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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
10
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
13
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
16
17 Temporary note:
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
22
23 \f
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.2
25
26 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
27 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
28 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
29 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
30 may be useful.
31
32 ---
33 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
34
35 ---
36 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
37 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
38 you want them.
39
40 \f
41 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.2
42
43 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
44 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
45 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
46
47 \f
48 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
49
50 ** New functions `system-users', `system-groups' return lists of the user
51 name, group names known to the system (where possible).
52
53 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
54 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about which bzr revision was used.
55
56 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
57 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
58 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
59 automatically when setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit'.
60
61 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
62 ImageMagick to view images, set
63
64 ** String values for `initial-buffer-choice' also apply to emacsclient
65 frames, if emacsclient is only told to open a new frame without
66 specifying any file to visit or expression to evaluate.
67
68 \f
69 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.2
70
71 ** M-x move-to-column, if called interactively with no prefix arg, now
72 prompts for a column number.
73
74 ** `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' can now be used to customize
75 `mouse-avoidance-mode' further.
76
77 ** `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' will now move to the path name separator
78 character when doing minibuffer filename prompts.
79
80 ** `goto-char' is now bound to `M-g c'.
81
82 \f
83 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
84
85 ** New `derived-mode' filter for Ibuffer, bound to `/ M'.
86 `/ m' is now bound to filter by used-mode, which used to be bound to `/ M'.
87
88 ** Apropos
89
90 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
91 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
92 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
93
94 **** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
95 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
96
97 ** Customize
98
99 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
100
101 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
102 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
103 these commands now).
104
105 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
106 channel keys found, if any.
107
108 ** Follow mode
109
110 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
111
112 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
113 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
114
115 ** The `server-auth-key' variable can be used to set a permanent
116 shared key for Emacs Server.
117
118 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
119 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
120
121 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
122
123 ** which-function-mode now applies to all applicable major modes by default.
124
125 ** D-Bus
126
127 +++
128 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
129
130 +++
131 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
132
133 +++
134 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
135 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
136
137 +++
138 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
139 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
140
141 +++
142 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
143
144 +++
145 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
146 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
147 details.
148
149 +++
150 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
151
152 +++
153 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
154
155 +++
156 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
157 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
158 server properties.
159
160 ** Obsolete packages:
161
162 *** assoc.el
163 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
164 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
165 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
166
167 *** mailpost.el
168
169 *** mouse-sel.el
170
171 \f
172 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.2
173 \f
174 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.2
175
176 +++
177 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
178 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
179 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
180 `custom-variable-p'.
181
182 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
183 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
184
185 +++
186 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
187 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
188 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
189
190 \f
191 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.2
192
193 ** Completion
194
195 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
196 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
197
198 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
199 table, but with a different prefix.
200 \f
201 * Changes in Emacs 24.2 on non-free operating systems
202
203 ** New configure.bat options on MS-Windows:
204
205 *** --without-libxml2 omits support for libxml2, even if its presence
206 is detected.
207
208 \f
209 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
210
211 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
212 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
213 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
214 --without-gconf.
215
216 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
217 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
218 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
219 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
220
221 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
222 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
223 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
224 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
225
226 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
227 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
228 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
229 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
230 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
231
232 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
233 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
234 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
235 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
236
237 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
238 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
239
240 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
241 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
242 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
243 to about 2 GiB.
244
245 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
246 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
247 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
248
249 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
250 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
251 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
252
253 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
254 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
255
256 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
257 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
258
259 \f
260 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
261
262 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
263 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
264 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
265
266 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
267 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
268 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
269 Nextstep builds).
270
271 \f
272 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
273
274 ** Completion
275
276 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
277 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
278
279 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
280
281 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
282 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
283
284 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
285
286 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
287 default completion style in certain circumstances.
288
289 *** New completion style `substring'.
290
291 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
292
293 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
294
295 ** Mail changes
296
297 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
298 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
299 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
300 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
301 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
302 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
303
304 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
305 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
306 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
307
308 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
309 and Mail mode changes
310
311 ** Emacs server and client changes
312
313 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
314
315 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
316
317 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
318 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
319
320 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
321 its exit status is 1.
322
323 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
324 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
325 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
326
327 ** Internationalization changes
328
329 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
330 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
331 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
332 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
333 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
334 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
335
336 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
337 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
338
339 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
340 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
341 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
342 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
343 paragraph.
344
345 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
346 the right window edge.
347
348 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
349 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
350 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
351 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
352 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
353
354 *** New input methods: farsi, farsi-translit, bulgarian-alt-phonetic.
355
356 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
357 (U+2010 and U+2011).
358
359 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
360 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
361 automatically select it.
362
363 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
364 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
365 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
366
367 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
368 selected for installation.
369
370 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
371
372 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
373 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
374 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
375
376 ** Custom theme changes
377
378 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
379 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
380
381 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
382 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
383 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
384 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
385 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
386 built-in Custom themes.
387
388 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
389 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
390 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
391 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
392
393 ** Improved GTK integration
394
395 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
396 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
397
398 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
399 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
400 the default is taken from desktop settings.
401
402 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
403 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
404 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
405 entries for this.
406
407 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
408 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
409
410 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
411 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
412
413 ** Graphical interface changes
414
415 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
416 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
417 displayed as a space.
418
419 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
420 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
421
422 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
423 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
424 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
425
426 ** Exiting changes
427
428 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
429 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
430
431 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
432 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
433 do the right thing in batch mode.
434
435 ** Scrolling changes
436
437 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
438 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
439 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
440 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
441
442 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
443
444 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
445 scroll a line instead of full screen.
446
447 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
448 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
449
450 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
451 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
452 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
453 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
454 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
455
456 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
457 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
458 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
459 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
460 margin.
461
462 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
463 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
464
465 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
466 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
467 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
468 now includes the SELinux context.
469
470 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
471 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
472
473 ** Trash changes
474
475 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
476 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
477
478 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
479 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
480
481 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
482
483 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
484 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
485 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
486 subdirectories.
487
488 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
489 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
490 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
491 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
492 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
493
494 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
495 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
496
497 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
498 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
499 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
500 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
501 corresponding way.
502
503 ** Window changes
504
505 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
506 in the quitted window.
507
508 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
509 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
510
511 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
512
513 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
514 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
515 for choosing the displaying window).
516
517 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
518 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
519
520 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
521 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
522
523 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
524 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
525 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
526 from which such space was obtained.
527
528 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
529 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
530 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
531 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
532 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
533
534 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
535 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
536 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
537
538 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
539 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
540
541 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
542 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
543 been shown in a specific window.
544
545 ** Minibuffer changes
546
547 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
548 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
549 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
550
551 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
552 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
553 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
554
555 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
556
557 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
558
559 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
560 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
561 successful operation.
562
563 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
564 for `list-colors-display'.
565
566 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
567
568 \f
569 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
570
571 ** Search changes
572
573 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
574 `isearch-yank-line'.
575
576 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
577 `isearch-yank-kill'.
578
579 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
580
581 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
582
583 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
584 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
585 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
586 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
587 alias for it.
588
589 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
590 also deletes newlines around point.
591
592 ** Deletion changes
593
594 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
595 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
596 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
597 instead.
598
599 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
600 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
601 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
602
603 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
604 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
605 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
606 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
607
608 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
609
610 ** Selection changes.
611
612 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
613 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
614 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
615 mouse commands use the primary selection.
616
617 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
618 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
619
620 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
621 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
622 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
623 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
624
625 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
626 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
627 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
628 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
629 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
630
631 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
632
633 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
634 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
635 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
636
637 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
638
639 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
640 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
641 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
642
643 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
644 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
645
646 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
647 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
648 between applications.
649
650 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
651
652 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
653 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
654 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
655 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
656 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
657
658 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
659
660 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
661 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
662
663 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
664 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
665 number to count from and for a format string.
666
667 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
668 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
669 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
670 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
671 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
672
673 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
674 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
675 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
676 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
677 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
678
679 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
680 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
681 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
682 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
683 follows `replace-match'.
684
685 \f
686 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
687
688 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
689
690 ** BibTeX mode
691
692 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
693 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
694 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
695 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
696
697 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
698
699 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
700
701 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
702
703 ** Browse-url
704
705 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
706
707 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
708 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
709
710 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
711
712 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
713 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
714
715 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
716 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
717
718 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
719 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
720 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
721
722 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
723
724 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
725 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
726
727 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
728 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
729 Use `appt-activate' instead.
730
731 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
732 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
733 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
734
735 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
736 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
737
738 ** CC Mode
739
740 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
741 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
742
743 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
744
745 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
746 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
747 not the top level.
748
749 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
750 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
751 parsed as a statement continuation.
752
753 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
754
755 ** Compilation mode
756
757 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
758 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
759
760 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
761 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
762 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
763
764 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
765 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
766 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
767 buffer was used.
768
769 ** Customize
770
771 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
772 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
773 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
774
775 *** Custom options now start out hidden if at their default values.
776 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
777
778 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
779
780 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
781 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
782
783 ** D-Bus
784
785 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
786 or session bus.
787
788 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
789 optionally do not register names.
790
791 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
792 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
793
794 ** Dired-x
795
796 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
797 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
798 instead of using the current buffer.
799
800 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
801 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
802
803 ** ERC changes
804
805 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
806 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
807
808 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
809 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
810 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
811 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
812
813 ** Eshell changes
814
815 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
816 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
817 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
818
819 ** gdb-mi
820
821 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
822 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
823 debugging of several threads.
824
825 ** Image mode
826
827 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
828 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
829
830 ** Info
831
832 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
833 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
834 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
835 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
836 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
837
838 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
839 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
840 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
841 by default.
842
843 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
844
845 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
846
847 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
848 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
849 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
850
851 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
852 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
853
854 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
855
856 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
857
858 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
859 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
860 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
861 default), this performs tag completion.
862
863 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
864 See ORG-NEWS for details.
865
866 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
867 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
868 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
869
870 ** Rmail
871
872 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
873 in the Rmail incoming message.
874
875 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
876 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
877 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
878
879 ** Shell mode
880
881 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
882 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
883 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
884
885 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
886 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
887
888 ** SMTPmail
889
890 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
891 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
892 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
893 to change this.
894
895 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
896 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
897 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
898 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
899 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
900 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
901 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
902 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
903
904 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
905 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
906
907 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
908
909 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
910
911 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
912 the credentials file.
913
914 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
915 If you had that set, you need to put
916
917 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
918
919 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
920
921 ** SQL mode
922
923 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
924 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
925
926 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
927 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
928 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
929 connection is established.
930
931 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
932 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
933
934 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
935 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
936 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
937 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
938
939 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
940 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
941 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
942 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
943 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
944 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
945
946 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
947 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
948
949 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
950 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
951 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
952
953 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
954 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
955
956 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
957
958 ** TeX modes
959
960 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
961
962 ** Tramp
963
964 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
965
966 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
967 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
968
969 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
970 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
971
972 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
973 default value to "".
974
975 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
976 for remote machines which support SELinux.
977
978 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
979 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
980 the degree of parallelism.
981
982 ** VC and related modes
983
984 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
985 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
986 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
987 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
988 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
989
990 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
991
992 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
993 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
994 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
995 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
996 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
997
998 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
999 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1000
1001 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1002 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1003 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1004 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1005 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1006 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1007
1008 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1009 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1010
1011 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1012 this was not advertised at the time.
1013
1014 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1015 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1016 this was not advertised at the time.
1017
1018 ** Obsolete modes
1019
1020 *** abbrevlist.el
1021
1022 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1023
1024 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1025 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1026 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1027 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1028
1029 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1030
1031 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1032
1033 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1034
1035 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1036 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1037
1038 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1039
1040 ** Miscellaneous
1041
1042 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1043 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1044
1045 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1046 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1047
1048 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1049
1050 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1051
1052 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1053
1054 \f
1055 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1056
1057 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1058 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1059
1060 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1061 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1062 matching closing one.
1063
1064 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1065 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1066 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1067 electric-indent-functions.
1068
1069 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1070 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1071 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1072
1073 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1074 from which other modes can be derived.
1075
1076 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1077
1078 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1079 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1080 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1081 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1082 secrets.
1083
1084 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1085 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1086
1087 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1088 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1089
1090 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1091
1092 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1093 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1094 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1095 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1096 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1097 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1098
1099 \f
1100 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1101
1102 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1103 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1104
1105 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1106
1107 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1108 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1109 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1110 command still toggles the minor mode.
1111
1112 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1113 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1114 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1115 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1116 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1117
1118 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1119 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1120 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1121 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1122 argument `bidi-class'.
1123
1124 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1125 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1126 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1127 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1128
1129 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1130 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1131 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1132 of the header line.
1133
1134 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1135 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1136 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1137 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1138 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1139 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1140 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1141
1142 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1143 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1144 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1145 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1146 older Emacsen too.
1147
1148 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1149 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1150 replaced all known uses.
1151
1152 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1153 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1154 major mode is special).
1155
1156 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1157
1158 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1159 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1160 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1161 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1162 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1163 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1164
1165 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1166 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1167
1168 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1169 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1170 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1171 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1172
1173 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1174 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1175 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1176
1177 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1178
1179 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1180 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1181 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1182
1183 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1184 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1185 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1186 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1187 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1188 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1189 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1190 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1191 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1192 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1193 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1194 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1195 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1196 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1197 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1198 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1199 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1200 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1201 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1202 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1203 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1204
1205 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1206 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1207
1208 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1209 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1210 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1211 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1212 *** `e' (`float-e').
1213
1214 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1215 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1216
1217 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1218 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1219 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1220 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1221
1222 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
1223 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
1224 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
1225
1226 \f
1227 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
1228
1229 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
1230 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
1231 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
1232 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
1233 file.
1234
1235 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
1236 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
1237
1238 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
1239 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
1240
1241 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
1242
1243 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
1244 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
1245
1246 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
1247 declared as dynamically bound.
1248
1249 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
1250
1251 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
1252 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
1253 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
1254
1255 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
1256
1257 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1258 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
1259
1260 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
1261 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
1262 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
1263 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
1264 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
1265 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
1266
1267 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
1268 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
1269 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
1270
1271 ** Window changes
1272
1273 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
1274 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
1275 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
1276 buffer) in the window tree.
1277
1278 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
1279 windows.
1280
1281 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
1282 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
1283 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
1284 act on any window including internal ones.
1285
1286 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
1287 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
1288 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
1289 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
1290 and `window-body-height' are provided.
1291
1292 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
1293 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
1294 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
1295 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
1296 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
1297
1298 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
1299 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
1300 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
1301 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
1302 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
1303 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
1304
1305 *** Window resizing functions.
1306 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
1307 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
1308 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
1309
1310 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
1311 live window on that frame instead.
1312
1313 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
1314 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
1315 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
1316 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
1317 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
1318 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
1319
1320 *** Window-local buffer lists.
1321 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
1322 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
1323 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
1324 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
1325 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
1326
1327 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
1328 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
1329 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
1330 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
1331
1332 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
1333 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
1334 The old names are kept as aliases.
1335
1336 *** Display actions
1337
1338 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
1339 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
1340 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
1341 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
1342
1343 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
1344
1345 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
1346 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
1347 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
1348 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
1349 are user-customizable variables.
1350
1351 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
1352
1353 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
1354 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
1355 frame or window as an Elisp object.
1356
1357 ** Completion
1358
1359 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
1360 properties of the current completion:
1361 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
1362 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
1363
1364 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
1365 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
1366
1367 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
1368
1369 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
1370 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
1371 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
1372 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
1373 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
1374 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
1375 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
1376
1377 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
1378 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
1379 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
1380
1381 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
1382 behavior of `completing-read'.
1383
1384 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
1385 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
1386
1387 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
1388 Instead, the offending function is removed.
1389
1390 ** New hook types
1391
1392 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
1393 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
1394 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
1395 non-nil return value.
1396
1397 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
1398 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
1399 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
1400 advertised at the time.)
1401
1402 ** Debugger changes
1403
1404 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
1405 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
1406
1407 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
1408
1409 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
1410
1411 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
1412 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
1413 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
1414
1415 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
1416 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
1417
1418 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
1419 named Emacs server instances.
1420
1421 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
1422 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
1423
1424 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
1425 for higher-resolution time stamps.
1426
1427 ** New input reading functions
1428
1429 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
1430 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
1431
1432 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
1433 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
1434 invalid input.
1435
1436 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
1437
1438 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
1439 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
1440 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
1441 obsolete alias.
1442
1443 ** Syntax parsing changes
1444
1445 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
1446 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
1447 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
1448 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
1449 Together with this new variable come a new hook
1450 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
1451 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
1452 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
1453 syntactic rules.
1454
1455 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
1456
1457 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
1458
1459 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
1460
1461 ** Major and minor mode changes
1462
1463 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
1464 as well as those in the -*- line.
1465
1466 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
1467 should be derived.
1468
1469 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
1470 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
1471 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
1472
1473 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
1474 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
1475
1476 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
1477 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
1478 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
1479
1480 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
1481
1482 ** File-handling changes
1483
1484 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
1485 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
1486 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
1487 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
1488
1489 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
1490
1491 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
1492 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
1493 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
1494
1495 ** Image API
1496
1497 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
1498
1499 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
1500
1501 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
1502
1503 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
1504 is being animated.
1505
1506 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
1507 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
1508
1509 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
1510 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
1511
1512 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
1513 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
1514 ImageMagick installation supports.
1515
1516 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
1517 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
1518 functions.
1519
1520 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
1521 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
1522
1523 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
1524 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
1525 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
1526 `image-transform-set-scale'.
1527
1528 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
1529 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
1530 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
1531 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
1532
1533 ** XML and HTML parsing
1534 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
1535 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
1536 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
1537 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
1538
1539 ** Networking and encryption changes
1540
1541 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
1542 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
1543 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
1544 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
1545 must also be supplied.
1546
1547 *** New library gnutls.el.
1548 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
1549 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
1550 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
1551 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
1552 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
1553 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
1554 greater than 0.
1555
1556 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
1557 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
1558 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
1559
1560 ** Isearch
1561
1562 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
1563
1564 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
1565 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
1566 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
1567 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
1568 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
1569 displayed with a "spinning bar".
1570
1571 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
1572 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
1573
1574 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
1575 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
1576 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
1577 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
1578 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
1579 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
1580
1581 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
1582
1583 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
1584 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
1585 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
1586 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
1587
1588 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
1589 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
1590
1591 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
1592 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
1593 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
1594 an empty uninterned symbol.
1595
1596 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
1597
1598 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1599
1600 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
1601 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
1602
1603 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
1604 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
1605
1606 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
1607
1608 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
1609 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
1610
1611 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
1612
1613 \f
1614 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
1615
1616 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
1617 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
1618
1619 ** New configure.bat options
1620
1621 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
1622
1623 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
1624
1625 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
1626
1627 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
1628
1629 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
1630
1631 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
1632 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
1633
1634 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
1635 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
1636
1637 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
1638 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
1639
1640 \f
1641 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1642 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1643
1644 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1645 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1646 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1647 (at your option) any later version.
1648
1649 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1650 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1651 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1652 GNU General Public License for more details.
1653
1654 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1655 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1656
1657 \f
1658 Local variables:
1659 mode: outline
1660 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
1661 end: