
3442 some programs. The new variable w32-use-visible-system-caret allows
3443 the caret visibility to be manually toggled.
3445 ** On MS Windows NT/W2K/XP, Emacs uses Unicode for clipboard operations.
3447 Those systems use Unicode internally, so this allows Emacs to share
3448 multilingual text with other applications. On other versions of
3449 MS Windows, Emacs now uses the appropriate locale coding-system, so
3450 the clipboard should work correctly for your local language without
3453 ** On Mac OS, `keyboard-coding-system' changes based on the keyboard script.
3455 ** The variable `mac-keyboard-text-encoding' and the constants
3456 `kTextEncodingMacRoman', `kTextEncodingISOLatin1', and
3457 `kTextEncodingISOLatin2' are obsolete.
3459 ** The variable `mac-command-key-is-meta' is obsolete. Use
3460 `mac-command-modifier' and `mac-option-modifier' instead.
3462 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3464 ** Mode line display ignores text properties as well as the
3465 :propertize and :eval forms in the value of a variable whose
3466 `risky-local-variable' property is nil.
3468 The function `comint-send-input' now accepts 3 optional arguments:
3470 (comint-send-input &optional no-newline artificial)
3472 Callers sending input not from the user should use bind the 3rd
3473 argument `artificial' to a non-nil value, to prevent Emacs from
3474 deleting the part of subprocess output that matches the input.
3476 ** The `read-file-name' function now returns a null string if the
3477 user just types RET.
3479 ** The variables post-command-idle-hook and post-command-idle-delay have
3480 been removed. Use run-with-idle-timer instead.
3482 ** A hex or octal escape in a string constant forces the string to
3483 be multibyte or unibyte, respectively.
3485 ** The explicit method of creating a display table element by
3486 combining a face number and a character code into a numeric
3487 glyph code is deprecated.
3489 Instead, the new functions `make-glyph-code', `glyph-char', and
3490 `glyph-face' must be used to create and decode glyph codes in
3493 ** `suppress-keymap' now works by remapping `self-insert-command' to
3494 the command `undefined'. (In earlier Emacs versions, it used
3495 `substitute-key-definition' to rebind self inserting characters to
3498 ** The third argument of `accept-process-output' is now milliseconds.
3499 It used to be microseconds.
3501 ** The function find-operation-coding-system may be called with a cons
3502 (FILENAME . BUFFER) in the second argument if the first argument
3503 OPERATION is `insert-file-contents', and thus a function registered in
3504 `file-coding-system-alist' is also called with such an argument.
3506 ** When Emacs receives a USR1 or USR2 signal, this generates
3507 input events: sigusr1 or sigusr2. Use special-event-map to
3508 handle these events.
3510 ** The variable `memory-full' now remains t until
3511 there is no longer a shortage of memory.
3513 ** Support for Mocklisp has been removed.
3516 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 22.1
3518 ** General Lisp changes:
3520 *** New syntax: \s now stands for the SPACE character.
3522 `?\s' is a new way to write the space character. You must make sure
3523 it is not followed by a dash, since `?\s-...' indicates the "super"
3524 modifier. However, it would be strange to write a character constant
3525 and a following symbol (beginning with `-') with no space between
3528 `\s' stands for space in strings, too, but it is not really meant for
3529 strings; it is easier and nicer just to write a space.
3531 *** New syntax: \uXXXX and \UXXXXXXXX specify Unicode code points in hex.
3533 For instance, you can use "\u0428" to specify a string consisting of
3534 CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHA, or `"U0001D6E2" to specify one consisting
3535 of MATHEMATICAL ITALIC CAPITAL ALPHA (the latter is greater than
3536 #xFFFF and thus needs the longer syntax).
3538 This syntax works for both character constants and strings.
3540 *** New function `unsafep' determines whether a Lisp form is safe.
3542 It returns nil if the given Lisp form can't possibly do anything
3543 dangerous; otherwise it returns a reason why the form might be unsafe
3544 (calls unknown function, alters global variable, etc.).
3546 *** The function `eql' is now available without requiring the CL package.
3548 *** The new function `memql' is like `memq', but uses `eql' for comparison,
3549 that is, floats are compared by value and other elements with `eq'.
3551 *** New functions `string-or-null-p' and `booleanp'.
3553 `string-or-null-p' returns non-nil iff OBJECT is a string or nil.
3554 `booleanp' returns non-nil iff OBJECT is t or nil.
3556 *** `makehash' is now obsolete. Use `make-hash-table' instead.
3558 *** Minor change in the function `format'.
3560 Some flags that were accepted but not implemented (such as "*") are no
3563 *** `add-to-list' takes an optional third argument, APPEND.
3565 If APPEND is non-nil, the new element gets added at the end of the
3566 list instead of at the beginning. This change actually occurred in
3567 Emacs 21.1, but was not documented then.
3569 *** New function `add-to-ordered-list' is like `add-to-list' but
3570 associates a numeric ordering of each element added to the list.
3572 *** New function `add-to-history' adds an element to a history list.
3574 Lisp packages should use this function to add elements to their
3577 If `history-delete-duplicates' is non-nil, it removes duplicates of
3578 the new element from the history list it updates.
3580 *** New function `copy-tree' makes a copy of a tree.
3582 It recursively copies through both CARs and CDRs.
3584 *** New function `delete-dups' deletes `equal' duplicate elements from a list.
3586 It modifies the list destructively, like `delete'. Of several `equal'
3587 occurrences of an element in the list, the one that's kept is the
3590 *** New function `rassq-delete-all'.
3592 (rassq-delete-all VALUE ALIST) deletes, from ALIST, each element whose
3593 CDR is `eq' to the specified value.
3595 *** Functions `get' and `plist-get' no longer give errors for bad plists.
3597 They return nil for a malformed property list or if the list is
3600 *** New functions `lax-plist-get' and `lax-plist-put'.
3602 They are like `plist-get' and `plist-put', except that they compare
3603 the property name using `equal' rather than `eq'.
3605 *** The function `number-sequence' makes a list of equally-separated numbers.
3607 For instance, (number-sequence 4 9) returns (4 5 6 7 8 9). By
3608 default, the separation is 1, but you can specify a different
3609 separation as the third argument. (number-sequence 1.5 6 2) returns
3612 *** New variables `most-positive-fixnum' and `most-negative-fixnum'.
3614 They hold the largest and smallest possible integer values.
3616 *** The function `expt' handles negative exponents differently.
3617 The value for `(expt A B)', if both A and B are integers and B is
3618 negative, is now a float. For example: (expt 2 -2) => 0.25.
3620 *** The function `atan' now accepts an optional second argument.
3622 When called with 2 arguments, as in `(atan Y X)', `atan' returns the
3623 angle in radians between the vector [X, Y] and the X axis. (This is
3624 equivalent to the standard C library function `atan2'.)
3626 *** New macro `with-case-table'
3628 This executes the body with the case table temporarily set to a given
3631 *** New macro `with-local-quit' temporarily allows quitting.
3633 A quit inside the body of `with-local-quit' is caught by the
3634 `with-local-quit' form itself, but another quit will happen later once
3635 the code that has inhibited quitting exits.
3637 This is for use around potentially blocking or long-running code
3638 inside timer functions and `post-command-hook' functions.
3640 *** New macro `define-obsolete-function-alias'.
3642 This combines `defalias' and `make-obsolete'.
3644 *** New macro `eval-at-startup' specifies expressions to
3645 evaluate when Emacs starts up. If this is done after startup,
3646 it evaluates those expressions immediately.
3648 This is useful in packages that can be preloaded.
3650 *** New function `macroexpand-all' expands all macros in a form.
3652 It is similar to the Common-Lisp function of the same name.
3653 One difference is that it guarantees to return the original argument
3654 if no expansion is done, which can be tested using `eq'.
3656 *** A function or macro's doc string can now specify the calling pattern.
3658 You put this info in the doc string's last line. It should be
3659 formatted so as to match the regexp "\n\n(fn .*)\\'". If you don't
3660 specify this explicitly, Emacs determines it from the actual argument
3661 names. Usually that default is right, but not always.
3663 *** New variable `print-continuous-numbering'.
3665 When this is non-nil, successive calls to print functions use a single
3666 numbering scheme for circular structure references. This is only
3667 relevant when `print-circle' is non-nil.
3669 When you bind `print-continuous-numbering' to t, you should
3670 also bind `print-number-table' to nil.
3672 *** `list-faces-display' takes an optional argument, REGEXP.
3674 If it is non-nil, the function lists only faces matching this regexp.
3676 *** New hook `command-error-function'.
3678 By setting this variable to a function, you can control
3679 how the editor command loop shows the user an error message.
3681 *** `debug-on-entry' accepts primitive functions that are not special forms.
3683 ** Lisp code indentation features:
3685 *** The `defmacro' form can contain indentation and edebug declarations.
3687 These declarations specify how to indent the macro calls in Lisp mode
3688 and how to debug them with Edebug. You write them like this:
3690 (defmacro NAME LAMBDA-LIST [DOC-STRING] [DECLARATION ...] ...)
3692 DECLARATION is a list `(declare DECLARATION-SPECIFIER ...)'. The
3693 possible declaration specifiers are:
3696 Set NAME's `lisp-indent-function' property to INDENT.
3699 Set NAME's `edebug-form-spec' property to DEBUG. (This is
3700 equivalent to writing a `def-edebug-spec' for the macro,
3701 but this is cleaner.)
3703 *** cl-indent now allows customization of Indentation of backquoted forms.
3705 See the new user option `lisp-backquote-indentation'.
3707 *** cl-indent now handles indentation of simple and extended `loop' forms.
3709 The new user options `lisp-loop-keyword-indentation',
3710 `lisp-loop-forms-indentation', and `lisp-simple-loop-indentation' can
3711 be used to customize the indentation of keywords and forms in loop
3714 ** Variable aliases:
3716 *** New function: defvaralias ALIAS-VAR BASE-VAR [DOCSTRING]
3718 This function defines the symbol ALIAS-VAR as a variable alias for
3719 symbol BASE-VAR. This means that retrieving the value of ALIAS-VAR
3720 returns the value of BASE-VAR, and changing the value of ALIAS-VAR
3721 changes the value of BASE-VAR.
3723 DOCSTRING, if present, is the documentation for ALIAS-VAR; else it has
3724 the same documentation as BASE-VAR.
3726 *** The macro `define-obsolete-variable-alias' combines `defvaralias' and
3727 `make-obsolete-variable'.
3729 *** New function: indirect-variable VARIABLE
3731 This function returns the variable at the end of the chain of aliases
3732 of VARIABLE. If VARIABLE is not a symbol, or if VARIABLE is not
3733 defined as an alias, the function returns VARIABLE.
3735 It might be noteworthy that variables aliases work for all kinds of
3736 variables, including buffer-local and frame-local variables.
3738 ** defcustom changes:
3740 *** The package-version keyword has been added to provide
3741 `customize-changed-options' functionality to packages in the future.
3742 Developers who make use of this keyword must also update the new
3743 variable `customize-package-emacs-version-alist'.
3745 *** The new customization type `float' requires a floating point number.
3749 *** A hex escape in a string constant forces the string to be multibyte.
3751 *** An octal escape in a string constant forces the string to be unibyte.
3753 *** New function `string-to-multibyte' converts a unibyte string to a
3754 multibyte string with the same individual character codes.
3756 *** `split-string' now includes null substrings in the returned list if
3757 the optional argument SEPARATORS is non-nil and there are matches for
3758 SEPARATORS at the beginning or end of the string. If SEPARATORS is
3759 nil, or if the new optional third argument OMIT-NULLS is non-nil, all
3760 empty matches are omitted from the returned list.
3762 *** The new function `assoc-string' replaces `assoc-ignore-case' and
3763 `assoc-ignore-representation', which are still available, but have
3764 been declared obsolete.
3766 *** New function `substring-no-properties' returns a substring without
3769 ** Displaying warnings to the user.
3771 See the functions `warn' and `display-warning', or the Lisp Manual.
3772 If you want to be sure the warning will not be overlooked, this
3773 facility is much better than using `message', since it displays
3774 warnings in a separate window.
3776 ** Progress reporters.
3778 These provide a simple and uniform way for commands to present
3779 progress messages for the user.
3781 See the new functions `make-progress-reporter',
3782 `progress-reporter-update', `progress-reporter-force-update',
3783 `progress-reporter-done', and `dotimes-with-progress-reporter'.
3785 ** Buffer positions:
3787 *** Function `compute-motion' now calculates the usable window
3788 width if the WIDTH argument is nil. If the TOPOS argument is nil,
3789 the usable window height and width is used.
3791 *** The `line-move', `scroll-up', and `scroll-down' functions will now
3792 modify the window vscroll to scroll through display rows that are
3793 taller that the height of the window, for example in the presence of
3794 large images. To disable this feature, bind the new variable
3795 `auto-window-vscroll' to nil.
3797 *** The argument to `forward-word', `backward-word' is optional.
3801 *** Argument to `forward-to-indentation' and `backward-to-indentation' is optional.
3805 *** `field-beginning' and `field-end' take new optional argument, LIMIT.
3807 This argument tells them not to search beyond LIMIT. Instead they
3808 give up and return LIMIT.
3810 *** New function `window-line-height' is an efficient way to get
3811 information about a specific text line in a window provided that the
3812 window's display is up-to-date.
3814 *** New function `line-number-at-pos' returns the line number of a position.
3816 It an optional buffer position argument that defaults to point.
3818 *** Function `pos-visible-in-window-p' now returns the pixel coordinates
3819 and partial visibility state of the corresponding row, if the PARTIALLY
3822 *** New functions `posn-at-point' and `posn-at-x-y' return
3823 click-event-style position information for a given visible buffer
3824 position or for a given window pixel coordinate.
3826 *** New function `mouse-on-link-p' tests if a position is in a clickable link.
3828 This is the function used by the new `mouse-1-click-follows-link'
3831 ** Text modification:
3833 *** The new function `buffer-chars-modified-tick' returns a buffer's
3834 tick counter for changes to characters. Each time text in that buffer
3835 is inserted or deleted, the character-change counter is updated to the
3836 tick counter (`buffer-modified-tick'). Text property changes leave it
3839 *** The new function `insert-for-yank' normally works like `insert', but
3840 removes the text properties in the `yank-excluded-properties' list
3841 and handles the `yank-handler' text property.
3843 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-as-yank' is like
3844 `insert-for-yank' except that it gets the text from another buffer as
3845 in `insert-buffer-substring'.
3847 *** The new function `insert-buffer-substring-no-properties' is like
3848 `insert-buffer-substring', but removes all text properties from the
3851 *** The new function `filter-buffer-substring' extracts a buffer
3852 substring, passes it through a set of filter functions, and returns
3853 the filtered substring. Use it instead of `buffer-substring' or
3854 `delete-and-extract-region' when copying text into a user-accessible
3855 data structure, such as the kill-ring, X clipboard, or a register.
3857 The list of filter function is specified by the new variable
3858 `buffer-substring-filters'. For example, Longlines mode adds to
3859 `buffer-substring-filters' to remove soft newlines from the copied
3862 *** Function `translate-region' accepts also a char-table as TABLE
3865 *** The new translation table `translation-table-for-input'
3866 is used for customizing self-insertion. The character to
3867 be inserted is translated through it.
3871 The new function `text-clone-create'. Text clones are chunks of text
3872 that are kept identical by transparently propagating changes from one
3875 *** The function `insert-string' is now obsolete.
3879 *** In determining an adaptive fill prefix, Emacs now tries the function in
3880 `adaptive-fill-function' _before_ matching the buffer line against
3881 `adaptive-fill-regexp' rather than _after_ it.
3883 ** Atomic change groups.
3885 To perform some changes in the current buffer "atomically" so that
3886 they either all succeed or are all undone, use `atomic-change-group'
3887 around the code that makes changes. For instance:
3889 (atomic-change-group
3891 (delete-region x y))
3893 If an error (or other nonlocal exit) occurs inside the body of
3894 `atomic-change-group', it unmakes all the changes in that buffer that
3895 were during the execution of the body. The change group has no effect
3896 on any other buffers--any such changes remain.
3898 If you need something more sophisticated, you can directly call the
3899 lower-level functions that `atomic-change-group' uses. Here is how.
3901 To set up a change group for one buffer, call `prepare-change-group'.
3902 Specify the buffer as argument; it defaults to the current buffer.
3903 This function returns a "handle" for the change group. You must save
3904 the handle to activate the change group and then finish it.
3906 Before you change the buffer again, you must activate the change
3907 group. Pass the handle to `activate-change-group' afterward to
3910 After you make the changes, you must finish the change group. You can
3911 either accept the changes or cancel them all. Call
3912 `accept-change-group' to accept the changes in the group as final;
3913 call `cancel-change-group' to undo them all.
3915 You should use `unwind-protect' to make sure the group is always
3916 finished. The call to `activate-change-group' should be inside the
3917 `unwind-protect', in case the user types C-g just after it runs.
3918 (This is one reason why `prepare-change-group' and
3919 `activate-change-group' are separate functions.) Once you finish the
3920 group, don't use the handle again--don't try to finish the same group
3923 To make a multibuffer change group, call `prepare-change-group' once
3924 for each buffer you want to cover, then use `nconc' to combine the
3925 returned values, like this:
3927 (nconc (prepare-change-group buffer-1)
3928 (prepare-change-group buffer-2))
3930 You can then activate the multibuffer change group with a single call
3931 to `activate-change-group', and finish it with a single call to
3932 `accept-change-group' or `cancel-change-group'.
3934 Nested use of several change groups for the same buffer works as you
3935 would expect. Non-nested use of change groups for the same buffer
3936 will lead to undesirable results, so don't let it happen; the first
3937 change group you start for any given buffer should be the last one
3940 ** Buffer-related changes:
3942 *** The new function `buffer-local-value' returns the buffer-local
3943 binding of VARIABLE (a symbol) in buffer BUFFER. If VARIABLE does not
3944 have a buffer-local binding in buffer BUFFER, it returns the default
3945 value of VARIABLE instead.
3947 *** `list-buffers-noselect' now takes an additional argument, BUFFER-LIST.
3949 If it is non-nil, it specifies which buffers to list.
3951 *** `kill-buffer-hook' is now a permanent local.
3953 *** The function `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' now lets you maintain
3954 various status records in parallel.
3956 It takes a variable (a symbol) as argument. If the variable is non-nil,
3957 then its value should be a vector installed previously by
3958 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p'. If the frame names, buffer names, buffer
3959 order, or their read-only or modified flags have changed, since the
3960 time the vector's contents were recorded by a previous call to
3961 `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', then the function returns t. Otherwise
3964 On the first call to `frame-or-buffer-changed-p', the variable's
3965 value should be nil. `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' stores a suitable
3966 vector into the variable and returns t.
3968 If the variable is itself nil, then `frame-or-buffer-changed-p' uses,
3969 for compatibility, an internal variable which exists only for this
3972 *** The function `read-buffer' follows the convention for reading from
3973 the minibuffer with a default value: if DEF is non-nil, the minibuffer
3974 prompt provided in PROMPT is edited to show the default value provided
3975 in DEF before the terminal colon and space.
3977 ** Searching and matching changes:
3979 *** New function `looking-back' checks whether a regular expression matches
3980 the text before point. Specifying the LIMIT argument bounds how far
3981 back the match can start; this is a way to keep it from taking too long.
3983 *** The new variable `search-spaces-regexp' controls how to search
3984 for spaces in a regular expression. If it is non-nil, it should be a
3985 regular expression, and any series of spaces stands for that regular
3986 expression. If it is nil, spaces stand for themselves.
3988 Spaces inside of constructs such as `[..]' and inside loops such as
3989 `*', `+', and `?' are never replaced with `search-spaces-regexp'.
3991 *** New regular expression operators, `\_<' and `\_>'.
3993 These match the beginning and end of a symbol. A symbol is a
3994 non-empty sequence of either word or symbol constituent characters, as
3995 specified by the syntax table.
3997 *** `skip-chars-forward' and `skip-chars-backward' now handle
3998 character classes such as `[:alpha:]', along with individual
3999 characters and ranges.
4001 *** In `replace-match', the replacement text no longer inherits
4002 properties from surrounding text.
4004 *** The list returned by `(match-data t)' now has the buffer as a final
4005 element, if the last match was on a buffer. `set-match-data'
4006 accepts such a list for restoring the match state.
4008 *** Functions `match-data' and `set-match-data' now have an optional
4009 argument `reseat'. When non-nil, all markers in the match data list
4010 passed to these functions will be reseated to point to nowhere.
4012 *** rx.el has new corresponding `symbol-start' and `symbol-end' elements.
4014 *** The default value of `sentence-end' is now defined using the new
4015 variable `sentence-end-without-space', which contains such characters
4016 that end a sentence without following spaces.
4018 The function `sentence-end' should be used to obtain the value of the
4019 variable `sentence-end'. If the variable `sentence-end' is nil, then
4020 this function returns the regexp constructed from the variables
4021 `sentence-end-without-period', `sentence-end-double-space' and
4022 `sentence-end-without-space'.
4026 *** `buffer-undo-list' allows programmable elements.
4028 These elements have the form (apply FUNNAME . ARGS), where FUNNAME is
4029 a symbol other than t or nil. That stands for a high-level change
4030 that should be undone by evaluating (apply FUNNAME ARGS).
4032 These entries can also have the form (apply DELTA BEG END FUNNAME . ARGS)
4033 which indicates that the change which took place was limited to the
4034 range BEG...END and increased the buffer size by DELTA.
4036 *** If the buffer's undo list for the current command gets longer than
4037 `undo-outer-limit', garbage collection empties it. This is to prevent
4038 it from using up the available memory and choking Emacs.
4040 ** Killing and yanking changes:
4042 *** New `yank-handler' text property can be used to control how
4043 previously killed text on the kill ring is reinserted.
4045 The value of the `yank-handler' property must be a list with one to four
4046 elements with the following format:
4047 (FUNCTION PARAM NOEXCLUDE UNDO).
4049 The `insert-for-yank' function looks for a yank-handler property on
4050 the first character on its string argument (typically the first
4051 element on the kill-ring). If a `yank-handler' property is found,
4052 the normal behavior of `insert-for-yank' is modified in various ways:
4054 When FUNCTION is present and non-nil, it is called instead of `insert'
4055 to insert the string. FUNCTION takes one argument--the object to insert.
4056 If PARAM is present and non-nil, it replaces STRING as the object
4057 passed to FUNCTION (or `insert'); for example, if FUNCTION is
4058 `yank-rectangle', PARAM should be a list of strings to insert as a
4060 If NOEXCLUDE is present and non-nil, the normal removal of the
4061 `yank-excluded-properties' is not performed; instead FUNCTION is
4062 responsible for removing those properties. This may be necessary
4063 if FUNCTION adjusts point before or after inserting the object.
4064 If UNDO is present and non-nil, it is a function that will be called
4065 by `yank-pop' to undo the insertion of the current object. It is
4066 called with two arguments, the start and end of the current region.
4067 FUNCTION can set `yank-undo-function' to override the UNDO value.
4069 *** The functions `kill-new', `kill-append', and `kill-region' now have an
4070 optional argument to specify the `yank-handler' text property to put on
4073 *** The function `yank-pop' will now use a non-nil value of the variable
4074 `yank-undo-function' (instead of `delete-region') to undo the previous
4075 `yank' or `yank-pop' command (or a call to `insert-for-yank'). The function
4076 `insert-for-yank' automatically sets that variable according to the UNDO
4077 element of the string argument's `yank-handler' text property if present.
4079 *** The function `insert-for-yank' now supports strings where the
4080 `yank-handler' property does not span the first character of the
4081 string. The old behavior is available if you call
4082 `insert-for-yank-1' instead.
4084 ** Syntax table changes:
4086 *** The new function `syntax-ppss' provides an efficient way to find the
4087 current syntactic context at point.
4089 *** The new function `syntax-after' returns the syntax code
4090 of the character after a specified buffer position, taking account
4091 of text properties as well as the character code.
4093 *** `syntax-class' extracts the class of a syntax code (as returned
4096 *** The macro `with-syntax-table' no longer copies the syntax table.
4098 ** File operation changes:
4100 *** New vars `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' used when
4101 searching for an executable or an Emacs Lisp file.
4103 *** New function `locate-file' searches for a file in a list of directories.
4104 `locate-file' accepts a name of a file to search (a string), and two
4105 lists: a list of directories to search in and a list of suffixes to
4106 try; typical usage might use `exec-path' and `load-path' for the list
4107 of directories, and `exec-suffixes' and `load-suffixes' for the list
4108 of suffixes. The function also accepts a predicate argument to
4109 further filter candidate files.
4111 One advantage of using this function is that the list of suffixes in
4112 `exec-suffixes' is OS-dependant, so this function will find
4113 executables without polluting Lisp code with OS dependencies.
4115 *** The new function `file-remote-p' tests a file name and returns
4116 non-nil if it specifies a remote file (one that Emacs accesses using
4117 its own special methods and not directly through the file system).
4118 The value in that case is an identifier for the remote file system.
4120 *** The new hook `before-save-hook' is invoked by `basic-save-buffer'
4121 before saving buffers. This allows packages to perform various final
4122 tasks. For example, it can be used by the copyright package to make
4123 sure saved files have the current year in any copyright headers.
4125 *** `file-chase-links' now takes an optional second argument LIMIT which
4126 specifies the maximum number of links to chase through. If after that
4127 many iterations the file name obtained is still a symbolic link,
4128 `file-chase-links' returns it anyway.
4130 *** Functions `file-name-sans-extension' and `file-name-extension' now
4131 ignore the leading dots in file names, so that file names such as
4132 `.emacs' are treated as extensionless.
4134 *** If `buffer-save-without-query' is non-nil in some buffer,
4135 `save-some-buffers' will always save that buffer without asking (if
4138 *** `buffer-auto-save-file-format' is the new name for what was
4139 formerly called `auto-save-file-format'. It is now a permanent local.
4141 *** `visited-file-modtime' and `calendar-time-from-absolute' now return
4142 a list of two integers, instead of a cons.
4144 *** The precedence of file name handlers has been changed.
4146 Instead of choosing the first handler that matches,
4147 `find-file-name-handler' now gives precedence to a file name handler
4148 that matches nearest the end of the file name. More precisely, the
4149 handler whose (match-beginning 0) is the largest is chosen. In case
4150 of ties, the old "first matched" rule applies.
4152 *** A file name handler can declare which operations it handles.
4154 You do this by putting an `operation' property on the handler name
4155 symbol. The property value should be a list of the operations that
4156 the handler really handles. It won't be called for any other
4159 This is useful for autoloaded handlers, to prevent them from being
4160 autoloaded when not really necessary.
4162 *** The function `make-auto-save-file-name' is now handled by file
4163 name handlers. This will be exploited for remote files mainly.
4165 *** The function `file-name-completion' accepts an optional argument
4166 PREDICATE, and rejects completion candidates that don't satisfy PREDICATE.
4168 *** The new primitive `set-file-times' sets a file's access and
4169 modification times. Magic file name handlers can handle this
4174 *** Functions `y-or-n-p', `read-char', `read-key-sequence' and the like, that
4175 display a prompt but don't use the minibuffer, now display the prompt
4176 using the text properties (esp. the face) of the prompt string.
4178 *** The functions `read-event', `read-char', and `read-char-exclusive'
4179 have a new optional argument SECONDS. If non-nil, this specifies a
4180 maximum time to wait for input, in seconds. If no input arrives after
4181 this time elapses, the functions stop waiting and return nil.
4183 *** An interactive specification can now use the code letter `U' to get
4184 the up-event that was discarded in case the last key sequence read for a
4185 previous `k' or `K' argument was a down-event; otherwise nil is used.
4187 *** The new interactive-specification `G' reads a file name
4188 much like `F', but if the input is a directory name (even defaulted),
4189 it returns just the directory name.
4191 *** (while-no-input BODY...) runs BODY, but only so long as no input
4192 arrives. If the user types or clicks anything, BODY stops as if a
4193 quit had occurred. `while-no-input' returns the value of BODY, if BODY
4194 finishes. It returns nil if BODY was aborted by a quit, and t if
4195 BODY was aborted by arrival of input.
4197 *** `recent-keys' now returns the last 300 keys.
4199 ** Minibuffer changes:
4201 *** The new function `minibufferp' returns non-nil if its optional
4202 buffer argument is a minibuffer. If the argument is omitted, it
4203 defaults to the current buffer.
4205 *** New function `minibuffer-selected-window' returns the window which
4206 was selected when entering the minibuffer.
4208 *** The `read-file-name' function now takes an additional argument which
4209 specifies a predicate which the file name read must satisfy. The
4210 new variable `read-file-name-predicate' contains the predicate argument
4211 while reading the file name from the minibuffer; the predicate in this
4212 variable is used by read-file-name-internal to filter the completion list.
4214 *** The new variable `read-file-name-function' can be used by Lisp code
4215 to override the built-in `read-file-name' function.
4217 *** The new variable `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' specifies
4218 whether completion ignores case when reading a file name with the
4219 `read-file-name' function.
4221 *** The new function `read-directory-name' is for reading a directory name.
4223 It is like `read-file-name' except that the defaulting works better
4224 for directories, and completion inside it shows only directories.
4226 *** The new variable `history-add-new-input' specifies whether to add new
4227 elements in history. If set to nil, minibuffer reading functions don't
4228 add new elements to the history list, so it is possible to do this
4229 afterwards by calling `add-to-history' explicitly.
4231 ** Completion changes:
4233 *** The new function `minibuffer-completion-contents' returns the contents
4234 of the minibuffer just before point. That is what completion commands
4237 *** The functions `all-completions' and `try-completion' now accept lists
4238 of strings as well as hash-tables additionally to alists, obarrays
4239 and functions. Furthermore, the function `test-completion' is now
4240 exported to Lisp. The keys in alists and hash tables can be either
4241 strings or symbols, which are automatically converted with to strings.
4243 *** The new macro `dynamic-completion-table' supports using functions
4244 as a dynamic completion table.
4246 (dynamic-completion-table FUN)
4248 FUN is called with one argument, the string for which completion is required,
4249 and it should return an alist containing all the intended possible
4250 completions. This alist can be a full list of possible completions so that FUN
4251 can ignore the value of its argument. If completion is performed in the
4252 minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer from which the minibuffer was
4253 entered. `dynamic-completion-table' then computes the completion.
4255 *** The new macro `lazy-completion-table' initializes a variable
4256 as a lazy completion table.
4258 (lazy-completion-table VAR FUN)
4260 If the completion table VAR is used for the first time (e.g., by passing VAR
4261 as an argument to `try-completion'), the function FUN is called with no
4262 arguments. FUN must return the completion table that will be stored in VAR.
4263 If completion is requested in the minibuffer, FUN will be called in the buffer
4264 from which the minibuffer was entered. The return value of
4265 `lazy-completion-table' must be used to initialize the value of VAR.
4269 *** `define-abbrev' now accepts an optional argument SYSTEM-FLAG.
4271 If non-nil, this marks the abbrev as a "system" abbrev, which means
4272 that it won't be stored in the user's abbrevs file if he saves the
4273 abbrevs. Major modes that predefine some abbrevs should always
4276 *** The new function `copy-abbrev-table' copies an abbrev table.
4278 It returns a new abbrev table that is a copy of a given abbrev table.
4280 ** Enhancements to keymaps.
4282 *** Cleaner way to enter key sequences.
4284 You can enter a constant key sequence in a more natural format, the
4285 same one used for saving keyboard macros, using the macro `kbd'. For
4288 (kbd "C-x C-f") => "\^x\^f"
4290 Actually, this format has existed since Emacs 20.1.
4292 *** Interactive commands can be remapped through keymaps.
4294 This is an alternative to using `defadvice' or `substitute-key-definition'
4295 to modify the behavior of a key binding using the normal keymap
4296 binding and lookup functionality.
4298 When a key sequence is bound to a command, and that command is
4299 remapped to another command, that command is run instead of the
4303 Suppose that minor mode `my-mode' has defined the commands
4304 `my-kill-line' and `my-kill-word', and it wants C-k (and any other key
4305 bound to `kill-line') to run the command `my-kill-line' instead of
4306 `kill-line', and likewise it wants to run `my-kill-word' instead of
4309 Instead of rebinding C-k and the other keys in the minor mode map,
4310 command remapping allows you to directly map `kill-line' into
4311 `my-kill-line' and `kill-word' into `my-kill-word' using `define-key':
4313 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-line] 'my-kill-line)
4314 (define-key my-mode-map [remap kill-word] 'my-kill-word)
4316 When `my-mode' is enabled, its minor mode keymap is enabled too. So
4317 when the user types C-k, that runs the command `my-kill-line'.
4319 Only one level of remapping is supported. In the above example, this
4320 means that if `my-kill-line' is remapped to `other-kill', then C-k still
4321 runs `my-kill-line'.
4323 The following changes have been made to provide command remapping:
4325 - Command remappings are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
4326 `remap', i.e. `(define-key MAP [remap CMD] DEF)' remaps command CMD
4327 to definition DEF in keymap MAP. The definition is not limited to
4328 another command; it can be anything accepted for a normal binding.
4330 - The new function `command-remapping' returns the binding for a
4331 remapped command in the current keymaps, or nil if not remapped.
4333 - `key-binding' now remaps interactive commands unless the optional
4334 third argument NO-REMAP is non-nil.
4336 - `where-is-internal' now returns nil for a remapped command (e.g.
4337 `kill-line', when `my-mode' is enabled), and the actual key binding for
4338 the command it is remapped to (e.g. C-k for my-kill-line).
4339 It also has a new optional fifth argument, NO-REMAP, which inhibits
4340 remapping if non-nil (e.g. it returns "C-k" for `kill-line', and
4341 "<kill-line>" for `my-kill-line').
4343 - The new variable `this-original-command' contains the original
4344 command before remapping. It is equal to `this-command' when the
4345 command was not remapped.
4347 *** The definition of a key-binding passed to define-key can use XEmacs-style
4348 key-sequences, such as [(control a)].
4350 *** New keymaps for typing file names
4352 Two new keymaps, `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map' and
4353 `minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map', apply whenever
4354 Emacs reads a file name in the minibuffer. These key maps override
4355 the usual binding of SPC to `minibuffer-complete-word' (so that file
4356 names with embedded spaces could be typed without the need to quote
4359 *** New function `current-active-maps' returns a list of currently
4362 *** New function `describe-buffer-bindings' inserts the list of all
4363 defined keys and their definitions.
4365 *** New function `keymap-prompt' returns the prompt string of a keymap.
4367 *** If text has a `keymap' property, that keymap takes precedence
4368 over minor mode keymaps.
4370 *** The `keymap' property now also works at the ends of overlays and
4371 text properties, according to their stickiness. This also means that it
4372 works with empty overlays. The same hold for the `local-map' property.
4374 *** `key-binding' will now look up mouse-specific bindings. The
4375 keymaps consulted by `key-binding' will get adapted if the key
4376 sequence is started with a mouse event. Instead of letting the click
4377 position be determined from the key sequence itself, it is also
4378 possible to specify it with an optional argument explicitly.
4380 *** `define-key-after' now accepts keys longer than 1.
4382 *** (map-keymap FUNCTION KEYMAP) applies the function to each binding
4385 *** New variable `emulation-mode-map-alists'.
4387 Lisp packages using many minor mode keymaps can now maintain their own
4388 keymap alist separate from `minor-mode-map-alist' by adding their
4389 keymap alist to this list.
4391 *** Dense keymaps now handle inheritance correctly.
4393 Previously a dense keymap would hide all of the simple-char key
4394 bindings of the parent keymap.
4396 ** Enhancements to process support
4398 *** Adaptive read buffering of subprocess output.
4400 On some systems, when Emacs reads the output from a subprocess, the
4401 output data is read in very small blocks, potentially resulting in
4402 very poor performance. This behavior can be remedied to some extent
4403 by setting the new variable `process-adaptive-read-buffering' to a
4404 non-nil value (the default), as it will automatically delay reading
4405 from such processes, allowing them to produce more output before
4406 Emacs tries to read it.
4408 *** Processes now have an associated property list where programs can
4409 maintain process state and other per-process related information.
4411 Use the new functions `process-get' and `process-put' to access, add,
4412 and modify elements on this property list. Use the new functions
4413 `process-plist' and `set-process-plist' to access and replace the
4414 entire property list of a process.
4416 *** Function `list-processes' now has an optional argument; if non-nil,
4417 it lists only the processes whose query-on-exit flag is set.
4419 *** New fns `set-process-query-on-exit-flag' and `process-query-on-exit-flag'.
4421 These replace the old function `process-kill-without-query'. That
4422 function is still supported, but new code should use the new
4425 *** The new function `call-process-shell-command'.
4427 This executes a shell command synchronously in a separate process.
4429 *** The new function `process-file' is similar to `call-process', but
4430 obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
4431 `default-directory'.
4433 *** Function `signal-process' now accepts a process object or process
4434 name in addition to a process id to identify the signaled process.
4436 *** Function `accept-process-output' has a new optional fourth arg
4437 JUST-THIS-ONE. If non-nil, only output from the specified process
4438 is handled, suspending output from other processes. If value is an
4439 integer, also inhibit running timers. This feature is generally not
4440 recommended, but may be necessary for specific applications, such as
4443 *** A process filter function gets the output as multibyte string
4444 if the process specifies t for its filter's multibyteness.
4446 That multibyteness is decided by the value of
4447 `default-enable-multibyte-characters' when the process is created, and
4448 you can change it later with `set-process-filter-multibyte'.
4450 *** The new function `set-process-filter-multibyte' sets the
4451 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4453 *** The new function `process-filter-multibyte-p' returns the
4454 multibyteness of the strings passed to the process's filter.
4456 *** If a process's coding system is `raw-text' or `no-conversion' and its
4457 buffer is multibyte, the output of the process is at first converted
4458 to multibyte by `string-to-multibyte' then inserted in the buffer.
4459 Previously, it was converted to multibyte by `string-as-multibyte',
4460 which was not compatible with the behavior of file reading.
4462 ** Enhanced networking support.
4464 *** The new `make-network-process' function makes network connections.
4465 It allows opening of stream and datagram connections to a server, as well as
4466 create a stream or datagram server inside Emacs.
4468 - A server is started using :server t arg.
4469 - Datagram connection is selected using :type 'datagram arg.
4470 - A server can open on a random port using :service t arg.
4471 - Local sockets are supported using :family 'local arg.
4472 - IPv6 is supported (when available). You may explicitly select IPv6
4473 using :family 'ipv6 arg.
4474 - Non-blocking connect is supported using :nowait t arg.
4475 - The process' property list can be initialized using :plist PLIST arg;
4476 a copy of the server process' property list is automatically inherited
4477 by new client processes created to handle incoming connections.
4479 To test for the availability of a given feature, use featurep like this:
4480 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:type datagram))
4481 (featurep 'make-network-process '(:family ipv6))
4483 *** The old `open-network-stream' now uses `make-network-process'.
4485 *** `process-contact' has an optional KEY argument.
4487 Depending on this argument, you can get the complete list of network
4488 process properties or a specific property. Using :local or :remote as
4489 the KEY, you get the address of the local or remote end-point.
4491 An Inet address is represented as a 5 element vector, where the first
4492 4 elements contain the IP address and the fifth is the port number.
4494 *** New functions `stop-process' and `continue-process'.
4496 These functions stop and restart communication through a network
4497 connection. For a server process, no connections are accepted in the
4498 stopped state. For a client process, no input is received in the
4501 *** New function `format-network-address'.
4503 This function reformats the Lisp representation of a network address
4504 to a printable string. For example, an IP address A.B.C.D and port
4505 number P is represented as a five element vector [A B C D P], and the
4506 printable string returned for this vector is "A.B.C.D:P". See the doc
4507 string for other formatting options.
4509 *** New function `network-interface-list'.
4511 This function returns a list of network interface names and their
4512 current network addresses.
4514 *** New function `network-interface-info'.
4516 This function returns the network address, hardware address, current
4517 status, and other information about a specific network interface.
4519 *** New functions `process-datagram-address', `set-process-datagram-address'.
4521 These functions are used with datagram-based network processes to get
4522 and set the current address of the remote partner.
4524 *** Deleting a network process with `delete-process' calls the sentinel.
4526 The status message passed to the sentinel for a deleted network
4527 process is "deleted". The message passed to the sentinel when the
4528 connection is closed by the remote peer has been changed to
4529 "connection broken by remote peer".
4531 ** Using window objects:
4533 *** You can now make a window as short as one line.
4535 A window that is just one line tall does not display either a mode
4536 line or a header line, even if the variables `mode-line-format' and
4537 `header-line-format' call for them. A window that is two lines tall
4538 cannot display both a mode line and a header line at once; if the
4539 variables call for both, only the mode line actually appears.
4541 *** The new function `window-inside-edges' returns the edges of the
4542 actual text portion of the window, not including the scroll bar or
4543 divider line, the fringes, the display margins, the header line and
4546 *** The new functions `window-pixel-edges' and `window-inside-pixel-edges'
4547 return window edges in units of pixels, rather than columns and lines.
4549 *** New function `window-body-height'.
4551 This is like `window-height' but does not count the mode line or the
4554 *** The new function `adjust-window-trailing-edge' moves the right
4555 or bottom edge of a window. It does not move other window edges.
4557 *** The new macro `with-selected-window' temporarily switches the
4558 selected window without impacting the order of `buffer-list'.
4559 It saves and restores the current buffer, too.
4561 *** `select-window' takes an optional second argument NORECORD.
4563 This is like `switch-to-buffer'.
4565 *** `save-selected-window' now saves and restores the selected window
4566 of every frame. This way, it restores everything that can be changed
4567 by calling `select-window'. It also saves and restores the current
4570 *** `set-window-buffer' has an optional argument KEEP-MARGINS.
4572 If non-nil, that says to preserve the window's current margin, fringe,
4573 and scroll-bar settings.
4575 *** The new function `window-tree' returns a frame's window tree.
4577 *** The functions `get-lru-window' and `get-largest-window' take an optional
4578 argument `dedicated'. If non-nil, those functions do not ignore
4581 ** Customizable fringe bitmaps
4583 *** There are new display properties, `left-fringe' and `right-fringe',
4584 that can be used to show a specific bitmap in the left or right fringe
4585 bitmap of the display line.
4587 Format is `display (left-fringe BITMAP [FACE])', where BITMAP is a
4588 symbol identifying a fringe bitmap, either built-in or defined with
4589 `define-fringe-bitmap', and FACE is an optional face name to be used
4590 for displaying the bitmap instead of the default `fringe' face.
4591 When specified, FACE is automatically merged with the `fringe' face.
4593 *** New buffer-local variables `fringe-indicator-alist' and
4594 `fringe-cursor-alist' maps between logical (internal) fringe indicator
4595 and cursor symbols and the actual fringe bitmaps to be displayed.
4596 This decouples the logical meaning of the fringe indicators from the
4597 physical appearance, as well as allowing different fringe bitmaps to
4598 be used in different windows showing different buffers.
4600 *** New function `define-fringe-bitmap' can now be used to create new
4601 fringe bitmaps, as well as change the built-in fringe bitmaps.
4603 *** New function `destroy-fringe-bitmap' deletes a fringe bitmap
4604 or restores a built-in one to its default value.
4606 *** New function `set-fringe-bitmap-face' specifies the face to be
4607 used for a specific fringe bitmap. The face is automatically merged
4608 with the `fringe' face, so normally, the face should only specify the
4609 foreground color of the bitmap.
4611 *** New function `fringe-bitmaps-at-pos' returns the current fringe
4612 bitmaps in the display line at a given buffer position.
4614 ** Other window fringe features:
4616 *** Controlling the default left and right fringe widths.
4618 The default left and right fringe widths for all windows of a frame
4619 can now be controlled by setting the `left-fringe' and `right-fringe'
4620 frame parameters to an integer value specifying the width in pixels.
4621 Setting the width to 0 effectively removes the corresponding fringe.
4623 The actual default fringe widths for the frame may deviate from the
4624 specified widths, since the combined fringe widths must match an
4625 integral number of columns. The extra width is distributed evenly
4626 between the left and right fringe. To force a specific fringe width,
4627 specify the width as a negative integer (if both widths are negative,
4628 only the left fringe gets the specified width).
4630 Setting the width to nil (the default), restores the default fringe
4631 width which is the minimum number of pixels necessary to display any
4632 of the currently defined fringe bitmaps. The width of the built-in
4633 fringe bitmaps is 8 pixels.
4635 *** Per-window fringe and scrollbar settings
4637 **** Windows can now have their own individual fringe widths and
4640 To control the fringe widths of a window, either set the buffer-local
4641 variables `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', or call
4642 `set-window-fringes'.
4644 To control the fringe position in a window, that is, whether fringes
4645 are positioned between the display margins and the window's text area,
4646 or at the edges of the window, either set the buffer-local variable
4647 `fringes-outside-margins' or call `set-window-fringes'.
4649 The function `window-fringes' can be used to obtain the current
4650 settings. To make `left-fringe-width', `right-fringe-width', and
4651 `fringes-outside-margins' take effect, you must set them before
4652 displaying the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force
4653 an update of the display margins.
4655 **** Windows can now have their own individual scroll-bar settings
4656 controlling the width and position of scroll-bars.
4658 To control the scroll-bar of a window, either set the buffer-local
4659 variables `scroll-bar-mode' and `scroll-bar-width', or call
4660 `set-window-scroll-bars'. The function `window-scroll-bars' can be
4661 used to obtain the current settings. To make `scroll-bar-mode' and
4662 `scroll-bar-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
4663 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
4664 of the display margins.
4666 ** Redisplay features:
4668 *** `sit-for' can now be called with args (SECONDS &optional NODISP).
4670 *** Iconifying or deiconifying a frame no longer makes sit-for return.
4672 *** New function `redisplay' causes an immediate redisplay if no input is
4673 available, equivalent to (sit-for 0). The call (redisplay t) forces
4674 an immediate redisplay even if input is pending.
4676 *** New function `force-window-update' can initiate a full redisplay of
4677 one or all windows. Normally, this is not needed as changes in window
4678 contents are detected automatically. However, certain implicit
4679 changes to mode lines, header lines, or display properties may require
4680 forcing an explicit window update.
4682 *** (char-displayable-p CHAR) returns non-nil if Emacs ought to be able
4683 to display CHAR. More precisely, if the selected frame's fontset has
4684 a font to display the character set that CHAR belongs to.
4686 Fontsets can specify a font on a per-character basis; when the fontset
4687 does that, this value cannot be accurate.
4689 *** You can define multiple overlay arrows via the new
4690 variable `overlay-arrow-variable-list'.
4692 It contains a list of variables which contain overlay arrow position
4693 markers, including the original `overlay-arrow-position' variable.
4695 Each variable on this list can have individual `overlay-arrow-string'
4696 and `overlay-arrow-bitmap' properties that specify an overlay arrow
4697 string (for non-window terminals) or fringe bitmap (for window
4698 systems) to display at the corresponding overlay arrow position.
4699 If either property is not set, the default `overlay-arrow-string' or
4700 'overlay-arrow-fringe-bitmap' will be used.
4702 *** New `line-height' and `line-spacing' properties for newline characters
4704 A newline can now have `line-height' and `line-spacing' text or overlay
4705 properties that control the height of the corresponding display row.
4707 If the `line-height' property value is t, the newline does not
4708 contribute to the height of the display row; instead the height of the
4709 newline glyph is reduced. Also, a `line-spacing' property on this
4710 newline is ignored. This can be used to tile small images or image
4711 slices without adding blank areas between the images.
4713 If the `line-height' property value is a positive integer, the value
4714 specifies the minimum line height in pixels. If necessary, the line
4715 height it increased by increasing the line's ascent.
4717 If the `line-height' property value is a float, the minimum line
4718 height is calculated by multiplying the default frame line height by
4721 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (FACE . RATIO), the
4722 minimum line height is calculated as RATIO * height of named FACE.
4723 RATIO is int or float. If FACE is t, it specifies the current face.
4725 If the `line-height' property value is a cons (nil . RATIO), the line
4726 height is calculated as RATIO * actual height of the line's contents.
4728 If the `line-height' value is a cons (HEIGHT . TOTAL), HEIGHT specifies
4729 the line height as described above, while TOTAL is any of the forms
4730 described above and specifies the total height of the line, causing a
4731 varying number of pixels to be inserted after the line to make it line
4732 exactly that many pixels high.
4734 If the `line-spacing' property value is an positive integer, the value
4735 is used as additional pixels to insert after the display line; this
4736 overrides the default frame `line-spacing' and any buffer local value of
4737 the `line-spacing' variable.
4739 If the `line-spacing' property is a float or cons, the line spacing
4740 is calculated as specified above for the `line-height' property.
4742 *** The buffer local `line-spacing' variable can now have a float value,
4743 which is used as a height relative to the default frame line height.
4745 *** Enhancements to stretch display properties
4747 The display property stretch specification form `(space PROPS)', where
4748 PROPS is a property list, now allows pixel based width and height
4749 specifications, as well as enhanced horizontal text alignment.
4751 The value of these properties can now be a (primitive) expression
4752 which is evaluated during redisplay. The following expressions
4755 EXPR ::= NUM | (NUM) | UNIT | ELEM | POS | IMAGE | FORM
4756 NUM ::= INTEGER | FLOAT | SYMBOL
4757 UNIT ::= in | mm | cm | width | height
4758 ELEM ::= left-fringe | right-fringe | left-margin | right-margin
4760 POS ::= left | center | right
4761 FORM ::= (NUM . EXPR) | (OP EXPR ...)
4764 The form `NUM' specifies a fractional width or height of the default
4765 frame font size. The form `(NUM)' specifies an absolute number of
4766 pixels. If a symbol is specified, its buffer-local variable binding
4767 is used. The `in', `mm', and `cm' units specifies the number of
4768 pixels per inch, milli-meter, and centi-meter, resp. The `width' and
4769 `height' units correspond to the width and height of the current face
4770 font. An image specification corresponds to the width or height of
4773 The `left-fringe', `right-fringe', `left-margin', `right-margin',
4774 `scroll-bar', and `text' elements specify to the width of the
4775 corresponding area of the window.
4777 The `left', `center', and `right' positions can be used with :align-to
4778 to specify a position relative to the left edge, center, or right edge
4779 of the text area. One of the above window elements (except `text')
4780 can also be used with :align-to to specify that the position is
4781 relative to the left edge of the given area. Once the base offset for
4782 a relative position has been set (by the first occurrence of one of
4783 these symbols), further occurrences of these symbols are interpreted as
4784 the width of the area.
4786 For example, to align to the center of the left-margin, use
4787 :align-to (+ left-margin (0.5 . left-margin))
4789 If no specific base offset is set for alignment, it is always relative
4790 to the left edge of the text area. For example, :align-to 0 in a
4791 header line aligns with the first text column in the text area.
4793 The value of the form `(NUM . EXPR)' is the value of NUM multiplied by
4794 the value of the expression EXPR. For example, (2 . in) specifies a
4795 width of 2 inches, while (0.5 . IMAGE) specifies half the width (or
4796 height) of the specified image.
4798 The form `(+ EXPR ...)' adds up the value of the expressions.
4799 The form `(- EXPR ...)' negates or subtracts the value of the expressions.
4801 *** Normally, the cursor is displayed at the end of any overlay and
4802 text property string that may be present at the current window
4803 position. The cursor can now be placed on any character of such
4804 strings by giving that character a non-nil `cursor' text property.
4806 *** The display space :width and :align-to text properties are now
4807 supported on text terminals.
4809 *** Support for displaying image slices
4811 **** New display property (slice X Y WIDTH HEIGHT) can be used with
4812 an image property to display only a specific slice of the image.
4814 **** Function `insert-image' has new optional fourth arg to
4815 specify image slice (X Y WIDTH HEIGHT).
4817 **** New function `insert-sliced-image' inserts a given image as a
4818 specified number of evenly sized slices (rows x columns).
4820 *** Images can now have an associated image map via the :map property.
4822 An image map is an alist where each element has the format (AREA ID PLIST).
4823 An AREA is specified as either a rectangle, a circle, or a polygon:
4824 A rectangle is a cons (rect . ((X0 . Y0) . (X1 . Y1))) specifying the
4825 pixel coordinates of the upper left and bottom right corners.
4826 A circle is a cons (circle . ((X0 . Y0) . R)) specifying the center
4827 and the radius of the circle; R can be a float or integer.
4828 A polygon is a cons (poly . [X0 Y0 X1 Y1 ...]) where each pair in the
4829 vector describes one corner in the polygon.
4831 When the mouse pointer is above a hot-spot area of an image, the
4832 PLIST of that hot-spot is consulted; if it contains a `help-echo'
4833 property it defines a tool-tip for the hot-spot, and if it contains
4834 a `pointer' property, it defines the shape of the mouse cursor when
4835 it is over the hot-spot. See the variable `void-area-text-pointer'
4836 for possible pointer shapes.
4838 When you click the mouse when the mouse pointer is over a hot-spot,
4839 an event is composed by combining the ID of the hot-spot with the
4840 mouse event, e.g. [area4 mouse-1] if the hot-spot's ID is `area4'.
4842 *** The function `find-image' now searches in etc/images/ and etc/.
4843 The new variable `image-load-path' is a list of locations in which to
4844 search for image files. The default is to search in etc/images, then
4845 in etc/, and finally in the directories specified by `load-path'.
4846 Subdirectories of etc/ and etc/images are not recursively searched; if
4847 you put an image file in a subdirectory, you have to specify it
4848 explicitly; for example, if an image is put in etc/images/foo/bar.xpm:
4850 (defimage foo-image '((:type xpm :file "foo/bar.xpm")))
4852 Note that all images formerly located in the lisp directory have been
4853 moved to etc/images.
4855 *** New function `image-load-path-for-library' returns a suitable
4856 search path for images relative to library. This function is useful in
4857 external packages to save users from having to update
4860 *** The new variable `max-image-size' defines the maximum size of
4861 images that Emacs will load and display.
4863 *** The new variable `display-mm-dimensions-alist' can be used to
4864 override incorrect graphical display dimensions returned by functions
4865 `display-mm-height' and `display-mm-width'.
4867 ** Mouse pointer features:
4869 *** The mouse pointer shape in void text areas (i.e. after the end of a
4870 line or below the last line in the buffer) of the text window is now
4871 controlled by the new variable `void-text-area-pointer'. The default
4872 is to use the `arrow' (non-text) pointer. Other choices are `text'
4873 (or nil), `hand', `vdrag', `hdrag', `modeline', and `hourglass'.
4875 *** The mouse pointer shape over an image can now be controlled by the
4876 :pointer image property.
4878 *** The mouse pointer shape over ordinary text or images can now be
4879 controlled/overridden via the `pointer' text property.
4881 ** Mouse event enhancements:
4883 *** All mouse events now include a buffer position regardless of where
4884 you clicked. For mouse clicks in window margins and fringes, this is
4885 a sensible buffer position corresponding to the surrounding text.
4887 *** Mouse events for clicks on window fringes now specify `left-fringe'
4888 or `right-fringe' as the area.
4890 *** Mouse events include actual glyph column and row for all event types
4893 *** Mouse events can now indicate an image object clicked on.
4895 *** Mouse events include relative X and Y pixel coordinates relative to
4896 the top left corner of the object (image or character) clicked on.
4898 *** Mouse events include the pixel width and height of the object
4899 (image or character) clicked on.
4901 *** Function `mouse-set-point' now works for events outside text area.
4903 *** `posn-point' now returns buffer position for non-text area events.
4905 *** New function `posn-area' returns window area clicked on (nil means
4908 *** New function `posn-actual-col-row' returns the actual glyph coordinates
4909 of the mouse event position.
4911 *** New functions 'posn-object', 'posn-object-x-y', 'posn-object-width-height'.
4913 These return the image or string object of a mouse click, the X and Y
4914 pixel coordinates relative to the top left corner of that object, and
4915 the total width and height of that object.
4917 ** Text property and overlay changes:
4919 *** Arguments for `remove-overlays' are now optional, so that you can
4920 remove all overlays in the buffer with just (remove-overlays).
4922 *** New variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
4924 This variable allows you to create alternative names for text
4925 properties. It works at the same level as `default-text-properties',
4926 although it applies to overlays as well. This variable was introduced
4927 to implement the `font-lock-face' property.
4929 *** New function `get-char-property-and-overlay' accepts the same
4930 arguments as `get-char-property' and returns a cons whose car is the
4931 return value of `get-char-property' called with those arguments and
4932 whose cdr is the overlay in which the property was found, or nil if
4933 it was found as a text property or not found at all.
4935 *** The new function `remove-list-of-text-properties'.
4937 It is like `remove-text-properties' except that it takes a list of
4938 property names as argument rather than a property list.
4942 *** The variable `facemenu-unlisted-faces' has been removed.
4943 Emacs has a lot more faces than in the past, and nearly all of them
4944 needed to be excluded. The new variable `facemenu-listed-faces' lists
4945 the faces to include in the face menu.
4947 *** The new face attribute condition `min-colors' can be used to tailor
4948 the face color to the number of colors supported by a display, and
4949 define the foreground and background colors accordingly so that they
4950 look best on a terminal that supports at least this many colors. This
4951 is now the preferred method for defining default faces in a way that
4952 makes a good use of the capabilities of the display.
4954 *** New function `display-supports-face-attributes-p' can be used to test
4955 whether a given set of face attributes is actually displayable.
4957 A new predicate `supports' has also been added to the `defface' face
4958 specification language, which can be used to do this test for faces
4959 defined with `defface'.
4961 *** The special treatment of faces whose names are of the form `fg:COLOR'
4962 or `bg:COLOR' has been removed. Lisp programs should use the
4963 `defface' facility for defining faces with specific colors, or use
4964 the feature of specifying the face attributes :foreground and :background
4965 directly in the `face' property instead of using a named face.
4967 *** The first face specification element in a defface can specify
4968 `default' instead of frame classification. Then its attributes act as
4969 defaults that apply to all the subsequent cases (and can be overridden
4972 *** The function `face-differs-from-default-p' now truly checks
4973 whether the given face displays differently from the default face or
4974 not (previously it did only a very cursory check).
4976 *** `face-attribute', `face-foreground', `face-background', `face-stipple'.
4978 These now accept a new optional argument, INHERIT, which controls how
4979 face inheritance is used when determining the value of a face
4982 *** New functions `face-attribute-relative-p' and `merge-face-attribute'
4983 help with handling relative face attributes.
4985 *** The priority of faces in an :inherit attribute face list is reversed.
4987 If a face contains an :inherit attribute with a list of faces, earlier
4988 faces in the list override later faces in the list; in previous
4989 releases of Emacs, the order was the opposite. This change was made
4990 so that :inherit face lists operate identically to face lists in text
4993 *** The variable `face-font-rescale-alist' specifies how much larger
4994 (or smaller) font we should use. For instance, if the value is
4995 '((SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN . 1.3)) and a face requests a font of 10
4996 point, we actually use a font of 13 point if the font matches
4997 SOME-FONTNAME-PATTERN.
4999 *** On terminals, faces with the :inverse-video attribute are displayed
5000 with swapped foreground and background colors even when one of them is
5001 not specified. In previous releases of Emacs, if either foreground
5002 or background color was unspecified, colors were not swapped. This
5003 was inconsistent with the face behavior under X.
5005 *** `set-fontset-font', `fontset-info', `fontset-font' now operate on
5006 the default fontset if the argument NAME is nil..
5008 ** Font-Lock changes:
5010 *** New special text property `font-lock-face'.
5012 This property acts like the `face' property, but it is controlled by
5013 M-x font-lock-mode. It is not, strictly speaking, a builtin text
5014 property. Instead, it is implemented inside font-core.el, using the
5015 new variable `char-property-alias-alist'.
5017 *** font-lock can manage arbitrary text-properties beside `face'.
5019 **** the FACENAME returned in `font-lock-keywords' can be a list of the
5020 form (face FACE PROP1 VAL1 PROP2 VAL2 ...) so you can set other
5021 properties than `face'.
5023 **** `font-lock-extra-managed-props' can be set to make sure those
5024 extra properties are automatically cleaned up by font-lock.
5026 *** jit-lock obeys a new text-property `jit-lock-defer-multiline'.
5028 If a piece of text with that property gets contextually refontified
5029 (see `jit-lock-defer-contextually'), then all of that text will
5030 be refontified. This is useful when the syntax of a textual element
5031 depends on text several lines further down (and when `font-lock-multiline'
5032 is not appropriate to solve that problem). For example in Perl:
5040 Adding/removing the last `e' changes the `bar' from being a piece of
5041 text to being a piece of code, so you'd put a `jit-lock-defer-multiline'
5042 property over the second half of the command to force (deferred)
5043 refontification of `bar' whenever the `e' is added/removed.
5045 *** `font-lock-extend-region-functions' makes it possible to alter the way
5046 the fontification region is chosen. This can be used to prevent rounding
5047 up to whole lines, or to extend the region to include all related lines
5048 of multiline constructs so that such constructs get properly recognized.
5050 ** Major mode mechanism changes:
5052 *** New variable `magic-mode-alist' determines major mode for a file by
5053 looking at the file contents. It takes precedence over `auto-mode-alist'.
5055 *** New variable `magic-fallback-mode-alist' determines major mode for a file by
5056 looking at the file contents. It is handled after `auto-mode-alist',
5057 only if `auto-mode-alist' (and `magic-mode-alist') says nothing about the file.
5059 *** XML or SGML major mode is selected when file starts with an `<?xml'
5060 or `<!DOCTYPE' declaration.
5062 *** An interpreter magic line (if present) takes precedence over the
5063 file name when setting the major mode.
5065 *** If new variable `auto-mode-case-fold' is set to a non-nil value,
5066 Emacs will perform a second case-insensitive search through
5067 `auto-mode-alist' if the first case-sensitive search fails. This
5068 means that a file FILE.TXT is opened in text-mode, and a file
5069 PROG.HTML is opened in html-mode. Note however, that independent of
5070 this setting, *.C files are usually recognized as C++ files. It also
5071 has no effect on systems with case-insensitive file names.
5073 *** All major mode functions should now run the new normal hook
5074 `after-change-major-mode-hook', at their very end, after the mode
5075 hooks. `run-mode-hooks' does this automatically.
5077 *** Major modes can define `eldoc-documentation-function'
5078 locally to provide Eldoc functionality by some method appropriate to
5081 *** Use the new function `run-mode-hooks' to run the major mode's mode hook.
5083 *** The new function `run-mode-hooks' and the new macro `delay-mode-hooks'
5084 are used by `define-derived-mode' to make sure the mode hook for the
5085 parent mode is run at the end of the child mode.
5087 *** `define-derived-mode' by default creates a new empty abbrev table.
5088 It does not copy abbrevs from the parent mode's abbrev table.
5090 *** If a major mode function has a non-nil `no-clone-indirect'
5091 property, `clone-indirect-buffer' signals an error if you use
5094 ** Minor mode changes:
5096 *** `define-minor-mode' now accepts arbitrary additional keyword arguments
5097 and simply passes them to `defcustom', if applicable.
5099 *** `define-globalized-minor-mode'.
5101 This is a new name for what was formerly called
5102 `easy-mmode-define-global-mode'. The old name remains as an alias.
5104 *** `minor-mode-list' now holds a list of minor mode commands.
5106 ** Command loop changes:
5108 *** The new function `called-interactively-p' does what many people
5109 have mistakenly believed `interactive-p' to do: it returns t if the
5110 calling function was called through `call-interactively'.
5112 Only use this when you cannot solve the problem by adding a new
5113 INTERACTIVE argument to the command.
5115 *** The function `commandp' takes an additional optional argument.
5117 If it is non-nil, then `commandp' checks for a function that could be
5118 called with `call-interactively', and does not return t for keyboard
5121 *** When a command returns, the command loop moves point out from
5122 within invisible text, in the same way it moves out from within text
5123 covered by an image or composition property.
5125 This makes it generally unnecessary to mark invisible text as intangible.
5126 This is particularly good because the intangible property often has
5127 unexpected side-effects since the property applies to everything
5128 (including `goto-char', ...) whereas this new code is only run after
5129 `post-command-hook' and thus does not care about intermediate states.
5131 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to `only', that
5132 enables Transient Mark mode for the following command only.
5133 During that following command, the value of `transient-mark-mode'
5134 is `identity'. If it is still `identity' at the end of the command,
5135 the next return to the command loop changes to nil.
5137 *** Both the variable and the function `disabled-command-hook' have
5138 been renamed to `disabled-command-function'. The variable
5139 `disabled-command-hook' has been kept as an obsolete alias.
5141 *** `emacsserver' now runs `pre-command-hook' and `post-command-hook'
5142 when it receives a request from emacsclient.
5144 *** `current-idle-time' reports how long Emacs has been idle.
5146 ** Lisp file loading changes:
5148 *** `load-history' can now have elements of the form (t . FUNNAME),
5149 which means FUNNAME was previously defined as an autoload (before the
5150 current file redefined it).
5152 *** `load-history' now records (defun . FUNNAME) when a function is
5153 defined. For a variable, it records just the variable name.
5155 *** The function `symbol-file' can now search specifically for function,
5156 variable or face definitions.
5158 *** `provide' and `featurep' now accept an optional second argument
5159 to test/provide subfeatures. Also `provide' now checks `after-load-alist'
5160 and runs any code associated with the provided feature.
5162 *** The variable `recursive-load-depth-limit' has been deleted.
5163 Emacs now signals an error if the same file is loaded with more
5164 than 3 levels of nesting.
5166 ** Byte compiler changes:
5168 *** The byte compiler now displays the actual line and character
5169 position of errors, where possible. Additionally, the form of its
5170 warning and error messages have been brought into line with GNU standards
5171 for these. As a result, you can use next-error and friends on the
5172 compilation output buffer.
5174 *** The new macro `with-no-warnings' suppresses all compiler warnings
5175 inside its body. In terms of execution, it is equivalent to `progn'.
5177 *** You can avoid warnings for possibly-undefined symbols with a
5178 simple convention that the compiler understands. (This is mostly
5179 useful in code meant to be portable to different Emacs versions.)
5180 Write forms like the following, or code that macroexpands into such
5183 (if (fboundp 'foo) <then> <else>)
5184 (if (boundp 'foo) <then> <else)
5186 In the first case, using `foo' as a function inside the <then> form
5187 won't produce a warning if it's not defined as a function, and in the
5188 second case, using `foo' as a variable won't produce a warning if it's
5189 unbound. The test must be in exactly one of the above forms (after
5190 macro expansion), but such tests can be nested. Note that `when' and
5191 `unless' expand to `if', but `cond' doesn't.
5193 *** `(featurep 'xemacs)' is treated by the compiler as nil. This
5194 helps to avoid noisy compiler warnings in code meant to run under both
5195 Emacs and XEmacs and can sometimes make the result significantly more
5196 efficient. Since byte code from recent versions of XEmacs won't
5197 generally run in Emacs and vice versa, this optimization doesn't lose
5200 *** The local variable `no-byte-compile' in Lisp files is now obeyed.
5202 *** When a Lisp file uses CL functions at run-time, compiling the file
5203 now issues warnings about these calls, unless the file performs
5204 (require 'cl) when loaded.
5206 ** Frame operations:
5208 *** New functions `frame-current-scroll-bars' and `window-current-scroll-bars'.
5210 These functions return the current locations of the vertical and
5211 horizontal scroll bars in a frame or window.
5213 *** The new function `modify-all-frames-parameters' modifies parameters
5214 for all (existing and future) frames.
5216 *** The new frame parameter `tty-color-mode' specifies the mode to use
5217 for color support on character terminal frames. Its value can be a
5218 number of colors to support, or a symbol. See the Emacs Lisp
5219 Reference manual for more detailed documentation.
5221 *** When using non-toolkit scroll bars with the default width,
5222 the `scroll-bar-width' frame parameter value is nil.
5224 ** Mode line changes:
5226 *** New function `format-mode-line'.
5228 This returns the mode line or header line of the selected (or a
5229 specified) window as a string with or without text properties.
5231 *** The new mode-line construct `(:propertize ELT PROPS...)' can be
5232 used to add text properties to mode-line elements.
5234 *** The new `%i' and `%I' constructs for `mode-line-format' can be used
5235 to display the size of the accessible part of the buffer on the mode
5238 *** Mouse-face on mode-line (and header-line) is now supported.
5240 ** Menu manipulation changes:
5242 *** To manipulate the File menu using easy-menu, you must specify the
5243 proper name "file". In previous Emacs versions, you had to specify
5244 "files", even though the menu item itself was changed to say "File"
5245 several versions ago.
5247 *** The dummy function keys made by easy-menu are now always lower case.
5248 If you specify the menu item name "Ada", for instance, it uses `ada'
5249 as the "key" bound by that key binding.
5251 This is relevant only if Lisp code looks for the bindings that were
5252 made with easy-menu.
5254 *** `easy-menu-define' now allows you to use nil for the symbol name
5255 if you don't need to give the menu a name. If you install the menu
5256 into other keymaps right away (MAPS is non-nil), it usually doesn't
5257 need to have a name.
5261 *** Already true in Emacs 21.1, but not emphasized clearly enough:
5263 Multibyte buffers can now faithfully record all 256 character codes
5264 from 0 to 255. As a result, most of the past reasons to use unibyte
5265 buffers no longer exist. We only know of three reasons to use them
5268 1. If you prefer to use unibyte text all of the time.
5270 2. For reading files into temporary buffers, when you want to avoid
5271 the time it takes to convert the format.
5273 3. For binary files where format conversion would be pointless and
5276 *** The new variable `auto-coding-functions' lets you specify functions
5277 to examine a file being visited and deduce the proper coding system
5278 for it. (If the coding system is detected incorrectly for a specific
5279 file, you can put a `coding:' tags to override it.)
5281 *** The new variable `ascii-case-table' stores the case table for the
5282 ascii character set. Language environments (such as Turkish) may
5283 alter the case correspondences of ASCII characters. This variable
5284 saves the original ASCII case table before any such changes.
5286 *** The new function `merge-coding-systems' fills in unspecified aspects
5287 of one coding system from another coding system.
5289 *** New coding system property `mime-text-unsuitable' indicates that
5290 the coding system's `mime-charset' is not suitable for MIME text
5293 *** New function `decode-coding-inserted-region' decodes a region as if
5294 it is read from a file without decoding.
5296 *** New CCL functions `lookup-character' and `lookup-integer' access
5297 hash tables defined by the Lisp function `define-translation-hash-table'.
5299 *** New function `quail-find-key' returns a list of keys to type in the
5300 current input method to input a character.
5302 *** `set-buffer-file-coding-system' now takes an additional argument,
5303 NOMODIFY. If it is non-nil, it means don't mark the buffer modified.
5305 ** Operating system access:
5307 *** The new primitive `get-internal-run-time' returns the processor
5308 run time used by Emacs since start-up.
5310 *** Functions `user-uid' and `user-real-uid' now return floats if the
5311 user UID doesn't fit in a Lisp integer. Function `user-full-name'
5312 accepts a float as UID parameter.
5314 *** New function `locale-info' accesses locale information.
5316 *** On MS Windows, locale-coding-system is used to interact with the OS.
5317 The Windows specific variable w32-system-coding-system, which was
5318 formerly used for that purpose is now an alias for locale-coding-system.
5320 *** New function `redirect-debugging-output' can be used to redirect
5321 debugging output on the stderr file handle to a file.
5325 *** New variable `gc-cons-percentage' automatically grows the GC cons threshold
5326 as the heap size increases.
5328 *** New variables `gc-elapsed' and `gcs-done' provide extra information
5329 on garbage collection.
5331 *** The normal hook `post-gc-hook' is run at the end of garbage collection.
5333 The hook is run with GC inhibited, so use it with care.
5337 *** A number of hooks have been renamed to better follow the conventions:
5339 `find-file-hooks' to `find-file-hook',
5340 `find-file-not-found-hooks' to `find-file-not-found-functions',
5341 `write-file-hooks' to `write-file-functions',
5342 `write-contents-hooks' to `write-contents-functions',
5343 `x-lost-selection-hooks' to `x-lost-selection-functions',
5344 `x-sent-selection-hooks' to `x-sent-selection-functions',
5345 `delete-frame-hook' to `delete-frame-functions'.
5347 In each case the old name remains as an alias for the moment.
5349 *** Variable `local-write-file-hooks' is marked obsolete.
5351 Use the LOCAL arg of `add-hook'.
5353 *** New function `x-send-client-message' sends a client message when
5356 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 22.1
5358 ** The new library button.el implements simple and fast `clickable
5359 buttons' in Emacs buffers. Buttons are much lighter-weight than the
5360 `widgets' implemented by widget.el, and can be used by lisp code that
5361 doesn't require the full power of widgets. Emacs uses buttons for
5362 such things as help and apropos buffers.
5364 ** The new library tree-widget.el provides a widget to display a set
5365 of hierarchical data as an outline. For example, the tree-widget is
5366 well suited to display a hierarchy of directories and files.
5368 ** The new library bindat.el provides functions to unpack and pack
5369 binary data structures, such as network packets, to and from Lisp
5372 ** master-mode.el implements a minor mode for scrolling a slave
5373 buffer without leaving your current buffer, the master buffer.
5375 It can be used by sql.el, for example: the SQL buffer is the master
5376 and its SQLi buffer is the slave. This allows you to scroll the SQLi
5377 buffer containing the output from the SQL buffer containing the
5380 This is how to use sql.el and master.el together: the variable
5381 sql-buffer contains the slave buffer. It is a local variable in the
5384 (add-hook 'sql-mode-hook
5385 (function (lambda ()
5387 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5388 (add-hook 'sql-set-sqli-hook
5389 (function (lambda ()
5390 (master-set-slave sql-buffer))))
5392 ** The new library benchmark.el does timing measurements on Lisp code.
5394 This includes measuring garbage collection time.
5396 ** The new library testcover.el does test coverage checking.
5398 This is so you can tell whether you've tested all paths in your Lisp
5399 code. It works with edebug.
5401 The function `testcover-start' instruments all functions in a given
5402 file. Then test your code. The function `testcover-mark-all' adds
5403 overlay "splotches" to the Lisp file's buffer to show where coverage
5404 is lacking. The command `testcover-next-mark' (bind it to a key!)
5405 will move point forward to the next spot that has a splotch.
5407 Normally, a red splotch indicates the form was never completely
5408 evaluated; a brown splotch means it always evaluated to the same
5409 value. The red splotches are skipped for forms that can't possibly
5410 complete their evaluation, such as `error'. The brown splotches are
5411 skipped for forms that are expected to always evaluate to the same
5412 value, such as (setq x 14).
5414 For difficult cases, you can add do-nothing macros to your code to
5415 help out the test coverage tool. The macro `noreturn' suppresses a
5416 red splotch. It is an error if the argument to `noreturn' does
5417 return. The macro `1value' suppresses a brown splotch for its argument.
5418 This macro is a no-op except during test-coverage -- then it signals
5419 an error if the argument actually returns differing values.
5423 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
5424 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
5426 GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
5427 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
5428 the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
5431 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
5432 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
5433 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
5434 GNU General Public License for more details.
5436 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
5437 along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
5438 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
5439 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
5444 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
5447 arch-tag: 1aca9dfa-2ac4-4d14-bebf-0007cee12793