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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-08-14
2 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
4
5 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
6 For older news, see the file ONEWS
7
8 \f
9 * Installation Changes in Emacs 21.1
10
11 ** Support for GNU/Linux on IA64 machines has been added.
12
13 ** Support for LynxOS has been added.
14
15 ** `movemail' defaults to supporting POP. You can turn this off using
16 the --without-pop configure option, should that be necessary.
17
18 ** There are new configure options associated with the support for
19 images and toolkit scrollbars. Use the --help option in `configure'
20 to list them.
21
22 ** There is a new configure option `--without-xim' that instructs
23 Emacs to not use X Input Methods (XIM), if these are available.
24
25 ** There is a new configure option `--disable-largefile' to omit
26 Unix-98-style support for large files if that is available.
27
28 ** You can build a 64-bit Emacs for SPARC/Solaris systems which
29 support 64-bit executables. See etc/MACHINES for instructions.
30
31 \f
32 * Changes in Emacs 21.1
33
34 * When an error is signaled during the loading of the user's init
35 file, Emacs now pops up the *Messages* buffer.
36
37 ** Polish and German translations of Emacs' reference card have been
38 added. They are named `pl-refcard.tex' and `de-refcard.tex'.
39 Postscript files are included.
40
41 ** A reference card for Dired has been added. Its name is
42 `dired-ref.tex'.
43
44 ** The new variable `auto-mode-interpreter-regexp' contains a regular
45 expression matching interpreters, for file mode determination.
46
47 This regular expression is matched against the first line of a file to
48 determine the file's mode in `set-auto-mode' when Emacs can't deduce a
49 mode from the file's name. If it matches, the file is assumed to be
50 interpreted by the interpreter matched by the second group of the
51 regular expression. The mode is then determined as the mode
52 associated with that interpreter in `interpreter-mode-alist'.
53
54 +++
55 ** C-down-mouse-3 is bound differently. Now if the menu bar is not
56 displayed it pops up a menu containing the items which would be on the
57 menu bar. If the menu bar is displayed, it pops up the major mode
58 menu or the Edit menu if there is no major mode menu.
59
60 ** Variable `load-path' is no longer customizable because it contains
61 a version-dependent component.
62
63 ** The <delete> function key is now bound to `delete-char' by default.
64 Note that this takes effect only on window systems. On TTYs, Emacs
65 will receive ASCII 127 when the DEL key is pressed. This
66 character is still bound as before.
67
68 ** Item Save Options on the Options menu allows saving options set
69 using that menu.
70
71 ** New function executable-make-buffer-file-executable-if-script-p is
72 suitable as an after-save-hook as an alternative to `executable-chmod'.
73
74 +++
75 ** The most preferred coding-system is now used to save a buffer if
76 buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and it is safe for the buffer
77 contents. (The most preferred is set by set-language-environment or
78 by M-x prefer-coding-system.) Thus if you visit an ASCII file and
79 insert a non-ASCII character from your current language environment,
80 the file will be saved silently with the appropriate coding.
81 Previously you would be prompted for a safe coding system.
82
83 +++
84 ** New variable `inhibit-iso-escape-detection' determines if Emacs'
85 coding system detection algorithm should pay attention to ISO2022's
86 escape sequences. If this variable is non-nil, the algorithm ignores
87 such escape sequences. The default value is nil, and it is
88 recommended not to change it except for the special case that you
89 always want to read any escape code verbatim. If you just want to
90 read a specific file without decoding escape codes, use C-x RET c
91 (`universal-coding-system-argument'). For instance, C-x RET c latin-1
92 RET C-x C-f filename RET.
93
94 ** Variable `default-korean-keyboard' is initialized properly from the
95 environment variable `HANGUL_KEYBOARD_TYPE'.
96
97 +++
98 ** C-u C-x = provides detailed information about the character at
99 point in a pop-up window.
100
101 +++
102 ** New command M-x list-charset-chars reads a character set name and
103 displays all characters in that character set.
104
105 ** M-x set-terminal-coding-system (C-x RET t) now allows CCL-based
106 coding systems such as cpXXX and cyrillic-koi8.
107
108 +++
109 ** M-; now calls comment-dwim which tries to do something clever based
110 on the context. M-x kill-comment is now an alias to comment-kill,
111 defined on newcomment.el.
112
113 +++
114 ** The function `getenv' is now callable interactively.
115
116 ** The many obsolete language `setup-...-environment' commands have
117 been removed -- use `set-language-environment'.
118
119 +++
120 ** New user options `display-time-mail-face' and
121 `display-time-use-mail-icon' control the appearance of mode-line mail
122 indicator used by the display-time package. On a suitable display the
123 indicator can be an icon and is mouse-sensitive.
124
125 +++
126 ** Emacs' auto-save list files are now by default stored in a
127 sub-directory `.emacs.d/auto-save-list/' of the user's home directory.
128 (On MS-DOS, this subdirectory's name is `_emacs.d/auto-save.list/'.)
129 You can customize `auto-save-list-prefix' to change this location.
130
131 +++
132 ** On window-systems, additional space can be put between text lines
133 on the display using several methods
134
135 +++
136 - By setting frame parameter `line-spacing' to PIXELS. PIXELS must be
137 a positive integer, and specifies that PIXELS number of pixels should
138 be put below text lines on the affected frame or frames.
139
140 +++
141 - By setting X resource `lineSpacing', class `LineSpacing'. This is
142 equivalent ot specifying the frame parameter.
143
144 - By specifying `--line-spacing=N' or `-lsp N' on the command line.
145
146 - By setting buffer-local variable `line-spacing'. The meaning is
147 the same, but applies to the a particular buffer only.
148
149 +++
150 ** The new command `clone-indirect-buffer' can be used to create
151 an indirect buffer that is a twin copy of the current buffer. The
152 command `clone-indirect-buffer-other-window', bound to C-x 4 c,
153 does the same but displays the indirect buffer in another window.
154
155 +++
156 ** New user options `backup-directory-alist' and
157 `make-backup-file-name-function' control the placement of backups,
158 typically in a single directory or in an invisible sub-directory.
159
160 ** New commands iso-iso2sgml and iso-sgml2iso convert between Latin-1
161 characters and the corresponding SGML (HTML) entities.
162
163 +++
164 ** Emacs now refuses to load compiled Lisp files which weren't
165 compiled with Emacs. Set `load-dangerous-libraries' to t to change
166 this behavior.
167
168 The reason for this change is an incompatible change in XEmacs' byte
169 compiler. Files compiled with XEmacs can contain byte codes that let
170 Emacs dump core.
171
172 +++
173 ** New X resources recognized
174
175 *** The X resource `synchronous', class `Synchronous', specifies
176 whether Emacs should run in synchronous mode. Synchronous mode
177 is useful for debugging X problems.
178
179 Example:
180
181 emacs.synchronous: true
182
183 *** The X resource `visualClass, class `VisualClass', specifies the
184 visual Emacs should use. The resource's value should be a string of
185 the form `CLASS-DEPTH', where CLASS is the name of the visual class,
186 and DEPTH is the requested color depth as a decimal number. Valid
187 visual class names are
188
189 TrueColor
190 PseudoColor
191 DirectColor
192 StaticColor
193 GrayScale
194 StaticGray
195
196 Visual class names specified as X resource are case-insensitive, i.e.
197 `pseudocolor', `Pseudocolor' and `PseudoColor' all have the same
198 meaning.
199
200 The program `xdpyinfo' can be used to list the visual classes
201 supported on your display, and which depths they have. If
202 `visualClass' is not specified, Emacs uses the display's default
203 visual.
204
205 Example:
206
207 emacs.visualClass: TrueColor-8
208
209 *** The X resource `privateColormap', class `PrivateColormap',
210 specifies that Emacs should use a private colormap if it is using the
211 default visual, and that visual is of class PseudoColor. Recognized
212 resource values are `true' or `on'.
213
214 Example:
215
216 emacs.privateColormap: true
217
218 ** The menu bar configuration has changed. The new configuration is
219 more CUA-compliant. The most significant change is that Options is
220 now a separate menu-bar item, with Mule and Customize as its submenus.
221
222 ** User-option `show-cursor-in-non-selected-windows' controls how to
223 display the cursor in non-selected windows. If nil, no cursor is
224 shown, if non-nil a hollow box cursor is shown. This option can
225 be customized.
226
227 +++
228 ** The variable `echo-keystrokes' may now have a floating point value.
229
230 +++
231 ** C-x 5 1 runs the new command delete-other-frames which deletes
232 all frames except the selected one.
233
234 ** If your init file is compiled (.emacs.elc), `user-init-file' is set
235 to the source name (.emacs.el), if that exists, after loading it.
236
237 ** The help string specified for a menu-item whose definition contains
238 the property `:help HELP' is now displayed under X, on MS-Windows, and
239 MS-DOS, either in the echo area or with tooltips. Many standard menus
240 displayed by Emacs now have help strings.
241
242 +++
243 ** Highlighting of mouse-sensitive regions is now supported in the
244 MS-DOS version of Emacs.
245
246 ** New user option `read-mail-command' specifies a command to use to
247 read mail from the menu etc.
248
249 +++
250 ** Hexl contains a new command `hexl-insert-hex-string' which inserts
251 a string of hexadecimal numbers read from the mini-buffer.
252
253 ** Changes in Texinfo mode.
254
255 ** A couple of new key bindings have been added for inserting Texinfo
256 macros
257
258 Key binding Macro
259 -------------------------
260 C-c C-c C-s @strong
261 C-c C-c C-e @emph
262 C-c C-c u @url
263 C-c C-c q @quotation
264 C-c C-c m @email
265
266 ** Changes in Outline mode.
267
268 There is now support for Imenu to index headings. A new command
269 `outline-headers-as-kill' copies the visible headings in the region to
270 the kill ring, e.g. to produce a table of contents.
271
272 ** Changes to Emacs Server
273
274 +++
275 *** The new option `server-kill-new-buffers' specifies what to do
276 with buffers when done with them. If non-nil, the default, buffers
277 are killed, unless they were already present before visiting them with
278 Emacs Server. If nil, `server-temp-file-regexp' specifies which
279 buffers to kill, as before.
280
281 Please note that only buffers are killed that still have a client,
282 i.e. buffers visited with `emacsclient --no-wait' are never killed in
283 this way.
284
285 ** Changes to Show Paren mode.
286
287 *** Overlays used by Show Paren mode now use a priority property.
288 The new user option show-paren-priority specifies the priority to
289 use. Default is 1000.
290
291 +++
292 ** New command M-x check-parens can be used to find unbalanced paren
293 groups and strings in buffers in Lisp mode (or other modes).
294
295 +++
296 ** You can now easily create new *Info* buffers using either
297 M-x clone-buffer, C-u m <entry> RET or C-u g <entry> RET.
298 M-x clone-buffer can also be used on *Help* and several other special
299 buffers.
300
301 +++
302 ** Emacs can now support 'wheeled' mice (such as the MS IntelliMouse)
303 under XFree86. To enable this, simply put (mwheel-install) in your
304 .emacs file.
305
306 The variables `mwheel-follow-mouse' and `mwheel-scroll-amount'
307 determine where and by how much buffers are scrolled.
308
309 ** Listing buffers with M-x list-buffers (C-x C-b) now shows
310 abbreviated file names. Abbreviations can be customized by changing
311 `directory-abbrev-alist'.
312
313 ** Faces and frame parameters.
314
315 There are four new faces `scroll-bar', `border', `cursor' and `mouse'.
316 Setting the frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
317 `scroll-bar-background' sets foreground and background color of face
318 `scroll-bar' and vice versa. Setting frame parameter `border-color'
319 sets the background color of face `border' and vice versa. Likewise
320 for frame parameters `cursor-color' and face `cursor', and frame
321 parameter `mouse-color' and face `mouse'.
322
323 Changing frame parameter `font' sets font-related attributes of the
324 `default' face and vice versa. Setting frame parameters
325 `foreground-color' or `background-color' sets the colors of the
326 `default' face and vice versa.
327
328 +++
329 ** New face `menu'.
330
331 The face `menu' can be used to change colors and font of Emacs' menus.
332 Setting the font of LessTif/Motif menus is currently not supported;
333 attempts to set the font are ignored in this case.
334
335 +++
336 ** New frame parameter `screen-gamma' for gamma correction.
337
338 The new frame parameter `screen-gamma' specifies gamma-correction for
339 colors. Its value may be nil, the default, in which case no gamma
340 correction occurs, or a number > 0, usually a float, that specifies
341 the screen gamma of a frame's display.
342
343 PC monitors usually have a screen gamma of 2.2. smaller values result
344 in darker colors. You might want to try a screen gamma of 1.5 for LCD
345 color displays. The viewing gamma Emacs uses is 0.4545. (1/2.2).
346
347 The X resource name of this parameter is `screenGamma', class
348 `ScreenGamma'.
349
350 ** Emacs has a new redisplay engine.
351
352 The new redisplay handles characters of variable width and height.
353 Italic text can be used without redisplay problems. Fonts containing
354 oversized characters, i.e. characters larger than the logical height
355 of a font can be used. Images of various formats can be displayed in
356 the text.
357
358 ** Emacs has a new face implementation.
359
360 The new faces no longer fundamentally use X font names to specify the
361 font. Instead, each face has several independent attributes--family,
362 height, width, weight and slant--that it may or may not specify.
363 These attributes can be merged from various faces, and then together
364 specify a font.
365
366 Faces are supported on terminals that can display color or fonts.
367 These terminal capabilities are auto-detected. Details can be found
368 under Lisp changes, below.
369
370 ** New default font is Courier 12pt.
371
372 +++
373 ** When using a windowing terminal, each Emacs window now has a cursor
374 of its own. When the window is selected, the cursor is solid;
375 otherwise, it is hollow.
376
377 ** Bitmap areas to the left and right of windows are used to display
378 truncation marks, continuation marks, overlay arrows and alike. The
379 foreground, background, and stipple of these areas can be changed by
380 customizing face `fringe'.
381
382 ** The mode line under X is now drawn with shadows by default. You
383 can change its appearance by modifying the face `modeline'.
384
385 ** LessTif support.
386
387 Emacs now runs with the LessTif toolkit (see <http://www.lesstif.org>).
388 You will need a version 0.88.1 or later.
389
390 ** Toolkit scroll bars.
391
392 Emacs now uses toolkit scrollbars if available. When configured for
393 LessTif/Motif, it will use that toolkit's scrollbar. Otherwise, when
394 configured for Lucid and Athena widgets, it will use the Xaw3d scroll
395 bar if Xaw3d is available. You can turn off the use of toolkit scroll
396 bars by specifying `--with-toolkit-scroll-bars=no' when configuring
397 Emacs.
398
399 When you encounter problems with the Xaw3d scroll bar, watch out how
400 Xaw3d is compiled on your system. If the Makefile generated from
401 Xaw3d's Imakefile contains a `-DNARROWPROTO' compiler option, and your
402 Emacs system configuration file `s/your-system.h' does not contain a
403 define for NARROWPROTO, you might consider adding it. Take
404 `s/freebsd.h' as an example.
405
406 Alternatively, if you don't have access to the Xaw3d source code, take
407 a look at your system's imake configuration file, for example in the
408 directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/config' (paths are different on
409 different systems). You will find files `*.cf' there. If your
410 system's cf-file contains a line like `#define NeedWidePrototypes NO',
411 add a `#define NARROWPROTO' to your Emacs system configuration file.
412
413 The reason for this is that one Xaw3d function uses `double' or
414 `float' function parameters depending on the setting of NARROWPROTO.
415 This is not a problem when Imakefiles are used because each system's
416 image configuration file contains the necessary information. Since
417 Emacs doesn't use imake, this has do be done manually.
418
419 ** Toggle buttons and radio buttons in menus.
420
421 When compiled with LessTif (or Motif) support, Emacs uses toolkit
422 widgets for radio and toggle buttons in menus. When configured for
423 Lucid, Emacs draws radio buttons and toggle buttons similar to Motif.
424
425 +++
426 ** Highlighting of trailing whitespace.
427
428 When `show-trailing-whitespace' is non-nil, Emacs displays trailing
429 whitespace in the face `trailing-whitespace'. Trailing whitespace is
430 defined as spaces or tabs at the end of a line. To avoid busy
431 highlighting when entering new text, trailing whitespace is not
432 displayed if point is at the end of the line containing the
433 whitespace.
434
435 +++
436 ** Busy-cursor.
437
438 Emacs can optionally display a busy-cursor under X. You can turn the
439 display on or off by customizing group `cursor'.
440
441 +++
442 ** Blinking cursor
443
444 M-x blink-cursor-mode toggles a blinking cursor under X and on
445 terminals having terminal capabilities `vi', `vs', and `ve'. Blinking
446 and related parameters like frequency and delay can be customized in
447 the group `cursor'.
448
449 ** New font-lock support mode `jit-lock-mode'.
450
451 This support mode is roughly equivalent to `lazy-lock' but is
452 generally faster. It supports stealth and deferred fontification.
453 See the documentation of the function `jit-lock-mode' for more
454 details.
455
456 Font-lock uses jit-lock-mode as default support mode, so you don't
457 have to do anything to activate it.
458
459 ** Tabs and variable-width text.
460
461 Tabs are now displayed with stretch properties; the width of a tab is
462 defined as a multiple of the normal character width of a frame, and is
463 independent of the fonts used in the text where the tab appears.
464 Thus, tabs can be used to line up text in different fonts.
465
466 ** Enhancements of the Lucid menu bar
467
468 +++
469 *** The Lucid menu bar now supports the resource "margin".
470
471 emacs.pane.menubar.margin: 5
472
473 The default margin is 4 which makes the menu bar appear like the
474 LessTif/Motif one.
475
476 *** Arrows that indicate sub-menus are now drawn with shadows, as in
477 LessTif and Motif.
478
479 +++
480 ** Hscrolling in C code.
481
482 Horizontal scrolling now happens automatically if
483 `automatic-hscrolling' is set (the default). This setting can be
484 customized.
485
486 ** Tool bar support.
487
488 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. For details
489 how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level changes.
490
491 +++
492 ** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
493
494 Different parts of the mode line under X have been made
495 mouse-sensitive. Moving the mouse to a mouse-sensitive part in the mode
496 line changes the appearance of the mouse pointer to an arrow, and help
497 about available mouse actions is displayed either in the echo area, or
498 in the tooltip window if you have enabled one.
499
500 Currently, the following actions have been defined:
501
502 - Mouse-1 on the buffer name in the mode line switches between two
503 buffers.
504
505 - Mouse-2 on the buffer-name switches to the next buffer, and
506 M-mouse-2 switches to the previous buffer in the buffer list.
507
508 - Mouse-3 on the buffer-name displays a buffer menu.
509
510 - Mouse-2 on the read-only or modified status in the mode line (`%' or
511 `*') toggles the status.
512
513 - Mouse-3 on the mode name display a minor-mode menu.
514
515 ** LessTif/Motif file selection dialog.
516
517 When Emacs is configured to use LessTif or Motif, reading a file name
518 from a menu will pop up a file selection dialog if `use-dialog-box' is
519 non-nil.
520
521 ** Emacs can display faces on TTY frames.
522
523 Emacs automatically detects terminals that are able to display colors.
524 Faces with a weight greater than normal are displayed extra-bright, if
525 the terminal supports it. Faces with a weight less than normal and
526 italic faces are displayed dimmed, if the terminal supports it.
527 Underlined faces are displayed underlined if possible. Other face
528 attributes such as `overline', `strike-through', and `box' are ignored
529 on terminals.
530
531 ** Sound support
532
533 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD (Voxware
534 driver and native BSD driver, a.k.a. Luigi's driver). Currently
535 supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio (*.au).
536
537 +++
538 ** A new variable, backup-by-copying-when-privileged-mismatch, gives
539 the highest file uid for which backup-by-copying-when-mismatch will be
540 forced on. The assumption is that uids less than or equal to this
541 value are special uids (root, bin, daemon, etc.--not real system
542 users) and that files owned by these users should not change ownership,
543 even if your system policy allows users other than root to edit them.
544
545 The default is 200; set the variable to nil to disable the feature.
546
547 +++
548 ** A block cursor can be drawn as wide as the glyph under it under X.
549
550 As an example: if a block cursor is over a tab character, it will be
551 drawn as wide as that tab on the display. To do this, set
552 `x-stretch-cursor' to a non-nil value.
553
554 +++
555 ** Empty display lines at the end of a buffer may be marked with a
556 bitmap (this is similar to the tilde displayed by vi).
557
558 This behavior is activated by setting the buffer-local variable
559 `indicate-empty-lines' to a non-nil value. The default value of this
560 variable is found in `default-indicate-empty-lines'.
561
562 ** There is a new "aggressive" scrolling method.
563
564 When scrolling up because point is above the window start, if the
565 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-up-aggessively' is a
566 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
567 fraction of the window's height from the bottom of the window.
568
569 When scrolling down because point is below the window end, if the
570 value of the buffer-local variable `scroll-down-aggessively' is a
571 number, Emacs chooses a new window start so that point ends up that
572 fraction of the window's height from the top of the window.
573
574 ** The rectangle commands now avoid inserting undesirable spaces,
575 notably at the end of lines.
576
577 All these functions have been rewritten to avoid inserting unwanted
578 spaces, and an optional prefix now allows them to behave the old way.
579
580 +++
581 There is a new command M-x replace-rectangle.
582
583 ** The new command M-x query-replace-regexp-eval acts like
584 query-replace-regexp, but takes a Lisp expression which is evaluated
585 after each match to get the replacement text.
586
587 +++
588 ** M-x query-replace recognizes a new command `e' (or `E') that lets
589 you edit the replacement string.
590
591 ** The new command mail-abbrev-complete-alias, bound to `M-TAB', lets
592 you complete mail aliases in the text, analogous to
593 lisp-complete-symbol.
594
595 +++
596 ** Emacs now resizes mini-windows if appropriate.
597
598 If a message is longer than one line, or minibuffer contents are
599 longer than one line, Emacs now resizes the minibuffer window unless
600 it is on a frame of its own. You can control the maximum minibuffer
601 window size by setting the following variable:
602
603 - User option: max-mini-window-height
604
605 Maximum height for resizing mini-windows. If a float, it specifies a
606 fraction of the mini-window frame's height. If an integer, it
607 specifies a number of lines. If nil, don't resize.
608
609 Default is 0.25.
610
611 ** The command `Info-search' now uses a search history.
612
613 ** Changes to hideshow.el
614
615 Hideshow is now at version 5.x. It uses a new algorithms for block
616 selection and traversal and includes more isearch support.
617
618 *** Generalized block selection and traversal
619
620 A block is now recognized by three things: its start and end regexps
621 (both strings), and a match-data selector (an integer) specifying
622 which sub-expression in the start regexp serves as the place where a
623 `forward-sexp'-like function can operate. Hideshow always adjusts
624 point to this sub-expression before calling `hs-forward-sexp-func'
625 (which for most modes evaluates to `forward-sexp').
626
627 If the match-data selector is not specified, it defaults to zero,
628 i.e., the entire start regexp is valid, w/ no prefix. This is
629 backwards compatible with previous versions of hideshow. Please see
630 the docstring for variable `hs-special-modes-alist' for details.
631
632 *** Isearch support for updating mode line
633
634 During incremental search, if Hideshow minor mode is active, hidden
635 blocks are temporarily shown. The variable `hs-headline' records the
636 line at the beginning of the opened block (preceding the hidden
637 portion of the buffer), and the mode line is refreshed. When a block
638 is re-hidden, the variable is set to nil.
639
640 To show `hs-headline' in the mode line, you may wish to include
641 something like this in your .emacs.
642
643 (add-hook 'hs-minor-mode-hook
644 (lambda ()
645 (add-to-list 'mode-line-format 'hs-headline)))
646
647 ** Changes to Change Log mode and Add-Log functions
648
649 +++
650 If you invoke `add-change-log-entry' from a backup file, it makes an
651 entry appropriate for the file's parent. This is useful for making
652 log entries by comparing a version with deleted functions.
653
654 +++
655 New command M-x change-log-merge merges another log into the current
656 buffer.
657
658 +++
659 New command M-x change-log-redate fixes any old-style date entries in
660 a log file.
661
662 +++
663 Change Log mode now adds a file's version number to change log entries
664 if user-option `change-log-version-info-enabled' is non-nil.
665
666 +++
667 Unless the file is under version control the search for a file's
668 version number is performed based on regular expressions from
669 `change-log-version-number-regexp-list' which can be cutomized.
670 Version numbers are only found in the first 10 percent of a file.
671
672 ** Changes in Font Lock
673
674 *** The new function `font-lock-remove-keywords' can be used to remove
675 font-lock keywords from the current buffer or from a specific major
676 mode.
677
678 ** Comint (subshell) changes
679
680 By default, comint no longer uses the variable `comint-prompt-regexp' to
681 distiguish prompts from user-input. Instead, it notices which parts of
682 the text were output by the process, and which entered by the user, and
683 attaches `field' properties to allow emacs commands to use this information.
684 Common movement commands, notably beginning-of-line, respect field
685 boundaries in a fairly natural manner.
686 To disable this feature, and use the old behavior, set the variable
687 `comint-use-prompt-regexp-instead-of-fields' to a non-nil value.
688
689 Comint now includes new features to send commands to running processes
690 and redirect the output to a designated buffer or buffers.
691
692 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command reads a command and
693 buffer name from the mini-buffer. The command is sent to the current
694 buffer's process, and its output is inserted into the specified buffer.
695
696 The command M-x comint-redirect-send-command-to-process acts like
697 M-x comint-redirect-send-command but additionally reads the name of
698 the buffer whose process should be used from the mini-buffer.
699
700 Packages based on comint.el like shell-mode, and scheme-interaction-mode
701 now highlight user input and program prompts, and support choosing
702 previous input with mouse-2. To control these feature, see the
703 user-options `comint-highlight-input' and `comint-highlight-prompt'.
704
705 ** Changes to Rmail mode
706
707 *** The new user-option rmail-rmail-user-mail-address-regexp can be
708 set to fine tune the identification of of the correspondent when
709 receiving new mail. If it matches the address of the sender, the
710 recipient is taken as correspondent of a mail. If nil, the default,
711 `user-login-name' and `user-mail-address' are used to exclude yourself
712 as correspondent.
713
714 Usually you don't have to set this variable, except if you collect
715 mails sent by you under different user names. Then it should be a
716 regexp matching your mail addresses.
717
718 *** The new user-option rmail-confirm-expunge controls whether and how
719 to ask for confirmation before expunging deleted messages from an
720 Rmail file. You can choose between no confirmation, confirmation
721 with y-or-n-p, or confirmation with yes-or-no-p. Default is to ask
722 for confirmation with yes-or-no-p.
723
724 *** RET is now bound in the Rmail summary to rmail-summary-goto-msg,
725 like `j'.
726
727 *** There is a new user option `rmail-digest-end-regexps' that
728 specifies the regular expressions to detect the line that ends a
729 digest message.
730
731 *** The new user option `rmail-automatic-folder-directives' specifies
732 in which folder to put messages automatically.
733
734 ** Changes to TeX mode
735
736 The default mode has been changed from `plain-tex-mode' to
737 `latex-mode'.
738
739 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
740
741 *** RefTeX has new support for index generation. Index entries can be
742 created with `C-c <', with completion available on index keys.
743 Pressing `C-c /' indexes the word at the cursor with a default
744 macro. `C-c >' compiles all index entries into an alphabetically
745 sorted *Index* buffer which looks like the final index. Entries
746 can be edited from that buffer.
747
748 *** Label and citation key selection now allow to select several
749 items and reference them together (use `m' to mark items, `a' or
750 `A' to use all marked entries).
751
752 *** reftex.el has been split into a number of smaller files to reduce
753 memory use when only a part of RefTeX is being used.
754
755 *** a new command `reftex-view-crossref-from-bibtex' (bound to `C-c &'
756 in BibTeX-mode) can be called in a BibTeX database buffer in order
757 to show locations in LaTeX documents where a particular entry has
758 been cited.
759
760 ** Emacs Lisp mode now allows multiple levels of outline headings.
761 The level of a heading is determined from the number of leading
762 semicolons in a heading line. Toplevel forms starting with a `('
763 in column 1 are always made leaves.
764
765 ** The M-x time-stamp command (most commonly used on write-file-hooks)
766 has the following new features:
767
768 *** The patterns for finding the time stamp and for updating a pattern
769 may match text spanning multiple lines. For example, some people like
770 to have the filename and date on separate lines. The new variable
771 time-stamp-inserts-lines controls the matching for multi-line patterns.
772
773 *** More than one time stamp can be updated in the same file. This
774 feature is useful if you need separate time stamps in a program source
775 file to both include in formatted documentation and insert in the
776 compiled binary. The same time-stamp will be written at each matching
777 pattern. The variable time-stamp-count enables this new feature; it
778 defaults to 1.
779
780 ** Partial Completion mode now completes environment variables in
781 file names.
782
783 +++
784 ** Tooltips.
785
786 Tooltips are small X windows displaying a help string at the current
787 mouse position. To use them, use the Lisp package `tooltip' which you
788 can access via the user option `tooltip-mode'.
789
790 Tooltips also provides support for GUD debugging. If activated,
791 variable values can be displayed in tooltips by pointing at them with
792 the mouse in source buffers. You can customize various aspects of the
793 tooltip display in the group `tooltip'.
794
795 +++
796 ** Customize changes
797
798 *** Customize now supports comments about customized items. Use the
799 `State' menu to add comments. Note that customization comments will
800 cause the customizations to fail in earlier versions of Emacs.
801
802 *** The new option `custom-buffer-done-function' says whether to kill
803 Custom buffers when you've done with them or just bury them (the
804 default).
805
806 *** The keyword :set-after in defcustom allows to specify dependencies
807 between custom options. Example:
808
809 (defcustom default-input-method nil
810 "*Default input method for multilingual text (a string).
811 This is the input method activated automatically by the command
812 `toggle-input-method' (\\[toggle-input-method])."
813 :group 'mule
814 :type '(choice (const nil) string)
815 :set-after '(current-language-environment))
816
817 This specifies that default-input-method should be set after
818 current-language-environment even if default-input-method appears
819 first in a custom-set-variables statement.
820
821 ** New features in evaluation commands
822
823 *** The commands to evaluate Lisp expressions, such as C-M-x in Lisp
824 modes, C-j in Lisp Interaction mode, and M-:, now bind the variables
825 print-level, print-length, and debug-on-error based on the
826 customizable variables eval-expression-print-level,
827 eval-expression-print-length, and eval-expression-debug-on-error.
828
829 *** The function `eval-defun' (M-C-x) now loads Edebug and instruments
830 code when called with a prefix argument.
831
832 ** Ispell changes
833
834 +++
835 *** The command `ispell' now spell-checks a region if
836 transient-mark-mode is on, and the mark is active. Otherwise it
837 spell-checks the current buffer.
838
839 +++
840 *** Support for synchronous subprocesses - DOS/Windoze - has been
841 added.
842
843 *** An "alignment error" bug was fixed when a manual spelling
844 correction is made and re-checked.
845
846 *** An Italian and a Portuguese dictionary definition has been added.
847
848 *** Region skipping performance has been vastly improved in some
849 cases.
850
851 *** Spell checking HTML buffers has been improved and isn't so strict
852 on syntax errors.
853
854 *** The buffer-local words are now always placed on a new line at the
855 end of the buffer.
856
857 ** Dired changes
858
859 *** New variable `dired-recursive-deletes' determines if the delete
860 command will delete non-empty directories recursively. The default
861 is, delete only empty directories.
862
863 *** New variable `dired-recursive-copies' determines if the copy
864 command will copy directories recursively. The default is, do not
865 copy directories recursively.
866
867 *** In command `dired-do-shell-command' (usually bound to `!') a `?'
868 in the shell command has a special meaning similar to `*', but with
869 the difference that the command will be run on each file individually.
870
871 *** The new command `dired-find-alternate-file' (usually bound to `a')
872 replaces the Dired buffer with the buffer for an alternate file or
873 directory.
874
875 *** The new command `dired-show-file-type' (usually bound to `w') shows
876 a message in the echo area describing what type of file the point is on.
877 This command invokes the external program `file' do its work, and so
878 will only work on systems with that program, and will be only as
879 accurate or inaccurate as it is.
880
881 *** Dired now properly handles undo changes of adding/removing `-R'
882 from ls switches.
883
884 ** The variable mail-specify-envelope-from controls whether to
885 use the -f option when sending mail.
886
887 ** CC mode changes.
888
889 Note: This release contains changes that might not be compatible with
890 current user setups (although it's believed that these
891 incompatibilities will only show in very uncommon circumstances).
892 However, since the impact is uncertain, these changes may be rolled
893 back depending on user feedback. Therefore there's no forward
894 compatibility guarantee wrt the new features introduced in this
895 release.
896
897 *** c-style-variables-are-local-p now defaults to t.
898 This is an incompatible change that has been made to make the behavior
899 of the style system wrt global variable settings less confusing for
900 non-advanced users. If you know what this variable does you might
901 want to set it to nil in your .emacs, otherwise you probably don't
902 have to bother.
903
904 Defaulting c-style-variables-are-local-p to t avoids the confusing
905 situation that occurs when a user sets some style variables globally
906 and edits both a Java and a non-Java file in the same Emacs session.
907 If the style variables aren't buffer local in this case, loading of
908 the second file will cause the default style (either "gnu" or "java"
909 by default) to override the global settings made by the user.
910
911 *** New initialization procedure for the style system.
912 When the initial style for a buffer is determined by CC Mode (from the
913 variable c-default-style), the global values of style variables now
914 take precedence over the values specified by the chosen style. This
915 is different than the old behavior: previously, the style-specific
916 settings would override the global settings. This change makes it
917 possible to do simple configuration in the intuitive way with
918 Customize or with setq lines in one's .emacs file.
919
920 By default, the global value of every style variable is the new
921 special symbol set-from-style, which causes the value to be taken from
922 the style system. This means that in effect, only an explicit setting
923 of a style variable will cause the "overriding" behavior described
924 above.
925
926 Also note that global settings override style-specific settings *only*
927 when the initial style of a buffer is chosen by a CC Mode major mode
928 function. When a style is chosen in other ways --- for example, by a
929 call like (c-set-style "gnu") in a hook, or via M-x c-set-style ---
930 then the style-specific values take precedence over any global style
931 values. In Lisp terms, global values override style-specific values
932 only when the new second argument to c-set-style is non-nil; see the
933 function documentation for more info.
934
935 The purpose of these changes is to make it easier for users,
936 especially novice users, to do simple customizations with Customize or
937 with setq in their .emacs files. On the other hand, the new system is
938 intended to be compatible with advanced users' customizations as well,
939 such as those that choose styles in hooks or whatnot. This new system
940 is believed to be almost entirely compatible with current
941 configurations, in spite of the changed precedence between style and
942 global variable settings when a buffer's default style is set.
943
944 (Thanks to Eric Eide for clarifying this explanation a bit.)
945
946 **** c-offsets-alist is now a customizable variable.
947 This became possible as a result of the new initialization behavior.
948
949 This variable is treated slightly differently from the other style
950 variables; instead of using the symbol set-from-style, it will be
951 completed with the syntactic symbols it doesn't already contain when
952 the style is first initialized. This means it now defaults to the
953 empty list to make all syntactic elements get their values from the
954 style system.
955
956 **** Compatibility variable to restore the old behavior.
957 In case your configuration doesn't work with this change, you can set
958 c-old-style-variable-behavior to non-nil to get the old behavior back
959 as far as possible.
960
961 *** Improvements to line breaking and text filling.
962 CC Mode now handles this more intelligently and seamlessly wrt the
963 surrounding code, especially inside comments. For details see the new
964 chapter about this in the manual.
965
966 **** New variable to recognize comment line prefix decorations.
967 The variable c-comment-prefix-regexp has been added to properly
968 recognize the line prefix in both block and line comments. It's
969 primarily used to initialize the various paragraph recognition and
970 adaptive filling variables that the text handling functions uses.
971
972 **** New variable c-block-comment-prefix.
973 This is a generalization of the now obsolete variable
974 c-comment-continuation-stars to handle arbitrary strings.
975
976 **** CC Mode now uses adaptive fill mode.
977 This to make it adapt better to the paragraph style inside comments.
978
979 It's also possible to use other adaptive filling packages inside CC
980 Mode, notably Kyle E. Jones' Filladapt mode (http://wonderworks.com/).
981 A new convenience function c-setup-filladapt sets up Filladapt for use
982 inside CC Mode.
983
984 Note though that the 2.12 version of Filladapt lacks a feature that
985 causes it to work suboptimally when c-comment-prefix-regexp can match
986 the empty string (which it commonly does). A patch for that is
987 available from the CC Mode web site (http://www.python.org/emacs/
988 cc-mode/).
989
990 **** It's now possible to selectively turn off auto filling.
991 The variable c-ignore-auto-fill is used to ignore auto fill mode in
992 specific contexts, e.g. in preprocessor directives and in string
993 literals.
994
995 **** New context sensitive line break function c-context-line-break.
996 It works like newline-and-indent in normal code, and adapts the line
997 prefix according to the comment style when used inside comments. If
998 you're normally using newline-and-indent, you might want to switch to
999 this function.
1000
1001 *** Fixes to IDL mode.
1002 It now does a better job in recognizing only the constructs relevant
1003 to IDL. E.g. it no longer matches "class" as the beginning of a
1004 struct block, but it does match the CORBA 2.3 "valuetype" keyword.
1005 Thanks to Eric Eide.
1006
1007 *** Improvements to the Whitesmith style.
1008 It now keeps the style consistently on all levels and both when
1009 opening braces hangs and when they don't.
1010
1011 **** New lineup function c-lineup-whitesmith-in-block.
1012
1013 *** New lineup functions c-lineup-template-args and c-indent-multi-line-block.
1014 See their docstrings for details. c-lineup-template-args does a
1015 better job of tracking the brackets used as parens in C++ templates,
1016 and is used by default to line up continued template arguments.
1017
1018 *** c-lineup-comment now preserves alignment with a comment on the
1019 previous line. It used to instead preserve comments that started in
1020 the column specified by comment-column.
1021
1022 *** c-lineup-C-comments handles "free form" text comments.
1023 In comments with a long delimiter line at the start, the indentation
1024 is kept unchanged for lines that start with an empty comment line
1025 prefix. This is intended for the type of large block comments that
1026 contain documentation with its own formatting. In these you normally
1027 don't want CC Mode to change the indentation.
1028
1029 *** The `c' syntactic symbol is now relative to the comment start
1030 instead of the previous line, to make integers usable as lineup
1031 arguments.
1032
1033 *** All lineup functions have gotten docstrings.
1034
1035 *** More preprocessor directive movement functions.
1036 c-down-conditional does the reverse of c-up-conditional.
1037 c-up-conditional-with-else and c-down-conditional-with-else are
1038 variants of these that also stops at "#else" lines (suggested by Don
1039 Provan).
1040
1041 *** Minor improvements to many movement functions in tricky situations.
1042
1043 ** Makefile mode changes
1044
1045 *** The mode now uses the abbrev table `makefile-mode-abbrev-table'.
1046
1047 *** Conditionals and include statements are now highlighted when
1048 Fontlock mode is active.
1049
1050 ** Isearch changes
1051
1052 *** Isearch now puts a call to `isearch-resume' in the command history,
1053 so that searches can be resumed.
1054
1055 *** In Isearch mode, M-C-s and M-C-r are now bound like C-s and C-r,
1056 respectively, i.e. you can repeat a regexp isearch with the same keys
1057 that started the search.
1058
1059 *** In Isearch mode, mouse-2 in the echo area now yanks the current
1060 selection into the search string rather than giving an error.
1061
1062 +++
1063 *** There is a new lazy highlighting feature in incremental search.
1064
1065 Lazy highlighting is switched on/off by customizing variable
1066 `isearch-lazy-highlight'. When active, all matches for the current
1067 search string are highlighted. The current match is highlighted as
1068 before using face `isearch' or `region'. All other matches are
1069 highlighted using face `isearch-lazy-highlight-face' which defaults to
1070 `secondary-selection'.
1071
1072 The extra highlighting makes it easier to anticipate where the cursor
1073 will end up each time you press C-s or C-r to repeat a pending search.
1074 Highlighting of these additional matches happens in a deferred fashion
1075 using "idle timers," so the cycles needed do not rob isearch of its
1076 usual snappy response.
1077
1078 If `isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup' is set to t, highlights for
1079 matches are automatically cleared when you end the search. If it is
1080 set to nil, you can remove the highlights manually with `M-x
1081 isearch-lazy-highlight-cleanup'.
1082
1083 +++
1084 ** Changes in sort.el
1085
1086 The function sort-numeric-fields interprets numbers starting with `0'
1087 as octal and numbers starting with `0x' or `0X' as hexadecimal. The
1088 new user-option sort-numeric-base can be used to specify a default
1089 numeric base.
1090
1091 ** Changes to Ange-ftp
1092
1093 +++
1094 *** Ange-ftp allows you to specify of a port number in remote file
1095 names cleanly. It is appended to the host name, separated by a hash
1096 sign, e.g. `/foo@bar.org#666:mumble'. (This syntax comes from EFS.)
1097
1098 *** If the new user-option `ange-ftp-try-passive-mode' is set, passive
1099 ftp mode will be used if the ftp client supports that.
1100
1101 *** Ange-ftp handles the output of the w32-style clients which
1102 output ^M at the end of lines.
1103
1104 ** Shell script mode changes.
1105
1106 Shell script mode (sh-script) can now indent scripts for shells
1107 derived from sh and rc. The indentation style is customizeable, and
1108 sh-script can attempt to "learn" the current buffer's style.
1109
1110 ** Etags changes.
1111
1112 *** In DOS, etags looks for file.cgz if it cannot find file.c.
1113
1114 *** New option --ignore-case-regex is an alternative to --regex. It is now
1115 possible to bind a regexp to a language, by prepending the regexp with
1116 {lang}, where lang is one of the languages that `etags --help' prints out.
1117 This feature is useful especially for regex files, where each line contains
1118 a regular expression. The manual contains details.
1119
1120 *** In C and derived languages, etags creates tags for function
1121 declarations when given the --declarations option.
1122
1123 *** In C++, tags are created for "operator". The tags have the form
1124 "operator+", without spaces between the keyword and the operator.
1125
1126 *** New language Ada: tags are functions, procedures, packages, tasks, and
1127 types.
1128
1129 *** In Fortran, `procedure' is not tagged.
1130
1131 *** In Java, tags are created for "interface".
1132
1133 *** In Lisp, "(defstruct (foo", "(defun (operator" and similar constructs
1134 are now tagged.
1135
1136 *** In Perl, the --globals option tags global variables. my and local
1137 variables are tagged.
1138
1139 *** New language Python: def and class at the beginning of a line are tags.
1140
1141 *** .ss files are Scheme files, .pdb is Postscript with C syntax, .psw is
1142 for PSWrap.
1143
1144 +++
1145 ** Changes in etags.el
1146
1147 *** The new user-option tags-case-fold-search can be used to make
1148 tags operations case-sensitive or case-insensitive. The default
1149 is to use the same setting as case-fold-search.
1150
1151 *** You can display additional output with M-x tags-apropos by setting
1152 the new variable tags-apropos-additional-actions.
1153
1154 If non-nil, the variable's value should be a list of triples (TITLE
1155 FUNCTION TO-SEARCH). For each triple, M-x tags-apropos processes
1156 TO-SEARCH and lists tags from it. TO-SEARCH should be an alist,
1157 obarray, or symbol. If it is a symbol, the symbol's value is used.
1158
1159 TITLE is a string to use to label the list of tags from TO-SEARCH.
1160
1161 FUNCTION is a function to call when an entry is selected in the Tags
1162 List buffer. It is called with one argument, the selected symbol.
1163
1164 A useful example value for this variable might be something like:
1165
1166 '(("Emacs Lisp" Info-goto-emacs-command-node obarray)
1167 ("Common Lisp" common-lisp-hyperspec common-lisp-hyperspec-obarray)
1168 ("SCWM" scwm-documentation scwm-obarray))
1169
1170 *** The face tags-tag-face can be used to customize the appearance
1171 of tags in the output of M-x tags-apropos.
1172
1173 *** Setting tags-apropos-verbose to a non-nil value displays the
1174 names of tags files in the *Tags List* buffer.
1175
1176 +++
1177 ** Emacs now attempts to determine the initial language environment
1178 and preferred and locale coding systems systematically from the
1179 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables during startup.
1180
1181 +++
1182 ** New language environments `Polish', `Latin-8' and `Latin-9'.
1183 Latin-8 and Latin-9 correspond respectively to the ISO character sets
1184 8859-14 (Celtic) and 8859-15 (updated Latin-1, with the Euro sign).
1185 There is currently no specific input method support for them.
1186
1187 +++
1188 ** Fortran mode has a new command `fortran-strip-sequence-nos' to
1189 remove text past column 72. The syntax class of `\' in Fortran is now
1190 appropriate for C-style escape sequences in strings.
1191
1192 ** SGML mode's default `sgml-validate-command' is now `nsgmls'.
1193
1194 +++
1195 ** A new command `view-emacs-problems' (C-h P) displays the PROBLEMS file.
1196
1197 +++
1198 ** The Dabbrev package has a new user-option `dabbrev-ignore-regexps'
1199 containing a list of regular expressions. Buffers matching a regular
1200 expression from that list, are not checked.
1201
1202 ** Emacs can now figure out modification times of remote files.
1203 When you do C-x C-f /user@host:/path/file RET and edit the file,
1204 and someone else modifies the file, you will be prompted to revert
1205 the buffer, just like for the local files.
1206
1207 ** The buffer menu (C-x C-b) no longer lists the *Buffer List* buffer.
1208
1209 ** New modes and packages
1210
1211 +++
1212 *** The new package timeclock.el is a mode is for keeping track of time
1213 intervals. You can use it for whatever purpose you like, but the
1214 typical scenario is to keep track of how much time you spend working
1215 on certain projects.
1216
1217 +++
1218 *** The new package hi-lock.el, text matching interactively entered
1219 regexp's can be highlighted. For example,
1220
1221 M-x highlight-regexp RET clearly RET RET
1222
1223 will highlight all occurrences of `clearly' using a yellow background
1224 face. New occurrences of `clearly' will be highlighted as they are
1225 typed. `M-x unhighlight-regexp RET' will remove the highlighting.
1226 Any existing face can be used for highlighting and a set of
1227 appropriate faces is provided. The regexps can be written into the
1228 current buffer in a form that will be recognized the next time the
1229 corresponding file is read.
1230
1231 +++
1232 *** The new package zone.el plays games with Emacs' display when
1233 Emacs is idle.
1234
1235 *** The new package xml.el provides a simple but generic XML
1236 parser. It doesn't parse the DTDs however.
1237
1238 *** The comment operations are now provided by the newcomment.el
1239 package which allows different styles of comment-region and should
1240 be more robust while offering the same functionality.
1241
1242 +++
1243 *** The Ebrowse package implements a C++ class browser and tags
1244 facilities tailored for use with C++. It is documented in a
1245 separate Texinfo file.
1246
1247 +++
1248 *** The PCL-CVS package available by either running M-x cvs-examine or
1249 by visiting a CVS administrative directory (with a prefix argument)
1250 provides an alternative interface to VC-dired for CVS. It comes with
1251 `log-view-mode' to view RCS and SCCS logs and `log-edit-mode' used to
1252 enter checkin log messages.
1253
1254 +++
1255 *** The new package called `woman' allows to browse Unix man pages
1256 without invoking external programs.
1257
1258 The command `M-x woman' formats manual pages entirely in Emacs Lisp
1259 and then displays them, like `M-x manual-entry' does. Unlike
1260 `manual-entry', `woman' does not invoke any external programs, so it
1261 is useful on systems such as MS-DOS/MS-Windows where the `man' and
1262 Groff or `troff' commands are not readily available.
1263
1264 The command `M-x woman-find-file' asks for the file name of a man
1265 page, then formats and displays it like `M-x woman' does.
1266
1267 +++
1268 *** The new command M-x re-builder offers a convenient interface for
1269 authoring regular expressions with immediate visual feedback.
1270
1271 The buffer from which the command was called becomes the target for
1272 the regexp editor popping up in a separate window. Matching text in
1273 the target buffer is immediately color marked during the editing.
1274 Each sub-expression of the regexp will show up in a different face so
1275 even complex regexps can be edited and verified on target data in a
1276 single step.
1277
1278 On displays not supporting faces the matches instead blink like
1279 matching parens to make them stand out. On such a setup you will
1280 probably also want to use the sub-expression mode when the regexp
1281 contains such to get feedback about their respective limits.
1282
1283 +++
1284 *** glasses-mode is a minor mode that makes
1285 unreadableIdentifiersLikeThis readable. It works as glasses, without
1286 actually modifying content of a buffer.
1287
1288 *** The package ebnf2ps translates an EBNF to a syntactic chart in
1289 PostScript.
1290
1291 Currently accepts ad-hoc EBNF, ISO EBNF and Bison/Yacc.
1292
1293 The ad-hoc default EBNF syntax has the following elements:
1294
1295 ; comment (until end of line)
1296 A non-terminal
1297 "C" terminal
1298 ?C? special
1299 $A default non-terminal
1300 $"C" default terminal
1301 $?C? default special
1302 A = B. production (A is the header and B the body)
1303 C D sequence (C occurs before D)
1304 C | D alternative (C or D occurs)
1305 A - B exception (A excluding B, B without any non-terminal)
1306 n * A repetition (A repeats n (integer) times)
1307 (C) group (expression C is grouped together)
1308 [C] optional (C may or not occurs)
1309 C+ one or more occurrences of C
1310 {C}+ one or more occurrences of C
1311 {C}* zero or more occurrences of C
1312 {C} zero or more occurrences of C
1313 C / D equivalent to: C {D C}*
1314 {C || D}+ equivalent to: C {D C}*
1315 {C || D}* equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1316 {C || D} equivalent to: [C {D C}*]
1317
1318 Please, see ebnf2ps documentation for EBNF syntax and how to use it.
1319
1320 *** The package align.el will align columns within a region, using M-x
1321 align. Its mode-specific rules, based on regular expressions,
1322 determine where the columns should be split. In C and C++, for
1323 example, it will align variable names in declaration lists, or the
1324 equal signs of assignments.
1325
1326 +++
1327 *** `paragraph-indent-minor-mode' is a new minor mode supporting
1328 paragraphs in the same style as `paragraph-indent-text-mode'.
1329
1330 +++
1331 *** bs.el is a new package for buffer selection similar to
1332 list-buffers or electric-buffer-list. Use M-x bs-show to display a
1333 buffer menu with this package. You can use M-x bs-customize to
1334 customize the package.
1335
1336 *** find-lisp.el is a package emulating the Unix find command in Lisp.
1337
1338 *** calculator.el is a small calculator package that is intended to
1339 replace desktop calculators such as xcalc and calc.exe. Actually, it
1340 is not too small - it has more features than most desktop calculators,
1341 and can be customized easily to get many more functions. It should
1342 not be confused with "calc" which is a much bigger mathematical tool
1343 which answers different needs.
1344
1345 +++
1346 *** The minor modes cwarn-mode and global-cwarn-mode highlights
1347 suspicious C and C++ constructions. Currently, assignments inside
1348 expressions, semicolon following `if', `for' and `while' (except, of
1349 course, after a `do .. while' statement), and C++ functions with
1350 reference parameters are recognized. The modes require font-lock mode
1351 to be enabled.
1352
1353 +++
1354 *** smerge-mode.el provides `smerge-mode', a simple minor-mode for files
1355 containing diff3-style conflict markers, such as generated by RCS.
1356
1357 +++
1358 *** 5x5.el is a simple puzzle game.
1359
1360 +++
1361 *** hl-line.el provides a minor mode to highlight the current line.
1362
1363 *** ansi-color.el translates ANSI terminal escapes into text-properties.
1364
1365 *** delphi.el provides a major mode for editing the Delphi (Object
1366 Pascal) language.
1367
1368 *** quickurl.el provides a simple method of inserting a URL based on
1369 the text at point.
1370
1371 *** sql.el provides an interface to SQL data bases.
1372
1373 +++
1374 *** fortune.el uses the fortune program to create mail/news signatures.
1375
1376 *** whitespace.el ???
1377
1378 *** PostScript mode (ps-mode) is a new major mode for editing PostScript
1379 files. It offers: interaction with a PostScript interpreter, including
1380 (very basic) error handling; fontification, easily customizable for
1381 interpreter messages; auto-indentation; insertion of EPSF templates and
1382 often used code snippets; viewing of BoundingBox; commenting out /
1383 uncommenting regions; conversion of 8bit characters to PostScript octal
1384 codes. All functionality is accessible through a menu.
1385
1386 *** delim-col helps to prettify columns in a text region or rectangle.
1387
1388 Here is an example of columns:
1389
1390 horse apple bus
1391 dog pineapple car EXTRA
1392 porcupine strawberry airplane
1393
1394 Doing the following settings:
1395
1396 (setq delimit-columns-str-before "[ ")
1397 (setq delimit-columns-str-after " ]")
1398 (setq delimit-columns-str-separator ", ")
1399 (setq delimit-columns-separator "\t")
1400
1401
1402 Selecting the lines above and typing:
1403
1404 M-x delimit-columns-region
1405
1406 It results:
1407
1408 [ horse , apple , bus , ]
1409 [ dog , pineapple , car , EXTRA ]
1410 [ porcupine, strawberry, airplane, ]
1411
1412 delim-col has the following options:
1413
1414 delimit-columns-str-before Specify a string to be inserted
1415 before all columns.
1416
1417 delimit-columns-str-separator Specify a string to be inserted
1418 between each column.
1419
1420 delimit-columns-str-after Specify a string to be inserted
1421 after all columns.
1422
1423 delimit-columns-separator Specify a regexp which separates
1424 each column.
1425
1426 delim-col has the following commands:
1427
1428 delimit-columns-region Prettify all columns in a text region.
1429 delimit-columns-rectangle Prettify all columns in a text rectangle.
1430
1431 +++
1432 *** The package recentf.el maintains a menu for visiting files that
1433 were operated on recently.
1434
1435 M-x recentf-mode RET toggles recentf mode.
1436
1437 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-mode RET can be used to enable
1438 recentf at Emacs startup.
1439
1440 M-x customize-variable RET recentf-menu-filter RET to specify a menu
1441 filter function to change the menu appearance. For example, the recent
1442 file list can be displayed:
1443
1444 - organized by major modes, directories or user defined rules.
1445 - sorted by file pathes, file names, ascending or descending.
1446 - showing pathes relative to the current default-directory
1447
1448 The `recentf-filter-changer' menu filter function allows to
1449 dynamically change the menu appearance.
1450
1451 *** elide-head.el provides a mechanism for eliding boilerplate header
1452 text.
1453
1454 +++
1455 *** footnote.el provides `footnote-mode', a minor mode supporting use
1456 of footnotes. It is intended for use with Message mode, but isn't
1457 specific to Message mode.
1458
1459 +++
1460 *** diff-mode.el provides `diff-mode', a major mode for
1461 viewing/editing context diffs (patches). It is selected for files
1462 with extension `.diff', `.diffs', `.patch' and `.rej'.
1463
1464 +++
1465 *** EUDC, the Emacs Unified Directory Client, provides a common user
1466 interface to access directory servers using different directory
1467 protocols. It has a separate manual.
1468
1469 *** autoconf.el provides a major mode for editing configure.in files
1470 for Autoconf, selected automatically.
1471
1472 +++
1473 *** windmove.el provides moving between windows.
1474
1475 *** crm.el provides a facility to read multiple strings from the
1476 minibuffer with completion.
1477
1478 *** todo-mode.el provides management of TODO lists and integration
1479 with the diary features.
1480
1481 *** autoarg.el provides a feature reported from Twenex Emacs whereby
1482 numeric keys supply prefix args rather than self inserting.
1483
1484 *** The function `turn-off-auto-fill' unconditionally turns off Auto
1485 Fill mode.
1486
1487 ** Withdrawn packages
1488
1489 *** mldrag.el has been removed. mouse.el provides the same
1490 functionality with aliases for the mldrag functions.
1491
1492 *** eval-reg.el has been obsoleted by changes to edebug.el and removed.
1493
1494 *** ph.el has been obsoleted by EUDC and removed.
1495
1496 \f
1497 * Lisp changes made after edition 2.6 of the Emacs Lisp Manual,
1498 (Display-related features are described in a page of their own below.)
1499
1500 +++
1501 ** Reading from the mini-buffer now reads from standard input if Emacs
1502 is running in batch mode. For example,
1503
1504 (message "%s" (read t))
1505
1506 will read a Lisp expression from standard input and print the result
1507 to standard output.
1508
1509 +++
1510 ** The argument of `down-list', `backward-up-list', `up-list',
1511 `kill-sexp', `backward-kill-sexp' and `mark-sexp' is now optional.
1512
1513 ** If `display-buffer-reuse-frames' is set, function `display-buffer'
1514 will raise frames displaying a buffer, instead of creating a new
1515 frame or window.
1516
1517 ** Two new functions for removing elements from lists/sequences
1518 were added
1519
1520 - Function: remove ELT SEQ
1521
1522 Return a copy of SEQ with all occurences of ELT removed. SEQ must be
1523 a list, vector, or string. The comparison is done with `equal'.
1524
1525 - Function: remq ELT LIST
1526
1527 Return a copy of LIST with all occurences of ELT removed. The
1528 comparison is done with `eq'.
1529
1530 ** The function `delete' now also works with vectors and strings.
1531
1532 ** The meaning of the `:weakness WEAK' argument of make-hash-table
1533 has been changed.
1534
1535 +++
1536 ** Function `aset' stores any multibyte character in any string
1537 without signaling "Attempt to change char length of a string". It may
1538 convert a unibyte string to multibyte if necessary.
1539
1540 ** The value of the `help-echo' text property is called as a function
1541 or evaluated, if it is not a string already, to obtain a help string.
1542
1543 ** Function `make-obsolete' now has an optional arg to say when the
1544 function was declared obsolete.
1545
1546 ** Function `plist-member' is renamed from `widget-plist-member' (which is
1547 retained as an alias).
1548
1549 ** Easy-menu's :filter now works as in XEmacs.
1550 It takes the unconverted (i.e. XEmacs) form of the menu and the result
1551 is automatically converted to Emacs' form.
1552
1553 ** The new function `window-list' has been defined
1554
1555 - Function: window-list &optional WINDOW MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES
1556
1557 Return a list of windows in canonical order. The parameters WINDOW,
1558 MINIBUF and ALL-FRAMES are defined like for `next-window'.
1559
1560 ** There's a new function `some-window' defined as follows
1561
1562 - Function: some-window PREDICATE &optional MINIBUF ALL-FRAMES DEFAULT
1563
1564 Return a window satisfying PREDICATE.
1565
1566 This function cycles through all visible windows using `walk-windows',
1567 calling PREDICATE on each one. PREDICATE is called with a window as
1568 argument. The first window for which PREDICATE returns a non-nil
1569 value is returned. If no window satisfies PREDICATE, DEFAULT is
1570 returned.
1571
1572 Optional second arg MINIBUF t means count the minibuffer window even
1573 if not active. MINIBUF nil or omitted means count the minibuffer iff
1574 it is active. MINIBUF neither t nor nil means not to count the
1575 minibuffer even if it is active.
1576
1577 Several frames may share a single minibuffer; if the minibuffer
1578 counts, all windows on all frames that share that minibuffer count
1579 too. Therefore, if you are using a separate minibuffer frame
1580 and the minibuffer is active and MINIBUF says it counts,
1581 `walk-windows' includes the windows in the frame from which you
1582 entered the minibuffer, as well as the minibuffer window.
1583
1584 ALL-FRAMES is the optional third argument.
1585 ALL-FRAMES nil or omitted means cycle within the frames as specified above.
1586 ALL-FRAMES = `visible' means include windows on all visible frames.
1587 ALL-FRAMES = 0 means include windows on all visible and iconified frames.
1588 ALL-FRAMES = t means include windows on all frames including invisible frames.
1589 If ALL-FRAMES is a frame, it means include windows on that frame.
1590 Anything else means restrict to the selected frame.
1591
1592 ** The function `single-key-description' now encloses function key and
1593 event names in angle brackets. When called with a second optional
1594 argument non-nil, angle brackets won't be printed.
1595
1596 ** If the variable `message-truncate-lines' is bound to t around a
1597 call to `message', the echo area will not be resized to display that
1598 message; it will be truncated instead, as it was done in 20.x.
1599 Default value is nil.
1600
1601 ** The user option `line-number-display-limit' can now be set to nil,
1602 meaning no limit.
1603
1604 ** `select-safe-coding-system' now also checks the most preferred
1605 coding-system if buffer-file-coding-system is `undecided' and
1606 DEFAULT-CODING-SYSTEM is not specified,
1607
1608 ** The function `subr-arity' provides information on the argument list
1609 of a primitive.
1610
1611 ** The text property `keymap' specifies a key map which overrides the
1612 buffer's local map and the map specified by the `local-map' property.
1613 This is probably what most current uses of `local-map' want, rather
1614 than replacing the local map.
1615
1616 ** The obsolete variables before-change-function and
1617 after-change-function are no longer acted upon and have been removed.
1618
1619 ** The function `apropos-mode' runs the hook `apropos-mode-hook'.
1620
1621 ** `concat' no longer accepts individual integer arguments, as
1622 promised long ago.
1623
1624 ** The new function `float-time' returns the current time as a float.
1625 \f
1626 * Lisp changes in Emacs 21.1 (see following page for display-related features)
1627
1628 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
1629 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
1630 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
1631 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
1632
1633 *** The special form `save-restriction' now works correctly even if the
1634 buffer is widened inside the save-restriction and changes made outside
1635 the original restriction. Previously, doing this would cause the saved
1636 restriction to be restored incorrectly.
1637
1638 *** The functions `find-charset-region' and `find-charset-string' include
1639 `eight-bit-control' and/or `eight-bit-graphic' in the returned list
1640 when it finds 8-bit characters. Previously, it included `ascii' in a
1641 multibyte buffer and `unknown' in a unibyte buffer.
1642
1643 *** The functions `set-buffer-modified', `string-as-multibyte' and
1644 `string-as-unibyte' change the byte sequence of a buffer if it
1645 contains a character from the `eight-bit-control' character set.
1646
1647 *** The handling of multibyte sequences in a multibyte buffer is
1648 changed. Previously, a byte sequence matching the pattern
1649 [\200-\237][\240-\377]+ was interpreted as a single character
1650 regardless of the length of the trailing bytes [\240-\377]+. Thus, if
1651 the sequence was longer than what the leading byte indicated, the
1652 extra trailing bytes were ignored by Lisp functions. Now such extra
1653 bytes are independent 8-bit characters belonging to the charset
1654 eight-bit-graphic.
1655
1656 ** Fontsets are now implemented using char-tables.
1657
1658 A fontset can now be specified for for each independent character, for
1659 a group of characters or for a character set rather than just for a
1660 character set as previously.
1661
1662 *** The arguments of the function `set-fontset-font' are changed.
1663 They are NAME, CHARACTER, FONTNAME, and optional FRAME. The function
1664 modifies fontset NAME to use FONTNAME for CHARACTER.
1665
1666 CHARACTER may be a cons (FROM . TO), where FROM and TO are non-generic
1667 characters. In that case FONTNAME is used for all characters in the
1668 range FROM and TO (inclusive). CHARACTER may be a charset. In that
1669 case FONTNAME is used for all character in the charset.
1670
1671 FONTNAME may be a cons (FAMILY . REGISTRY), where FAMILY is the family
1672 name of a font and REGSITRY is a registry name of a font.
1673
1674 *** Variable x-charset-registry has been deleted. The default charset
1675 registries of character sets are set in the default fontset
1676 "fontset-default".
1677
1678 *** The function `create-fontset-from-fontset-spec' ignores the second
1679 argument STYLE-VARIANT. It never creates style-variant fontsets.
1680
1681 ** The method of composing characters is changed. Now character
1682 composition is done by a special text property `composition' in
1683 buffers and strings.
1684
1685 *** Charset composition is deleted. Emacs never creates a `composite
1686 character' which is an independent character with a unique character
1687 code. Thus the following functions handling `composite characters'
1688 have been deleted: composite-char-component,
1689 composite-char-component-count, composite-char-composition-rule,
1690 composite-char-composition-rule and decompose-composite-char delete.
1691 The variables leading-code-composition and min-composite-char have
1692 also been deleted.
1693
1694 *** Three more glyph reference points are added. They can be used to
1695 specify a composition rule. See the documentation of the variable
1696 `reference-point-alist' for more detail.
1697
1698 *** The function `compose-region' takes new arguments COMPONENTS and
1699 MODIFICATION-FUNC. With COMPONENTS, you can specify not only a
1700 composition rule but also characters to be composed. Such characters
1701 may differ between buffer and string text.
1702
1703 *** The function `compose-string' takes new arguments START, END,
1704 COMPONENTS, and MODIFICATION-FUNC.
1705
1706 *** The function `compose-string' puts text property `composition'
1707 directly on the argument STRING instead of returning a new string.
1708 Likewise, the function `decompose-string' just removes text property
1709 `composition' from STRING.
1710
1711 *** The new function `find-composition' returns information about
1712 a composition at a specified position in a buffer or a string.
1713
1714 *** The function `decompose-composite-char' is now labeled as
1715 obsolete.
1716
1717 ** The new character set `mule-unicode-0100-24ff' is introduced for
1718 Unicode characters of the range U+0100..U+24FF. Currently, this
1719 character set is not used.
1720
1721 ** The new character sets `japanese-jisx0213-1' and
1722 `japanese-jisx0213-2' are introduced for the new Japanese standard JIS
1723 X 0213 Plane 1 and Plane 2.
1724
1725 +++
1726 ** The new character sets `eight-bit-control' and `eight-bit-graphic'
1727 are introduced for 8-bit characters in the ranges 0x80..0x9F and
1728 0xA0..0xFF respectively.
1729
1730 +++
1731 ** If the APPEND argument of `write-region' is an integer, it seeks to
1732 that offset in the file before writing.
1733
1734 ** The function `add-minor-mode' has been added for convenience and
1735 compatibility with XEmacs (and is used internally by define-minor-mode).
1736
1737 ** The function `shell-command' now sets the default directory of the
1738 `*Shell Command Output*' buffer to the default directory of the buffer
1739 from which the command was issued.
1740
1741 ** The functions `query-replace', `query-replace-regexp',
1742 `query-replace-regexp-eval' `map-query-replace-regexp',
1743 `replace-string', `replace-regexp', and `perform-replace' take two
1744 additional optional arguments START and END that specify the region to
1745 operate on.
1746
1747 ** The new function `count-screen-lines' is a more flexible alternative
1748 to `window-buffer-height'.
1749
1750 - Function: count-screen-lines &optional BEG END COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE WINDOW
1751
1752 Return the number of screen lines in the region between BEG and END.
1753 The number of screen lines may be different from the number of actual
1754 lines, due to line breaking, display table, etc.
1755
1756 Optional arguments BEG and END default to `point-min' and `point-max'
1757 respectively.
1758
1759 If region ends with a newline, ignore it unless optinal third argument
1760 COUNT-FINAL-NEWLINE is non-nil.
1761
1762 The optional fourth argument WINDOW specifies the window used for
1763 obtaining parameters such as width, horizontal scrolling, and so
1764 on. The default is to use the selected window's parameters.
1765
1766 Like `vertical-motion', `count-screen-lines' always uses the current
1767 buffer, regardless of which buffer is displayed in WINDOW. This makes
1768 possible to use `count-screen-lines' in any buffer, whether or not it
1769 is currently displayed in some window.
1770
1771 ** The new function `mapc' is like `mapcar' but doesn't collect the
1772 argument function's results.
1773
1774 ** The functions base64-decode-region and base64-decode-string now
1775 signal an error instead of returning nil if decoding fails.
1776
1777 ** The function sendmail-user-agent-compose now recognizes a `body'
1778 header is the list of headers passed to it.
1779
1780 ** The new function member-ignore-case works like `member', but
1781 ignores differences in case and text representation.
1782
1783 ** The buffer-local variable cursor-type can be used to specify the
1784 cursor to use in windows displaying a buffer. Values are interpreted
1785 as follows:
1786
1787 t use the cursor specified for the frame (default)
1788 nil don't display a cursor
1789 `bar' display a bar cursor with default width
1790 (bar . WIDTH) display a bar cursor with width WIDTH
1791 others display a box cursor.
1792
1793 ** The variable open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start controls whether
1794 an open parenthesis in column 0 is considered to be the start of a
1795 defun. If set, the default, it is considered a defun start. If not
1796 set, an open parenthesis in column 0 has no special meaning.
1797
1798 ** The new function `string-to-syntax' can be used to translate syntax
1799 specifications in string form as accepted by `modify-syntax-entry' to
1800 the cons-cell form that is used for the values of the `syntax-table'
1801 text property, and in `font-lock-syntactic-keywords'.
1802
1803 Example:
1804
1805 (string-to-syntax "()")
1806 => (4 . 41)
1807
1808 ** Emacs' reader supports CL read syntax for integers in bases
1809 other than 10.
1810
1811 *** `#BINTEGER' or `#bINTEGER' reads INTEGER in binary (radix 2).
1812 INTEGER optionally contains a sign.
1813
1814 #b1111
1815 => 15
1816 #b-1111
1817 => -15
1818
1819 *** `#OINTEGER' or `#oINTEGER' reads INTEGER in octal (radix 8).
1820
1821 #o666
1822 => 438
1823
1824 *** `#XINTEGER' or `#xINTEGER' reads INTEGER in hexadecimal (radix 16).
1825
1826 #xbeef
1827 => 48815
1828
1829 *** `#RADIXrINTEGER' reads INTEGER in radix RADIX, 2 <= RADIX <= 36.
1830
1831 #2R-111
1832 => -7
1833 #25rah
1834 => 267
1835
1836 ** The function `documentation-property' now evaluates the value of
1837 the given property to obtain a string if it doesn't refer to etc/DOC
1838 and isn't a string.
1839
1840 ** If called for a symbol, the function `documentation' now looks for
1841 a `function-documentation' property of that symbol. If it has a non-nil
1842 value, the documentation is taken from that value. If the value is
1843 not a string, it is evaluated to obtain a string.
1844
1845 +++
1846 ** The last argument of `define-key-after' defaults to t for convenience.
1847
1848 ** The new function `replace-regexp-in-string' replaces all matches
1849 for a regexp in a string.
1850
1851 ** `mouse-position' now runs the abnormal hook
1852 `mouse-position-function'.
1853
1854 ** The function string-to-number now returns a float for numbers
1855 that don't fit into a Lisp integer.
1856
1857 ** The variable keyword-symbols-constants-flag has been removed.
1858 Keywords are now always considered constants.
1859
1860 +++
1861 ** The new function `delete-and-extract-region' deletes text and
1862 returns it.
1863
1864 ** The function `clear-this-command-keys' now also clears the vector
1865 returned by function `recent-keys'.
1866
1867 +++
1868 ** Variables `beginning-of-defun-function' and `end-of-defun-function'
1869 can be used to define handlers for the functions that find defuns.
1870 Major modes can define these locally instead of rebinding M-C-a
1871 etc. if the normal conventions for defuns are not appropriate for the
1872 mode.
1873
1874 +++
1875 ** easy-mmode-define-minor-mode now takes an additional BODY argument
1876 and is renamed `define-minor-mode'.
1877
1878 +++
1879 ** If an abbrev has a hook function which is a symbol, and that symbol
1880 has a non-nil `no-self-insert' property, the return value of the hook
1881 function specifies whether an expansion has been done or not. If it
1882 returns nil, abbrev-expand also returns nil, meaning "no expansion has
1883 been performed."
1884
1885 When abbrev expansion is done by typing a self-inserting character,
1886 and the abbrev has a hook with the `no-self-insert' property, and the
1887 hook function returns non-nil meaning expansion has been done,
1888 then the self-inserting character is not inserted.
1889
1890 +++
1891 ** The function `intern-soft' now accepts a symbol as first argument.
1892 In this case, that exact symbol is looked up in the specified obarray,
1893 and the function's value is nil if it is not found.
1894
1895 +++
1896 ** The new macro `with-syntax-table' can be used to evaluate forms
1897 with the syntax table of the current buffer temporarily set to a
1898 specified table.
1899
1900 (with-syntax-table TABLE &rest BODY)
1901
1902 Evaluate BODY with syntax table of current buffer set to a copy of
1903 TABLE. The current syntax table is saved, BODY is evaluated, and the
1904 saved table is restored, even in case of an abnormal exit. Value is
1905 what BODY returns.
1906
1907 +++
1908 ** Regular expressions now support intervals \{n,m\} as well as
1909 Perl's shy-groups \(?:...\) and non-greedy *? +? and ?? operators.
1910
1911 +++
1912 ** The optional argument BUFFER of function file-local-copy has been
1913 removed since it wasn't used by anything.
1914
1915 +++
1916 ** The file name argument of function `file-locked-p' is now required
1917 instead of being optional.
1918
1919 +++
1920 ** The new built-in error `text-read-only' is signaled when trying to
1921 modify read-only text.
1922
1923 +++
1924 ** New functions and variables for locales.
1925
1926 The new variable `locale-coding-system' specifies how to encode and
1927 decode strings passed to low-level message functions like strerror and
1928 time functions like strftime. The new variables
1929 `system-messages-locale' and `system-time-locale' give the system
1930 locales to be used when invoking these two types of functions.
1931
1932 The new function `set-locale-environment' sets the language
1933 environment, preferred coding system, and locale coding system from
1934 the system locale as specified by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
1935 environment variables. Normally, it is invoked during startup and need
1936 not be invoked thereafter. It uses the new variables
1937 `locale-language-names', `locale-charset-language-names', and
1938 `locale-preferred-coding-systems' to make its decisions.
1939
1940 +++
1941 ** syntax tables now understand nested comments.
1942 To declare a comment syntax as allowing nesting, just add an `n'
1943 modifier to either of the characters of the comment end and the comment
1944 start sequences.
1945
1946 +++
1947 ** The function `pixmap-spec-p' has been renamed `bitmap-spec-p'
1948 because `bitmap' is more in line with the usual X terminology.
1949
1950 +++
1951 ** New function `propertize'
1952
1953 The new function `propertize' can be used to conveniently construct
1954 strings with text properties.
1955
1956 - Function: propertize STRING &rest PROPERTIES
1957
1958 Value is a copy of STRING with text properties assigned as specified
1959 by PROPERTIES. PROPERTIES is a sequence of pairs PROPERTY VALUE, with
1960 PROPERTY being the name of a text property and VALUE being the
1961 specified value of that property. Example:
1962
1963 (propertize "foo" 'face 'bold 'read-only t)
1964
1965 +++
1966 ** push and pop macros.
1967
1968 Simple versions of the push and pop macros of Common Lisp
1969 are now defined in Emacs Lisp. These macros allow only symbols
1970 as the place that holds the list to be changed.
1971
1972 (push NEWELT LISTNAME) add NEWELT to the front of LISTNAME's value.
1973 (pop LISTNAME) return first elt of LISTNAME, and remove it
1974 (thus altering the value of LISTNAME).
1975
1976 ** New dolist and dotimes macros.
1977
1978 Simple versions of the dolist and dotimes macros of Common Lisp
1979 are now defined in Emacs Lisp.
1980
1981 (dolist (VAR LIST [RESULT]) BODY...)
1982 Execute body once for each element of LIST,
1983 using the variable VAR to hold the current element.
1984 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
1985
1986 (dotimes (VAR COUNT [RESULT]) BODY...)
1987 Execute BODY with VAR bound to successive integers running from 0,
1988 inclusive, to COUNT, exclusive.
1989 Then return the value of RESULT, or nil if RESULT is omitted.
1990
1991 +++
1992 ** Regular expressions now support Posix character classes such
1993 as [:alpha:], [:space:] and so on.
1994
1995 [:digit:] matches 0 through 9
1996 [:cntrl:] matches ASCII control characters
1997 [:xdigit:] matches 0 through 9, a through f and A through F.
1998 [:blank:] matches space and tab only
1999 [:graph:] matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control chars,
2000 space, and DEL.
2001 [:print:] matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control chars
2002 and DEL.
2003 [:alnum:] matches letters and digits.
2004 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2005 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
2006 [:alpha:] matches letters.
2007 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2008 it matches anything that has word syntax.)
2009 [:ascii:] matches ASCII (unibyte) characters.
2010 [:nonascii:] matches non-ASCII (multibyte) characters.
2011 [:lower:] matches anything lower-case.
2012 [:punct:] matches punctuation.
2013 (But at present, for multibyte characters,
2014 it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)
2015 [:space:] matches anything that has whitespace syntax.
2016 [:upper:] matches anything upper-case.
2017 [:word:] matches anything that has word syntax.
2018
2019 +++
2020 ** Emacs now has built-in hash tables.
2021
2022 The following functions are defined for hash tables:
2023
2024 - Function: make-hash-table ARGS
2025
2026 The argument list ARGS consists of keyword/argument pairs. All arguments
2027 are optional. The following arguments are defined:
2028
2029 :test TEST
2030
2031 TEST must be a symbol specifying how to compare keys. Default is `eql'.
2032 Predefined are `eq', `eql' and `equal'. If TEST is not predefined,
2033 it must have been defined with `define-hash-table-test'.
2034
2035 :size SIZE
2036
2037 SIZE must be an integer > 0 giving a hint to the implementation how
2038 many elements will be put in the hash table. Default size is 65.
2039
2040 :rehash-size REHASH-SIZE
2041
2042 REHASH-SIZE specifies by how much to grow a hash table once it becomes
2043 full. If REHASH-SIZE is an integer, add that to the hash table's old
2044 size to get the new size. Otherwise, REHASH-SIZE must be a float >
2045 1.0, and the new size is computed by multiplying REHASH-SIZE with the
2046 old size. Default rehash size is 1.5.
2047
2048 :rehash-threshold THRESHOLD
2049
2050 THRESHOLD must be a float > 0 and <= 1.0 specifying when to resize the
2051 hash table. It is resized when the ratio of (number of entries) /
2052 (size of hash table) is >= THRESHOLD. Default threshold is 0.8.
2053
2054 :weakness WEAK
2055
2056 WEAK must be either nil, one of the symbols `key, `value',
2057 `key-or-value', `key-and-value', or t, meaning the same as
2058 `key-and-value'. Entries are removed from weak tables during garbage
2059 collection if their key and/or value are not referenced elsewhere
2060 outside of the hash table. Default are non-weak hash tables.
2061
2062 - Function: makehash &optional TEST
2063
2064 Similar to make-hash-table, but only TEST can be specified.
2065
2066 - Function: hash-table-p TABLE
2067
2068 Returns non-nil if TABLE is a hash table object.
2069
2070 - Function: copy-hash-table TABLE
2071
2072 Returns a copy of TABLE. Only the table itself is copied, keys and
2073 values are shared.
2074
2075 - Function: hash-table-count TABLE
2076
2077 Returns the number of entries in TABLE.
2078
2079 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2080
2081 Returns the rehash size of TABLE.
2082
2083 - Function: hash-table-rehash-threshold TABLE
2084
2085 Returns the rehash threshold of TABLE.
2086
2087 - Function: hash-table-rehash-size TABLE
2088
2089 Returns the size of TABLE.
2090
2091 - Function: hash-table-test TABLE
2092
2093 Returns the test TABLE uses to compare keys.
2094
2095 - Function: hash-table-weakness TABLE
2096
2097 Returns the weakness specified for TABLE.
2098
2099 - Function: clrhash TABLE
2100
2101 Clear TABLE.
2102
2103 - Function: gethash KEY TABLE &optional DEFAULT
2104
2105 Look up KEY in TABLE and return its associated VALUE or DEFAULT if
2106 not found.
2107
2108 - Function: puthash KEY VALUE TABLE
2109
2110 Associate KEY with VALUE in TABLE. If KEY is already associated with
2111 another value, replace the old value with VALUE.
2112
2113 - Function: remhash KEY TABLE
2114
2115 Remove KEY from TABLE if it is there.
2116
2117 - Function: maphash FUNCTION TABLE
2118
2119 Call FUNCTION for all elements in TABLE. FUNCTION must take two
2120 arguments KEY and VALUE.
2121
2122 - Function: sxhash OBJ
2123
2124 Return a hash code for Lisp object OBJ.
2125
2126 - Function: define-hash-table-test NAME TEST-FN HASH-FN
2127
2128 Define a new hash table test named NAME. If NAME is specified as
2129 a test in `make-hash-table', the table created will use TEST-FN for
2130 comparing keys, and HASH-FN to compute hash codes for keys. Test
2131 and hash function are stored as symbol property `hash-table-test'
2132 of NAME with a value of (TEST-FN HASH-FN).
2133
2134 TEST-FN must take two arguments and return non-nil if they are the same.
2135
2136 HASH-FN must take one argument and return an integer that is the hash
2137 code of the argument. The function should use the whole range of
2138 integer values for hash code computation, including negative integers.
2139
2140 Example: The following creates a hash table whose keys are supposed to
2141 be strings that are compared case-insensitively.
2142
2143 (defun case-fold-string= (a b)
2144 (compare-strings a nil nil b nil nil t))
2145
2146 (defun case-fold-string-hash (a)
2147 (sxhash (upcase a)))
2148
2149 (define-hash-table-test 'case-fold 'case-fold-string=
2150 'case-fold-string-hash))
2151
2152 (make-hash-table :test 'case-fold)
2153
2154 +++
2155 ** The Lisp reader handles circular structure.
2156
2157 It now works to use the #N= and #N# constructs to represent
2158 circular structures. For example, #1=(a . #1#) represents
2159 a cons cell which is its own cdr.
2160
2161 +++
2162 ** The Lisp printer handles circular structure.
2163
2164 If you bind print-circle to a non-nil value, the Lisp printer outputs
2165 #N= and #N# constructs to represent circular and shared structure.
2166
2167 +++
2168 ** If the second argument to `move-to-column' is anything but nil or
2169 t, that means replace a tab with spaces if necessary to reach the
2170 specified column, but do not add spaces at the end of the line if it
2171 is too short to reach that column.
2172
2173 +++
2174 ** perform-replace has a new feature: the REPLACEMENTS argument may
2175 now be a cons cell (FUNCTION . DATA). This means to call FUNCTION
2176 after each match to get the replacement text. FUNCTION is called with
2177 two arguments: DATA, and the number of replacements already made.
2178
2179 If the FROM-STRING contains any upper-case letters,
2180 perform-replace also turns off `case-fold-search' temporarily
2181 and inserts the replacement text without altering case in it.
2182
2183 +++
2184 ** The function buffer-size now accepts an optional argument
2185 to specify which buffer to return the size of.
2186
2187 +++
2188 ** The calendar motion commands now run the normal hook
2189 calendar-move-hook after moving point.
2190
2191 +++
2192 ** The new variable small-temporary-file-directory specifies a
2193 directory to use for creating temporary files that are likely to be
2194 small. (Certain Emacs features use this directory.) If
2195 small-temporary-file-directory is nil, they use
2196 temporary-file-directory instead.
2197
2198 +++
2199 ** The variable `inhibit-modification-hooks', if non-nil, inhibits all
2200 the hooks that track changes in the buffer. This affects
2201 `before-change-functions' and `after-change-functions', as well as
2202 hooks attached to text properties and overlay properties.
2203
2204 +++
2205 ** assoc-delete-all is a new function that deletes all the
2206 elements of an alist which have a particular value as the car.
2207
2208 +++
2209 ** make-temp-file provides a more reliable way to create a temporary file.
2210
2211 make-temp-file is used like make-temp-name, except that it actually
2212 creates the file before it returns. This prevents a timing error,
2213 ensuring that no other job can use the same name for a temporary file.
2214
2215 +++
2216 ** New exclusive-open feature in `write-region'
2217
2218 The optional seventh arg is now called MUSTBENEW. If non-nil, it insists
2219 on a check for an existing file with the same name. If MUSTBENEW
2220 is `excl', that means to get an error if the file already exists;
2221 never overwrite. If MUSTBENEW is neither nil nor `excl', that means
2222 ask for confirmation before overwriting, but do go ahead and
2223 overwrite the file if the user gives confirmation.
2224
2225 If the MUSTBENEW argument in `write-region' is `excl',
2226 that means to use a special feature in the `open' system call
2227 to get an error if the file exists at that time.
2228 The error reported is `file-already-exists'.
2229
2230 +++
2231 ** Function `format' now handles text properties.
2232
2233 Text properties of the format string are applied to the result string.
2234 If the result string is longer than the format string, text properties
2235 ending at the end of the format string are extended to the end of the
2236 result string.
2237
2238 Text properties from string arguments are applied to the result
2239 string where arguments appear in the result string.
2240
2241 Example:
2242
2243 (let ((s1 "hello, %s")
2244 (s2 "world"))
2245 (put-text-property 0 (length s1) 'face 'bold s1)
2246 (put-text-property 0 (length s2) 'face 'italic s2)
2247 (format s1 s2))
2248
2249 results in a bold-face string with an italic `world' at the end.
2250
2251 +++
2252 ** Messages can now be displayed with text properties.
2253
2254 Text properties are handled as described above for function `format'.
2255 The following example displays a bold-face message with an italic
2256 argument in it.
2257
2258 (let ((msg "hello, %s!")
2259 (arg "world"))
2260 (put-text-property 0 (length msg) 'face 'bold msg)
2261 (put-text-property 0 (length arg) 'face 'italic arg)
2262 (message msg arg))
2263
2264 +++
2265 ** Sound support
2266
2267 Emacs supports playing sound files on GNU/Linux and the free BSDs
2268 (Voxware driver and native BSD driver, aka as Luigi's driver).
2269
2270 Currently supported file formats are RIFF-WAVE (*.wav) and Sun Audio
2271 (*.au). You must configure Emacs with the option `--with-sound=yes'
2272 to enable sound support.
2273
2274 Sound files can be played by calling (play-sound SOUND). SOUND is a
2275 list of the form `(sound PROPERTY...)'. The function is only defined
2276 when sound support is present for the system on which Emacs runs. The
2277 functions runs `play-sound-functions' with one argument which is the
2278 sound to play, before playing the sound.
2279
2280 The following sound properties are supported:
2281
2282 - `:file FILE'
2283
2284 FILE is a file name. If FILE isn't an absolute name, it will be
2285 searched relative to `data-directory'.
2286
2287 - `:data DATA'
2288
2289 DATA is a string containing sound data. Either :file or :data
2290 may be present, but not both.
2291
2292 - `:volume VOLUME'
2293
2294 VOLUME must be an integer in the range 0..100 or a float in the range
2295 0..1. This property is optional.
2296
2297 Other properties are ignored.
2298
2299 ** `multimedia' is a new Finder keyword and Custom group.
2300
2301 ** keywordp is a new predicate to test efficiently for an object being
2302 a keyword symbol.
2303
2304 ** Changes to garbage collection
2305
2306 *** The function garbage-collect now additionally returns the number
2307 of live and free strings.
2308
2309 *** There is a new variable `strings-consed' holding the number of
2310 strings that have been consed so far.
2311
2312 \f
2313 * Lisp-level Display features added after release 2.6 of the Emacs
2314 Lisp Manual
2315
2316 +++
2317 ** Help strings in menu items are now used to provide `help-echo' text.
2318
2319 ** The function `image-size' can be used to determine the size of an
2320 image.
2321
2322 - Function: image-size SPEC &optional PIXELS FRAME
2323
2324 Return the size of an image as a pair (WIDTH . HEIGHT).
2325
2326 SPEC is an image specification. PIXELS non-nil means return sizes
2327 measured in pixels, otherwise return sizes measured in canonical
2328 character units (fractions of the width/height of the frame's default
2329 font). FRAME is the frame on which the image will be displayed.
2330 FRAME nil or omitted means use the selected frame.
2331
2332 ** The function `find-image' can be used to find a usable image
2333 satisfying one of a list of specifications.
2334
2335 +++
2336 ** The STRING argument of `put-image' and `insert-image' is now
2337 optional.
2338
2339 ** Image specifications may contain the property `:ascent center'.
2340
2341 When this property is specified, the image is vertically centered
2342 around a centerline which would be the vertical center of text drawn
2343 at the position of the image, in the manner specified by the text
2344 properties and overlays that apply to the image.
2345
2346 \f
2347 * New Lisp-level Display features in Emacs 21.1
2348
2349 Note that +++ before an item means the Lisp manual has been updated.
2350 --- means that I have decided it does not need to be in the Lisp manual.
2351 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
2352 so I will know I still need to look at it -- rms.
2353
2354 ** The function tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors can be used
2355 to make Emacs avoid displaying text with bold black foreground on TTYs.
2356
2357 Some terminals, notably PC consoles, emulate bold text by displaying
2358 text in brighter colors. On such a console, a bold black foreground
2359 is displayed in a gray color. If this turns out to be hard to read on
2360 your monitor---the problem occurred with the mode line on
2361 laptops---you can instruct Emacs to ignore the text's boldness, and to
2362 just display it black instead.
2363
2364 This situation can't be detected automatically. You will have to put
2365 a line like
2366
2367 (tty-suppress-bold-inverse-default-colors t)
2368
2369 in your `.emacs'.
2370
2371 ** New face implementation.
2372
2373 Emacs faces have been reimplemented from scratch. They don't use XLFD
2374 font names anymore and face merging now works as expected.
2375
2376 +++
2377 *** New faces.
2378
2379 Each face can specify the following display attributes:
2380
2381 1. Font family or fontset alias name.
2382
2383 2. Relative proportionate width, aka character set width or set
2384 width (swidth), e.g. `semi-compressed'.
2385
2386 3. Font height in 1/10pt
2387
2388 4. Font weight, e.g. `bold'.
2389
2390 5. Font slant, e.g. `italic'.
2391
2392 6. Foreground color.
2393
2394 7. Background color.
2395
2396 8. Whether or not characters should be underlined, and in what color.
2397
2398 9. Whether or not characters should be displayed in inverse video.
2399
2400 10. A background stipple, a bitmap.
2401
2402 11. Whether or not characters should be overlined, and in what color.
2403
2404 12. Whether or not characters should be strike-through, and in what
2405 color.
2406
2407 13. Whether or not a box should be drawn around characters, its
2408 color, the width of the box lines, and 3D appearance.
2409
2410 Faces are frame-local by nature because Emacs allows to define the
2411 same named face (face names are symbols) differently for different
2412 frames. Each frame has an alist of face definitions for all named
2413 faces. The value of a named face in such an alist is a Lisp vector
2414 with the symbol `face' in slot 0, and a slot for each each of the face
2415 attributes mentioned above.
2416
2417 There is also a global face alist `face-new-frame-defaults'. Face
2418 definitions from this list are used to initialize faces of newly
2419 created frames.
2420
2421 A face doesn't have to specify all attributes. Those not specified
2422 have a nil value. Faces specifying all attributes are called
2423 `fully-specified'.
2424
2425 +++
2426 *** Face merging.
2427
2428 The display style of a given character in the text is determined by
2429 combining several faces. This process is called `face merging'. Any
2430 aspect of the display style that isn't specified by overlays or text
2431 properties is taken from the `default' face. Since it is made sure
2432 that the default face is always fully-specified, face merging always
2433 results in a fully-specified face.
2434
2435 +++
2436 *** Face realization.
2437
2438 After all face attributes for a character have been determined by
2439 merging faces of that character, that face is `realized'. The
2440 realization process maps face attributes to what is physically
2441 available on the system where Emacs runs. The result is a `realized
2442 face' in form of an internal structure which is stored in the face
2443 cache of the frame on which it was realized.
2444
2445 Face realization is done in the context of the charset of the
2446 character to display because different fonts and encodings are used
2447 for different charsets. In other words, for characters of different
2448 charsets, different realized faces are needed to display them.
2449
2450 Except for composite characters, faces are always realized for a
2451 specific character set and contain a specific font, even if the face
2452 being realized specifies a fontset. The reason is that the result of
2453 the new font selection stage is better than what can be done with
2454 statically defined font name patterns in fontsets.
2455
2456 In unibyte text, Emacs' charsets aren't applicable; function
2457 `char-charset' reports ASCII for all characters, including those >
2458 0x7f. The X registry and encoding of fonts to use is determined from
2459 the variable `face-default-registry' in this case. The variable is
2460 initialized at Emacs startup time from the font the user specified for
2461 Emacs.
2462
2463 Currently all unibyte text, i.e. all buffers with
2464 `enable-multibyte-characters' nil are displayed with fonts of the same
2465 registry and encoding `face-default-registry'. This is consistent
2466 with the fact that languages can also be set globally, only.
2467
2468 ++++
2469 **** Clearing face caches.
2470
2471 The Lisp function `clear-face-cache' can be called to clear face caches
2472 on all frames. If called with a non-nil argument, it will also unload
2473 unused fonts.
2474
2475 +++
2476 *** Font selection.
2477
2478 Font selection tries to find the best available matching font for a
2479 given (charset, face) combination. This is done slightly differently
2480 for faces specifying a fontset, or a font family name.
2481
2482 If the face specifies a fontset name, that fontset determines a
2483 pattern for fonts of the given charset. If the face specifies a font
2484 family, a font pattern is constructed. Charset symbols have a
2485 property `x-charset-registry' for that purpose that maps a charset to
2486 an XLFD registry and encoding in the font pattern constructed.
2487
2488 Available fonts on the system on which Emacs runs are then matched
2489 against the font pattern. The result of font selection is the best
2490 match for the given face attributes in this font list.
2491
2492 Font selection can be influenced by the user.
2493
2494 The user can specify the relative importance he gives the face
2495 attributes width, height, weight, and slant by setting
2496 face-font-selection-order (faces.el) to a list of face attribute
2497 names. The default is (:width :height :weight :slant), and means
2498 that font selection first tries to find a good match for the font
2499 width specified by a face, then---within fonts with that width---tries
2500 to find a best match for the specified font height, etc.
2501
2502 Setting `face-alternative-font-family-alist' allows the user to
2503 specify alternative font families to try if a family specified by a
2504 face doesn't exist.
2505
2506 +++
2507 **** Scalable fonts
2508
2509 Emacs can make use of scalable fonts but doesn't do so by default,
2510 since the use of too many or too big scalable fonts may crash XFree86
2511 servers.
2512
2513 To enable scalable font use, set the variable
2514 `scalable-fonts-allowed'. A value of nil, the default, means never use
2515 scalable fonts. A value of t means any scalable font may be used.
2516 Otherwise, the value must be a list of regular expressions. A
2517 scalable font may then be used if it matches a regular expression from
2518 that list. Example:
2519
2520 (setq scalable-fonts-allowed '("muleindian-2$"))
2521
2522 allows the use of scalable fonts with registry `muleindian-2'.
2523
2524 +++
2525 *** Functions and variables related to font selection.
2526
2527 - Function: x-family-fonts &optional FAMILY FRAME
2528
2529 Return a list of available fonts of family FAMILY on FRAME. If FAMILY
2530 is omitted or nil, list all families. Otherwise, FAMILY must be a
2531 string, possibly containing wildcards `?' and `*'.
2532
2533 If FRAME is omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Each element of
2534 the result is a vector [FAMILY WIDTH POINT-SIZE WEIGHT SLANT FIXED-P
2535 FULL REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING]. FAMILY is the font family name.
2536 POINT-SIZE is the size of the font in 1/10 pt. WIDTH, WEIGHT, and
2537 SLANT are symbols describing the width, weight and slant of the font.
2538 These symbols are the same as for face attributes. FIXED-P is non-nil
2539 if the font is fixed-pitch. FULL is the full name of the font, and
2540 REGISTRY-AND-ENCODING is a string giving the registry and encoding of
2541 the font. The result list is sorted according to the current setting
2542 of the face font sort order.
2543
2544 - Function: x-font-family-list
2545
2546 Return a list of available font families on FRAME. If FRAME is
2547 omitted or nil, use the selected frame. Value is a list of conses
2548 (FAMILY . FIXED-P) where FAMILY is a font family, and FIXED-P is
2549 non-nil if fonts of that family are fixed-pitch.
2550
2551 - Variable: font-list-limit
2552
2553 Limit for font matching. If an integer > 0, font matching functions
2554 won't load more than that number of fonts when searching for a
2555 matching font. The default is currently 100.
2556
2557 +++
2558 *** Setting face attributes.
2559
2560 For the most part, the new face implementation is interface-compatible
2561 with the old one. Old face attribute related functions are now
2562 implemented in terms of the new functions `set-face-attribute' and
2563 `face-attribute'.
2564
2565 Face attributes are identified by their names which are keyword
2566 symbols. All attributes can be set to `unspecified'.
2567
2568 The following attributes are recognized:
2569
2570 `:family'
2571
2572 VALUE must be a string specifying the font family, e.g. ``courier'',
2573 or a fontset alias name. If a font family is specified, wild-cards `*'
2574 and `?' are allowed.
2575
2576 `:width'
2577
2578 VALUE specifies the relative proportionate width of the font to use.
2579 It must be one of the symbols `ultra-condensed', `extra-condensed',
2580 `condensed', `semi-condensed', `normal', `semi-expanded', `expanded',
2581 `extra-expanded', or `ultra-expanded'.
2582
2583 `:height'
2584
2585 VALUE must be an integer specifying the height of the font to use in
2586 1/10 pt.
2587
2588 `:weight'
2589
2590 VALUE specifies the weight of the font to use. It must be one of the
2591 symbols `ultra-bold', `extra-bold', `bold', `semi-bold', `normal',
2592 `semi-light', `light', `extra-light', `ultra-light'.
2593
2594 `:slant'
2595
2596 VALUE specifies the slant of the font to use. It must be one of the
2597 symbols `italic', `oblique', `normal', `reverse-italic', or
2598 `reverse-oblique'.
2599
2600 `:foreground', `:background'
2601
2602 VALUE must be a color name, a string.
2603
2604 `:underline'
2605
2606 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be underlined. If
2607 VALUE is t, underline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is
2608 a string, underline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly
2609 don't underline.
2610
2611 `:overline'
2612
2613 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be overlined. If
2614 VALUE is t, overline with foreground color of the face. If VALUE is a
2615 string, overline with that color. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't
2616 overline.
2617
2618 `:strike-through'
2619
2620 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be drawn with a line
2621 striking through them. If VALUE is t, use the foreground color of the
2622 face. If VALUE is a string, strike-through with that color. If VALUE
2623 is nil, explicitly don't strike through.
2624
2625 `:box'
2626
2627 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should have a box drawn
2628 around them. If VALUE is nil, explicitly don't draw boxes. If
2629 VALUE is t, draw a box with lines of width 1 in the foreground color
2630 of the face. If VALUE is a string, the string must be a color name,
2631 and the box is drawn in that color with a line width of 1. Otherwise,
2632 VALUE must be a property list of the form `(:line-width WIDTH
2633 :color COLOR :style STYLE)'. If a keyword/value pair is missing from
2634 the property list, a default value will be used for the value, as
2635 specified below. WIDTH specifies the width of the lines to draw; it
2636 defaults to 1. COLOR is the name of the color to draw in, default is
2637 the foreground color of the face for simple boxes, and the background
2638 color of the face for 3D boxes. STYLE specifies whether a 3D box
2639 should be draw. If STYLE is `released-button', draw a box looking
2640 like a released 3D button. If STYLE is `pressed-button' draw a box
2641 that appears like a pressed button. If STYLE is nil, the default if
2642 the property list doesn't contain a style specification, draw a 2D
2643 box.
2644
2645 `:inverse-video'
2646
2647 VALUE specifies whether characters in FACE should be displayed in
2648 inverse video. VALUE must be one of t or nil.
2649
2650 `:stipple'
2651
2652 If VALUE is a string, it must be the name of a file of pixmap data.
2653 The directories listed in the `x-bitmap-file-path' variable are
2654 searched. Alternatively, VALUE may be a list of the form (WIDTH
2655 HEIGHT DATA) where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the size in pixels, and DATA
2656 is a string containing the raw bits of the bitmap. VALUE nil means
2657 explicitly don't use a stipple pattern.
2658
2659 For convenience, attributes `:family', `:width', `:height', `:weight',
2660 and `:slant' may also be set in one step from an X font name:
2661
2662 `:font'
2663
2664 Set font-related face attributes from VALUE. VALUE must be a valid
2665 XLFD font name. If it is a font name pattern, the first matching font
2666 is used--this is for compatibility with the behavior of previous
2667 versions of Emacs.
2668
2669 For compatibility with Emacs 20, keywords `:bold' and `:italic' can
2670 be used to specify that a bold or italic font should be used. VALUE
2671 must be t or nil in that case. A value of `unspecified' is not allowed."
2672
2673 Please see also the documentation of `set-face-attribute' and
2674 `defface'.
2675
2676 *** Face attributes and X resources
2677
2678 The following X resource names can be used to set face attributes
2679 from X resources:
2680
2681 Face attribute X resource class
2682 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
2683 :family attributeFamily . Face.AttributeFamily
2684 :width attributeWidth Face.AttributeWidth
2685 :height attributeHeight Face.AttributeHeight
2686 :weight attributeWeight Face.AttributeWeight
2687 :slant attributeSlant Face.AttributeSlant
2688 foreground attributeForeground Face.AttributeForeground
2689 :background attributeBackground . Face.AttributeBackground
2690 :overline attributeOverline Face.AttributeOverline
2691 :strike-through attributeStrikeThrough Face.AttributeStrikeThrough
2692 :box attributeBox Face.AttributeBox
2693 :underline attributeUnderline Face.AttributeUnderline
2694 :inverse-video attributeInverse Face.AttributeInverse
2695 :stipple attributeStipple Face.AttributeStipple
2696 or attributeBackgroundPixmap
2697 Face.AttributeBackgroundPixmap
2698 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2699 :bold attributeBold Face.AttributeBold
2700 :italic attributeItalic . Face.AttributeItalic
2701 :font attributeFont Face.AttributeFont
2702
2703 +++
2704 *** Text property `face'.
2705
2706 The value of the `face' text property can now be a single face
2707 specification or a list of such specifications. Each face
2708 specification can be
2709
2710 1. A symbol or string naming a Lisp face.
2711
2712 2. A property list of the form (KEYWORD VALUE ...) where each
2713 KEYWORD is a face attribute name, and VALUE is an appropriate value
2714 for that attribute. Please see the doc string of `set-face-attribute'
2715 for face attribute names.
2716
2717 3. Conses of the form (FOREGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) or
2718 (BACKGROUND-COLOR . COLOR) where COLOR is a color name. This is
2719 for compatibility with previous Emacs versions.
2720
2721 +++
2722 ** Support functions for colors on text-only terminals.
2723
2724 The function `tty-color-define' can be used to define colors for use
2725 on TTY and MSDOS frames. It maps a color name to a color number on
2726 the terminal. Emacs defines a couple of common color mappings by
2727 default. You can get defined colors with a call to
2728 `defined-colors'. The function `tty-color-clear' can be
2729 used to clear the mapping table.
2730
2731 ** Unified support for colors independent of frame type.
2732
2733 The new functions `defined-colors', `color-defined-p', `color-values',
2734 and `display-color-p' work for any type of frame. On frames whose
2735 type is neither x nor w32, these functions transparently map X-style
2736 color specifications to the closest colors supported by the frame
2737 display. Lisp programs should use these new functions instead of the
2738 old `x-defined-colors', `x-color-defined-p', `x-color-values', and
2739 `x-display-color-p'. (The old function names are still available for
2740 compatibility; they are now aliases of the new names.) Lisp programs
2741 should no more look at the value of the variable window-system to
2742 modify their color-related behavior.
2743
2744 The primitives `color-gray-p' and `color-supported-p' also work for
2745 any frame type.
2746
2747 ** Platform-independent functions to describe display capabilities.
2748
2749 The new functions `display-mouse-p', `display-popup-menus-p',
2750 `display-graphic-p', `display-selections-p', `display-screens',
2751 `display-pixel-width', `display-pixel-height', `display-mm-width',
2752 `display-mm-height', `display-backing-store', `display-save-under',
2753 `display-planes', `display-color-cells', `display-visual-class', and
2754 `display-grayscale-p' describe the basic capabilities of a particular
2755 display. Lisp programs should call these functions instead of testing
2756 the value of the variables `window-system' or `system-type', or calling
2757 platform-specific functions such as `x-display-pixel-width'.
2758
2759 +++
2760 ** The minibuffer prompt is now actually inserted in the minibuffer.
2761
2762 This makes it possible to scroll through the prompt, if you want to.
2763
2764 The function minubuffer-prompt-end returns the current position of the
2765 end of the minibuffer prompt, if the minibuffer is current.
2766 Otherwise, it returns zero.
2767
2768 ** New `field' abstraction in buffers.
2769
2770 There is now code to support an abstraction called `fields' in emacs
2771 buffers. A field is a contiguous region of text with the same `field'
2772 property (which can be a text property or an overlay).
2773
2774 Many emacs functions, such as forward-word, forward-sentence,
2775 forward-paragraph, beginning-of-line, etc., stop moving when they come
2776 to the boundary between fields; beginning-of-line and end-of-line will
2777 not let the point move past the field boundary, but other movement
2778 commands continue into the next field if repeated. Stopping at field
2779 boundaries can be suppressed programmatically by binding
2780 `inhibit-field-text-motion' to a non-nil value around calls to these
2781 functions.
2782
2783 Now that the minibuffer prompt is inserted into the minibuffer, it is in
2784 a separate field from the user-input part of the buffer, so that common
2785 editing commands treat the user's text separately from the prompt.
2786
2787 The following functions are defined for operating on fields:
2788
2789 - Function: constrain-to-field NEW-POS OLD-POS &optional ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE ONLY-IN-LINE INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY
2790
2791 Return the position closest to NEW-POS that is in the same field as OLD-POS.
2792
2793 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2794 If NEW-POS is nil, then the current point is used instead, and set to the
2795 constrained position if that is is different.
2796
2797 If OLD-POS is at the boundary of two fields, then the allowable
2798 positions for NEW-POS depends on the value of the optional argument
2799 ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE: If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is nil, then NEW-POS is
2800 constrained to the field that has the same `field' char-property
2801 as any new characters inserted at OLD-POS, whereas if ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2802 is non-nil, NEW-POS is constrained to the union of the two adjacent
2803 fields. Additionally, if two fields are separated by another field with
2804 the special value `boundary', then any point within this special field is
2805 also considered to be `on the boundary'.
2806
2807 If the optional argument ONLY-IN-LINE is non-nil and constraining
2808 NEW-POS would move it to a different line, NEW-POS is returned
2809 unconstrained. This useful for commands that move by line, like
2810 C-n or C-a, which should generally respect field boundaries
2811 only in the case where they can still move to the right line.
2812
2813 If the optional argument INHIBIT-CAPTURE-PROPERTY is non-nil, and OLD-POS has
2814 a non-nil property of that name, then any field boundaries are ignored.
2815
2816 Field boundaries are not noticed if `inhibit-field-text-motion' is non-nil.
2817
2818 - Function: delete-field &optional POS
2819
2820 Delete the field surrounding POS.
2821 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2822 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2823
2824 - Function: field-beginning &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2825
2826 Return the beginning of the field surrounding POS.
2827 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2828 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2829 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the beginning of its
2830 field, then the beginning of the *previous* field is returned.
2831
2832 - Function: field-end &optional POS ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE
2833
2834 Return the end of the field surrounding POS.
2835 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2836 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2837 If ESCAPE-FROM-EDGE is non-nil and POS is at the end of its field,
2838 then the end of the *following* field is returned.
2839
2840 - Function: field-string &optional POS
2841
2842 Return the contents of the field surrounding POS as a string.
2843 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2844 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2845
2846 - Function: field-string-no-properties &optional POS
2847
2848 Return the contents of the field around POS, without text-properties.
2849 A field is a region of text with the same `field' property.
2850 If POS is nil, the value of point is used for POS.
2851
2852 +++
2853 ** Image support.
2854
2855 Emacs can now display images. Images are inserted into text by giving
2856 strings or buffer text a `display' text property containing one of
2857 (AREA IMAGE) or IMAGE. The display of the `display' property value
2858 replaces the display of the characters having that property.
2859
2860 If the property value has the form (AREA IMAGE), AREA must be one of
2861 `(margin left-margin)', `(margin right-margin)' or `(margin nil)'. If
2862 AREA is `(margin nil)', IMAGE will be displayed in the text area of a
2863 window, otherwise it will be displayed in the left or right marginal
2864 area.
2865
2866 IMAGE is an image specification.
2867
2868 *** Image specifications
2869
2870 Image specifications are lists of the form `(image PROPS)' where PROPS
2871 is a property list whose keys are keyword symbols. Each
2872 specifications must contain a property `:type TYPE' with TYPE being a
2873 symbol specifying the image type, e.g. `xbm'. Properties not
2874 described below are ignored.
2875
2876 The following is a list of properties all image types share.
2877
2878 `:ascent ASCENT'
2879
2880 ASCENT must be a number in the range 0..100, or the symbol `center'.
2881 If it is a number, it specifies the percentage of the image's height
2882 to use for its ascent.
2883
2884 If not specified, ASCENT defaults to the value 50 which means that the
2885 image will be centered with the base line of the row it appears in.
2886
2887 If ASCENT is `center' the image is vertically centered around a
2888 centerline which is the vertical center of text drawn at the position
2889 of the image, in the manner specified by the text properties and
2890 overlays that apply to the image.
2891
2892 `:margin MARGIN'
2893
2894 MARGIN must be a number >= 0 specifying how many pixels to put as
2895 margin around the image. Default is 0.
2896
2897 `:relief RELIEF'
2898
2899 RELIEF is analogous to the `:relief' attribute of faces. Puts a relief
2900 around an image.
2901
2902 `:algorithm ALGO'
2903
2904 Apply an image algorithm to the image before displaying it. ALGO must
2905 be a symbol specifying the algorithm. Currently only `laplace' is
2906 supported which applies a Laplace edge detection algorithm to an image
2907 which is intended to display images "disabled."
2908
2909 `:heuristic-mask BG'
2910
2911 If BG is not nil, build a clipping mask for the image, so that the
2912 background of a frame is visible behind the image. If BG is t,
2913 determine the background color of the image by looking at the 4
2914 corners of the image, assuming the most frequently occuring color from
2915 the corners is the background color of the image. Otherwise, BG must
2916 be a list `(RED GREEN BLUE)' specifying the color to assume for the
2917 background of the image.
2918
2919 `:file FILE'
2920
2921 Load image from FILE. If FILE is not absolute after expanding it,
2922 search for the image in `data-directory'. Some image types support
2923 building images from data. When this is done, no `:file' property
2924 may be present in the image specification.
2925
2926 `:data DATA'
2927
2928 Get image data from DATA. (As of this writing, this is not yet
2929 supported for image type `postscript'). Either :file or :data may be
2930 present in an image specification, but not both. All image types
2931 support strings as DATA, some types allow additional types of DATA.
2932
2933 *** Supported image types
2934
2935 **** XBM, image type `xbm'.
2936
2937 XBM images don't require an external library. Additional image
2938 properties supported are
2939
2940 `:foreground FG'
2941
2942 FG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default
2943 is the frame's foreground.
2944
2945 `:background FG'
2946
2947 BG must be a string specifying the image foreground color. Default is
2948 the frame's background color.
2949
2950 XBM images can be constructed from data instead of file. In this
2951 case, the image specification must contain the following properties
2952 instead of a `:file' property.
2953
2954 `:width WIDTH'
2955
2956 WIDTH specifies the width of the image in pixels.
2957
2958 `:height HEIGHT'
2959
2960 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pixels.
2961
2962 `:data DATA'
2963
2964 DATA must be either
2965
2966 1. a string large enough to hold the bitmap data, i.e. it must
2967 have a size >= (WIDTH + 7) / 8 * HEIGHT
2968
2969 2. a bool-vector of size >= WIDTH * HEIGHT
2970
2971 3. a vector of strings or bool-vectors, one for each line of the
2972 bitmap.
2973
2974 4. a string that's an in-memory XBM file. Neither width nor
2975 height may be specified in this case because these are defined
2976 in the file.
2977
2978 **** XPM, image type `xpm'
2979
2980 XPM images require the external library `libXpm', package
2981 `xpm-3.4k.tar.gz', version 3.4k or later. Make sure the library is
2982 found when Emacs is configured by supplying appropriate paths via
2983 `--x-includes' and `--x-libraries'.
2984
2985 Additional image properties supported are:
2986
2987 `:color-symbols SYMBOLS'
2988
2989 SYMBOLS must be a list of pairs (NAME . COLOR), with NAME being the
2990 name of color as it appears in an XPM file, and COLOR being an X color
2991 name.
2992
2993 XPM images can be built from memory instead of files. In that case,
2994 add a `:data' property instead of a `:file' property.
2995
2996 The XPM library uses libz in its implementation so that it is able
2997 to display compressed images.
2998
2999 **** PBM, image type `pbm'
3000
3001 PBM images don't require an external library. Color, gray-scale and
3002 mono images are supported. There are no additional image properties
3003 defined.
3004
3005 **** JPEG, image type `jpeg'
3006
3007 Support for JPEG images requires the external library `libjpeg',
3008 package `jpegsrc.v6a.tar.gz', or later. Additional image properties
3009 are:
3010
3011 **** TIFF, image type `tiff'
3012
3013 Support for TIFF images requires the external library `libtiff',
3014 package `tiff-v3.4-tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3015 properties defined.
3016
3017 **** GIF, image type `gif'
3018
3019 Support for GIF images requires the external library `libungif', package
3020 `libungif-4.1.0', or later.
3021
3022 Additional image properties supported are:
3023
3024 `:index INDEX'
3025
3026 INDEX must be an integer >= 0. Load image number INDEX from a
3027 multi-image GIF file. An error is signalled if INDEX is too large.
3028
3029 This could be used to implement limited support for animated GIFs.
3030 For example, the following function displays a multi-image GIF file
3031 at point-min in the current buffer, switching between sub-images
3032 every 0.1 seconds.
3033
3034 (defun show-anim (file max)
3035 "Display multi-image GIF file FILE which contains MAX subimages."
3036 (display-anim (current-buffer) file 0 max t))
3037
3038 (defun display-anim (buffer file idx max first-time)
3039 (when (= idx max)
3040 (setq idx 0))
3041 (let ((img (create-image file nil nil :index idx)))
3042 (save-excursion
3043 (set-buffer buffer)
3044 (goto-char (point-min))
3045 (unless first-time (delete-char 1))
3046 (insert-image img "x"))
3047 (run-with-timer 0.1 nil 'display-anim buffer file (1+ idx) max nil)))
3048
3049 **** PNG, image type `png'
3050
3051 Support for PNG images requires the external library `libpng',
3052 package `libpng-1.0.2.tar.gz', or later. There are no additional image
3053 properties defined.
3054
3055 **** Ghostscript, image type `postscript'.
3056
3057 Additional image properties supported are:
3058
3059 `:pt-width WIDTH'
3060
3061 WIDTH is width of the image in pt (1/72 inch). WIDTH must be an
3062 integer. This is a required property.
3063
3064 `:pt-height HEIGHT'
3065
3066 HEIGHT specifies the height of the image in pt (1/72 inch). HEIGHT
3067 must be a integer. This is an required property.
3068
3069 `:bounding-box BOX'
3070
3071 BOX must be a list or vector of 4 integers giving the bounding box of
3072 the PS image, analogous to the `BoundingBox' comment found in PS
3073 files. This is an required property.
3074
3075 Part of the Ghostscript interface is implemented in Lisp. See
3076 lisp/gs.el.
3077
3078 *** Lisp interface.
3079
3080 The variable `image-types' contains a list of those image types
3081 which are supported in the current configuration.
3082
3083 Images are stored in an image cache and removed from the cache when
3084 they haven't been displayed for `image-cache-eviction-delay seconds.
3085 The function `clear-image-cache' can be used to clear the image cache
3086 manually. Images in the cache are compared with `equal', i.e. all
3087 images with `equal' specifications share the same image.
3088
3089 *** Simplified image API, image.el
3090
3091 The new Lisp package image.el contains functions that simplify image
3092 creation and putting images into text. The function `create-image'
3093 can be used to create images. The macro `defimage' can be used to
3094 define an image based on available image types. The functions
3095 `put-image' and `insert-image' can be used to insert an image into a
3096 buffer.
3097
3098 +++
3099 ** Display margins.
3100
3101 Windows can now have margins which are used for special text
3102 and images.
3103
3104 To give a window margins, either set the buffer-local variables
3105 `left-margin-width' and `right-margin-width', or call
3106 `set-window-margins'. The function `window-margins' can be used to
3107 obtain the current settings. To make `left-margin-width' and
3108 `right-margin-width' take effect, you must set them before displaying
3109 the buffer in a window, or use `set-window-buffer' to force an update
3110 of the display margins.
3111
3112 You can put text in margins by giving it a `display' text property
3113 containing a pair of the form `(LOCATION . VALUE)', where LOCATION is
3114 one of `left-margin' or `right-margin' or nil. VALUE can be either a
3115 string, an image specification or a stretch specification (see later
3116 in this file).
3117
3118 +++
3119 ** Help display
3120
3121 Emacs displays short help messages in the echo area, when the mouse
3122 moves over a tool-bar item or a piece of text that has a text property
3123 `help-echo'. This feature also applies to strings in the mode line
3124 that have a `help-echo' property.
3125
3126 If the value of the `help-echo' property is a function, that function
3127 is called with three arguments WINDOW, OBJECT and POSITION. WINDOW is
3128 the window in which the help was found.
3129
3130 If OBJECT is a buffer, POS is the position in the buffer where the
3131 `help-echo' text property was found.
3132
3133 If OBJECT is an overlay, that overlay has a `help-echo' property, and
3134 POS is the position in the overlay's buffer under the mouse.
3135
3136 If OBJECT is a string (an overlay string or a string displayed with
3137 the `display' property), POS is the position in that string under the
3138 mouse.
3139
3140 If the value of the `help-echo' property is neither a function nor a
3141 string, it is evaluated to obtain a help string.
3142
3143 For tool-bar and menu-bar items, their key definition is used to
3144 determine the help to display. If their definition contains a
3145 property `:help FORM', FORM is evaluated to determine the help string.
3146 For tool-bar items without a help form, the caption of the item is
3147 used as help string.
3148
3149 The hook `show-help-function' can be set to a function that displays
3150 the help string differently. For example, enabling a tooltip window
3151 causes the help display to appear there instead of in the echo area.
3152
3153 +++
3154 ** Vertical fractional scrolling.
3155
3156 The display of text in windows can be scrolled smoothly in pixels.
3157 This is useful, for example, for making parts of large images visible.
3158
3159 The function `window-vscroll' returns the current value of vertical
3160 scrolling, a non-negative fraction of the canonical character height.
3161 The function `set-window-vscroll' can be used to set the vertical
3162 scrolling value. Here is an example of how these function might be
3163 used.
3164
3165 (global-set-key [A-down]
3166 #'(lambda ()
3167 (interactive)
3168 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3169 (+ 0.5 (window-vscroll)))))
3170 (global-set-key [A-up]
3171 #'(lambda ()
3172 (interactive)
3173 (set-window-vscroll (selected-window)
3174 (- (window-vscroll) 0.5)))))
3175
3176 +++
3177 ** New hook `fontification-functions'.
3178
3179 Functions from `fontification-functions' are called from redisplay
3180 when it encounters a region of text that is not yet fontified. This
3181 variable automatically becomes buffer-local when set. Each function
3182 is called with one argument, POS.
3183
3184 At least one of the hook functions should fontify one or more
3185 characters starting at POS in the current buffer. It should mark them
3186 as fontified by giving them a non-nil value of the `fontified' text
3187 property. It may be reasonable for these functions to check for the
3188 `fontified' property and not put it back on, but they do not have to.
3189
3190 +++
3191 ** Tool bar support.
3192
3193 Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X. The frame
3194 parameter `tool-bar-lines' (X resource "toolBar", class "ToolBar")
3195 controls how may lines to reserve for the tool bar. A zero value
3196 suppresses the tool bar. If the value is non-zero and
3197 `auto-resize-tool-bars' is non-nil the tool bar's size will be changed
3198 automatically so that all tool bar items are visible.
3199
3200 *** Tool bar item definitions
3201
3202 Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
3203 `tool-bar'. For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
3204 where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.
3205
3206 CAPTION is the caption of the item, If it's not a string, it is
3207 evaluated to get a string. The caption is currently not displayed in
3208 the tool bar, but it is displayed if the item doesn't have a `:help'
3209 property (see below).
3210
3211 BINDING is the tool bar item's binding. Tool bar items with keymaps as
3212 binding are currently ignored.
3213
3214 The following properties are recognized:
3215
3216 `:enable FORM'.
3217
3218 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is enabled
3219 or disabled.
3220
3221 `:visible FORM'
3222
3223 FORM is evaluated and specifies whether the tool bar item is displayed.
3224
3225 `:filter FUNCTION'
3226
3227 FUNCTION is called with one parameter, the same list BINDING in which
3228 FUNCTION is specified as the filter. The value FUNCTION returns is
3229 used instead of BINDING to display this item.
3230
3231 `:button (TYPE SELECTED)'
3232
3233 TYPE must be one of `:radio' or `:toggle'. SELECTED is evaluated
3234 and specifies whether the button is selected (pressed) or not.
3235
3236 `:image IMAGES'
3237
3238 IMAGES is either a single image specification or a vector of four
3239 image specifications. If it is a vector, this table lists the
3240 meaning of each of the four elements:
3241
3242 Index Use when item is
3243 ----------------------------------------
3244 0 enabled and selected
3245 1 enabled and deselected
3246 2 disabled and selected
3247 3 disabled and deselected
3248
3249 If IMAGE is a single image specification, a Laplace edge-detection
3250 algorithm is used on that image to draw the image in disabled state.
3251
3252 `:help HELP-STRING'.
3253
3254 Gives a help string to display for the tool bar item. This help
3255 is displayed when the mouse is moved over the item.
3256
3257 *** Tool-bar-related variables.
3258
3259 If `auto-resize-tool-bar' is non-nil, the tool bar will automatically
3260 resize to show all defined tool bar items. It will never grow larger
3261 than 1/4 of the frame's size.
3262
3263 If `auto-raise-tool-bar-buttons' is non-nil, tool bar buttons will be
3264 raised when the mouse moves over them.
3265
3266 You can add extra space between tool bar items by setting
3267 `tool-bar-button-margin' to a positive integer specifying a number of
3268 pixels. Default is 1.
3269
3270 You can change the shadow thickness of tool bar buttons by setting
3271 `tool-bar-button-relief' to an integer. Default is 3.
3272
3273 *** Tool-bar clicks with modifiers.
3274
3275 You can bind commands to clicks with control, shift, meta etc. on
3276 a tool bar item. If
3277
3278 (define-key global-map [tool-bar shell]
3279 '(menu-item "Shell" shell
3280 :image (image :type xpm :file "shell.xpm")))
3281
3282 is the original tool bar item definition, then
3283
3284 (define-key global-map [tool-bar S-shell] 'some-command)
3285
3286 makes a binding to run `some-command' for a shifted click on the same
3287 item.
3288
3289 ** Mode line changes.
3290
3291 +++
3292 *** Mouse-sensitive mode line.
3293
3294 The mode line can be made mouse-sensitive by displaying strings there
3295 that have a `local-map' text property. There are three ways to display
3296 a string with a `local-map' property in the mode line.
3297
3298 1. The mode line spec contains a variable whose string value has
3299 a `local-map' text property.
3300
3301 2. The mode line spec contains a format specifier (e.g. `%12b'), and
3302 that format specifier has a `local-map' property.
3303
3304 3. The mode line spec contains a list containing `:eval FORM'. FORM
3305 is evaluated. If the result is a string, and that string has a
3306 `local-map' property.
3307
3308 The same mechanism is used to determine the `face' and `help-echo'
3309 properties of strings in the mode line. See `bindings.el' for an
3310 example.
3311
3312 *** If a mode line element has the form `(:eval FORM)', FORM is
3313 evaluated and the result is used as mode line element.
3314
3315 +++
3316 *** You can suppress mode-line display by setting the buffer-local
3317 variable mode-line-format to nil.
3318
3319 +++
3320 *** A headerline can now be displayed at the top of a window.
3321
3322 This mode line's contents are controlled by the new variable
3323 `header-line-format' and `default-header-line-format' which are
3324 completely analogous to `mode-line-format' and
3325 `default-mode-line-format'. A value of nil means don't display a top
3326 line.
3327
3328 The appearance of top mode lines is controlled by the face
3329 `header-line'.
3330
3331 The function `coordinates-in-window-p' returns `header-line' for a
3332 position in the header-line.
3333
3334 +++
3335 ** Text property `display'
3336
3337 The `display' text property is used to insert images into text, and
3338 also control other aspects of how text displays. The value of the
3339 `display' property should be a display specification, as described
3340 below, or a list or vector containing display specifications.
3341
3342 *** Variable width and height spaces
3343
3344 To display a space of fractional width or height, use a display
3345 specification of the form `(LOCATION STRECH)'. If LOCATION is
3346 `(margin left-margin)', the space is displayed in the left marginal
3347 area, if it is `(margin right-margin)', it is displayed in the right
3348 marginal area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the space is
3349 displayed in the text. In the latter case you can also use the
3350 simpler form STRETCH as property value.
3351
3352 The stretch specification STRETCH itself is a list of the form `(space
3353 PROPS)', where PROPS is a property list which can contain the
3354 properties described below.
3355
3356 The display of the fractional space replaces the display of the
3357 characters having the `display' property.
3358
3359 - :width WIDTH
3360
3361 Specifies that the space width should be WIDTH times the normal
3362 character width. WIDTH can be an integer or floating point number.
3363
3364 - :relative-width FACTOR
3365
3366 Specifies that the width of the stretch should be computed from the
3367 first character in a group of consecutive characters that have the
3368 same `display' property. The computation is done by multiplying the
3369 width of that character by FACTOR.
3370
3371 - :align-to HPOS
3372
3373 Specifies that the space should be wide enough to reach HPOS. The
3374 value HPOS is measured in units of the normal character width.
3375
3376 Exactly one of the above properties should be used.
3377
3378 - :height HEIGHT
3379
3380 Specifies the height of the space, as HEIGHT, measured in terms of the
3381 normal line height.
3382
3383 - :relative-height FACTOR
3384
3385 The height of the space is computed as the product of the height
3386 of the text having the `display' property and FACTOR.
3387
3388 - :ascent ASCENT
3389
3390 Specifies that ASCENT percent of the height of the stretch should be
3391 used for the ascent of the stretch, i.e. for the part above the
3392 baseline. The value of ASCENT must be a non-negative number less or
3393 equal to 100.
3394
3395 You should not use both `:height' and `:relative-height' together.
3396
3397 *** Images
3398
3399 A display specification for an image has the form `(LOCATION
3400 . IMAGE)', where IMAGE is an image specification. The image replaces,
3401 in the display, the characters having this display specification in
3402 their `display' text property. If LOCATION is `(margin left-margin)',
3403 the image will be displayed in the left marginal area, if it is
3404 `(margin right-margin)' it will be displayed in the right marginal
3405 area, and if LOCATION is `(margin nil)' the image will be displayed in
3406 the text. In the latter case you can also use the simpler form IMAGE
3407 as display specification.
3408
3409 *** Other display properties
3410
3411 - :space-width FACTOR
3412
3413 Specifies that space characters in the text having that property
3414 should be displayed FACTOR times as wide as normal; FACTOR must be an
3415 integer or float.
3416
3417 - :height HEIGHT
3418
3419 Display text having this property in a font that is smaller or larger.
3420
3421 If HEIGHT is a list of the form `(+ N)', where N is an integer, that
3422 means to use a font that is N steps larger. If HEIGHT is a list of
3423 the form `(- N)', that means to use a font that is N steps smaller. A
3424 ``step'' is defined by the set of available fonts; each size for which
3425 a font is available counts as a step.
3426
3427 If HEIGHT is a number, that means to use a font that is HEIGHT times
3428 as tall as the frame's default font.
3429
3430 If HEIGHT is a symbol, it is called as a function with the current
3431 height as argument. The function should return the new height to use.
3432
3433 Otherwise, HEIGHT is evaluated to get the new height, with the symbol
3434 `height' bound to the current specified font height.
3435
3436 - :raise FACTOR
3437
3438 FACTOR must be a number, specifying a multiple of the current
3439 font's height. If it is positive, that means to display the characters
3440 raised. If it is negative, that means to display them lower down. The
3441 amount of raising or lowering is computed without taking account of the
3442 `:height' subproperty.
3443
3444 *** Conditional display properties
3445
3446 All display specifications can be conditionalized. If a specification
3447 has the form `(:when CONDITION . SPEC)', the specification SPEC
3448 applies only when CONDITION yields a non-nil value when evaluated.
3449 During evaluattion, point is temporarily set to the end position of
3450 the text having the `display' property.
3451
3452 The normal specification consisting of SPEC only is equivalent to
3453 `(:when t SPEC)'.
3454
3455 +++
3456 ** New menu separator types.
3457
3458 Emacs now supports more than one menu separator type. Menu items with
3459 item names consisting of dashes only (including zero dashes) are
3460 treated like before. In addition, the following item names are used
3461 to specify other menu separator types.
3462
3463 - `--no-line' or `--space', or `--:space', or `--:noLine'
3464
3465 No separator lines are drawn, but a small space is inserted where the
3466 separator occurs.
3467
3468 - `--single-line' or `--:singleLine'
3469
3470 A single line in the menu's foreground color.
3471
3472 - `--double-line' or `--:doubleLine'
3473
3474 A double line in the menu's foreground color.
3475
3476 - `--single-dashed-line' or `--:singleDashedLine'
3477
3478 A single dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3479
3480 - `--double-dashed-line' or `--:doubleDashedLine'
3481
3482 A double dashed line in the menu's foreground color.
3483
3484 - `--shadow-etched-in' or `--:shadowEtchedIn'
3485
3486 A single line with 3D sunken appearance. This is the the form
3487 displayed for item names consisting of dashes only.
3488
3489 - `--shadow-etched-out' or `--:shadowEtchedOut'
3490
3491 A single line with 3D raised appearance.
3492
3493 - `--shadow-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedInDash'
3494
3495 A single dashed line with 3D sunken appearance.
3496
3497 - `--shadow-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowEtchedOutDash'
3498
3499 A single dashed line with 3D raise appearance.
3500
3501 - `--shadow-double-etched-in' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedIn'
3502
3503 Two lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3504
3505 - `--shadow-double-etched-out' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOut'
3506
3507 Two lines with 3D raised appearance.
3508
3509 - `--shadow-double-etched-in-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedInDash'
3510
3511 Two dashed lines with 3D sunken appearance.
3512
3513 - `--shadow-double-etched-out-dash' or `--:shadowDoubleEtchedOutDash'
3514
3515 Two dashed lines with 3D raised appearance.
3516
3517 Under LessTif/Motif, the last four separator types are displayed like
3518 the corresponding single-line separators.
3519
3520 +++
3521 ** New frame parameters for scroll bar colors.
3522
3523 The new frame parameters `scroll-bar-foreground' and
3524 `scroll-bar-background' can be used to change scroll bar colors.
3525 Their value must be either a color name, a string, or nil to specify
3526 that scroll bars should use a default color. For toolkit scroll bars,
3527 default colors are toolkit specific. For non-toolkit scroll bars, the
3528 default background is the background color of the frame, and the
3529 default foreground is black.
3530
3531 The X resource name of these parameters are `scrollBarForeground'
3532 (class ScrollBarForeground) and `scrollBarBackground' (class
3533 `ScrollBarBackground').
3534
3535 Setting these parameters overrides toolkit specific X resource
3536 settings for scroll bar colors.
3537
3538 +++
3539 ** You can set `redisplay-dont-pause' to a non-nil value to prevent
3540 display updates from being interrupted when input is pending.
3541
3542 ---
3543 ** Changing a window's width may now change its window start if it
3544 starts on a continuation line. The new window start is computed based
3545 on the window's new width, starting from the start of the continued
3546 line as the start of the screen line with the minimum distance from
3547 the original window start.
3548
3549 ---
3550 ** The variable `hscroll-step' and the functions
3551 `hscroll-point-visible' and `hscroll-window-column' have been removed
3552 now that proper horizontal scrolling is implemented.
3553
3554 +++
3555 ** Windows can now be made fixed-width and/or fixed-height.
3556
3557 A window is fixed-size if its buffer has a buffer-local variable
3558 `window-size-fixed' whose value is not nil. A value of `height' makes
3559 windows fixed-height, a value of `width' makes them fixed-width, any
3560 other non-nil value makes them both fixed-width and fixed-height.
3561
3562 The following code makes all windows displaying the current buffer
3563 fixed-width and fixed-height.
3564
3565 (set (make-local-variable 'window-size-fixed) t)
3566
3567 A call to enlarge-window on a window gives an error if that window is
3568 fixed-width and it is tried to change the window's width, or if the
3569 window is fixed-height, and it is tried to change its height. To
3570 change the size of a fixed-size window, bind `window-size-fixed'
3571 temporarily to nil, for example
3572
3573 (let ((window-size-fixed nil))
3574 (enlarge-window 10))
3575
3576 Likewise, an attempt to split a fixed-height window vertically,
3577 or a fixed-width window horizontally results in a error.
3578
3579 ** The cursor-type frame parameter is now supported on MS-DOS
3580 terminals. When Emacs starts, it by default changes the cursor shape
3581 to a solid box, as it does on Unix. The `cursor-type' frame parameter
3582 overrides this as it does on Unix, except that the bar cursor is
3583 horizontal rather than vertical (since the MS-DOS display doesn't
3584 support a vertical-bar cursor).
3585
3586
3587 ^L
3588 * Emacs 20.7 is a bug-fix release with few user-visible changes
3589
3590 ** It is now possible to use CCL-based coding systems for keyboard
3591 input.
3592
3593 ** ange-ftp now handles FTP security extensions, like Kerberos.
3594
3595 ** Rmail has been extended to recognize more forms of digest messages.
3596
3597 ** Now, most coding systems set in keyboard coding system work not
3598 only for character input, but also in incremental search. The
3599 exceptions are such coding systems that handle 2-byte character sets
3600 (e.g euc-kr, euc-jp) and that use ISO's escape sequence
3601 (e.g. iso-2022-jp). They are ignored in incremental search.
3602
3603 ** Support for Macintosh PowerPC-based machines running GNU/Linux has
3604 been added.
3605
3606 ^L
3607 * Emacs 20.6 is a bug-fix release with one user-visible change
3608
3609 ** Support for ARM-based non-RISCiX machines has been added.
3610
3611 ^L
3612 * Emacs 20.5 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
3613
3614 ** Not new, but not mentioned before:
3615 M-w when Transient Mark mode is enabled disables the mark.
3616 \f
3617 * Changes in Emacs 20.4
3618
3619 ** Init file may be called .emacs.el.
3620
3621 You can now call the Emacs init file `.emacs.el'.
3622 Formerly the name had to be `.emacs'. If you use the name
3623 `.emacs.el', you can byte-compile the file in the usual way.
3624
3625 If both `.emacs' and `.emacs.el' exist, the latter file
3626 is the one that is used.
3627
3628 ** shell-command, and shell-command-on-region, now return
3629 the exit code of the command (unless it is asynchronous).
3630 Also, you can specify a place to put the error output,
3631 separate from the command's regular output.
3632 Interactively, the variable shell-command-default-error-buffer
3633 says where to put error output; set it to a buffer name.
3634 In calls from Lisp, an optional argument ERROR-BUFFER specifies
3635 the buffer name.
3636
3637 When you specify a non-nil error buffer (or buffer name), any error
3638 output is inserted before point in that buffer, with \f\n to separate
3639 it from the previous batch of error output. The error buffer is not
3640 cleared, so error output from successive commands accumulates there.
3641
3642 ** Setting the default value of enable-multibyte-characters to nil in
3643 the .emacs file, either explicitly using setq-default, or via Custom,
3644 is now essentially equivalent to using --unibyte: all buffers
3645 created during startup will be made unibyte after loading .emacs.
3646
3647 ** C-x C-f now handles the wildcards * and ? in file names. For
3648 example, typing C-x C-f c*.c RET visits all the files whose names
3649 match c*.c. To visit a file whose name contains * or ?, add the
3650 quoting sequence /: to the beginning of the file name.
3651
3652 ** The M-x commands keep-lines, flush-lines and count-matches
3653 now have the same feature as occur and query-replace:
3654 if the pattern contains any upper case letters, then
3655 they never ignore case.
3656
3657 ** The end-of-line format conversion feature previously mentioned
3658 under `* Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows' actually
3659 applies to all operating systems. Emacs recognizes from the contents
3660 of a file what convention it uses to separate lines--newline, CRLF, or
3661 just CR--and automatically converts the contents to the normal Emacs
3662 convention (using newline to separate lines) for editing. This is a
3663 part of the general feature of coding system conversion.
3664
3665 If you subsequently save the buffer, Emacs converts the text back to
3666 the same format that was used in the file before.
3667
3668 You can turn off end-of-line conversion by setting the variable
3669 `inhibit-eol-conversion' to non-nil, e.g. with Custom in the MULE group.
3670
3671 ** The character set property `prefered-coding-system' has been
3672 renamed to `preferred-coding-system', for the sake of correct spelling.
3673 This is a fairly internal feature, so few programs should be affected.
3674
3675 ** Mode-line display of end-of-line format is changed.
3676 The indication of the end-of-line format of the file visited by a
3677 buffer is now more explicit when that format is not the usual one for
3678 your operating system. For example, the DOS-style end-of-line format
3679 is displayed as "(DOS)" on Unix and GNU/Linux systems. The usual
3680 end-of-line format is still displayed as a single character (colon for
3681 Unix, backslash for DOS and Windows, and forward slash for the Mac).
3682
3683 The values of the variables eol-mnemonic-unix, eol-mnemonic-dos,
3684 eol-mnemonic-mac, and eol-mnemonic-undecided, which are strings,
3685 control what is displayed in the mode line for each end-of-line
3686 format. You can now customize these variables.
3687
3688 ** In the previous version of Emacs, tar-mode didn't work well if a
3689 filename contained non-ASCII characters. Now this is fixed. Such a
3690 filename is decoded by file-name-coding-system if the default value of
3691 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil.
3692
3693 ** The command temp-buffer-resize-mode toggles a minor mode
3694 in which temporary buffers (such as help buffers) are given
3695 windows just big enough to hold the whole contents.
3696
3697 ** If you use completion.el, you must now run the function
3698 dynamic-completion-mode to enable it. Just loading the file
3699 doesn't have any effect.
3700
3701 ** In Flyspell mode, the default is now to make just one Ispell process,
3702 not one per buffer.
3703
3704 ** If you use iswitchb but do not call (iswitchb-default-keybindings) to
3705 use the default keybindings, you will need to add the following line:
3706 (add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'iswitchb-minibuffer-setup)
3707
3708 ** Auto-show mode is no longer enabled just by loading auto-show.el.
3709 To control it, set `auto-show-mode' via Custom or use the
3710 `auto-show-mode' command.
3711
3712 ** Handling of X fonts' ascent/descent parameters has been changed to
3713 avoid redisplay problems. As a consequence, compared with previous
3714 versions the line spacing and frame size now differ with some font
3715 choices, typically increasing by a pixel per line. This change
3716 occurred in version 20.3 but was not documented then.
3717
3718 ** If you select the bar cursor style, it uses the frame's
3719 cursor-color, rather than the cursor foreground pixel.
3720
3721 ** In multibyte mode, Rmail decodes incoming MIME messages using the
3722 character set specified in the message. If you want to disable this
3723 feature, set the variable rmail-decode-mime-charset to nil.
3724
3725 ** Not new, but not mentioned previously in NEWS: when you use #! at
3726 the beginning of a file to make it executable and specify an
3727 interpreter program, Emacs looks on the second line for the -*- mode
3728 and variable specification, as well as on the first line.
3729
3730 ** Support for IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters.
3731
3732 The new command M-x codepage-setup creates a special coding system
3733 that can be used to convert text between a specific IBM codepage and
3734 one of the character sets built into Emacs which matches that
3735 codepage. For example, codepage 850 corresponds to Latin-1 character
3736 set, codepage 855 corresponds to Cyrillic-ISO character set, etc.
3737
3738 Windows codepages 1250, 1251 and some others, where Windows deviates
3739 from the corresponding ISO character set, are also supported.
3740
3741 IBM box-drawing characters and other glyphs which don't have
3742 equivalents in the corresponding ISO character set, are converted to
3743 a character defined by dos-unsupported-char-glyph on MS-DOS, and to
3744 `?' on other systems.
3745
3746 IBM codepages are widely used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows, so this
3747 feature is most useful on those platforms, but it can also be used on
3748 Unix.
3749
3750 Emacs compiled for MS-DOS automatically loads the support for the
3751 current codepage when it starts.
3752
3753 ** Mail changes
3754
3755 *** When mail is sent using compose-mail (C-x m), and if
3756 `mail-send-nonascii' is set to the new default value `mime',
3757 appropriate MIME headers are added. The headers are added only if
3758 non-ASCII characters are present in the body of the mail, and no other
3759 MIME headers are already present. For example, the following three
3760 headers are added if the coding system used in the *mail* buffer is
3761 latin-1:
3762
3763 MIME-version: 1.0
3764 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
3765 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
3766
3767 *** The new variable default-sendmail-coding-system specifies the
3768 default way to encode outgoing mail. This has higher priority than
3769 default-buffer-file-coding-system but has lower priority than
3770 sendmail-coding-system and the local value of
3771 buffer-file-coding-system.
3772
3773 You should not set this variable manually. Instead, set
3774 sendmail-coding-system to specify a fixed encoding for all outgoing
3775 mail.
3776
3777 *** When you try to send a message that contains non-ASCII characters,
3778 if the coding system specified by those variables doesn't handle them,
3779 Emacs will ask you to select a suitable coding system while showing a
3780 list of possible coding systems.
3781
3782 ** CC Mode changes
3783
3784 *** c-default-style can now take an association list that maps major
3785 modes to style names. When this variable is an alist, Java mode no
3786 longer hardcodes a setting to "java" style. See the variable's
3787 docstring for details.
3788
3789 *** It's now possible to put a list as the offset on a syntactic
3790 symbol. The list is evaluated recursively until a non-nil offset is
3791 found. This is useful to combine several lineup functions to act in a
3792 prioritized order on a single line. However, none of the supplied
3793 lineup functions use this feature currently.
3794
3795 *** New syntactic symbol catch-clause, which is used on the "catch" and
3796 "finally" lines in try-catch constructs in C++ and Java.
3797
3798 *** New cleanup brace-catch-brace on c-cleanup-list, which does for
3799 "catch" lines what brace-elseif-brace does for "else if" lines.
3800
3801 *** The braces of Java anonymous inner classes are treated separately
3802 from the braces of other classes in auto-newline mode. Two new
3803 symbols inexpr-class-open and inexpr-class-close may be used on
3804 c-hanging-braces-alist to control the automatic newlines used for
3805 anonymous classes.
3806
3807 *** Support for the Pike language added, along with new Pike specific
3808 syntactic symbols: inlambda, lambda-intro-cont
3809
3810 *** Support for Java anonymous classes via new syntactic symbol
3811 inexpr-class. New syntactic symbol inexpr-statement for Pike
3812 support and gcc-style statements inside expressions. New lineup
3813 function c-lineup-inexpr-block.
3814
3815 *** New syntactic symbol brace-entry-open which is used in brace lists
3816 (i.e. static initializers) when a list entry starts with an open
3817 brace. These used to be recognized as brace-list-entry's.
3818 c-electric-brace also recognizes brace-entry-open braces
3819 (brace-list-entry's can no longer be electrified).
3820
3821 *** New command c-indent-line-or-region, not bound by default.
3822
3823 *** `#' is only electric when typed in the indentation of a line.
3824
3825 *** Parentheses are now electric (via the new command c-electric-paren)
3826 for auto-reindenting lines when parens are typed.
3827
3828 *** In "gnu" style, inline-open offset is now set to zero.
3829
3830 *** Uniform handling of the inclass syntactic symbol. The indentation
3831 associated with it is now always relative to the class opening brace.
3832 This means that the indentation behavior has changed in some
3833 circumstances, but only if you've put anything besides 0 on the
3834 class-open syntactic symbol (none of the default styles do that).
3835
3836 ** Gnus changes.
3837
3838 *** New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
3839 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See the
3840 Gnus manual for the full story.
3841
3842 *** The nndraft backend has returned, but works differently than
3843 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the nndraft
3844 group, which is created automatically.
3845
3846 *** `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
3847 values.
3848
3849 *** `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.
3850
3851 *** A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
3852 outside the region: `C-c C-v'.
3853
3854 *** You can now post to component group in nnvirtual groups with
3855 `C-u C-c C-c'.
3856
3857 *** `nntp-rlogin-program' -- new variable to ease customization.
3858
3859 *** `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
3860 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
3861
3862 *** New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers' -- `long-to'.
3863
3864 *** `M-i' symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
3865 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
3866
3867 *** `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
3868 `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
3869
3870 *** `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
3871 control over simplification.
3872
3873 *** `A T' -- new command for fetching the current thread.
3874
3875 *** `/ T' -- new command for including the current thread in the
3876 limit.
3877
3878 *** `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
3879
3880 *** \\1-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.
3881
3882 *** The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.
3883 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
3884 rewrite them to use `face-spec-set' instead.
3885
3886 *** Cancelling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
3887 `a' forces normal posting method.
3888
3889 *** New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper text
3890 -- `W d'.
3891
3892 *** For easier debugging of nntp, you can set `nntp-record-commands'
3893 to a non-nil value.
3894
3895 *** nntp now uses ~/.authinfo, a .netrc-like file, for controlling
3896 where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.
3897
3898 *** A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
3899 has been added.
3900
3901 *** A history of where mails have been split is available.
3902
3903 *** A new article date command has been added -- `article-date-iso8601'.
3904
3905 *** Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
3906 `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.
3907
3908 *** A new function for citing in Message has been added --
3909 `message-cite-original-without-signature'.
3910
3911 *** `article-strip-all-blank-lines' -- new article command.
3912
3913 *** A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
3914 been added.
3915
3916 *** A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
3917 `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.
3918
3919 *** The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
3920 updated by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.
3921
3922 *** Web listserv archives can be read with the nnlistserv backend.
3923
3924 *** Old dejanews archives can now be read by nnweb.
3925
3926 *** `gnus-posting-styles' has been re-activated.
3927
3928 ** Changes to TeX and LaTeX mode
3929
3930 *** The new variable `tex-start-options-string' can be used to give
3931 options for the TeX run. The default value causes TeX to run in
3932 nonstopmode. For an interactive TeX run set it to nil or "".
3933
3934 *** The command `tex-feed-input' sends input to the Tex Shell. In a
3935 TeX buffer it is bound to the keys C-RET, C-c RET, and C-c C-m (some
3936 of these keys may not work on all systems). For instance, if you run
3937 TeX interactively and if the TeX run stops because of an error, you
3938 can continue it without leaving the TeX buffer by typing C-RET.
3939
3940 *** The Tex Shell Buffer is now in `compilation-shell-minor-mode'.
3941 All error-parsing commands of the Compilation major mode are available
3942 but bound to keys that don't collide with the shell. Thus you can use
3943 the Tex Shell for command line executions like a usual shell.
3944
3945 *** The commands `tex-validate-region' and `tex-validate-buffer' check
3946 the matching of braces and $'s. The errors are listed in a *Occur*
3947 buffer and you can use C-c C-c or mouse-2 to go to a particular
3948 mismatch.
3949
3950 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
3951
3952 *** The table of contents buffer can now also display labels and
3953 file boundaries in addition to sections. Use `l', `i', and `c' keys.
3954
3955 *** Labels derived from context (the section heading) are now
3956 lowercase by default. To make the label legal in LaTeX, latin-1
3957 characters will lose their accent. All Mule characters will be
3958 removed from the label.
3959
3960 *** The automatic display of cross reference information can also use
3961 a window instead of the echo area. See variable `reftex-auto-view-crossref'.
3962
3963 *** kpsewhich can be used by RefTeX to find TeX and BibTeX files. See the
3964 customization group `reftex-finding-files'.
3965
3966 *** The option `reftex-bibfile-ignore-list' has been renamed to
3967 `reftex-bibfile-ignore-regexps' and indeed can be fed with regular
3968 expressions.
3969
3970 *** Multiple Selection buffers are now hidden buffers.
3971
3972 ** New/deleted modes and packages
3973
3974 *** The package snmp-mode.el provides major modes for editing SNMP and
3975 SNMPv2 MIBs. It has entries on `auto-mode-alist'.
3976
3977 *** The package sql.el provides a major mode, M-x sql-mode, for
3978 editing SQL files, and M-x sql-interactive-mode for interacting with
3979 SQL interpreters. It has an entry on `auto-mode-alist'.
3980
3981 *** M-x highlight-changes-mode provides a minor mode displaying buffer
3982 changes with a special face.
3983
3984 *** ispell4.el has been deleted. It got in the way of ispell.el and
3985 this was hard to fix reliably. It has long been obsolete -- use
3986 Ispell 3.1 and ispell.el.
3987 \f
3988 * MS-DOS changes in Emacs 20.4
3989
3990 ** Emacs compiled for MS-DOS now supports MULE features better.
3991 This includes support for display of all ISO 8859-N character sets,
3992 conversion to and from IBM codepage encoding of non-ASCII characters,
3993 and automatic setup of the MULE environment at startup. For details,
3994 check out the section `MS-DOS and MULE' in the manual.
3995
3996 The MS-DOS installation procedure automatically configures and builds
3997 Emacs with input method support if it finds an unpacked Leim
3998 distribution when the config.bat script is run.
3999
4000 ** Formerly, the value of lpr-command did not affect printing on
4001 MS-DOS unless print-region-function was set to nil, but now it
4002 controls whether an external program is invoked or output is written
4003 directly to a printer port. Similarly, in the previous version of
4004 Emacs, the value of ps-lpr-command did not affect PostScript printing
4005 on MS-DOS unless ps-printer-name was set to something other than a
4006 string (eg. t or `pipe'), but now it controls whether an external
4007 program is used. (These changes were made so that configuration of
4008 printing variables would be almost identical across all platforms.)
4009
4010 ** In the previous version of Emacs, PostScript and non-PostScript
4011 output was piped to external programs, but because most print programs
4012 available for MS-DOS and MS-Windows cannot read data from their standard
4013 input, on those systems the data to be output is now written to a
4014 temporary file whose name is passed as the last argument to the external
4015 program.
4016
4017 An exception is made for `print', a standard program on Windows NT,
4018 and `nprint', a standard program on Novell Netware. For both of these
4019 programs, the command line is constructed in the appropriate syntax
4020 automatically, using only the value of printer-name or ps-printer-name
4021 as appropriate--the value of the relevant `-switches' variable is
4022 ignored, as both programs have no useful switches.
4023
4024 ** The value of the variable dos-printer (cf. dos-ps-printer), if it has
4025 a value, overrides the value of printer-name (cf. ps-printer-name), on
4026 MS-DOS and MS-Windows only. This has been true since version 20.3, but
4027 was not documented clearly before.
4028
4029 ** All the Emacs games now work on MS-DOS terminals.
4030 This includes Tetris and Snake.
4031 \f
4032 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.4
4033
4034 ** New functions line-beginning-position and line-end-position
4035 return the position of the beginning or end of the current line.
4036 They both accept an optional argument, which has the same
4037 meaning as the argument to beginning-of-line or end-of-line.
4038
4039 ** find-file and allied functions now have an optional argument
4040 WILDCARD. If this is non-nil, they do wildcard processing,
4041 and visit all files that match the wildcard pattern.
4042
4043 ** Changes in the file-attributes function.
4044
4045 *** The file size returned by file-attributes may be an integer or a float.
4046 It is an integer if the size fits in a Lisp integer, float otherwise.
4047
4048 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
4049 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a cons cell containing two
4050 integers.
4051
4052 ** The new function directory-files-and-attributes returns a list of
4053 files in a directory and their attributes. It accepts the same
4054 arguments as directory-files and has similar semantics, except that
4055 file names and attributes are returned.
4056
4057 ** The new function file-attributes-lessp is a helper function for
4058 sorting the list generated by directory-files-and-attributes. It
4059 accepts two arguments, each a list of a file name and its atttributes.
4060 It compares the file names of each according to string-lessp and
4061 returns the result.
4062
4063 ** The new function file-expand-wildcards expands a wildcard-pattern
4064 to produce a list of existing files that match the pattern.
4065
4066 ** New functions for base64 conversion:
4067
4068 The function base64-encode-region converts a part of the buffer
4069 into the base64 code used in MIME. base64-decode-region
4070 performs the opposite conversion. Line-breaking is supported
4071 optionally.
4072
4073 Functions base64-encode-string and base64-decode-string do a similar
4074 job on the text in a string. They return the value as a new string.
4075
4076 **
4077 The new function process-running-child-p
4078 will tell you if a subprocess has given control of its
4079 terminal to its own child process.
4080
4081 ** interrupt-process and such functions have a new feature:
4082 when the second argument is `lambda', they send a signal
4083 to the running child of the subshell, if any, but if the shell
4084 itself owns its terminal, no signal is sent.
4085
4086 ** There are new widget types `plist' and `alist' which can
4087 be used for customizing variables whose values are plists or alists.
4088
4089 ** easymenu.el Now understands `:key-sequence' and `:style button'.
4090 :included is an alias for :visible.
4091
4092 easy-menu-add-item now understands the values returned by
4093 easy-menu-remove-item and easy-menu-item-present-p. This can be used
4094 to move or copy menu entries.
4095
4096 ** Multibyte editing changes
4097
4098 *** The definitions of sref and char-bytes are changed. Now, sref is
4099 an alias of aref and char-bytes always returns 1. This change is to
4100 make some Emacs Lisp code which works on 20.2 and earlier also
4101 work on the latest Emacs. Such code uses a combination of sref and
4102 char-bytes in a loop typically as below:
4103 (setq char (sref str idx)
4104 idx (+ idx (char-bytes idx)))
4105 The byte-compiler now warns that this is obsolete.
4106
4107 If you want to know how many bytes a specific multibyte character
4108 (say, CH) occupies in a multibyte buffer, use this code:
4109 (charset-bytes (char-charset ch))
4110
4111 *** In multibyte mode, when you narrow a buffer to some region, and the
4112 region is preceded or followed by non-ASCII codes, inserting or
4113 deleting at the head or the end of the region may signal this error:
4114
4115 Byte combining across boundary of accessible buffer text inhibitted
4116
4117 This is to avoid some bytes being combined together into a character
4118 across the boundary.
4119
4120 *** The functions find-charset-region and find-charset-string include
4121 `unknown' in the returned list in the following cases:
4122 o The current buffer or the target string is unibyte and
4123 contains 8-bit characters.
4124 o The current buffer or the target string is multibyte and
4125 contains invalid characters.
4126
4127 *** The functions decode-coding-region and encode-coding-region remove
4128 text properties of the target region. Ideally, they should correctly
4129 preserve text properties, but for the moment, it's hard. Removing
4130 text properties is better than preserving them in a less-than-correct
4131 way.
4132
4133 *** prefer-coding-system sets EOL conversion of default coding systems.
4134 If the argument to prefer-coding-system specifies a certain type of
4135 end of line conversion, the default coding systems set by
4136 prefer-coding-system will specify that conversion type for end of line.
4137
4138 *** The new function thai-compose-string can be used to properly
4139 compose Thai characters in a string.
4140
4141 ** The primitive `define-prefix-command' now takes an optional third
4142 argument NAME, which should be a string. It supplies the menu name
4143 for the created keymap. Keymaps created in order to be displayed as
4144 menus should always use the third argument.
4145
4146 ** The meanings of optional second arguments for read-char,
4147 read-event, and read-char-exclusive are flipped. Now the second
4148 arguments are INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. These functions use the current
4149 input method (if any) if and only if INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD is non-nil.
4150
4151 ** The new function clear-this-command-keys empties out the contents
4152 of the vector that (this-command-keys) returns. This is useful in
4153 programs that read passwords, to prevent the passwords from echoing
4154 inadvertently as part of the next command in certain cases.
4155
4156 ** The new macro `with-temp-message' displays a temporary message in
4157 the echo area, while executing some Lisp code. Like `progn', it
4158 returns the value of the last form, but it also restores the previous
4159 echo area contents.
4160
4161 (with-temp-message MESSAGE &rest BODY)
4162
4163 ** The function `require' now takes an optional third argument
4164 NOERROR. If it is non-nil, then there is no error if the
4165 requested feature cannot be loaded.
4166
4167 ** In the function modify-face, an argument of (nil) for the
4168 foreground color, background color or stipple pattern
4169 means to clear out that attribute.
4170
4171 ** The `outer-window-id' frame property of an X frame
4172 gives the window number of the outermost X window for the frame.
4173
4174 ** Temporary buffers made with with-output-to-temp-buffer are now
4175 read-only by default, and normally use the major mode Help mode
4176 unless you put them in some other non-Fundamental mode before the
4177 end of with-output-to-temp-buffer.
4178
4179 ** The new functions gap-position and gap-size return information on
4180 the gap of the current buffer.
4181
4182 ** The new functions position-bytes and byte-to-position provide a way
4183 to convert between character positions and byte positions in the
4184 current buffer.
4185
4186 ** vc.el defines two new macros, `edit-vc-file' and `with-vc-file', to
4187 facilitate working with version-controlled files from Lisp programs.
4188 These macros check out a given file automatically if needed, and check
4189 it back in after any modifications have been made.
4190 \f
4191 * Installation Changes in Emacs 20.3
4192
4193 ** The default value of load-path now includes most subdirectories of
4194 the site-specific directories /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp and
4195 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, in addition to those
4196 directories themselves. Both immediate subdirectories and
4197 subdirectories multiple levels down are added to load-path.
4198
4199 Not all subdirectories are included, though. Subdirectories whose
4200 names do not start with a letter or digit are excluded.
4201 Subdirectories named RCS or CVS are excluded. Also, a subdirectory
4202 which contains a file named `.nosearch' is excluded. You can use
4203 these methods to prevent certain subdirectories from being searched.
4204
4205 Emacs finds these subdirectories and adds them to load-path when it
4206 starts up. While it would be cleaner to find the subdirectories each
4207 time Emacs loads a file, that would be much slower.
4208
4209 This feature is an incompatible change. If you have stored some Emacs
4210 Lisp files in a subdirectory of the site-lisp directory specifically
4211 to prevent them from being used, you will need to rename the
4212 subdirectory to start with a non-alphanumeric character, or create a
4213 `.nosearch' file in it, in order to continue to achieve the desired
4214 results.
4215
4216 ** Emacs no longer includes an old version of the C preprocessor from
4217 GCC. This was formerly used to help compile Emacs with C compilers
4218 that had limits on the significant length of an identifier, but in
4219 fact we stopped supporting such compilers some time ago.
4220 \f
4221 * Changes in Emacs 20.3
4222
4223 ** The new command C-x z (repeat) repeats the previous command
4224 including its argument. If you repeat the z afterward,
4225 it repeats the command additional times; thus, you can
4226 perform many repetitions with one keystroke per repetition.
4227
4228 ** Emacs now supports "selective undo" which undoes only within a
4229 specified region. To do this, set point and mark around the desired
4230 region and type C-u C-x u (or C-u C-_). You can then continue undoing
4231 further, within the same region, by repeating the ordinary undo
4232 command C-x u or C-_. This will keep undoing changes that were made
4233 within the region you originally specified, until either all of them
4234 are undone, or it encounters a change which crosses the edge of that
4235 region.
4236
4237 In Transient Mark mode, undoing when a region is active requests
4238 selective undo.
4239
4240 ** If you specify --unibyte when starting Emacs, then all buffers are
4241 unibyte, except when a Lisp program specifically creates a multibyte
4242 buffer. Setting the environment variable EMACS_UNIBYTE has the same
4243 effect. The --no-unibyte option overrides EMACS_UNIBYTE and directs
4244 Emacs to run normally in multibyte mode.
4245
4246 The option --unibyte does not affect the reading of Emacs Lisp files,
4247 though. If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode, use
4248 -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line. That will force Emacs to
4249 load that file in unibyte mode, regardless of how Emacs was started.
4250
4251 ** toggle-enable-multibyte-characters no longer has a key binding and
4252 no longer appears in the menu bar. We've realized that changing the
4253 enable-multibyte-characters variable in an existing buffer is
4254 something that most users not do.
4255
4256 ** You can specify a coding system to use for the next cut or paste
4257 operations through the window system with the command C-x RET X.
4258 The coding system can make a difference for communication with other
4259 applications.
4260
4261 C-x RET x specifies a coding system for all subsequent cutting and
4262 pasting operations.
4263
4264 ** You can specify the printer to use for commands that do printing by
4265 setting the variable `printer-name'. Just what a printer name looks
4266 like depends on your operating system. You can specify a different
4267 printer for the Postscript printing commands by setting
4268 `ps-printer-name'.
4269
4270 ** Emacs now supports on-the-fly spell checking by the means of a
4271 minor mode. It is called M-x flyspell-mode. You don't have to remember
4272 any other special commands to use it, and you will hardly notice it
4273 except when you make a spelling error. Flyspell works by highlighting
4274 incorrect words as soon as they are completed or as soon as the cursor
4275 hits a new word.
4276
4277 Flyspell mode works with whichever dictionary you have selected for
4278 Ispell in Emacs. In TeX mode, it understands TeX syntax so as not
4279 to be confused by TeX commands.
4280
4281 You can correct a misspelled word by editing it into something
4282 correct. You can also correct it, or accept it as correct, by
4283 clicking on the word with Mouse-2; that gives you a pop-up menu
4284 of various alternative replacements and actions.
4285
4286 Flyspell mode also proposes "automatic" corrections. M-TAB replaces
4287 the current misspelled word with a possible correction. If several
4288 corrections are made possible, M-TAB cycles through them in
4289 alphabetical order, or in order of decreasing likelihood if
4290 flyspell-sort-corrections is nil.
4291
4292 Flyspell mode also flags an error when a word is repeated, if
4293 flyspell-mark-duplications-flag is non-nil.
4294
4295 ** Changes in input method usage.
4296
4297 Now you can use arrow keys (right, left, down, up) for selecting among
4298 the alternatives just the same way as you do by C-f, C-b, C-n, and C-p
4299 respectively.
4300
4301 You can use the ENTER key to accept the current conversion.
4302
4303 If you type TAB to display a list of alternatives, you can select one
4304 of the alternatives with Mouse-2.
4305
4306 The meaning of the variable `input-method-verbose-flag' is changed so
4307 that you can set it to t, nil, `default', or `complex-only'.
4308
4309 If the value is nil, extra guidance is never given.
4310
4311 If the value is t, extra guidance is always given.
4312
4313 If the value is `complex-only', extra guidance is always given only
4314 when you are using complex input methods such as chinese-py.
4315
4316 If the value is `default' (this is the default), extra guidance is
4317 given in the following case:
4318 o When you are using a complex input method.
4319 o When you are using a simple input method but not in the minibuffer.
4320
4321 If you are using Emacs through a very slow line, setting
4322 input-method-verbose-flag to nil or to complex-only is a good choice,
4323 and if you are using an input method you are not familiar with,
4324 setting it to t is helpful.
4325
4326 The old command select-input-method is now called set-input-method.
4327
4328 In the language environment "Korean", you can use the following
4329 keys:
4330 Shift-SPC toggle-korean-input-method
4331 C-F9 quail-hangul-switch-symbol-ksc
4332 F9 quail-hangul-switch-hanja
4333 These key bindings are canceled when you switch to another language
4334 environment.
4335
4336 ** The minibuffer history of file names now records the specified file
4337 names, not the entire minibuffer input. For example, if the
4338 minibuffer starts out with /usr/foo/, you might type in /etc/passwd to
4339 get
4340
4341 /usr/foo//etc/passwd
4342
4343 which stands for the file /etc/passwd.
4344
4345 Formerly, this used to put /usr/foo//etc/passwd in the history list.
4346 Now this puts just /etc/passwd in the history list.
4347
4348 ** If you are root, Emacs sets backup-by-copying-when-mismatch to t
4349 at startup, so that saving a file will be sure to preserve
4350 its owner and group.
4351
4352 ** find-func.el can now also find the place of definition of Emacs
4353 Lisp variables in user-loaded libraries.
4354
4355 ** C-x r t (string-rectangle) now deletes the existing rectangle
4356 contents before inserting the specified string on each line.
4357
4358 ** There is a new command delete-whitespace-rectangle
4359 which deletes whitespace starting from a particular column
4360 in all the lines on a rectangle. The column is specified
4361 by the left edge of the rectangle.
4362
4363 ** You can now store a number into a register with C-u NUMBER C-x r n REG,
4364 increment it by INC with C-u INC C-x r + REG (to increment by one, omit
4365 C-u INC), and insert it in the buffer with C-x r g REG. This is useful
4366 for writing keyboard macros.
4367
4368 ** The new command M-x speedbar displays a frame in which directories,
4369 files, and tags can be displayed, manipulated, and jumped to. The
4370 frame defaults to 20 characters in width, and is the same height as
4371 the frame that it was started from. Some major modes define
4372 additional commands for the speedbar, including Rmail, GUD/GDB, and
4373 info.
4374
4375 ** query-replace-regexp is now bound to C-M-%.
4376
4377 ** In Transient Mark mode, when the region is active, M-x
4378 query-replace and the other replace commands now operate on the region
4379 contents only.
4380
4381 ** M-x write-region, when used interactively, now asks for
4382 confirmation before overwriting an existing file. When you call
4383 the function from a Lisp program, a new optional argument CONFIRM
4384 says whether to ask for confirmation in this case.
4385
4386 ** If you use find-file-literally and the file is already visited
4387 non-literally, the command asks you whether to revisit the file
4388 literally. If you say no, it signals an error.
4389
4390 ** Major modes defined with the "derived mode" feature
4391 now use the proper name for the mode hook: WHATEVER-mode-hook.
4392 Formerly they used the name WHATEVER-mode-hooks, but that is
4393 inconsistent with Emacs conventions.
4394
4395 ** shell-command-on-region (and shell-command) reports success or
4396 failure if the command produces no output.
4397
4398 ** Set focus-follows-mouse to nil if your window system or window
4399 manager does not transfer focus to another window when you just move
4400 the mouse.
4401
4402 ** mouse-menu-buffer-maxlen has been renamed to
4403 mouse-buffer-menu-maxlen to be consistent with the other related
4404 function and variable names.
4405
4406 ** The new variable auto-coding-alist specifies coding systems for
4407 reading specific files. This has higher priority than
4408 file-coding-system-alist.
4409
4410 ** If you set the variable unibyte-display-via-language-environment to
4411 t, then Emacs displays non-ASCII characters are displayed by
4412 converting them to the equivalent multibyte characters according to
4413 the current language environment. As a result, they are displayed
4414 according to the current fontset.
4415
4416 ** C-q's handling of codes in the range 0200 through 0377 is changed.
4417
4418 The codes in the range 0200 through 0237 are inserted as one byte of
4419 that code regardless of the values of nonascii-translation-table and
4420 nonascii-insert-offset.
4421
4422 For the codes in the range 0240 through 0377, if
4423 enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil and nonascii-translation-table
4424 nor nonascii-insert-offset can't convert them to valid multibyte
4425 characters, they are converted to Latin-1 characters.
4426
4427 ** If you try to find a file that is not read-accessible, you now get
4428 an error, rather than an empty buffer and a warning.
4429
4430 ** In the minibuffer history commands M-r and M-s, an upper case
4431 letter in the regular expression forces case-sensitive search.
4432
4433 ** In the *Help* buffer, cross-references to commands and variables
4434 are inferred and hyperlinked. Use C-h m in Help mode for the relevant
4435 command keys.
4436
4437 ** M-x apropos-command, with a prefix argument, no longer looks for
4438 user option variables--instead it looks for noninteractive functions.
4439
4440 Meanwhile, the command apropos-variable normally searches for
4441 user option variables; with a prefix argument, it looks at
4442 all variables that have documentation.
4443
4444 ** When you type a long line in the minibuffer, and the minibuffer
4445 shows just one line, automatically scrolling works in a special way
4446 that shows you overlap with the previous line of text. The variable
4447 minibuffer-scroll-overlap controls how many characters of overlap
4448 it should show; the default is 20.
4449
4450 Meanwhile, Resize Minibuffer mode is still available; in that mode,
4451 the minibuffer grows taller (up to a point) as needed to show the whole
4452 of your input.
4453
4454 ** The new command M-x customize-changed-options lets you customize
4455 all the options whose meanings or default values have changed in
4456 recent Emacs versions. You specify a previous Emacs version number as
4457 argument, and the command creates a customization buffer showing all
4458 the customizable options which were changed since that version.
4459 Newly added options are included as well.
4460
4461 If you don't specify a particular version number argument,
4462 then the customization buffer shows all the customizable options
4463 for which Emacs versions of changes are recorded.
4464
4465 This function is also bound to the Changed Options entry in the
4466 Customize menu.
4467
4468 ** When you run M-x grep with a prefix argument, it figures out
4469 the tag around point and puts that into the default grep command.
4470
4471 ** The new command M-* (pop-tag-mark) pops back through a history of
4472 buffer positions from which M-. or other tag-finding commands were
4473 invoked.
4474
4475 ** The new variable comment-padding specifies the number of spaces
4476 that `comment-region' will insert before the actual text of the comment.
4477 The default is 1.
4478
4479 ** In Fortran mode the characters `.', `_' and `$' now have symbol
4480 syntax, not word syntax. Fortran mode now supports `imenu' and has
4481 new commands fortran-join-line (M-^) and fortran-narrow-to-subprogram
4482 (C-x n d). M-q can be used to fill a statement or comment block
4483 sensibly.
4484
4485 ** GUD now supports jdb, the Java debugger, and pdb, the Python debugger.
4486
4487 ** If you set the variable add-log-keep-changes-together to a non-nil
4488 value, the command `C-x 4 a' will automatically notice when you make
4489 two entries in one day for one file, and combine them.
4490
4491 ** You can use the command M-x diary-mail-entries to mail yourself a
4492 reminder about upcoming diary entries. See the documentation string
4493 for a sample shell script for calling this function automatically
4494 every night.
4495
4496 ** Desktop changes
4497
4498 *** All you need to do to enable use of the Desktop package, is to set
4499 the variable desktop-enable to t with Custom.
4500
4501 *** Minor modes are now restored. Which minor modes are restored
4502 and how modes are restored is controlled by `desktop-minor-mode-table'.
4503
4504 ** There is no need to do anything special, now, to enable Gnus to
4505 read and post multi-lingual articles.
4506
4507 ** Outline mode has now support for showing hidden outlines when
4508 doing an isearch. In order for this to happen search-invisible should
4509 be set to open (the default). If an isearch match is inside a hidden
4510 outline the outline is made visible. If you continue pressing C-s and
4511 the match moves outside the formerly invisible outline, the outline is
4512 made invisible again.
4513
4514 ** Mail reading and sending changes
4515
4516 *** The Rmail e command now switches to displaying the whole header of
4517 the message before it lets you edit the message. This is so that any
4518 changes you make in the header will not be lost if you subsequently
4519 toggle.
4520
4521 *** The w command in Rmail, which writes the message body into a file,
4522 now works in the summary buffer as well. (The command to delete the
4523 summary buffer is now Q.) The default file name for the w command, if
4524 the message has no subject, is stored in the variable
4525 rmail-default-body-file.
4526
4527 *** Most of the commands and modes that operate on mail and netnews no
4528 longer depend on the value of mail-header-separator. Instead, they
4529 handle whatever separator the buffer happens to use.
4530
4531 *** If you set mail-signature to a value which is not t, nil, or a string,
4532 it should be an expression. When you send a message, this expression
4533 is evaluated to insert the signature.
4534
4535 *** The new Lisp library feedmail.el (version 8) enhances processing of
4536 outbound email messages. It works in coordination with other email
4537 handling packages (e.g., rmail, VM, gnus) and is responsible for
4538 putting final touches on messages and actually submitting them for
4539 transmission. Users of the emacs program "fakemail" might be
4540 especially interested in trying feedmail.
4541
4542 feedmail is not enabled by default. See comments at the top of
4543 feedmail.el for set-up instructions. Among the bigger features
4544 provided by feedmail are:
4545
4546 **** you can park outgoing messages into a disk-based queue and
4547 stimulate sending some or all of them later (handy for laptop users);
4548 there is also a queue for draft messages
4549
4550 **** you can get one last look at the prepped outbound message and
4551 be prompted for confirmation
4552
4553 **** does smart filling of address headers
4554
4555 **** can generate a MESSAGE-ID: line and a DATE: line; the date can be
4556 the time the message was written or the time it is being sent; this
4557 can make FCC copies more closely resemble copies that recipients get
4558
4559 **** you can specify an arbitrary function for actually transmitting
4560 the message; included in feedmail are interfaces for /bin/[r]mail,
4561 /usr/lib/sendmail, and elisp smtpmail; it's easy to write a new
4562 function for something else (10-20 lines of elisp)
4563
4564 ** Dired changes
4565
4566 *** The Dired function dired-do-toggle, which toggles marked and unmarked
4567 files, is now bound to "t" instead of "T".
4568
4569 *** dired-at-point has been added to ffap.el. It allows one to easily
4570 run Dired on the directory name at point.
4571
4572 *** Dired has a new command: %g. It searches the contents of
4573 files in the directory and marks each file that contains a match
4574 for a specified regexp.
4575
4576 ** VC Changes
4577
4578 *** New option vc-ignore-vc-files lets you turn off version control
4579 conveniently.
4580
4581 *** VC Dired has been completely rewritten. It is now much
4582 faster, especially for CVS, and works very similar to ordinary
4583 Dired.
4584
4585 VC Dired is invoked by typing C-x v d and entering the name of the
4586 directory to display. By default, VC Dired gives you a recursive
4587 listing of all files at or below the given directory which are
4588 currently locked (for CVS, all files not up-to-date are shown).
4589
4590 You can change the listing format by setting vc-dired-recurse to nil,
4591 then it shows only the given directory, and you may also set
4592 vc-dired-terse-display to nil, then it shows all files under version
4593 control plus the names of any subdirectories, so that you can type `i'
4594 on such lines to insert them manually, as in ordinary Dired.
4595
4596 All Dired commands operate normally in VC Dired, except for `v', which
4597 is redefined as the version control prefix. That means you may type
4598 `v l', `v =' etc. to invoke `vc-print-log', `vc-diff' and the like on
4599 the file named in the current Dired buffer line. `v v' invokes
4600 `vc-next-action' on this file, or on all files currently marked.
4601
4602 The new command `v t' (vc-dired-toggle-terse-mode) allows you to
4603 toggle between terse display (only locked files) and full display (all
4604 VC files plus subdirectories). There is also a special command,
4605 `* l', to mark all files currently locked.
4606
4607 Giving a prefix argument to C-x v d now does the same thing as in
4608 ordinary Dired: it allows you to supply additional options for the ls
4609 command in the minibuffer, to fine-tune VC Dired's output.
4610
4611 *** Under CVS, if you merge changes from the repository into a working
4612 file, and CVS detects conflicts, VC now offers to start an ediff
4613 session to resolve them.
4614
4615 Alternatively, you can use the new command `vc-resolve-conflicts' to
4616 resolve conflicts in a file at any time. It works in any buffer that
4617 contains conflict markers as generated by rcsmerge (which is what CVS
4618 uses as well).
4619
4620 *** You can now transfer changes between branches, using the new
4621 command vc-merge (C-x v m). It is implemented for RCS and CVS. When
4622 you invoke it in a buffer under version-control, you can specify
4623 either an entire branch or a pair of versions, and the changes on that
4624 branch or between the two versions are merged into the working file.
4625 If this results in any conflicts, they may be resolved interactively,
4626 using ediff.
4627
4628 ** Changes in Font Lock
4629
4630 *** The face and variable previously known as font-lock-reference-face
4631 are now called font-lock-constant-face to better reflect their typical
4632 use for highlighting constants and labels. (Its face properties are
4633 unchanged.) The variable font-lock-reference-face remains for now for
4634 compatibility reasons, but its value is font-lock-constant-face.
4635
4636 ** Frame name display changes
4637
4638 *** The command set-frame-name lets you set the name of the current
4639 frame. You can use the new command select-frame-by-name to select and
4640 raise a frame; this is mostly useful on character-only terminals, or
4641 when many frames are invisible or iconified.
4642
4643 *** On character-only terminal (not a window system), changing the
4644 frame name is now reflected on the mode line and in the Buffers/Frames
4645 menu.
4646
4647 ** Comint (subshell) changes
4648
4649 *** In Comint modes, the commands to kill, stop or interrupt a
4650 subjob now also kill pending input. This is for compatibility
4651 with ordinary shells, where the signal characters do this.
4652
4653 *** There are new commands in Comint mode.
4654
4655 C-c C-x fetches the "next" line from the input history;
4656 that is, the line after the last line you got.
4657 You can use this command to fetch successive lines, one by one.
4658
4659 C-c SPC accumulates lines of input. More precisely, it arranges to
4660 send the current line together with the following line, when you send
4661 the following line.
4662
4663 C-c C-a if repeated twice consecutively now moves to the process mark,
4664 which separates the pending input from the subprocess output and the
4665 previously sent input.
4666
4667 C-c M-r now runs comint-previous-matching-input-from-input;
4668 it searches for a previous command, using the current pending input
4669 as the search string.
4670
4671 *** New option compilation-scroll-output can be set to scroll
4672 automatically in compilation-mode windows.
4673
4674 ** C mode changes
4675
4676 *** Multiline macros are now handled, both as they affect indentation,
4677 and as recognized syntax. New syntactic symbol cpp-macro-cont is
4678 assigned to second and subsequent lines of a multiline macro
4679 definition.
4680
4681 *** A new style "user" which captures all non-hook-ified
4682 (i.e. top-level) .emacs file variable settings and customizations.
4683 Style "cc-mode" is an alias for "user" and is deprecated. "gnu"
4684 style is still the default however.
4685
4686 *** "java" style now conforms to Sun's JDK coding style.
4687
4688 *** There are new commands c-beginning-of-defun, c-end-of-defun which
4689 are alternatives which you could bind to C-M-a and C-M-e if you prefer
4690 them. They do not have key bindings by default.
4691
4692 *** New and improved implementations of M-a (c-beginning-of-statement)
4693 and M-e (c-end-of-statement).
4694
4695 *** C++ namespace blocks are supported, with new syntactic symbols
4696 namespace-open, namespace-close, and innamespace.
4697
4698 *** File local variable settings of c-file-style and c-file-offsets
4699 makes the style variables local to that buffer only.
4700
4701 *** New indentation functions c-lineup-close-paren,
4702 c-indent-one-line-block, c-lineup-dont-change.
4703
4704 *** Improvements (hopefully!) to the way CC Mode is loaded. You
4705 should now be able to do a (require 'cc-mode) to get the entire
4706 package loaded properly for customization in your .emacs file. A new
4707 variable c-initialize-on-load controls this and is t by default.
4708
4709 ** Changes to hippie-expand.
4710
4711 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-skip-space'. If
4712 non-nil, trailing spaces may be included in the abbreviation to search for,
4713 which then gives the same behavior as the original `dabbrev-expand'.
4714
4715 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-dabbrev-as-symbol'. If
4716 non-nil, characters of syntax '_' is considered part of the word when
4717 expanding dynamically.
4718
4719 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-no-restriction'. If
4720 non-nil, narrowed buffers are widened before they are searched.
4721
4722 *** New customization variable `hippie-expand-only-buffers'. If
4723 non-empty, buffers searched are restricted to the types specified in
4724 this list. Useful for example when constructing new special-purpose
4725 expansion functions with `make-hippie-expand-function'.
4726
4727 *** Text properties of the expansion are no longer copied.
4728
4729 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
4730
4731 *** Any titleword matching a regexp in the new variable
4732 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore (case sensitive) is ignored during
4733 automatic key generation. This replaces variable
4734 bibtex-autokey-titleword-first-ignore, which only checked for matches
4735 against the first word in the title.
4736
4737 *** Autokey generation now uses all words from the title, not just
4738 capitalized words. To avoid conflicts with existing customizations,
4739 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore is set up such that words starting with
4740 lowerkey characters will still be ignored. Thus, if you want to use
4741 lowercase words from the title, you will have to overwrite the
4742 bibtex-autokey-titleword-ignore standard setting.
4743
4744 *** Case conversion of names and title words for automatic key
4745 generation is more flexible. Variable bibtex-autokey-preserve-case is
4746 replaced by bibtex-autokey-titleword-case-convert and
4747 bibtex-autokey-name-case-convert.
4748
4749 ** Changes in vcursor.el.
4750
4751 *** Support for character terminals is available: there is a new keymap
4752 and the vcursor will appear as an arrow between buffer text. A
4753 variable `vcursor-interpret-input' allows input from the vcursor to be
4754 entered exactly as if typed. Numerous functions, including
4755 `vcursor-compare-windows', have been rewritten to improve consistency
4756 in the selection of windows and corresponding keymaps.
4757
4758 *** vcursor options can now be altered with M-x customize under the
4759 Editing group once the package is loaded.
4760
4761 *** Loading vcursor now does not define keys by default, as this is
4762 generally a bad side effect. Use M-x customize to set
4763 vcursor-key-bindings to t to restore the old behaviour.
4764
4765 *** vcursor-auto-disable can be `copy', which turns off copying from the
4766 vcursor, but doesn't disable it, after any non-vcursor command.
4767
4768 ** Ispell changes.
4769
4770 *** You can now spell check comments and strings in the current
4771 buffer with M-x ispell-comments-and-strings. Comments and strings
4772 are identified by syntax tables in effect.
4773
4774 *** Generic region skipping implemented.
4775 A single buffer can be broken into a number of regions where text will
4776 and will not be checked. The definitions of the regions can be user
4777 defined. New applications and improvements made available by this
4778 include:
4779
4780 o URLs are automatically skipped
4781 o EMail message checking is vastly improved.
4782
4783 *** Ispell can highlight the erroneous word even on non-window terminals.
4784
4785 ** Changes to RefTeX mode
4786
4787 RefTeX has been updated in order to make it more usable with very
4788 large projects (like a several volume math book). The parser has been
4789 re-written from scratch. To get maximum speed from RefTeX, check the
4790 section `Optimizations' in the manual.
4791
4792 *** New recursive parser.
4793
4794 The old version of RefTeX created a single large buffer containing the
4795 entire multifile document in order to parse the document. The new
4796 recursive parser scans the individual files.
4797
4798 *** Parsing only part of a document.
4799
4800 Reparsing of changed document parts can now be made faster by enabling
4801 partial scans. To use this feature, read the documentation string of
4802 the variable `reftex-enable-partial-scans' and set the variable to t.
4803
4804 (setq reftex-enable-partial-scans t)
4805
4806 *** Storing parsing information in a file.
4807
4808 This can improve startup times considerably. To turn it on, use
4809
4810 (setq reftex-save-parse-info t)
4811
4812 *** Using multiple selection buffers
4813
4814 If the creation of label selection buffers is too slow (this happens
4815 for large documents), you can reuse these buffers by setting
4816
4817 (setq reftex-use-multiple-selection-buffers t)
4818
4819 *** References to external documents.
4820
4821 The LaTeX package `xr' allows to cross-reference labels in external
4822 documents. RefTeX can provide information about the external
4823 documents as well. To use this feature, set up the \externaldocument
4824 macros required by the `xr' package and rescan the document with
4825 RefTeX. The external labels can then be accessed with the `x' key in
4826 the selection buffer provided by `reftex-reference' (bound to `C-c )').
4827 The `x' key also works in the table of contents buffer.
4828
4829 *** Many more labeled LaTeX environments are recognized by default.
4830
4831 The builtin command list now covers all the standard LaTeX commands,
4832 and all of the major packages included in the LaTeX distribution.
4833
4834 Also, RefTeX now understands the \appendix macro and changes
4835 the enumeration of sections in the *toc* buffer accordingly.
4836
4837 *** Mouse support for selection and *toc* buffers
4838
4839 The mouse can now be used to select items in the selection and *toc*
4840 buffers. See also the new option `reftex-highlight-selection'.
4841
4842 *** New keymaps for selection and table of contents modes.
4843
4844 The selection processes for labels and citation keys, and the table of
4845 contents buffer now have their own keymaps: `reftex-select-label-map',
4846 `reftex-select-bib-map', `reftex-toc-map'. The selection processes
4847 have a number of new keys predefined. In particular, TAB lets you
4848 enter a label with completion. Check the on-the-fly help (press `?'
4849 at the selection prompt) or read the Info documentation to find out
4850 more.
4851
4852 *** Support for the varioref package
4853
4854 The `v' key in the label selection buffer toggles \ref versus \vref.
4855
4856 *** New hooks
4857
4858 Three new hooks can be used to redefine the way labels, references,
4859 and citations are created. These hooks are
4860 `reftex-format-label-function', `reftex-format-ref-function',
4861 `reftex-format-cite-function'.
4862
4863 *** Citations outside LaTeX
4864
4865 The command `reftex-citation' may also be used outside LaTeX (e.g. in
4866 a mail buffer). See the Info documentation for details.
4867
4868 *** Short context is no longer fontified.
4869
4870 The short context in the label menu no longer copies the
4871 fontification from the text in the buffer. If you prefer it to be
4872 fontified, use
4873
4874 (setq reftex-refontify-context t)
4875
4876 ** file-cache-minibuffer-complete now accepts a prefix argument.
4877 With a prefix argument, it does not try to do completion of
4878 the file name within its directory; it only checks for other
4879 directories that contain the same file name.
4880
4881 Thus, given the file name Makefile, and assuming that a file
4882 Makefile.in exists in the same directory, ordinary
4883 file-cache-minibuffer-complete will try to complete Makefile to
4884 Makefile.in and will therefore never look for other directories that
4885 have Makefile. A prefix argument tells it not to look for longer
4886 names such as Makefile.in, so that instead it will look for other
4887 directories--just as if the name were already complete in its present
4888 directory.
4889
4890 ** New modes and packages
4891
4892 *** There is a new alternative major mode for Perl, Cperl mode.
4893 It has many more features than Perl mode, and some people prefer
4894 it, but some do not.
4895
4896 *** There is a new major mode, M-x vhdl-mode, for editing files of VHDL
4897 code.
4898
4899 *** M-x which-function-mode enables a minor mode that displays the
4900 current function name continuously in the mode line, as you move
4901 around in a buffer.
4902
4903 Which Function mode is effective in major modes which support Imenu.
4904
4905 *** Gametree is a major mode for editing game analysis trees. The author
4906 uses it for keeping notes about his postal Chess games, but it should
4907 be helpful for other two-player games as well, as long as they have an
4908 established system of notation similar to Chess.
4909
4910 *** The new minor mode checkdoc-minor-mode provides Emacs Lisp
4911 documentation string checking for style and spelling. The style
4912 guidelines are found in the Emacs Lisp programming manual.
4913
4914 *** The net-utils package makes some common networking features
4915 available in Emacs. Some of these functions are wrappers around
4916 system utilities (ping, nslookup, etc); others are implementations of
4917 simple protocols (finger, whois) in Emacs Lisp. There are also
4918 functions to make simple connections to TCP/IP ports for debugging and
4919 the like.
4920
4921 *** highlight-changes-mode is a minor mode that uses colors to
4922 identify recently changed parts of the buffer text.
4923
4924 *** The new package `midnight' lets you specify things to be done
4925 within Emacs at midnight--by default, kill buffers that you have not
4926 used in a considerable time. To use this feature, customize
4927 the user option `midnight-mode' to t.
4928
4929 *** The file generic-x.el defines a number of simple major modes.
4930
4931 apache-generic-mode: For Apache and NCSA httpd configuration files
4932 samba-generic-mode: Samba configuration files
4933 fvwm-generic-mode: For fvwm initialization files
4934 x-resource-generic-mode: For X resource files
4935 hosts-generic-mode: For hosts files (.rhosts, /etc/hosts, etc)
4936 mailagent-rules-generic-mode: For mailagent .rules files
4937 javascript-generic-mode: For JavaScript files
4938 vrml-generic-mode: For VRML files
4939 java-manifest-generic-mode: For Java MANIFEST files
4940 java-properties-generic-mode: For Java property files
4941 mailrc-generic-mode: For .mailrc files
4942
4943 Platform-specific modes:
4944
4945 prototype-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V prototype files
4946 pkginfo-generic-mode: For Solaris/Sys V pkginfo files
4947 alias-generic-mode: For C shell alias files
4948 inf-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INF files
4949 ini-generic-mode: For MS-Windows INI files
4950 reg-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Registry files
4951 bat-generic-mode: For MS-Windows BAT scripts
4952 rc-generic-mode: For MS-Windows Resource files
4953 rul-generic-mode: For InstallShield scripts
4954 \f
4955 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 since the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
4956
4957 ** If you want a Lisp file to be read in unibyte mode,
4958 use -*-unibyte: t;-*- on its first line.
4959 That will force Emacs to read that file in unibyte mode.
4960 Otherwise, the file will be loaded and byte-compiled in multibyte mode.
4961
4962 Thus, each lisp file is read in a consistent way regardless of whether
4963 you started Emacs with --unibyte, so that a Lisp program gives
4964 consistent results regardless of how Emacs was started.
4965
4966 ** The new function assoc-default is useful for searching an alist,
4967 and using a default value if the key is not found there. You can
4968 specify a comparison predicate, so this function is useful for
4969 searching comparing a string against an alist of regular expressions.
4970
4971 ** The functions unibyte-char-to-multibyte and
4972 multibyte-char-to-unibyte convert between unibyte and multibyte
4973 character codes, in a way that is appropriate for the current language
4974 environment.
4975
4976 ** The functions read-event, read-char and read-char-exclusive now
4977 take two optional arguments. PROMPT, if non-nil, specifies a prompt
4978 string. SUPPRESS-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, says to disable the
4979 current input method for reading this one event.
4980
4981 ** Two new variables print-escape-nonascii and print-escape-multibyte
4982 now control whether to output certain characters as
4983 backslash-sequences. print-escape-nonascii applies to single-byte
4984 non-ASCII characters; print-escape-multibyte applies to multibyte
4985 characters. Both of these variables are used only when printing
4986 in readable fashion (prin1 uses them, princ does not).
4987 \f
4988 * Lisp changes in Emacs 20.3 before the Emacs Lisp Manual was published
4989
4990 ** Compiled Emacs Lisp files made with the modified "MBSK" version
4991 of Emacs 20.2 do not work in Emacs 20.3.
4992
4993 ** Buffer positions are now measured in characters, as they were
4994 in Emacs 19 and before. This means that (forward-char 1)
4995 always increases point by 1.
4996
4997 The function chars-in-region now just subtracts its arguments. It is
4998 considered obsolete. The function char-boundary-p has been deleted.
4999
5000 See below for additional changes relating to multibyte characters.
5001
5002 ** defcustom, defface and defgroup now accept the keyword `:version'.
5003 Use this to specify in which version of Emacs a certain variable's
5004 default value changed. For example,
5005
5006 (defcustom foo-max 34 "*Maximum number of foo's allowed."
5007 :type 'integer
5008 :group 'foo
5009 :version "20.3")
5010
5011 (defgroup foo-group nil "The foo group."
5012 :version "20.3")
5013
5014 If an entire new group is added or the variables in it have the
5015 default values changed, then just add a `:version' to that group. It
5016 is recommended that new packages added to the distribution contain a
5017 `:version' in the top level group.
5018
5019 This information is used to control the customize-changed-options command.
5020
5021 ** It is now an error to change the value of a symbol whose name
5022 starts with a colon--if it is interned in the standard obarray.
5023
5024 However, setting such a symbol to its proper value, which is that
5025 symbol itself, is not an error. This is for the sake of programs that
5026 support previous Emacs versions by explicitly setting these variables
5027 to themselves.
5028
5029 If you set the variable keyword-symbols-constant-flag to nil,
5030 this error is suppressed, and you can set these symbols to any
5031 values whatever.
5032
5033 ** There is a new debugger command, R.
5034 It evaluates an expression like e, but saves the result
5035 in the buffer *Debugger-record*.
5036
5037 ** Frame-local variables.
5038
5039 You can now make a variable local to various frames. To do this, call
5040 the function make-variable-frame-local; this enables frames to have
5041 local bindings for that variable.
5042
5043 These frame-local bindings are actually frame parameters: you create a
5044 frame-local binding in a specific frame by calling
5045 modify-frame-parameters and specifying the variable name as the
5046 parameter name.
5047
5048 Buffer-local bindings take precedence over frame-local bindings.
5049 Thus, if the current buffer has a buffer-local binding, that binding is
5050 active; otherwise, if the selected frame has a frame-local binding,
5051 that binding is active; otherwise, the default binding is active.
5052
5053 It would not be hard to implement window-local bindings, but it is not
5054 clear that this would be very useful; windows tend to come and go in a
5055 very transitory fashion, so that trying to produce any specific effect
5056 through a window-local binding would not be very robust.
5057
5058 ** `sregexq' and `sregex' are two new functions for constructing
5059 "symbolic regular expressions." These are Lisp expressions that, when
5060 evaluated, yield conventional string-based regexps. The symbolic form
5061 makes it easier to construct, read, and maintain complex patterns.
5062 See the documentation in sregex.el.
5063
5064 ** parse-partial-sexp's return value has an additional element which
5065 is used to pass information along if you pass it to another call to
5066 parse-partial-sexp, starting its scan where the first call ended.
5067 The contents of this field are not yet finalized.
5068
5069 ** eval-region now accepts a fourth optional argument READ-FUNCTION.
5070 If it is non-nil, that function is used instead of `read'.
5071
5072 ** unload-feature by default removes the feature's functions from
5073 known hooks to avoid trouble, but a package providing FEATURE can
5074 define a hook FEATURE-unload-hook to be run by unload-feature instead.
5075
5076 ** read-from-minibuffer no longer returns the argument DEFAULT-VALUE
5077 when the user enters empty input. It now returns the null string, as
5078 it did in Emacs 19. The default value is made available in the
5079 history via M-n, but it is not applied here as a default.
5080
5081 The other, more specialized minibuffer-reading functions continue to
5082 return the default value (not the null string) when the user enters
5083 empty input.
5084
5085 ** The new variable read-buffer-function controls which routine to use
5086 for selecting buffers. For example, if you set this variable to
5087 `iswitchb-read-buffer', iswitchb will be used to read buffer names.
5088 Other functions can also be used if they accept the same arguments as
5089 `read-buffer' and return the selected buffer name as a string.
5090
5091 ** The new function read-passwd reads a password from the terminal,
5092 echoing a period for each character typed. It takes three arguments:
5093 a prompt string, a flag which says "read it twice to make sure", and a
5094 default password to use if the user enters nothing.
5095
5096 ** The variable fill-nobreak-predicate gives major modes a way to
5097 specify not to break a line at certain places. Its value is a
5098 function which is called with no arguments, with point located at the
5099 place where a break is being considered. If the function returns
5100 non-nil, then the line won't be broken there.
5101
5102 ** window-end now takes an optional second argument, UPDATE.
5103 If this is non-nil, then the function always returns an accurate
5104 up-to-date value for the buffer position corresponding to the
5105 end of the window, even if this requires computation.
5106
5107 ** other-buffer now takes an optional argument FRAME
5108 which specifies which frame's buffer list to use.
5109 If it is nil, that means use the selected frame's buffer list.
5110
5111 ** The new variable buffer-display-time, always local in every buffer,
5112 holds the value of (current-time) as of the last time that a window
5113 was directed to display this buffer.
5114
5115 ** It is now meaningful to compare two window-configuration objects
5116 with `equal'. Two window-configuration objects are equal if they
5117 describe equivalent arrangements of windows, in the same frame--in
5118 other words, if they would give the same results if passed to
5119 set-window-configuration.
5120
5121 ** compare-window-configurations is a new function that compares two
5122 window configurations loosely. It ignores differences in saved buffer
5123 positions and scrolling, and considers only the structure and sizes of
5124 windows and the choice of buffers to display.
5125
5126 ** The variable minor-mode-overriding-map-alist allows major modes to
5127 override the key bindings of a minor mode. The elements of this alist
5128 look like the elements of minor-mode-map-alist: (VARIABLE . KEYMAP).
5129
5130 If the VARIABLE in an element of minor-mode-overriding-map-alist has a
5131 non-nil value, the paired KEYMAP is active, and totally overrides the
5132 map (if any) specified for the same variable in minor-mode-map-alist.
5133
5134 minor-mode-overriding-map-alist is automatically local in all buffers,
5135 and it is meant to be set by major modes.
5136
5137 ** The function match-string-no-properties is like match-string
5138 except that it discards all text properties from the result.
5139
5140 ** The function load-average now accepts an optional argument
5141 USE-FLOATS. If it is non-nil, the load average values are returned as
5142 floating point numbers, rather than as integers to be divided by 100.
5143
5144 ** The new variable temporary-file-directory specifies the directory
5145 to use for creating temporary files. The default value is determined
5146 in a reasonable way for your operating system; on GNU and Unix systems
5147 it is based on the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables.
5148
5149 ** Menu changes
5150
5151 *** easymenu.el now uses the new menu item format and supports the
5152 keywords :visible and :filter. The existing keyword :keys is now
5153 better supported.
5154
5155 The variable `easy-menu-precalculate-equivalent-keybindings' controls
5156 a new feature which calculates keyboard equivalents for the menu when
5157 you define the menu. The default is t. If you rarely use menus, you
5158 can set the variable to nil to disable this precalculation feature;
5159 then the calculation is done only if you use the menu bar.
5160
5161 *** A new format for menu items is supported.
5162
5163 In a keymap, a key binding that has the format
5164 (STRING . REAL-BINDING) or (STRING HELP-STRING . REAL-BINDING)
5165 defines a menu item. Now a menu item definition may also be a list that
5166 starts with the symbol `menu-item'.
5167
5168 The format is:
5169 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) or
5170 (menu-item ITEM-NAME REAL-BINDING . ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST)
5171 where ITEM-NAME is an expression which evaluates to the menu item
5172 string, and ITEM-PROPERTY-LIST has the form of a property list.
5173 The supported properties include
5174
5175 :enable FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5176 item is enabled.
5177 :visible FORM Evaluate FORM to determine whether the
5178 item should appear in the menu.
5179 :filter FILTER-FN
5180 FILTER-FN is a function of one argument,
5181 which will be REAL-BINDING.
5182 It should return a binding to use instead.
5183 :keys DESCRIPTION
5184 DESCRIPTION is a string that describes an equivalent keyboard
5185 binding for for REAL-BINDING. DESCRIPTION is expanded with
5186 `substitute-command-keys' before it is used.
5187 :key-sequence KEY-SEQUENCE
5188 KEY-SEQUENCE is a key-sequence for an equivalent
5189 keyboard binding.
5190 :key-sequence nil
5191 This means that the command normally has no
5192 keyboard equivalent.
5193 :help HELP HELP is the extra help string (not currently used).
5194 :button (TYPE . SELECTED)
5195 TYPE is :toggle or :radio.
5196 SELECTED is a form, to be evaluated, and its
5197 value says whether this button is currently selected.
5198
5199 Buttons are at the moment only simulated by prefixes in the menu.
5200 Eventually ordinary X-buttons may be supported.
5201
5202 (menu-item ITEM-NAME) defines unselectable item.
5203
5204 ** New event types
5205
5206 *** The new event type `mouse-wheel' is generated by a wheel on a
5207 mouse (such as the MS Intellimouse). The event contains a delta that
5208 corresponds to the amount and direction that the wheel is rotated,
5209 which is typically used to implement a scroll or zoom. The format is:
5210
5211 (mouse-wheel POSITION DELTA)
5212
5213 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5214 same format as a mouse-click event, and DELTA is a signed number
5215 indicating the number of increments by which the wheel was rotated. A
5216 negative DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated backwards, towards
5217 the user, and a positive DELTA indicates that the wheel was rotated
5218 forward, away from the user.
5219
5220 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5221
5222 *** The new event type `drag-n-drop' is generated when a group of
5223 files is selected in an application outside of Emacs, and then dragged
5224 and dropped onto an Emacs frame. The event contains a list of
5225 filenames that were dragged and dropped, which are then typically
5226 loaded into Emacs. The format is:
5227
5228 (drag-n-drop POSITION FILES)
5229
5230 where POSITION is a list describing the position of the event in the
5231 same format as a mouse-click event, and FILES is the list of filenames
5232 that were dragged and dropped.
5233
5234 As of now, this event type is generated only on MS Windows.
5235
5236 ** Changes relating to multibyte characters.
5237
5238 *** The variable enable-multibyte-characters is now read-only;
5239 any attempt to set it directly signals an error. The only way
5240 to change this value in an existing buffer is with set-buffer-multibyte.
5241
5242 *** In a string constant, `\ ' now stands for "nothing at all". You
5243 can use it to terminate a hex escape which is followed by a character
5244 that could otherwise be read as part of the hex escape.
5245
5246 *** String indices are now measured in characters, as they were
5247 in Emacs 19 and before.
5248
5249 The function chars-in-string has been deleted.
5250 The function concat-chars has been renamed to `string'.
5251
5252 *** The function set-buffer-multibyte sets the flag in the current
5253 buffer that says whether the buffer uses multibyte representation or
5254 unibyte representation. If the argument is nil, it selects unibyte
5255 representation. Otherwise it selects multibyte representation.
5256
5257 This function does not change the contents of the buffer, viewed
5258 as a sequence of bytes. However, it does change the contents
5259 viewed as characters; a sequence of two bytes which is treated as
5260 one character when the buffer uses multibyte representation
5261 will count as two characters using unibyte representation.
5262
5263 This function sets enable-multibyte-characters to record which
5264 representation is in use. It also adjusts various data in the buffer
5265 (including its markers, overlays and text properties) so that they are
5266 consistent with the new representation.
5267
5268 *** string-make-multibyte takes a string and converts it to multibyte
5269 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care
5270 about the representation, because Emacs converts when necessary;
5271 however, it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5272
5273 The conversion of non-ASCII characters works by adding the value of
5274 nonascii-insert-offset to each character, or by translating them
5275 using the table nonascii-translation-table.
5276
5277 *** string-make-unibyte takes a string and converts it to unibyte
5278 representation. Most of the time, you don't need to care about the
5279 representation, but it makes a difference when you compare strings.
5280
5281 The conversion from multibyte to unibyte representation
5282 loses information; the only time Emacs performs it automatically
5283 is when inserting a multibyte string into a unibyte buffer.
5284
5285 *** string-as-multibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5286 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as multibyte.
5287
5288 *** string-as-unibyte takes a string, and returns another string
5289 which contains the same bytes, but treats them as unibyte.
5290
5291 *** The new function compare-strings lets you compare
5292 portions of two strings. Unibyte strings are converted to multibyte,
5293 so that a unibyte string can match a multibyte string.
5294 You can specify whether to ignore case or not.
5295
5296 *** assoc-ignore-case now uses compare-strings so that
5297 it can treat unibyte and multibyte strings as equal.
5298
5299 *** Regular expression operations and buffer string searches now
5300 convert the search pattern to multibyte or unibyte to accord with the
5301 buffer or string being searched.
5302
5303 One consequence is that you cannot always use \200-\377 inside of
5304 [...] to match all non-ASCII characters. This does still work when
5305 searching or matching a unibyte buffer or string, but not when
5306 searching or matching a multibyte string. Unfortunately, there is no
5307 obvious choice of syntax to use within [...] for that job. But, what
5308 you want is just to match all non-ASCII characters, the regular
5309 expression [^\0-\177] works for it.
5310
5311 *** Structure of coding system changed.
5312
5313 All coding systems (including aliases and subsidiaries) are named
5314 by symbols; the symbol's `coding-system' property is a vector
5315 which defines the coding system. Aliases share the same vector
5316 as the principal name, so that altering the contents of this
5317 vector affects the principal name and its aliases. You can define
5318 your own alias name of a coding system by the function
5319 define-coding-system-alias.
5320
5321 The coding system definition includes a property list of its own. Use
5322 the new functions `coding-system-get' and `coding-system-put' to
5323 access such coding system properties as post-read-conversion,
5324 pre-write-conversion, character-translation-table-for-decode,
5325 character-translation-table-for-encode, mime-charset, and
5326 safe-charsets. For instance, (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1
5327 'mime-charset) gives the corresponding MIME-charset parameter
5328 `iso-8859-1'.
5329
5330 Among the coding system properties listed above, safe-charsets is new.
5331 The value of this property is a list of character sets which this
5332 coding system can correctly encode and decode. For instance:
5333 (coding-system-get 'iso-latin-1 'safe-charsets) => (ascii latin-iso8859-1)
5334
5335 Here, "correctly encode" means that the encoded character sets can
5336 also be handled safely by systems other than Emacs as far as they
5337 are capable of that coding system. Though, Emacs itself can encode
5338 the other character sets and read it back correctly.
5339
5340 *** The new function select-safe-coding-system can be used to find a
5341 proper coding system for encoding the specified region or string.
5342 This function requires a user interaction.
5343
5344 *** The new functions find-coding-systems-region and
5345 find-coding-systems-string are helper functions used by
5346 select-safe-coding-system. They return a list of all proper coding
5347 systems to encode a text in some region or string. If you don't want
5348 a user interaction, use one of these functions instead of
5349 select-safe-coding-system.
5350
5351 *** The explicit encoding and decoding functions, such as
5352 decode-coding-region and encode-coding-string, now set
5353 last-coding-system-used to reflect the actual way encoding or decoding
5354 was done.
5355
5356 *** The new function detect-coding-with-language-environment can be
5357 used to detect a coding system of text according to priorities of
5358 coding systems used by some specific language environment.
5359
5360 *** The functions detect-coding-region and detect-coding-string always
5361 return a list if the arg HIGHEST is nil. Thus, if only ASCII
5362 characters are found, they now return a list of single element
5363 `undecided' or its subsidiaries.
5364
5365 *** The new functions coding-system-change-eol-conversion and
5366 coding-system-change-text-conversion can be used to get a different
5367 coding system than what specified only in how end-of-line or text is
5368 converted.
5369
5370 *** The new function set-selection-coding-system can be used to set a
5371 coding system for communicating with other X clients.
5372
5373 *** The function `map-char-table' now passes as argument only valid
5374 character codes, plus generic characters that stand for entire
5375 character sets or entire subrows of a character set. In other words,
5376 each time `map-char-table' calls its FUNCTION argument, the key value
5377 either will be a valid individual character code, or will stand for a
5378 range of characters.
5379
5380 *** The new function `char-valid-p' can be used for checking whether a
5381 Lisp object is a valid character code or not.
5382
5383 *** The new function `charset-after' returns a charset of a character
5384 in the current buffer at position POS.
5385
5386 *** Input methods are now implemented using the variable
5387 input-method-function. If this is non-nil, its value should be a
5388 function; then, whenever Emacs reads an input event that is a printing
5389 character with no modifier bits, it calls that function, passing the
5390 event as an argument. Often this function will read more input, first
5391 binding input-method-function to nil.
5392
5393 The return value should be a list of the events resulting from input
5394 method processing. These events will be processed sequentially as
5395 input, before resorting to unread-command-events. Events returned by
5396 the input method function are not passed to the input method function,
5397 not even if they are printing characters with no modifier bits.
5398
5399 The input method function is not called when reading the second and
5400 subsequent events of a key sequence.
5401
5402 *** You can customize any language environment by using
5403 set-language-environment-hook and exit-language-environment-hook.
5404
5405 The hook `exit-language-environment-hook' should be used to undo
5406 customizations that you made with set-language-environment-hook. For
5407 instance, if you set up a special key binding for a specific language
5408 environment by set-language-environment-hook, you should set up
5409 exit-language-environment-hook to restore the normal key binding.
5410 \f
5411 * Changes in Emacs 20.1
5412
5413 ** Emacs has a new facility for customization of its many user
5414 options. It is called M-x customize. With this facility you can look
5415 at the many user options in an organized way; they are grouped into a
5416 tree structure.
5417
5418 M-x customize also knows what sorts of values are legitimate for each
5419 user option and ensures that you don't use invalid values.
5420
5421 With M-x customize, you can set options either for the present Emacs
5422 session or permanently. (Permanent settings are stored automatically
5423 in your .emacs file.)
5424
5425 ** Scroll bars are now on the left side of the window.
5426 You can change this with M-x customize-option scroll-bar-mode.
5427
5428 ** The mode line no longer includes the string `Emacs'.
5429 This makes more space in the mode line for other information.
5430
5431 ** When you select a region with the mouse, it is highlighted
5432 immediately afterward. At that time, if you type the DELETE key, it
5433 kills the region.
5434
5435 The BACKSPACE key, and the ASCII character DEL, do not do this; they
5436 delete the character before point, as usual.
5437
5438 ** In an incremental search the whole current match is highlighted
5439 on terminals which support this. (You can disable this feature
5440 by setting search-highlight to nil.)
5441
5442 ** In the minibuffer, in some cases, you can now use M-n to
5443 insert the default value into the minibuffer as text. In effect,
5444 the default value (if the minibuffer routines know it) is tacked
5445 onto the history "in the future". (The more normal use of the
5446 history list is to use M-p to insert minibuffer input used in the
5447 past.)
5448
5449 ** In Text mode, now only blank lines separate paragraphs.
5450 This makes it possible to get the full benefit of Adaptive Fill mode
5451 in Text mode, and other modes derived from it (such as Mail mode).
5452 TAB in Text mode now runs the command indent-relative; this
5453 makes a practical difference only when you use indented paragraphs.
5454
5455 As a result, the old Indented Text mode is now identical to Text mode,
5456 and is an alias for it.
5457
5458 If you want spaces at the beginning of a line to start a paragraph,
5459 use the new mode, Paragraph Indent Text mode.
5460
5461 ** Scrolling changes
5462
5463 *** Scroll commands to scroll a whole screen now preserve the screen
5464 position of the cursor, if scroll-preserve-screen-position is non-nil.
5465
5466 In this mode, if you scroll several screens back and forth, finishing
5467 on the same screen where you started, the cursor goes back to the line
5468 where it started.
5469
5470 *** If you set scroll-conservatively to a small number, then when you
5471 move point a short distance off the screen, Emacs will scroll the
5472 screen just far enough to bring point back on screen, provided that
5473 does not exceed `scroll-conservatively' lines.
5474
5475 *** The new variable scroll-margin says how close point can come to the
5476 top or bottom of a window. It is a number of screen lines; if point
5477 comes within that many lines of the top or bottom of the window, Emacs
5478 recenters the window.
5479
5480 ** International character set support (MULE)
5481
5482 Emacs now supports a wide variety of international character sets,
5483 including European variants of the Latin alphabet, as well as Chinese,
5484 Devanagari (Hindi and Marathi), Ethiopian, Greek, IPA, Japanese,
5485 Korean, Lao, Russian, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese scripts. These
5486 features have been merged from the modified version of Emacs known as
5487 MULE (for "MULti-lingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs")
5488
5489 Users of these scripts have established many more-or-less standard
5490 coding systems for storing files. Emacs uses a single multibyte
5491 character encoding within Emacs buffers; it can translate from a wide
5492 variety of coding systems when reading a file and can translate back
5493 into any of these coding systems when saving a file.
5494
5495 Keyboards, even in the countries where these character sets are used,
5496 generally don't have keys for all the characters in them. So Emacs
5497 supports various "input methods", typically one for each script or
5498 language, to make it possible to type them.
5499
5500 The Emacs internal multibyte encoding represents a non-ASCII
5501 character as a sequence of bytes in the range 0200 through 0377.
5502
5503 The new prefix key C-x RET is used for commands that pertain
5504 to multibyte characters, coding systems, and input methods.
5505
5506 You can disable multibyte character support as follows:
5507
5508 (setq-default enable-multibyte-characters nil)
5509
5510 Calling the function standard-display-european turns off multibyte
5511 characters, unless you specify a non-nil value for the second
5512 argument, AUTO. This provides compatibility for people who are
5513 already using standard-display-european to continue using unibyte
5514 characters for their work until they want to change.
5515
5516 *** Input methods
5517
5518 An input method is a kind of character conversion which is designed
5519 specifically for interactive input. In Emacs, typically each language
5520 has its own input method (though sometimes several languages which use
5521 the same characters can share one input method). Some languages
5522 support several input methods.
5523
5524 The simplest kind of input method works by mapping ASCII letters into
5525 another alphabet. This is how the Greek and Russian input methods
5526 work.
5527
5528 A more powerful technique is composition: converting sequences of
5529 characters into one letter. Many European input methods use
5530 composition to produce a single non-ASCII letter from a sequence which
5531 consists of a letter followed by diacritics. For example, a' is one
5532 sequence of two characters that might be converted into a single
5533 letter.
5534
5535 The input methods for syllabic scripts typically use mapping followed
5536 by conversion. The input methods for Thai and Korean work this way.
5537 First, letters are mapped into symbols for particular sounds or tone
5538 marks; then, sequences of these which make up a whole syllable are
5539 mapped into one syllable sign--most often a "composite character".
5540
5541 None of these methods works very well for Chinese and Japanese, so
5542 they are handled specially. First you input a whole word using
5543 phonetic spelling; then, after the word is in the buffer, Emacs
5544 converts it into one or more characters using a large dictionary.
5545
5546 Since there is more than one way to represent a phonetically spelled
5547 word using Chinese characters, Emacs can only guess which one to use;
5548 typically these input methods give you a way to say "guess again" if
5549 the first guess is wrong.
5550
5551 *** The command C-x RET m (toggle-enable-multibyte-characters)
5552 turns multibyte character support on or off for the current buffer.
5553
5554 If multibyte character support is turned off in a buffer, then each
5555 byte is a single character, even codes 0200 through 0377--exactly as
5556 they did in Emacs 19.34. This includes the features for support for
5557 the European characters, ISO Latin-1 and ISO Latin-2.
5558
5559 However, there is no need to turn off multibyte character support to
5560 use ISO Latin-1 or ISO Latin-2; the Emacs multibyte character set
5561 includes all the characters in these character sets, and Emacs can
5562 translate automatically to and from either one.
5563
5564 *** Visiting a file in unibyte mode.
5565
5566 Turning off multibyte character support in the buffer after visiting a
5567 file with multibyte code conversion will display the multibyte
5568 sequences already in the buffer, byte by byte. This is probably not
5569 what you want.
5570
5571 If you want to edit a file of unibyte characters (Latin-1, for
5572 example), you can do it by specifying `no-conversion' as the coding
5573 system when reading the file. This coding system also turns off
5574 multibyte characters in that buffer.
5575
5576 If you turn off multibyte character support entirely, this turns off
5577 character conversion as well.
5578
5579 *** Displaying international characters on X Windows.
5580
5581 A font for X typically displays just one alphabet or script.
5582 Therefore, displaying the entire range of characters Emacs supports
5583 requires using many fonts.
5584
5585 Therefore, Emacs now supports "fontsets". Each fontset is a
5586 collection of fonts, each assigned to a range of character codes.
5587
5588 A fontset has a name, like a font. Individual fonts are defined by
5589 the X server; fontsets are defined within Emacs itself. But once you
5590 have defined a fontset, you can use it in a face or a frame just as
5591 you would use a font.
5592
5593 If a fontset specifies no font for a certain character, or if it
5594 specifies a font that does not exist on your system, then it cannot
5595 display that character. It will display an empty box instead.
5596
5597 The fontset height and width are determined by the ASCII characters
5598 (that is, by the font in the fontset which is used for ASCII
5599 characters). If another font in the fontset has a different height,
5600 or the wrong width, then characters assigned to that font are clipped,
5601 and displayed within a box if highlight-wrong-size-font is non-nil.
5602
5603 *** Defining fontsets.
5604
5605 Emacs does not use any fontset by default. Its default font is still
5606 chosen as in previous versions. You can tell Emacs to use a fontset
5607 with the `-fn' option or the `Font' X resource.
5608
5609 Emacs creates a standard fontset automatically according to the value
5610 of standard-fontset-spec. This fontset's short name is
5611 `fontset-standard'. Bold, italic, and bold-italic variants of the
5612 standard fontset are created automatically.
5613
5614 If you specify a default ASCII font with the `Font' resource or `-fn'
5615 argument, a fontset is generated from it. This works by replacing the
5616 FOUNDARY, FAMILY, ADD_STYLE, and AVERAGE_WIDTH fields of the font name
5617 with `*' then using this to specify a fontset. This fontset's short
5618 name is `fontset-startup'.
5619
5620 Emacs checks resources of the form Fontset-N where N is 0, 1, 2...
5621 The resource value should have this form:
5622 FONTSET-NAME, [CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME]...
5623 FONTSET-NAME should have the form of a standard X font name, except:
5624 * most fields should be just the wild card "*".
5625 * the CHARSET_REGISTRY field should be "fontset"
5626 * the CHARSET_ENCODING field can be any nickname of the fontset.
5627 The construct CHARSET-NAME:FONT-NAME can be repeated any number
5628 of times; each time specifies the font for one character set.
5629 CHARSET-NAME should be the name name of a character set, and
5630 FONT-NAME should specify an actual font to use for that character set.
5631
5632 Each of these fontsets has an alias which is made from the
5633 last two font name fields, CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING.
5634 You can refer to the fontset by that alias or by its full name.
5635
5636 For any character sets that you don't mention, Emacs tries to choose a
5637 font by substituting into FONTSET-NAME. For instance, with the
5638 following resource,
5639 Emacs*Fontset-0: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-fontset-24
5640 the font for ASCII is generated as below:
5641 -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-24-*-ISO8859-1
5642 Here is the substitution rule:
5643 Change CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING to that of the charset
5644 defined in the variable x-charset-registries. For instance, ASCII has
5645 the entry (ascii . "ISO8859-1") in this variable. Then, reduce
5646 sequences of wild cards -*-...-*- with a single wildcard -*-.
5647 (This is to prevent use of auto-scaled fonts.)
5648
5649 The function which processes the fontset resource value to create the
5650 fontset is called create-fontset-from-fontset-spec. You can also call
5651 that function explicitly to create a fontset.
5652
5653 With the X resource Emacs.Font, you can specify a fontset name just
5654 like an actual font name. But be careful not to specify a fontset
5655 name in a wildcard resource like Emacs*Font--that tries to specify the
5656 fontset for other purposes including menus, and they cannot handle
5657 fontsets.
5658
5659 *** The command M-x set-language-environment sets certain global Emacs
5660 defaults for a particular choice of language.
5661
5662 Selecting a language environment typically specifies a default input
5663 method and which coding systems to recognize automatically when
5664 visiting files. However, it does not try to reread files you have
5665 already visited; the text in those buffers is not affected. The
5666 language environment may also specify a default choice of coding
5667 system for new files that you create.
5668
5669 It makes no difference which buffer is current when you use
5670 set-language-environment, because these defaults apply globally to the
5671 whole Emacs session.
5672
5673 For example, M-x set-language-environment RET Latin-1 RET
5674 chooses the Latin-1 character set. In the .emacs file, you can do this
5675 with (set-language-environment "Latin-1").
5676
5677 *** The command C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system)
5678 specifies the file coding system for the current buffer. This
5679 specifies what sort of character code translation to do when saving
5680 the file. As an argument, you must specify the name of one of the
5681 coding systems that Emacs supports.
5682
5683 *** The command C-x RET c (universal-coding-system-argument)
5684 lets you specify a coding system when you read or write a file.
5685 This command uses the minibuffer to read a coding system name.
5686 After you exit the minibuffer, the specified coding system
5687 is used for *the immediately following command*.
5688
5689 So if the immediately following command is a command to read or
5690 write a file, it uses the specified coding system for that file.
5691
5692 If the immediately following command does not use the coding system,
5693 then C-x RET c ultimately has no effect.
5694
5695 For example, C-x RET c iso-8859-1 RET C-x C-f temp RET
5696 visits the file `temp' treating it as ISO Latin-1.
5697
5698 *** You can specify the coding system for a file using the -*-
5699 construct. Include `coding: CODINGSYSTEM;' inside the -*-...-*-
5700 to specify use of coding system CODINGSYSTEM. You can also
5701 specify the coding system in a local variable list at the end
5702 of the file.
5703
5704 *** The command C-x RET t (set-terminal-coding-system) specifies
5705 the coding system for terminal output. If you specify a character
5706 code for terminal output, all characters output to the terminal are
5707 translated into that character code.
5708
5709 This feature is useful for certain character-only terminals built in
5710 various countries to support the languages of those countries.
5711
5712 By default, output to the terminal is not translated at all.
5713
5714 *** The command C-x RET k (set-keyboard-coding-system) specifies
5715 the coding system for keyboard input.
5716
5717 Character code translation of keyboard input is useful for terminals
5718 with keys that send non-ASCII graphic characters--for example,
5719 some terminals designed for ISO Latin-1 or subsets of it.
5720
5721 By default, keyboard input is not translated at all.
5722
5723 Character code translation of keyboard input is similar to using an
5724 input method, in that both define sequences of keyboard input that
5725 translate into single characters. However, input methods are designed
5726 to be convenient for interactive use, while the code translations are
5727 designed to work with terminals.
5728
5729 *** The command C-x RET p (set-buffer-process-coding-system)
5730 specifies the coding system for input and output to a subprocess.
5731 This command applies to the current buffer; normally, each subprocess
5732 has its own buffer, and thus you can use this command to specify
5733 translation to and from a particular subprocess by giving the command
5734 in the corresponding buffer.
5735
5736 By default, process input and output are not translated at all.
5737
5738 *** The variable file-name-coding-system specifies the coding system
5739 to use for encoding file names before operating on them.
5740 It is also used for decoding file names obtained from the system.
5741
5742 *** The command C-\ (toggle-input-method) activates or deactivates
5743 an input method. If no input method has been selected before, the
5744 command prompts for you to specify the language and input method you
5745 want to use.
5746
5747 C-u C-\ (select-input-method) lets you switch to a different input
5748 method. C-h C-\ (or C-h I) describes the current input method.
5749
5750 *** Some input methods remap the keyboard to emulate various keyboard
5751 layouts commonly used for particular scripts. How to do this
5752 remapping properly depends on your actual keyboard layout. To specify
5753 which layout your keyboard has, use M-x quail-set-keyboard-layout.
5754
5755 *** The command C-h C (describe-coding-system) displays
5756 the coding systems currently selected for various purposes, plus
5757 related information.
5758
5759 *** The command C-h h (view-hello-file) displays a file called
5760 HELLO, which has examples of text in many languages, using various
5761 scripts.
5762
5763 *** The command C-h L (describe-language-support) displays
5764 information about the support for a particular language.
5765 You specify the language as an argument.
5766
5767 *** The mode line now contains a letter or character that identifies
5768 the coding system used in the visited file. It normally follows the
5769 first dash.
5770
5771 A dash indicates the default state of affairs: no code conversion
5772 (except CRLF => newline if appropriate). `=' means no conversion
5773 whatsoever. The ISO 8859 coding systems are represented by digits
5774 1 through 9. Other coding systems are represented by letters:
5775
5776 A alternativnyj (Russian)
5777 B big5 (Chinese)
5778 C cn-gb-2312 (Chinese)
5779 C iso-2022-cn (Chinese)
5780 D in-is13194-devanagari (Indian languages)
5781 E euc-japan (Japanese)
5782 I iso-2022-cjk or iso-2022-ss2 (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5783 J junet (iso-2022-7) or old-jis (iso-2022-jp-1978-irv) (Japanese)
5784 K euc-korea (Korean)
5785 R koi8 (Russian)
5786 Q tibetan
5787 S shift_jis (Japanese)
5788 T lao
5789 T tis620 (Thai)
5790 V viscii or vscii (Vietnamese)
5791 i iso-2022-lock (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
5792 k iso-2022-kr (Korean)
5793 v viqr (Vietnamese)
5794 z hz (Chinese)
5795
5796 When you are using a character-only terminal (not a window system),
5797 two additional characters appear in between the dash and the file
5798 coding system. These two characters describe the coding system for
5799 keyboard input, and the coding system for terminal output.
5800
5801 *** The new variable rmail-file-coding-system specifies the code
5802 conversion to use for RMAIL files. The default value is nil.
5803
5804 When you read mail with Rmail, each message is decoded automatically
5805 into Emacs' internal format. This has nothing to do with
5806 rmail-file-coding-system. That variable controls reading and writing
5807 Rmail files themselves.
5808
5809 *** The new variable sendmail-coding-system specifies the code
5810 conversion for outgoing mail. The default value is nil.
5811
5812 Actually, there are three different ways of specifying the coding system
5813 for sending mail:
5814
5815 - If you use C-x RET f in the mail buffer, that takes priority.
5816 - Otherwise, if you set sendmail-coding-system non-nil, that specifies it.
5817 - Otherwise, the default coding system for new files is used,
5818 if that is non-nil. That comes from your language environment.
5819 - Otherwise, Latin-1 is used.
5820
5821 *** The command C-h t (help-with-tutorial) accepts a prefix argument
5822 to specify the language for the tutorial file. Currently, English,
5823 Japanese, Korean and Thai are supported. We welcome additional
5824 translations.
5825
5826 ** An easy new way to visit a file with no code or format conversion
5827 of any kind: Use M-x find-file-literally. There is also a command
5828 insert-file-literally which inserts a file into the current buffer
5829 without any conversion.
5830
5831 ** C-q's handling of octal character codes is changed.
5832 You can now specify any number of octal digits.
5833 RET terminates the digits and is discarded;
5834 any other non-digit terminates the digits and is then used as input.
5835
5836 ** There are new commands for looking up Info documentation for
5837 functions, variables and file names used in your programs.
5838
5839 Type M-x info-lookup-symbol to look up a symbol in the buffer at point.
5840 Type M-x info-lookup-file to look up a file in the buffer at point.
5841
5842 Precisely which Info files are used to look it up depends on the major
5843 mode. For example, in C mode, the GNU libc manual is used.
5844
5845 ** M-TAB in most programming language modes now runs the command
5846 complete-symbol. This command performs completion on the symbol name
5847 in the buffer before point.
5848
5849 With a numeric argument, it performs completion based on the set of
5850 symbols documented in the Info files for the programming language that
5851 you are using.
5852
5853 With no argument, it does completion based on the current tags tables,
5854 just like the old binding of M-TAB (complete-tag).
5855
5856 ** File locking works with NFS now.
5857
5858 The lock file for FILENAME is now a symbolic link named .#FILENAME,
5859 in the same directory as FILENAME.
5860
5861 This means that collision detection between two different machines now
5862 works reasonably well; it also means that no file server or directory
5863 can become a bottleneck.
5864
5865 The new method does have drawbacks. It means that collision detection
5866 does not operate when you edit a file in a directory where you cannot
5867 create new files. Collision detection also doesn't operate when the
5868 file server does not support symbolic links. But these conditions are
5869 rare, and the ability to have collision detection while using NFS is
5870 so useful that the change is worth while.
5871
5872 When Emacs or a system crashes, this may leave behind lock files which
5873 are stale. So you may occasionally get warnings about spurious
5874 collisions. When you determine that the collision is spurious, just
5875 tell Emacs to go ahead anyway.
5876
5877 ** If you wish to use Show Paren mode to display matching parentheses,
5878 it is no longer sufficient to load paren.el. Instead you must call
5879 show-paren-mode.
5880
5881 ** If you wish to use Delete Selection mode to replace a highlighted
5882 selection when you insert new text, it is no longer sufficient to load
5883 delsel.el. Instead you must call the function delete-selection-mode.
5884
5885 ** If you wish to use Partial Completion mode to complete partial words
5886 within symbols or filenames, it is no longer sufficient to load
5887 complete.el. Instead you must call the function partial-completion-mode.
5888
5889 ** If you wish to use uniquify to rename buffers for you,
5890 it is no longer sufficient to load uniquify.el. You must also
5891 set uniquify-buffer-name-style to one of the non-nil legitimate values.
5892
5893 ** Changes in View mode.
5894
5895 *** Several new commands are available in View mode.
5896 Do H in view mode for a list of commands.
5897
5898 *** There are two new commands for entering View mode:
5899 view-file-other-frame and view-buffer-other-frame.
5900
5901 *** Exiting View mode does a better job of restoring windows to their
5902 previous state.
5903
5904 *** New customization variable view-scroll-auto-exit. If non-nil,
5905 scrolling past end of buffer makes view mode exit.
5906
5907 *** New customization variable view-exits-all-viewing-windows. If
5908 non-nil, view-mode will at exit restore all windows viewing buffer,
5909 not just the selected window.
5910
5911 *** New customization variable view-read-only. If non-nil, visiting a
5912 read-only file automatically enters View mode, and toggle-read-only
5913 turns View mode on or off.
5914
5915 *** New customization variable view-remove-frame-by-deleting controls
5916 how to remove a not needed frame at view mode exit. If non-nil,
5917 delete the frame, if nil make an icon of it.
5918
5919 ** C-x v l, the command to print a file's version control log,
5920 now positions point at the entry for the file's current branch version.
5921
5922 ** C-x v =, the command to compare a file with the last checked-in version,
5923 has a new feature. If the file is currently not locked, so that it is
5924 presumably identical to the last checked-in version, the command now asks
5925 which version to compare with.
5926
5927 ** When using hideshow.el, incremental search can temporarily show hidden
5928 blocks if a match is inside the block.
5929
5930 The block is hidden again if the search is continued and the next match
5931 is outside the block. By customizing the variable
5932 isearch-hide-immediately you can choose to hide all the temporarily
5933 shown blocks only when exiting from incremental search.
5934
5935 By customizing the variable hs-isearch-open you can choose what kind
5936 of blocks to temporarily show during isearch: comment blocks, code
5937 blocks, all of them or none.
5938
5939 ** The new command C-x 4 0 (kill-buffer-and-window) kills the
5940 current buffer and deletes the selected window. It asks for
5941 confirmation first.
5942
5943 ** C-x C-w, which saves the buffer into a specified file name,
5944 now changes the major mode according to that file name.
5945 However, the mode will not be changed if
5946 (1) a local variables list or the `-*-' line specifies a major mode, or
5947 (2) the current major mode is a "special" mode,
5948 not suitable for ordinary files, or
5949 (3) the new file name does not particularly specify any mode.
5950
5951 This applies to M-x set-visited-file-name as well.
5952
5953 However, if you set change-major-mode-with-file-name to nil, then
5954 these commands do not change the major mode.
5955
5956 ** M-x occur changes.
5957
5958 *** If the argument to M-x occur contains upper case letters,
5959 it performs a case-sensitive search.
5960
5961 *** In the *Occur* buffer made by M-x occur,
5962 if you type g or M-x revert-buffer, this repeats the search
5963 using the same regular expression and the same buffer as before.
5964
5965 ** In Transient Mark mode, the region in any one buffer is highlighted
5966 in just one window at a time. At first, it is highlighted in the
5967 window where you set the mark. The buffer's highlighting remains in
5968 that window unless you select to another window which shows the same
5969 buffer--then the highlighting moves to that window.
5970
5971 ** The feature to suggest key bindings when you use M-x now operates
5972 after the command finishes. The message suggesting key bindings
5973 appears temporarily in the echo area. The previous echo area contents
5974 come back after a few seconds, in case they contain useful information.
5975
5976 ** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
5977 selected buffers, so that the default for C-x b is now based on the
5978 buffers recently selected in the selected frame.
5979
5980 ** Outline mode changes.
5981
5982 *** Outline mode now uses overlays (this is the former noutline.el).
5983
5984 *** Incremental searches skip over invisible text in Outline mode.
5985
5986 ** When a minibuffer window is active but not the selected window, if
5987 you try to use the minibuffer, you used to get a nested minibuffer.
5988 Now, this not only gives an error, it also cancels the minibuffer that
5989 was already active.
5990
5991 The motive for this change is so that beginning users do not
5992 unknowingly move away from minibuffers, leaving them active, and then
5993 get confused by it.
5994
5995 If you want to be able to have recursive minibuffers, you must
5996 set enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil.
5997
5998 ** Changes in dynamic abbrevs.
5999
6000 *** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
6001 conversion. If the expansion has mixed case not counting the first
6002 character, and the abbreviation matches the beginning of the expansion
6003 including case, then the expansion is copied verbatim.
6004
6005 The expansion is also copied verbatim if the abbreviation itself has
6006 mixed case. And using SPC M-/ to copy an additional word always
6007 copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is all caps.
6008
6009 *** The values of `dabbrev-case-replace' and `dabbrev-case-fold-search'
6010 are no longer Lisp expressions. They have simply three possible
6011 values.
6012
6013 `dabbrev-case-replace' has these three values: nil (don't preserve
6014 case), t (do), or `case-replace' (do like M-x query-replace).
6015 `dabbrev-case-fold-search' has these three values: nil (don't ignore
6016 case), t (do), or `case-fold-search' (do like search).
6017
6018 ** Minibuffer history lists are truncated automatically now to a
6019 certain length. The variable history-length specifies how long they
6020 can be. The default value is 30.
6021
6022 ** Changes in Mail mode.
6023
6024 *** The key C-x m no longer runs the `mail' command directly.
6025 Instead, it runs the command `compose-mail', which invokes the mail
6026 composition mechanism you have selected with the variable
6027 `mail-user-agent'. The default choice of user agent is
6028 `sendmail-user-agent', which gives behavior compatible with the old
6029 behavior.
6030
6031 C-x 4 m now runs compose-mail-other-window, and C-x 5 m runs
6032 compose-mail-other-frame.
6033
6034 *** While composing a reply to a mail message, from Rmail, you can use
6035 the command C-c C-r to cite just the region from the message you are
6036 replying to. This copies the text which is the selected region in the
6037 buffer that shows the original message.
6038
6039 *** The command C-c C-i inserts a file at the end of the message,
6040 with separator lines around the contents.
6041
6042 *** The command M-x expand-mail-aliases expands all mail aliases
6043 in suitable mail headers. Emacs automatically extracts mail alias
6044 definitions from your mail alias file (e.g., ~/.mailrc). You do not
6045 need to expand mail aliases yourself before sending mail.
6046
6047 *** New features in the mail-complete command.
6048
6049 **** The mail-complete command now inserts the user's full name,
6050 for local users or if that is known. The variable mail-complete-style
6051 controls the style to use, and whether to do this at all.
6052 Its values are like those of mail-from-style.
6053
6054 **** The variable mail-passwd-command lets you specify a shell command
6055 to run to fetch a set of password-entries that add to the ones in
6056 /etc/passwd.
6057
6058 **** The variable mail-passwd-file now specifies a list of files to read
6059 to get the list of user ids. By default, one file is used:
6060 /etc/passwd.
6061
6062 ** You can "quote" a file name to inhibit special significance of
6063 special syntax, by adding `/:' to the beginning. Thus, if you have a
6064 directory named `/foo:', you can prevent it from being treated as a
6065 reference to a remote host named `foo' by writing it as `/:/foo:'.
6066
6067 Emacs uses this new construct automatically when necessary, such as
6068 when you start it with a working directory whose name might otherwise
6069 be taken to be magic.
6070
6071 ** There is a new command M-x grep-find which uses find to select
6072 files to search through, and grep to scan them. The output is
6073 available in a Compile mode buffer, as with M-x grep.
6074
6075 M-x grep now uses the -e option if the grep program supports that.
6076 (-e prevents problems if the search pattern starts with a dash.)
6077
6078 ** In Dired, the & command now flags for deletion the files whose names
6079 suggest they are probably not needed in the long run.
6080
6081 In Dired, * is now a prefix key for mark-related commands.
6082
6083 new key dired.el binding old key
6084 ------- ---------------- -------
6085 * c dired-change-marks c
6086 * m dired-mark m
6087 * * dired-mark-executables * (binding deleted)
6088 * / dired-mark-directories / (binding deleted)
6089 * @ dired-mark-symlinks @ (binding deleted)
6090 * u dired-unmark u
6091 * DEL dired-unmark-backward DEL
6092 * ? dired-unmark-all-files M-C-?
6093 * ! dired-unmark-all-marks
6094 * % dired-mark-files-regexp % m
6095 * C-n dired-next-marked-file M-}
6096 * C-p dired-prev-marked-file M-{
6097
6098 ** Rmail changes.
6099
6100 *** When Rmail cannot convert your incoming mail into Babyl format, it
6101 saves the new mail in the file RMAILOSE.n, where n is an integer
6102 chosen to make a unique name. This way, Rmail will not keep crashing
6103 each time you run it.
6104
6105 *** In Rmail, the variable rmail-summary-line-count-flag now controls
6106 whether to include the line count in the summary. Non-nil means yes.
6107
6108 *** In Rmail summary buffers, d and C-d (the commands to delete
6109 messages) now take repeat counts as arguments. A negative argument
6110 means to move in the opposite direction.
6111
6112 *** In Rmail, the t command now takes an optional argument which lets
6113 you specify whether to show the message headers in full or pruned.
6114
6115 *** In Rmail, the new command w (rmail-output-body-to-file) writes
6116 just the body of the current message into a file, without the headers.
6117 It takes the file name from the message subject, by default, but you
6118 can edit that file name in the minibuffer before it is actually used
6119 for output.
6120
6121 ** Gnus changes.
6122
6123 *** nntp.el has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
6124
6125 *** Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
6126 Gnus.
6127
6128 *** Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like
6129 `and', `or', `not', and parent redirection.
6130
6131 *** Article washing status can be displayed in the
6132 article mode line.
6133
6134 *** gnus.el has been split into many smaller files.
6135
6136 *** Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID.
6137
6138 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
6139
6140 *** New variables for specifying what score and adapt files
6141 are to be considered home score and adapt files. See
6142 `gnus-home-score-file' and `gnus-home-adapt-files'.
6143
6144 *** Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics.
6145
6146 *** Article editing has been revamped and is now usable.
6147
6148 *** Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions.
6149 See `gnus-signature-separator' and `gnus-signature-limit'.
6150
6151 *** Summary pick mode has been made to look more nn-like.
6152 Line numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be
6153 used to pick articles.
6154
6155 *** Commands for moving the .newsrc.eld from one server to
6156 another have been added.
6157
6158 `M-x gnus-change-server'
6159
6160 *** A way to specify that "uninteresting" fields be suppressed when
6161 generating lines in buffers.
6162
6163 *** Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with
6164 `M-C-_'.
6165
6166 *** Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w'.
6167
6168 *** Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis:
6169
6170 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
6171
6172 *** Scores can be decayed.
6173
6174 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
6175
6176 *** Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The
6177 Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first.
6178
6179 *** A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
6180 the native server.
6181
6182 `M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups'
6183
6184 *** A new command for reading collections of documents
6185 (nndoc with nnvirtual on top) has been added -- `M-C-d'.
6186
6187 *** Process mark sets can be pushed and popped.
6188
6189 *** A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post
6190 even when the NNTP server doesn't allow posting.
6191
6192 *** A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
6193 (DejaNews, Alta Vista, InReference) has been added.
6194
6195 Use the `G w' command in the group buffer to create such
6196 a group.
6197
6198 *** Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard
6199 sorting functions, and each topic can be sorted independently.
6200
6201 See the commands under the `T S' submap.
6202
6203 *** Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently.
6204
6205 See the commands under the `G P' submap.
6206
6207 *** Cached articles can be pulled into the groups.
6208
6209 Use the `Y c' command.
6210
6211 *** Score files are now applied in a more reliable order.
6212
6213 *** Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated.
6214
6215 `M-x nnmail-split-history'
6216
6217 *** More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk
6218 from incoming mail before saving the mail.
6219
6220 See `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook'.
6221
6222 *** The nnml mail backend now understands compressed article files.
6223
6224 *** To enable Gnus to read/post multi-lingual articles, you must execute
6225 the following code, for instance, in your .emacs.
6226
6227 (add-hook 'gnus-startup-hook 'gnus-mule-initialize)
6228
6229 Then, when you start Gnus, it will decode non-ASCII text automatically
6230 and show appropriate characters. (Note: if you are using gnus-mime
6231 from the SEMI package, formerly known as TM, you should NOT add this
6232 hook to gnus-startup-hook; gnus-mime has its own method of handling
6233 this issue.)
6234
6235 Since it is impossible to distinguish all coding systems
6236 automatically, you may need to specify a choice of coding system for a
6237 particular news group. This can be done by:
6238
6239 (gnus-mule-add-group NEWSGROUP 'CODING-SYSTEM)
6240
6241 Here NEWSGROUP should be a string which names a newsgroup or a tree
6242 of newsgroups. If NEWSGROUP is "XXX.YYY", all news groups under
6243 "XXX.YYY" (including "XXX.YYY.ZZZ") will use the specified coding
6244 system. CODING-SYSTEM specifies which coding system to use (for both
6245 for reading and posting).
6246
6247 CODING-SYSTEM can also be a cons cell of the form
6248 (READ-CODING-SYSTEM . POST-CODING-SYSTEM)
6249 Then READ-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you read messages from the
6250 newsgroups, while POST-CODING-SYSTEM is used when you post messages
6251 there.
6252
6253 Emacs knows the right coding systems for certain newsgroups by
6254 default. Here are some of these default settings:
6255
6256 (gnus-mule-add-group "fj" 'iso-2022-7)
6257 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text" 'hz-gb-2312)
6258 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.hk" 'hz-gb-2312)
6259 (gnus-mule-add-group "alt.chinese.text.big5" 'cn-big5)
6260 (gnus-mule-add-group "soc.culture.vietnamese" '(nil . viqr))
6261
6262 When you reply by mail to an article, these settings are ignored;
6263 the mail is encoded according to sendmail-coding-system, as usual.
6264
6265 ** CC mode changes.
6266
6267 *** If you edit primarily one style of C (or C++, Objective-C, Java)
6268 code, you may want to make the CC Mode style variables have global
6269 values so that you can set them directly in your .emacs file. To do
6270 this, set c-style-variables-are-local-p to nil in your .emacs file.
6271 Note that this only takes effect if you do it *before* cc-mode.el is
6272 loaded.
6273
6274 If you typically edit more than one style of C (or C++, Objective-C,
6275 Java) code in a single Emacs session, you may want to make the CC Mode
6276 style variables have buffer local values. By default, all buffers
6277 share the same style variable settings; to make them buffer local, set
6278 c-style-variables-are-local-p to t in your .emacs file. Note that you
6279 must do this *before* CC Mode is loaded.
6280
6281 *** The new variable c-indentation-style holds the C style name
6282 of the current buffer.
6283
6284 *** The variable c-block-comments-indent-p has been deleted, because
6285 it is no longer necessary. C mode now handles all the supported styles
6286 of block comments, with no need to say which one you will use.
6287
6288 *** There is a new indentation style "python", which specifies the C
6289 style that the Python developers like.
6290
6291 *** There is a new c-cleanup-list option: brace-elseif-brace.
6292 This says to put ...} else if (...) {... on one line,
6293 just as brace-else-brace says to put ...} else {... on one line.
6294
6295 ** VC Changes [new]
6296
6297 ** In vc-retrieve-snapshot (C-x v r), if you don't specify a snapshot
6298 name, it retrieves the *latest* versions of all files in the current
6299 directory and its subdirectories (aside from files already locked).
6300
6301 This feature is useful if your RCS directory is a link to a common
6302 master directory, and you want to pick up changes made by other
6303 developers.
6304
6305 You can do the same thing for an individual file by typing C-u C-x C-q
6306 RET in a buffer visiting that file.
6307
6308 *** VC can now handle files under CVS that are being "watched" by
6309 other developers. Such files are made read-only by CVS. To get a
6310 writable copy, type C-x C-q in a buffer visiting such a file. VC then
6311 calls "cvs edit", which notifies the other developers of it.
6312
6313 *** vc-version-diff (C-u C-x v =) now suggests reasonable defaults for
6314 version numbers, based on the current state of the file.
6315
6316 ** Calendar changes.
6317
6318 A new function, list-holidays, allows you list holidays or subclasses
6319 of holidays for ranges of years. Related menu items allow you do this
6320 for the year of the selected date, or the following/previous years.
6321
6322 ** ps-print changes
6323
6324 There are some new user variables for customizing the page layout.
6325
6326 *** Paper size, paper orientation, columns
6327
6328 The variable `ps-paper-type' determines the size of paper ps-print
6329 formats for; it should contain one of the symbols:
6330 `a4' `a3' `letter' `legal' `letter-small' `tabloid'
6331 `ledger' `statement' `executive' `a4small' `b4' `b5'
6332 It defaults to `letter'.
6333 If you need other sizes, see the variable `ps-page-dimensions-database'.
6334
6335 The variable `ps-landscape-mode' determines the orientation
6336 of the printing on the page. nil, the default, means "portrait" mode,
6337 non-nil means "landscape" mode.
6338
6339 The variable `ps-number-of-columns' must be a positive integer.
6340 It determines the number of columns both in landscape and portrait mode.
6341 It defaults to 1.
6342
6343 *** Horizontal layout
6344
6345 The horizontal layout is determined by the variables
6346 `ps-left-margin', `ps-inter-column', and `ps-right-margin'.
6347 All are measured in points.
6348
6349 *** Vertical layout
6350
6351 The vertical layout is determined by the variables
6352 `ps-bottom-margin', `ps-top-margin', and `ps-header-offset'.
6353 All are measured in points.
6354
6355 *** Headers
6356
6357 If the variable `ps-print-header' is nil, no header is printed. Then
6358 `ps-header-offset' is not relevant and `ps-top-margin' represents the
6359 margin above the text.
6360
6361 If the variable `ps-print-header-frame' is non-nil, a gaudy
6362 framing box is printed around the header.
6363
6364 The contents of the header are determined by `ps-header-lines',
6365 `ps-show-n-of-n', `ps-left-header' and `ps-right-header'.
6366
6367 The height of the header is determined by `ps-header-line-pad',
6368 `ps-header-font-family', `ps-header-title-font-size' and
6369 `ps-header-font-size'.
6370
6371 *** Font managing
6372
6373 The variable `ps-font-family' determines which font family is to be
6374 used for ordinary text. Its value must be a key symbol in the alist
6375 `ps-font-info-database'. You can add other font families by adding
6376 elements to this alist.
6377
6378 The variable `ps-font-size' determines the size of the font
6379 for ordinary text. It defaults to 8.5 points.
6380
6381 ** hideshow changes.
6382
6383 *** now supports hiding of blocks of single line comments (like // for
6384 C++, ; for lisp).
6385
6386 *** Support for java-mode added.
6387
6388 *** When doing `hs-hide-all' it is now possible to also hide the comments
6389 in the file if `hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all' is set.
6390
6391 *** The new function `hs-hide-initial-comment' hides the the comments at
6392 the beginning of the files. Finally those huge RCS logs don't stay in your
6393 way! This is run by default when entering the `hs-minor-mode'.
6394
6395 *** Now uses overlays instead of `selective-display', so is more
6396 robust and a lot faster.
6397
6398 *** A block beginning can span multiple lines.
6399
6400 *** The new variable `hs-show-hidden-short-form' if t, directs hideshow
6401 to show only the beginning of a block when it is hidden. See the
6402 documentation for more details.
6403
6404 ** Changes in Enriched mode.
6405
6406 *** When you visit a file in enriched-mode, Emacs will make sure it is
6407 filled to the current fill-column. This behavior is now independent
6408 of the size of the window. When you save the file, the fill-column in
6409 use is stored as well, so that the whole buffer need not be refilled
6410 the next time unless the fill-column is different.
6411
6412 *** use-hard-newlines is now a minor mode. When it is enabled, Emacs
6413 distinguishes between hard and soft newlines, and treats hard newlines
6414 as paragraph boundaries. Otherwise all newlines inserted are marked
6415 as soft, and paragraph boundaries are determined solely from the text.
6416
6417 ** Font Lock mode
6418
6419 *** Custom support
6420
6421 The variables font-lock-face-attributes, font-lock-display-type and
6422 font-lock-background-mode are now obsolete; the recommended way to specify the
6423 faces to use for Font Lock mode is with M-x customize-group on the new custom
6424 group font-lock-highlighting-faces. If you set font-lock-face-attributes in
6425 your ~/.emacs file, Font Lock mode will respect its value. However, you should
6426 consider converting from setting that variable to using M-x customize.
6427
6428 You can still use X resources to specify Font Lock face appearances.
6429
6430 *** Maximum decoration
6431
6432 Fontification now uses the maximum level of decoration supported by
6433 default. Previously, fontification used a mode-specific default level
6434 of decoration, which is typically the minimum level of decoration
6435 supported. You can set font-lock-maximum-decoration to nil
6436 to get the old behavior.
6437
6438 *** New support
6439
6440 Support is now provided for Java, Objective-C, AWK and SIMULA modes.
6441
6442 Note that Font Lock mode can be turned on without knowing exactly what modes
6443 support Font Lock mode, via the command global-font-lock-mode.
6444
6445 *** Configurable support
6446
6447 Support for C, C++, Objective-C and Java can be more easily configured for
6448 additional types and classes via the new variables c-font-lock-extra-types,
6449 c++-font-lock-extra-types, objc-font-lock-extra-types and, you guessed it,
6450 java-font-lock-extra-types. These value of each of these variables should be a
6451 list of regexps matching the extra type names. For example, the default value
6452 of c-font-lock-extra-types is ("\\sw+_t") which means fontification follows the
6453 convention that C type names end in _t. This results in slower fontification.
6454
6455 Of course, you can change the variables that specify fontification in whatever
6456 way you wish, typically by adding regexps. However, these new variables make
6457 it easier to make specific and common changes for the fontification of types.
6458
6459 *** Adding highlighting patterns to existing support
6460
6461 You can use the new function font-lock-add-keywords to add your own
6462 highlighting patterns, such as for project-local or user-specific constructs,
6463 for any mode.
6464
6465 For example, to highlight `FIXME:' words in C comments, put:
6466
6467 (font-lock-add-keywords 'c-mode '(("\\<FIXME:" 0 font-lock-warning-face t)))
6468
6469 in your ~/.emacs.
6470
6471 *** New faces
6472
6473 Font Lock now defines two new faces, font-lock-builtin-face and
6474 font-lock-warning-face. These are intended to highlight builtin keywords,
6475 distinct from a language's normal keywords, and objects that should be brought
6476 to user attention, respectively. Various modes now use these new faces.
6477
6478 *** Changes to fast-lock support mode
6479
6480 The fast-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now process
6481 cache files silently. You can use the new variable fast-lock-verbose, in the
6482 same way as font-lock-verbose, to control this feature.
6483
6484 *** Changes to lazy-lock support mode
6485
6486 The lazy-lock package, one of the two Font Lock support modes, can now fontify
6487 according to the true syntactic context relative to other lines. You can use
6488 the new variable lazy-lock-defer-contextually to control this feature. If
6489 non-nil, changes to the buffer will cause subsequent lines in the buffer to be
6490 refontified after lazy-lock-defer-time seconds of idle time. If nil, then only
6491 the modified lines will be refontified; this is the same as the previous Lazy
6492 Lock mode behaviour and the behaviour of Font Lock mode.
6493
6494 This feature is useful in modes where strings or comments can span lines.
6495 For example, if a string or comment terminating character is deleted, then if
6496 this feature is enabled subsequent lines in the buffer will be correctly
6497 refontified to reflect their new syntactic context. Previously, only the line
6498 containing the deleted character would be refontified and you would have to use
6499 the command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block) to refontify some lines.
6500
6501 As a consequence of this new feature, two other variables have changed:
6502
6503 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-driven' is renamed `lazy-lock-defer-on-scrolling'.
6504 Variable `lazy-lock-defer-time' can now only be a time, i.e., a number.
6505 Buffer modes for which on-the-fly deferral applies can be specified via the
6506 new variable `lazy-lock-defer-on-the-fly'.
6507
6508 If you set these variables in your ~/.emacs, then you may have to change those
6509 settings.
6510
6511 ** Ada mode changes.
6512
6513 *** There is now better support for using find-file.el with Ada mode.
6514 If you switch between spec and body, the cursor stays in the same
6515 procedure (modulo overloading). If a spec has no body file yet, but
6516 you try to switch to its body file, Ada mode now generates procedure
6517 stubs.
6518
6519 *** There are two new commands:
6520 - `ada-make-local' : invokes gnatmake on the current buffer
6521 - `ada-check-syntax' : check syntax of current buffer.
6522
6523 The user options `ada-compiler-make', `ada-make-options',
6524 `ada-language-version', `ada-compiler-syntax-check', and
6525 `ada-compile-options' are used within these commands.
6526
6527 *** Ada mode can now work with Outline minor mode. The outline level
6528 is calculated from the indenting, not from syntactic constructs.
6529 Outlining does not work if your code is not correctly indented.
6530
6531 *** The new function `ada-gnat-style' converts the buffer to the style of
6532 formatting used in GNAT. It places two blanks after a comment start,
6533 places one blank between a word end and an opening '(', and puts one
6534 space between a comma and the beginning of a word.
6535
6536 ** Scheme mode changes.
6537
6538 *** Scheme mode indentation now uses many of the facilities of Lisp
6539 mode; therefore, the variables to customize it are the variables used
6540 for Lisp mode which have names starting with `lisp-'. The variables
6541 with names starting with `scheme-' which used to do this no longer
6542 have any effect.
6543
6544 If you want to use different indentation for Scheme and Lisp, this is
6545 still possible, but now you must do it by adding a hook to
6546 scheme-mode-hook, which could work by setting the `lisp-' indentation
6547 variables as buffer-local variables.
6548
6549 *** DSSSL mode is a variant of Scheme mode, for editing DSSSL scripts.
6550 Use M-x dsssl-mode.
6551
6552 ** Changes to the emacsclient program
6553
6554 *** If a socket can't be found, and environment variables LOGNAME or
6555 USER are set, emacsclient now looks for a socket based on the UID
6556 associated with the name. That is an emacsclient running as root
6557 can connect to an Emacs server started by a non-root user.
6558
6559 *** The emacsclient program now accepts an option --no-wait which tells
6560 it to return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
6561 buffer in Emacs.
6562
6563 *** The new option --alternate-editor allows to specify an editor to
6564 use if Emacs is not running. The environment variable
6565 ALTERNATE_EDITOR can be used for the same effect; the command line
6566 option takes precedence.
6567
6568 ** M-x eldoc-mode enables a minor mode in which the echo area
6569 constantly shows the parameter list for function being called at point
6570 (in Emacs Lisp and Lisp Interaction modes only).
6571
6572 ** C-x n d now runs the new command narrow-to-defun,
6573 which narrows the accessible parts of the buffer to just
6574 the current defun.
6575
6576 ** Emacs now handles the `--' argument in the standard way; all
6577 following arguments are treated as ordinary file names.
6578
6579 ** On MSDOS and Windows, the bookmark file is now called _emacs.bmk,
6580 and the saved desktop file is now called _emacs.desktop (truncated if
6581 necessary).
6582
6583 ** When you kill a buffer that visits a file,
6584 if there are any registers that save positions in the file,
6585 these register values no longer become completely useless.
6586 If you try to go to such a register with C-x j, then you are
6587 asked whether to visit the file again. If you say yes,
6588 it visits the file and then goes to the same position.
6589
6590 ** When you visit a file that changes frequently outside Emacs--for
6591 example, a log of output from a process that continues to run--it may
6592 be useful for Emacs to revert the file without querying you whenever
6593 you visit the file afresh with C-x C-f.
6594
6595 You can request this behavior for certain files by setting the
6596 variable revert-without-query to a list of regular expressions. If a
6597 file's name matches any of these regular expressions, find-file and
6598 revert-buffer revert the buffer without asking for permission--but
6599 only if you have not edited the buffer text yourself.
6600
6601 ** set-default-font has been renamed to set-frame-font
6602 since it applies only to the current frame.
6603
6604 ** In TeX mode, you can use the variable tex-main-file to specify the
6605 file for tex-file to run TeX on. (By default, tex-main-file is nil,
6606 and tex-file runs TeX on the current visited file.)
6607
6608 This is useful when you are editing a document that consists of
6609 multiple files. In each of the included files, you can set up a local
6610 variable list which specifies the top-level file of your document for
6611 tex-main-file. Then tex-file will run TeX on the whole document
6612 instead of just the file you are editing.
6613
6614 ** RefTeX mode
6615
6616 RefTeX mode is a new minor mode with special support for \label, \ref
6617 and \cite macros in LaTeX documents. RefTeX distinguishes labels of
6618 different environments (equation, figure, ...) and has full support for
6619 multifile documents. To use it, select a buffer with a LaTeX document and
6620 turn the mode on with M-x reftex-mode. Here are the main user commands:
6621
6622 C-c ( reftex-label
6623 Creates a label semi-automatically. RefTeX is context sensitive and
6624 knows which kind of label is needed.
6625
6626 C-c ) reftex-reference
6627 Offers in a menu all labels in the document, along with context of the
6628 label definition. The selected label is referenced as \ref{LABEL}.
6629
6630 C-c [ reftex-citation
6631 Prompts for a regular expression and displays a list of matching BibTeX
6632 database entries. The selected entry is cited with a \cite{KEY} macro.
6633
6634 C-c & reftex-view-crossref
6635 Views the cross reference of a \ref or \cite command near point.
6636
6637 C-c = reftex-toc
6638 Shows a table of contents of the (multifile) document. From there you
6639 can quickly jump to every section.
6640
6641 Under X, RefTeX installs a "Ref" menu in the menu bar, with additional
6642 commands. Press `?' to get help when a prompt mentions this feature.
6643 Full documentation and customization examples are in the file
6644 reftex.el. You can use the finder to view the file documentation:
6645 C-h p --> tex --> reftex.el
6646
6647 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
6648
6649 *** Info documentation is now available.
6650
6651 *** Don't allow parentheses in string constants anymore. This confused
6652 both the BibTeX program and Emacs BibTeX mode.
6653
6654 *** Renamed variable bibtex-mode-user-optional-fields to
6655 bibtex-user-optional-fields.
6656
6657 *** Removed variable bibtex-include-OPTannote
6658 (use bibtex-user-optional-fields instead).
6659
6660 *** New interactive functions to copy and kill fields and complete
6661 entries to the BibTeX kill ring, from where they can be yanked back by
6662 appropriate functions.
6663
6664 *** New interactive functions for repositioning and marking of
6665 entries. They are bound by default to M-C-l and M-C-h.
6666
6667 *** New hook bibtex-clean-entry-hook. It is called after entry has
6668 been cleaned.
6669
6670 *** New variable bibtex-field-delimiters, which replaces variables
6671 bibtex-field-{left|right}-delimiter.
6672
6673 *** New variable bibtex-entry-delimiters to determine how entries
6674 shall be delimited.
6675
6676 *** Allow preinitialization of fields. See documentation of
6677 bibtex-user-optional-fields, bibtex-entry-field-alist, and
6678 bibtex-include-OPTkey for details.
6679
6680 *** Book and InBook entries require either an author or an editor
6681 field. This is now supported by bibtex.el. Alternative fields are
6682 prefixed with `ALT'.
6683
6684 *** New variable bibtex-entry-format, which replaces variable
6685 bibtex-clean-entry-zap-empty-opts and allows specification of many
6686 formatting options performed on cleaning an entry (see variable
6687 documentation).
6688
6689 *** Even more control on how automatic keys are generated. See
6690 documentation of bibtex-generate-autokey for details. Transcriptions
6691 for foreign languages other than German are now handled, too.
6692
6693 *** New boolean user option bibtex-comma-after-last-field to decide if
6694 comma should be inserted at end of last field.
6695
6696 *** New boolean user option bibtex-align-at-equal-sign to determine if
6697 alignment should be made at left side of field contents or at equal
6698 signs. New user options to control entry layout (e.g. indentation).
6699
6700 *** New function bibtex-fill-entry to realign entries.
6701
6702 *** New function bibtex-reformat to reformat region or buffer.
6703
6704 *** New function bibtex-convert-alien to convert a BibTeX database
6705 from alien sources.
6706
6707 *** New function bibtex-complete-key (similar to bibtex-complete-string)
6708 to complete prefix to a key defined in buffer. Mainly useful in
6709 crossref entries.
6710
6711 *** New function bibtex-count-entries to count entries in buffer or
6712 region.
6713
6714 *** Added support for imenu.
6715
6716 *** The function `bibtex-validate' now checks current region instead
6717 of buffer if mark is active. Now it shows all errors of buffer in a
6718 `compilation mode' buffer. You can use the normal commands (e.g.
6719 `next-error') for compilation modes to jump to errors.
6720
6721 *** New variable `bibtex-string-file-path' to determine where the files
6722 from `bibtex-string-files' are searched.
6723
6724 ** Iso Accents mode now supports Latin-3 as an alternative.
6725
6726 ** The command next-error now opens blocks hidden by hideshow.
6727
6728 ** The function using-unix-filesystems has been replaced by the
6729 functions add-untranslated-filesystem and remove-untranslated-filesystem.
6730 Each of these functions takes the name of a drive letter or directory
6731 as an argument.
6732
6733 When a filesystem is added as untranslated, all files on it are read
6734 and written in binary mode (no cr/lf translation is performed).
6735
6736 ** browse-url changes
6737
6738 *** New methods for: Grail (browse-url-generic), MMM (browse-url-mmm),
6739 Lynx in a separate xterm (browse-url-lynx-xterm) or in an Emacs window
6740 (browse-url-lynx-emacs), remote W3 (browse-url-w3-gnudoit), generic
6741 non-remote-controlled browsers (browse-url-generic) and associated
6742 customization variables.
6743
6744 *** New commands `browse-url-of-region' and `browse-url'.
6745
6746 *** URLs marked up with <URL:...> (RFC1738) work if broken across
6747 lines. Browsing methods can be associated with URL regexps
6748 (e.g. mailto: URLs) via `browse-url-browser-function'.
6749
6750 ** Changes in Ediff
6751
6752 *** Clicking Mouse-2 on a brief command description in Ediff control panel
6753 pops up the Info file for this command.
6754
6755 *** There is now a variable, ediff-autostore-merges, which controls whether
6756 the result of a merge is saved in a file. By default, this is done only when
6757 merge is done from a session group (eg, when merging files in two different
6758 directories).
6759
6760 *** Since Emacs 19.31 (this hasn't been announced before), Ediff can compare
6761 and merge groups of files residing in different directories, or revisions of
6762 files in the same directory.
6763
6764 *** Since Emacs 19.31, Ediff can apply multi-file patches interactively.
6765 The patches must be in the context format or GNU unified format. (The bug
6766 related to the GNU format has now been fixed.)
6767
6768 ** Changes in Viper
6769
6770 *** The startup file is now .viper instead of .vip
6771 *** All variable/function names have been changed to start with viper-
6772 instead of vip-.
6773 *** C-\ now simulates the meta-key in all Viper states.
6774 *** C-z in Insert state now escapes to Vi for the duration of the next
6775 Viper command. In Vi and Insert states, C-z behaves as before.
6776 *** C-c \ escapes to Vi for one command if Viper is in Insert or Emacs states.
6777 *** _ is no longer the meta-key in Vi state.
6778 *** The variable viper-insert-state-cursor-color can be used to change cursor
6779 color when Viper is in insert state.
6780 *** If search lands the cursor near the top or the bottom of the window,
6781 Viper pulls the window up or down to expose more context. The variable
6782 viper-adjust-window-after-search controls this behavior.
6783
6784 ** Etags changes.
6785
6786 *** In C, C++, Objective C and Java, Etags tags global variables by
6787 default. The resulting tags files are inflated by 30% on average.
6788 Use --no-globals to turn this feature off. Etags can also tag
6789 variables which are members of structure-like constructs, but it does
6790 not by default. Use --members to turn this feature on.
6791
6792 *** C++ member functions are now recognized as tags.
6793
6794 *** Java is tagged like C++. In addition, "extends" and "implements"
6795 constructs are tagged. Files are recognised by the extension .java.
6796
6797 *** Etags can now handle programs written in Postscript. Files are
6798 recognised by the extensions .ps and .pdb (Postscript with C syntax).
6799 In Postscript, tags are lines that start with a slash.
6800
6801 *** Etags now handles Objective C and Objective C++ code. The usual C and
6802 C++ tags are recognized in these languages; in addition, etags
6803 recognizes special Objective C syntax for classes, class categories,
6804 methods and protocols.
6805
6806 *** Etags also handles Cobol. Files are recognised by the extension
6807 .cobol. The tagged lines are those containing a word that begins in
6808 column 8 and ends in a full stop, i.e. anything that could be a
6809 paragraph name.
6810
6811 *** Regexps in Etags now support intervals, as in ed or grep. The syntax of
6812 an interval is \{M,N\}, and it means to match the preceding expression
6813 at least M times and as many as N times.
6814
6815 ** The format for specifying a custom format for time-stamp to insert
6816 in files has changed slightly.
6817
6818 With the new enhancements to the functionality of format-time-string,
6819 time-stamp-format will change to be eventually compatible with it.
6820 This conversion is being done in two steps to maintain compatibility
6821 with old time-stamp-format values.
6822
6823 In the new scheme, alternate case is signified by the number-sign
6824 (`#') modifier, rather than changing the case of the format character.
6825 This feature is as yet incompletely implemented for compatibility
6826 reasons.
6827
6828 In the old time-stamp-format, all numeric fields defaulted to their
6829 natural width. (With format-time-string, each format has a
6830 fixed-width default.) In this version, you can specify the colon
6831 (`:') modifier to a numeric conversion to mean "give me the historical
6832 time-stamp-format width default." Do not use colon if you are
6833 specifying an explicit width, as in "%02d".
6834
6835 Numbers are no longer truncated to the requested width, except in the
6836 case of "%02y", which continues to give a two-digit year. Digit
6837 truncation probably wasn't being used for anything else anyway.
6838
6839 The new formats will work with old versions of Emacs. New formats are
6840 being recommended now to allow time-stamp-format to change in the
6841 future to be compatible with format-time-string. The new forms being
6842 recommended now will continue to work then.
6843
6844 See the documentation string for the variable time-stamp-format for
6845 details.
6846
6847 ** There are some additional major modes:
6848
6849 dcl-mode, for editing VMS DCL files.
6850 m4-mode, for editing files of m4 input.
6851 meta-mode, for editing MetaFont and MetaPost source files.
6852
6853 ** In Shell mode, the command shell-copy-environment-variable lets you
6854 copy the value of a specified environment variable from the subshell
6855 into Emacs.
6856
6857 ** New Lisp packages include:
6858
6859 *** battery.el displays battery status for laptops.
6860
6861 *** M-x bruce (named after Lenny Bruce) is a program that might
6862 be used for adding some indecent words to your email.
6863
6864 *** M-x crisp-mode enables an emulation for the CRiSP editor.
6865
6866 *** M-x dirtrack arranges for better tracking of directory changes
6867 in shell buffers.
6868
6869 *** The new library elint.el provides for linting of Emacs Lisp code.
6870 See the documentation for `elint-initialize', `elint-current-buffer'
6871 and `elint-defun'.
6872
6873 *** M-x expand-add-abbrevs defines a special kind of abbrev which is
6874 meant for programming constructs. These abbrevs expand like ordinary
6875 ones, when you type SPC, but only at the end of a line and not within
6876 strings or comments.
6877
6878 These abbrevs can act as templates: you can define places within an
6879 abbrev for insertion of additional text. Once you expand the abbrev,
6880 you can then use C-x a p and C-x a n to move back and forth to these
6881 insertion points. Thus you can conveniently insert additional text
6882 at these points.
6883
6884 *** filecache.el remembers the location of files so that you
6885 can visit them by short forms of their names.
6886
6887 *** find-func.el lets you find the definition of the user-loaded
6888 Emacs Lisp function at point.
6889
6890 *** M-x handwrite converts text to a "handwritten" picture.
6891
6892 *** M-x iswitchb-buffer is a command for switching to a buffer, much like
6893 switch-buffer, but it reads the argument in a more helpful way.
6894
6895 *** M-x landmark implements a neural network for landmark learning.
6896
6897 *** M-x locate provides a convenient interface to the `locate' program.
6898
6899 *** M4 mode is a new mode for editing files of m4 input.
6900
6901 *** mantemp.el creates C++ manual template instantiations
6902 from the GCC error messages which indicate which instantiations are needed.
6903
6904 *** mouse-copy.el provides a one-click copy and move feature.
6905 You can drag a region with M-mouse-1, and it is automatically
6906 inserted at point. M-Shift-mouse-1 deletes the text from its
6907 original place after inserting the copy.
6908
6909 *** mouse-drag.el lets you do scrolling by dragging Mouse-2
6910 on the buffer.
6911
6912 You click the mouse and move; that distance either translates into the
6913 velocity to scroll (with mouse-drag-throw) or the distance to scroll
6914 (with mouse-drag-drag). Horizontal scrolling is enabled when needed.
6915
6916 Enable mouse-drag with:
6917 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-throw)
6918 -or-
6919 (global-set-key [down-mouse-2] 'mouse-drag-drag)
6920
6921 *** mspools.el is useful for determining which mail folders have
6922 mail waiting to be read in them. It works with procmail.
6923
6924 *** Octave mode is a major mode for editing files of input for Octave.
6925 It comes with a facility for communicating with an Octave subprocess.
6926
6927 *** ogonek
6928
6929 The ogonek package provides functions for changing the coding of
6930 Polish diacritic characters in buffers. Codings known from various
6931 platforms are supported such as ISO8859-2, Mazovia, IBM Latin2, and
6932 TeX. For example, you can change the coding from Mazovia to
6933 ISO8859-2. Another example is a change of coding from ISO8859-2 to
6934 prefix notation (in which `/a' stands for the aogonek character, for
6935 instance) and vice versa.
6936
6937 To use this package load it using
6938 M-x load-library [enter] ogonek
6939 Then, you may get an explanation by calling one of
6940 M-x ogonek-jak -- in Polish
6941 M-x ogonek-how -- in English
6942 The info specifies the commands and variables provided as well as the
6943 ways of customization in `.emacs'.
6944
6945 *** Interface to ph.
6946
6947 Emacs provides a client interface to CCSO Nameservers (ph/qi)
6948
6949 The CCSO nameserver is used in many universities to provide directory
6950 services about people. ph.el provides a convenient Emacs interface to
6951 these servers.
6952
6953 *** uce.el is useful for replying to unsolicited commercial email.
6954
6955 *** vcursor.el implements a "virtual cursor" feature.
6956 You can move the virtual cursor with special commands
6957 while the real cursor does not move.
6958
6959 *** webjump.el is a "hot list" package which you can set up
6960 for visiting your favorite web sites.
6961
6962 *** M-x winner-mode is a minor mode which saves window configurations,
6963 so you can move back to other configurations that you have recently used.
6964
6965 ** movemail change
6966
6967 Movemail no longer needs to be installed setuid root in order for POP
6968 mail retrieval to function properly. This is because it no longer
6969 supports the RPOP (reserved-port POP) protocol; instead, it uses the
6970 user's POP password to authenticate to the mail server.
6971
6972 This change was made earlier, but not reported in NEWS before.
6973 \f
6974 * Emacs 20.1 changes for MS-DOS and MS-Windows.
6975
6976 ** Changes in handling MS-DOS/MS-Windows text files.
6977
6978 Emacs handles three different conventions for representing
6979 end-of-line: CRLF for MSDOS, LF for Unix and GNU, and CR (used on the
6980 Macintosh). Emacs determines which convention is used in a specific
6981 file based on the contents of that file (except for certain special
6982 file names), and when it saves the file, it uses the same convention.
6983
6984 To save the file and change the end-of-line convention, you can use
6985 C-x RET f (set-buffer-file-coding-system) to specify a different
6986 coding system for the buffer. Then, when you save the file, the newly
6987 specified coding system will take effect. For example, to save with
6988 LF, specify undecided-unix (or some other ...-unix coding system); to
6989 save with CRLF, specify undecided-dos.
6990 \f
6991 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 20.1
6992
6993 ** Byte-compiled files made with Emacs 20 will, in general, work in
6994 Emacs 19 as well, as long as the source code runs in Emacs 19. And
6995 vice versa: byte-compiled files made with Emacs 19 should also run in
6996 Emacs 20, as long as the program itself works in Emacs 20.
6997
6998 ** Windows-specific functions and variables have been renamed
6999 to start with w32- instead of win32-.
7000
7001 In hacker language, calling something a "win" is a form of praise. We
7002 don't want to praise a non-free Microsoft system, so we don't call it
7003 "win".
7004
7005 ** Basic Lisp changes
7006
7007 *** A symbol whose name starts with a colon now automatically
7008 evaluates to itself. Therefore such a symbol can be used as a constant.
7009
7010 *** The defined purpose of `defconst' has been changed. It should now
7011 be used only for values that should not be changed whether by a program
7012 or by the user.
7013
7014 The actual behavior of defconst has not been changed.
7015
7016 *** There are new macros `when' and `unless'
7017
7018 (when CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION (progn BODY...))
7019 (unless CONDITION BODY...) is short for (if CONDITION nil BODY...)
7020
7021 *** Emacs now defines functions caar, cadr, cdar and cddr with their
7022 usual Lisp meanings. For example, caar returns the car of the car of
7023 its argument.
7024
7025 *** equal, when comparing strings, now ignores their text properties.
7026
7027 *** The new function `functionp' tests whether an object is a function.
7028
7029 *** arrayp now returns t for char-tables and bool-vectors.
7030
7031 *** Certain primitives which use characters (as integers) now get an
7032 error if the integer is not a valid character code. These primitives
7033 include insert-char, char-to-string, and the %c construct in the
7034 `format' function.
7035
7036 *** The `require' function now insists on adding a suffix, either .el
7037 or .elc, to the file name. Thus, (require 'foo) will not use a file
7038 whose name is just foo. It insists on foo.el or foo.elc.
7039
7040 *** The `autoload' function, when the file name does not contain
7041 either a directory name or the suffix .el or .elc, insists on
7042 adding one of these suffixes.
7043
7044 *** string-to-number now takes an optional second argument BASE
7045 which specifies the base to use when converting an integer.
7046 If BASE is omitted, base 10 is used.
7047
7048 We have not implemented other radices for floating point numbers,
7049 because that would be much more work and does not seem useful.
7050
7051 *** substring now handles vectors as well as strings.
7052
7053 *** The Common Lisp function eql is no longer defined normally.
7054 You must load the `cl' library to define it.
7055
7056 *** The new macro `with-current-buffer' lets you evaluate an expression
7057 conveniently with a different current buffer. It looks like this:
7058
7059 (with-current-buffer BUFFER BODY-FORMS...)
7060
7061 BUFFER is the expression that says which buffer to use.
7062 BODY-FORMS say what to do in that buffer.
7063
7064 *** The new primitive `save-current-buffer' saves and restores the
7065 choice of current buffer, like `save-excursion', but without saving or
7066 restoring the value of point or the mark. `with-current-buffer'
7067 works using `save-current-buffer'.
7068
7069 *** The new macro `with-temp-file' lets you do some work in a new buffer and
7070 write the output to a specified file. Like `progn', it returns the value
7071 of the last form.
7072
7073 *** The new macro `with-temp-buffer' lets you do some work in a new buffer,
7074 which is discarded after use. Like `progn', it returns the value of the
7075 last form. If you wish to return the buffer contents, use (buffer-string)
7076 as the last form.
7077
7078 *** The new function split-string takes a string, splits it at certain
7079 characters, and returns a list of the substrings in between the
7080 matches.
7081
7082 For example, (split-string "foo bar lose" " +") returns ("foo" "bar" "lose").
7083
7084 *** The new macro with-output-to-string executes some Lisp expressions
7085 with standard-output set up so that all output feeds into a string.
7086 Then it returns that string.
7087
7088 For example, if the current buffer name is `foo',
7089
7090 (with-output-to-string
7091 (princ "The buffer is ")
7092 (princ (buffer-name)))
7093
7094 returns "The buffer is foo".
7095
7096 ** Non-ASCII characters are now supported, if enable-multibyte-characters
7097 is non-nil.
7098
7099 These characters have character codes above 256. When inserted in the
7100 buffer or stored in a string, they are represented as multibyte
7101 characters that occupy several buffer positions each.
7102
7103 *** When enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, a single character in
7104 a buffer or string can be two or more bytes (as many as four).
7105
7106 Buffers and strings are still made up of unibyte elements;
7107 character positions and string indices are always measured in bytes.
7108 Therefore, moving forward one character can increase the buffer
7109 position by 2, 3 or 4. The function forward-char moves by whole
7110 characters, and therefore is no longer equivalent to
7111 (lambda (n) (goto-char (+ (point) n))).
7112
7113 ASCII characters (codes 0 through 127) are still single bytes, always.
7114 Sequences of byte values 128 through 255 are used to represent
7115 non-ASCII characters. These sequences are called "multibyte
7116 characters".
7117
7118 The first byte of a multibyte character is always in the range 128
7119 through 159 (octal 0200 through 0237). These values are called
7120 "leading codes". The second and subsequent bytes are always in the
7121 range 160 through 255 (octal 0240 through 0377). The first byte, the
7122 leading code, determines how many bytes long the sequence is.
7123
7124 *** The function forward-char moves over characters, and therefore
7125 (forward-char 1) may increase point by more than 1 if it moves over a
7126 multibyte character. Likewise, delete-char always deletes a
7127 character, which may be more than one buffer position.
7128
7129 This means that some Lisp programs, which assume that a character is
7130 always one buffer position, need to be changed.
7131
7132 However, all ASCII characters are always one buffer position.
7133
7134 *** The regexp [\200-\377] no longer matches all non-ASCII characters,
7135 because when enable-multibyte-characters is non-nil, these characters
7136 have codes that are not in the range octal 200 to octal 377. However,
7137 the regexp [^\000-\177] does match all non-ASCII characters,
7138 guaranteed.
7139
7140 *** The function char-boundary-p returns non-nil if position POS is
7141 between two characters in the buffer (not in the middle of a
7142 character).
7143
7144 When the value is non-nil, it says what kind of character follows POS:
7145
7146 0 if POS is at an ASCII character or at the end of range,
7147 1 if POS is before a 2-byte length multi-byte form,
7148 2 if POS is at a head of 3-byte length multi-byte form,
7149 3 if POS is at a head of 4-byte length multi-byte form,
7150 4 if POS is at a head of multi-byte form of a composite character.
7151
7152 *** The function char-bytes returns how many bytes the character CHAR uses.
7153
7154 *** Strings can contain multibyte characters. The function
7155 `length' returns the string length counting bytes, which may be
7156 more than the number of characters.
7157
7158 You can include a multibyte character in a string constant by writing
7159 it literally. You can also represent it with a hex escape,
7160 \xNNNNNNN..., using as many digits as necessary. Any character which
7161 is not a valid hex digit terminates this construct. If you want to
7162 follow it with a character that is a hex digit, write backslash and
7163 newline in between; that will terminate the hex escape.
7164
7165 *** The function concat-chars takes arguments which are characters
7166 and returns a string containing those characters.
7167
7168 *** The function sref access a multibyte character in a string.
7169 (sref STRING INDX) returns the character in STRING at INDEX. INDEX
7170 counts from zero. If INDEX is at a position in the middle of a
7171 character, sref signals an error.
7172
7173 *** The function chars-in-string returns the number of characters
7174 in a string. This is less than the length of the string, if the
7175 string contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7176
7177 *** The function chars-in-region returns the number of characters
7178 in a region from BEG to END. This is less than (- END BEG) if the
7179 region contains multibyte characters (the length counts bytes).
7180
7181 *** The function string-to-list converts a string to a list of
7182 the characters in it. string-to-vector converts a string
7183 to a vector of the characters in it.
7184
7185 *** The function store-substring alters part of the contents
7186 of a string. You call it as follows:
7187
7188 (store-substring STRING IDX OBJ)
7189
7190 This says to alter STRING, by storing OBJ starting at index IDX in
7191 STRING. OBJ may be either a character or a (smaller) string.
7192 This function really does alter the contents of STRING.
7193 Since it is impossible to change the length of an existing string,
7194 it is an error if OBJ doesn't fit within STRING's actual length.
7195
7196 *** char-width returns the width (in columns) of the character CHAR,
7197 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7198
7199 *** string-width returns the width (in columns) of the text in STRING,
7200 if it were displayed in the current buffer and the selected window.
7201
7202 *** truncate-string-to-width shortens a string, if necessary,
7203 to fit within a certain number of columns. (Of course, it does
7204 not alter the string that you give it; it returns a new string
7205 which contains all or just part of the existing string.)
7206
7207 (truncate-string-to-width STR END-COLUMN &optional START-COLUMN PADDING)
7208
7209 This returns the part of STR up to column END-COLUMN.
7210
7211 The optional argument START-COLUMN specifies the starting column.
7212 If this is non-nil, then the first START-COLUMN columns of the string
7213 are not included in the resulting value.
7214
7215 The optional argument PADDING, if non-nil, is a padding character to be added
7216 at the beginning and end the resulting string, to extend it to exactly
7217 WIDTH columns. If PADDING is nil, that means do not pad; then, if STRING
7218 is narrower than WIDTH, the value is equal to STRING.
7219
7220 If PADDING and START-COLUMN are both non-nil, and if there is no clean
7221 place in STRING that corresponds to START-COLUMN (because one
7222 character extends across that column), then the padding character
7223 PADDING is added one or more times at the beginning of the result
7224 string, so that its columns line up as if it really did start at
7225 column START-COLUMN.
7226
7227 *** When the functions in the list after-change-functions are called,
7228 the third argument is the number of bytes in the pre-change text, not
7229 necessarily the number of characters. It is, in effect, the
7230 difference in buffer position between the beginning and the end of the
7231 changed text, before the change.
7232
7233 *** The characters Emacs uses are classified in various character
7234 sets, each of which has a name which is a symbol. In general there is
7235 one character set for each script, not for each language.
7236
7237 **** The function charsetp tests whether an object is a character set name.
7238
7239 **** The variable charset-list holds a list of character set names.
7240
7241 **** char-charset, given a character code, returns the name of the character
7242 set that the character belongs to. (The value is a symbol.)
7243
7244 **** split-char, given a character code, returns a list containing the
7245 name of the character set, followed by one or two byte-values
7246 which identify the character within that character set.
7247
7248 **** make-char, given a character set name and one or two subsequent
7249 byte-values, constructs a character code. This is roughly the
7250 opposite of split-char.
7251
7252 **** find-charset-region returns a list of the character sets
7253 of all the characters between BEG and END.
7254
7255 **** find-charset-string returns a list of the character sets
7256 of all the characters in a string.
7257
7258 *** Here are the Lisp facilities for working with coding systems
7259 and specifying coding systems.
7260
7261 **** The function coding-system-list returns a list of all coding
7262 system names (symbols). With optional argument t, it returns a list
7263 of all distinct base coding systems, not including variants.
7264 (Variant coding systems are those like latin-1-dos, latin-1-unix
7265 and latin-1-mac which specify the end-of-line conversion as well
7266 as what to do about code conversion.)
7267
7268 **** coding-system-p tests a symbol to see if it is a coding system
7269 name. It returns t if so, nil if not.
7270
7271 **** file-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7272 for certain file names. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7273 except that the PATTERN is matched against the file name.
7274
7275 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7276 which file names the element applies to. PATTERN should be a regexp
7277 to match against a file name.
7278
7279 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7280 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7281 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7282 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7283 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7284 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7285
7286 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7287 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7288
7289 **** The variable network-coding-system-alist specifies
7290 the coding system to use for network sockets.
7291
7292 Each element has the format (PATTERN . VAL), where PATTERN determines
7293 which network sockets the element applies to. PATTERN should be
7294 either a port number or a regular expression matching some network
7295 service names.
7296
7297 VAL is a coding system, a cons cell containing two coding systems, or
7298 a function symbol. If VAL is a coding system, it is used for both
7299 decoding what received from the network stream and encoding what sent
7300 to the network stream. If VAL is a cons cell containing two coding
7301 systems, the car specifies the coding system for decoding, and the cdr
7302 specifies the coding system for encoding.
7303
7304 If VAL is a function symbol, the function must return a coding system
7305 or a cons cell containing two coding systems, which is used as above.
7306
7307 **** process-coding-system-alist specifies which coding systems to use
7308 for certain subprocess. It works like network-coding-system-alist,
7309 except that the PATTERN is matched against the program name used to
7310 start the subprocess.
7311
7312 **** The variable default-process-coding-system specifies the coding
7313 systems to use for subprocess (and net connection) input and output,
7314 when nothing else specifies what to do. The value is a cons cell
7315 (OUTPUT-CODING . INPUT-CODING). OUTPUT-CODING applies to output
7316 to the subprocess, and INPUT-CODING applies to input from it.
7317
7318 **** The variable coding-system-for-write, if non-nil, specifies the
7319 coding system to use for writing a file, or for output to a synchronous
7320 subprocess.
7321
7322 It also applies to any asynchronous subprocess or network connection,
7323 but in a different way: the value of coding-system-for-write when you
7324 start the subprocess or connection affects that subprocess or
7325 connection permanently or until overridden.
7326
7327 The variable coding-system-for-write takes precedence over
7328 file-coding-system-alist, process-coding-system-alist and
7329 network-coding-system-alist, and all other methods of specifying a
7330 coding system for output. But most of the time this variable is nil.
7331 It exists so that Lisp programs can bind it to a specific coding
7332 system for one operation at a time.
7333
7334 **** coding-system-for-read applies similarly to input from
7335 files, subprocesses or network connections.
7336
7337 **** The function process-coding-system tells you what
7338 coding systems(s) an existing subprocess is using.
7339 The value is a cons cell,
7340 (DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM . ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM)
7341 where DECODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for decoding output from
7342 the subprocess, and ENCODING-CODING-SYSTEM is used for encoding
7343 input to the subprocess.
7344
7345 **** The function set-process-coding-system can be used to
7346 change the coding systems in use for an existing subprocess.
7347
7348 ** Emacs has a new facility to help users manage the many
7349 customization options. To make a Lisp program work with this facility,
7350 you need to use the new macros defgroup and defcustom.
7351
7352 You use defcustom instead of defvar, for defining a user option
7353 variable. The difference is that you specify two additional pieces of
7354 information (usually): the "type" which says what values are
7355 legitimate, and the "group" which specifies the hierarchy for
7356 customization.
7357
7358 Thus, instead of writing
7359
7360 (defvar foo-blurgoze nil
7361 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely.")
7362
7363 you would now write this:
7364
7365 (defcustom foo-blurgoze nil
7366 "*Non-nil means that foo will act very blurgozely."
7367 :type 'boolean
7368 :group foo)
7369
7370 The type `boolean' means that this variable has only
7371 two meaningful states: nil and non-nil. Other type values
7372 describe other possibilities; see the manual for Custom
7373 for a description of them.
7374
7375 The "group" argument is used to specify a group which the option
7376 should belong to. You define a new group like this:
7377
7378 (defgroup ispell nil
7379 "Spell checking using Ispell."
7380 :group 'processes)
7381
7382 The "group" argument in defgroup specifies the parent group. The root
7383 group is called `emacs'; it should not contain any variables itself,
7384 but only other groups. The immediate subgroups of `emacs' correspond
7385 to the keywords used by C-h p. Under these subgroups come
7386 second-level subgroups that belong to individual packages.
7387
7388 Each Emacs package should have its own set of groups. A simple
7389 package should have just one group; a more complex package should
7390 have a hierarchy of its own groups. The sole or root group of a
7391 package should be a subgroup of one or more of the "keyword"
7392 first-level subgroups.
7393
7394 ** New `widget' library for inserting UI components in buffers.
7395
7396 This library, used by the new custom library, is documented in a
7397 separate manual that accompanies Emacs.
7398
7399 ** easy-mmode
7400
7401 The easy-mmode package provides macros and functions that make
7402 developing minor modes easier. Roughly, the programmer has to code
7403 only the functionality of the minor mode. All the rest--toggles,
7404 predicate, and documentation--can be done in one call to the macro
7405 `easy-mmode-define-minor-mode' (see the documentation). See also
7406 `easy-mmode-define-keymap'.
7407
7408 ** Text property changes
7409
7410 *** The `intangible' property now works on overlays as well as on a
7411 text property.
7412
7413 *** The new functions next-char-property-change and
7414 previous-char-property-change scan through the buffer looking for a
7415 place where either a text property or an overlay might change. The
7416 functions take two arguments, POSITION and LIMIT. POSITION is the
7417 starting position for the scan. LIMIT says where to stop the scan.
7418
7419 If no property change is found before LIMIT, the value is LIMIT. If
7420 LIMIT is nil, scan goes to the beginning or end of the accessible part
7421 of the buffer. If no property change is found, the value is the
7422 position of the beginning or end of the buffer.
7423
7424 *** In the `local-map' text property or overlay property, the property
7425 value can now be a symbol whose function definition is a keymap. This
7426 is an alternative to using the keymap itself.
7427
7428 ** Changes in invisibility features
7429
7430 *** Isearch can now temporarily show parts of the buffer which are
7431 hidden by an overlay with a invisible property, when the search match
7432 is inside that portion of the buffer. To enable this the overlay
7433 should have a isearch-open-invisible property which is a function that
7434 would be called having the overlay as an argument, the function should
7435 make the overlay visible.
7436
7437 During incremental search the overlays are shown by modifying the
7438 invisible and intangible properties, if beside this more actions are
7439 needed the overlay should have a isearch-open-invisible-temporary
7440 which is a function. The function is called with 2 arguments: one is
7441 the overlay and the second is nil when it should show the overlay and
7442 t when it should hide it.
7443
7444 *** add-to-invisibility-spec, remove-from-invisibility-spec
7445
7446 Modes that use overlays to hide portions of a buffer should set the
7447 invisible property of the overlay to the mode's name (or another symbol)
7448 and modify the `buffer-invisibility-spec' to include that symbol.
7449 Use `add-to-invisibility-spec' and `remove-from-invisibility-spec' to
7450 manipulate the `buffer-invisibility-spec'.
7451 Here is an example of how to do this:
7452
7453 ;; If we want to display an ellipsis:
7454 (add-to-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7455 ;; If you don't want ellipsis:
7456 (add-to-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7457
7458 ...
7459 (overlay-put (make-overlay beginning end) 'invisible 'my-symbol)
7460
7461 ...
7462 ;; When done with the overlays:
7463 (remove-from-invisibility-spec '(my-symbol . t))
7464 ;; Or respectively:
7465 (remove-from-invisibility-spec 'my-symbol)
7466
7467 ** Changes in syntax parsing.
7468
7469 *** The syntax-directed buffer-scan functions (such as
7470 `parse-partial-sexp', `forward-word' and similar functions) can now
7471 obey syntax information specified by text properties, if the variable
7472 `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil.
7473
7474 If the value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is nil, the behavior
7475 is as before: the syntax-table of the current buffer is always
7476 used to determine the syntax of the character at the position.
7477
7478 When `parse-sexp-lookup-properties' is non-nil, the syntax of a
7479 character in the buffer is calculated thus:
7480
7481 a) if the `syntax-table' text-property of that character
7482 is a cons, this cons becomes the syntax-type;
7483
7484 Valid values of `syntax-table' text-property are: nil, a valid
7485 syntax-table, and a valid syntax-table element, i.e.,
7486 a cons cell of the form (SYNTAX-CODE . MATCHING-CHAR).
7487
7488 b) if the character's `syntax-table' text-property
7489 is a syntax table, this syntax table is used
7490 (instead of the syntax-table of the current buffer) to
7491 determine the syntax type of the character.
7492
7493 c) otherwise the syntax-type is determined by the syntax-table
7494 of the current buffer.
7495
7496 *** The meaning of \s in regular expressions is also affected by the
7497 value of `parse-sexp-lookup-properties'. The details are the same as
7498 for the syntax-directed buffer-scan functions.
7499
7500 *** There are two new syntax-codes, `!' and `|' (numeric values 14
7501 and 15). A character with a code `!' starts a comment which is ended
7502 only by another character with the same code (unless quoted). A
7503 character with a code `|' starts a string which is ended only by
7504 another character with the same code (unless quoted).
7505
7506 These codes are mainly meant for use as values of the `syntax-table'
7507 text property.
7508
7509 *** The function `parse-partial-sexp' has new semantics for the sixth
7510 arg COMMENTSTOP. If it is `syntax-table', parse stops after the start
7511 of a comment or a string, or after end of a comment or a string.
7512
7513 *** The state-list which the return value from `parse-partial-sexp'
7514 (and can also be used as an argument) now has an optional ninth
7515 element: the character address of the start of last comment or string;
7516 nil if none. The fourth and eighth elements have special values if the
7517 string/comment is started by a "!" or "|" syntax-code.
7518
7519 *** Since new features of `parse-partial-sexp' allow a complete
7520 syntactic parsing, `font-lock' no longer supports
7521 `font-lock-comment-start-regexp'.
7522
7523 ** Changes in face features
7524
7525 *** The face functions are now unconditionally defined in Emacs, even
7526 if it does not support displaying on a device that supports faces.
7527
7528 *** The function face-documentation returns the documentation string
7529 of a face (or nil if it doesn't have one).
7530
7531 *** The function face-bold-p returns t if a face should be bold.
7532 set-face-bold-p sets that flag.
7533
7534 *** The function face-italic-p returns t if a face should be italic.
7535 set-face-italic-p sets that flag.
7536
7537 *** You can now specify foreground and background colors for text
7538 by adding elements of the form (foreground-color . COLOR-NAME)
7539 and (background-color . COLOR-NAME) to the list of faces in
7540 the `face' property (either the character's text property or an
7541 overlay property).
7542
7543 This means that you no longer need to create named faces to use
7544 arbitrary colors in a Lisp package.
7545
7546 ** Changes in file-handling functions
7547
7548 *** File-access primitive functions no longer discard an extra redundant
7549 directory name from the beginning of the file name. In other words,
7550 they no longer do anything special with // or /~. That conversion
7551 is now done only in substitute-in-file-name.
7552
7553 This makes it possible for a Lisp program to open a file whose name
7554 begins with ~.
7555
7556 *** If copy-file is unable to set the date of the output file,
7557 it now signals an error with the condition file-date-error.
7558
7559 *** The inode number returned by file-attributes may be an integer (if
7560 the number fits in a Lisp integer) or a list of integers.
7561
7562 *** insert-file-contents can now read from a special file,
7563 as long as the arguments VISIT and REPLACE are nil.
7564
7565 *** The RAWFILE arg to find-file-noselect, if non-nil, now suppresses
7566 character code conversion as well as other things.
7567
7568 Meanwhile, this feature does work with remote file names
7569 (formerly it did not).
7570
7571 *** Lisp packages which create temporary files should use the TMPDIR
7572 environment variable to decide which directory to put them in.
7573
7574 *** interpreter-mode-alist elements now specify regexps
7575 instead of constant strings.
7576
7577 *** expand-file-name no longer treats `//' or `/~' specially. It used
7578 to delete all the text of a file name up through the first slash of
7579 any `//' or `/~' sequence. Now it passes them straight through.
7580
7581 substitute-in-file-name continues to treat those sequences specially,
7582 in the same way as before.
7583
7584 *** The variable `format-alist' is more general now.
7585 The FROM-FN and TO-FN in a format definition can now be strings
7586 which specify shell commands to use as filters to perform conversion.
7587
7588 *** The new function access-file tries to open a file, and signals an
7589 error if that fails. If the open succeeds, access-file does nothing
7590 else, and returns nil.
7591
7592 *** The function insert-directory now signals an error if the specified
7593 directory cannot be listed.
7594
7595 ** Changes in minibuffer input
7596
7597 *** The functions read-buffer, read-variable, read-command, read-string
7598 read-file-name, read-from-minibuffer and completing-read now take an
7599 additional argument which specifies the default value. If this
7600 argument is non-nil, it should be a string; that string is used in two
7601 ways:
7602
7603 It is returned if the user enters empty input.
7604 It is available through the history command M-n.
7605
7606 *** The functions read-string, read-from-minibuffer,
7607 read-no-blanks-input and completing-read now take an additional
7608 argument INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD. If this is non-nil, then the
7609 minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of
7610 enable-multibyte-characters from the previously current buffer.
7611
7612 In an interactive spec, you can use M instead of s to read an
7613 argument in this way.
7614
7615 *** All minibuffer input functions discard text properties
7616 from the text you enter in the minibuffer, unless the variable
7617 minibuffer-allow-text-properties is non-nil.
7618
7619 ** Echo area features
7620
7621 *** Clearing the echo area now runs the normal hook
7622 echo-area-clear-hook. Note that the echo area can be used while the
7623 minibuffer is active; in that case, the minibuffer is still active
7624 after the echo area is cleared.
7625
7626 *** The function current-message returns the message currently displayed
7627 in the echo area, or nil if there is none.
7628
7629 ** Keyboard input features
7630
7631 *** tty-erase-char is a new variable that reports which character was
7632 set up as the terminal's erase character when time Emacs was started.
7633
7634 *** num-nonmacro-input-events is the total number of input events
7635 received so far from the terminal. It does not count those generated
7636 by keyboard macros.
7637
7638 ** Frame-related changes
7639
7640 *** make-frame runs the normal hook before-make-frame-hook just before
7641 creating a frame, and just after creating a frame it runs the abnormal
7642 hook after-make-frame-functions with the new frame as arg.
7643
7644 *** The new hook window-configuration-change-hook is now run every time
7645 the window configuration has changed. The frame whose configuration
7646 has changed is the selected frame when the hook is run.
7647
7648 *** Each frame now independently records the order for recently
7649 selected buffers, in its buffer-list frame parameter, so that the
7650 value of other-buffer is now based on the buffers recently displayed
7651 in the selected frame.
7652
7653 *** The value of the frame parameter vertical-scroll-bars
7654 is now `left', `right' or nil. A non-nil value specifies
7655 which side of the window to put the scroll bars on.
7656
7657 ** X Windows features
7658
7659 *** You can examine X resources for other applications by binding
7660 x-resource-class around a call to x-get-resource. The usual value of
7661 x-resource-class is "Emacs", which is the correct value for Emacs.
7662
7663 *** In menus, checkboxes and radio buttons now actually work.
7664 The menu displays the current status of the box or button.
7665
7666 *** The function x-list-fonts now takes an optional fourth argument
7667 MAXIMUM which sets a limit on how many matching fonts to return.
7668 A smaller value of MAXIMUM makes the function faster.
7669
7670 If the only question is whether *any* font matches the pattern,
7671 it is good to supply 1 for this argument.
7672
7673 ** Subprocess features
7674
7675 *** A reminder: it is no longer necessary for subprocess filter
7676 functions and sentinels to do save-match-data, because Emacs does this
7677 automatically.
7678
7679 *** The new function shell-command-to-string executes a shell command
7680 and returns the output from the command as a string.
7681
7682 *** The new function process-contact returns t for a child process,
7683 and (HOSTNAME SERVICE) for a net connection.
7684
7685 ** An error in running pre-command-hook or post-command-hook
7686 does clear the variable to nil. The documentation was wrong before.
7687
7688 ** In define-key-after, if AFTER is t, the new binding now always goes
7689 at the end of the keymap. If the keymap is a menu, this means it
7690 goes after the other menu items.
7691
7692 ** If you have a program that makes several changes in the same area
7693 of the buffer, you can use the macro combine-after-change-calls
7694 around that Lisp code to make it faster when after-change hooks
7695 are in use.
7696
7697 The macro arranges to call the after-change functions just once for a
7698 series of several changes--if that seems safe.
7699
7700 Don't alter the variables after-change-functions and
7701 after-change-function within the body of a combine-after-change-calls
7702 form.
7703
7704 ** If you define an abbrev (with define-abbrev) whose EXPANSION
7705 is not a string, then the abbrev does not expand in the usual sense,
7706 but its hook is still run.
7707
7708 ** Normally, the Lisp debugger is not used (even if you have enabled it)
7709 for errors that are handled by condition-case.
7710
7711 If you set debug-on-signal to a non-nil value, then the debugger is called
7712 regardless of whether there is a handler for the condition. This is
7713 useful for debugging problems that happen inside of a condition-case.
7714
7715 This mode of operation seems to be unreliable in other ways. Errors that
7716 are normal and ought to be handled, perhaps in timers or process
7717 filters, will instead invoke the debugger. So don't say you weren't
7718 warned.
7719
7720 ** The new variable ring-bell-function lets you specify your own
7721 way for Emacs to "ring the bell".
7722
7723 ** If run-at-time's TIME argument is t, the action is repeated at
7724 integral multiples of REPEAT from the epoch; this is useful for
7725 functions like display-time.
7726
7727 ** You can use the function locate-library to find the precise file
7728 name of a Lisp library. This isn't new, but wasn't documented before.
7729
7730 ** Commands for entering view mode have new optional arguments that
7731 can be used from Lisp. Low-level entrance to and exit from view mode
7732 is done by functions view-mode-enter and view-mode-exit.
7733
7734 ** batch-byte-compile-file now makes Emacs return a nonzero status code
7735 if there is an error in compilation.
7736
7737 ** pop-to-buffer, switch-to-buffer-other-window and
7738 switch-to-buffer-other-frame now accept an additional optional
7739 argument NORECORD, much like switch-to-buffer. If it is non-nil,
7740 they don't put the buffer at the front of the buffer list.
7741
7742 ** If your .emacs file leaves the *scratch* buffer non-empty,
7743 Emacs does not display the startup message, so as to avoid changing
7744 the *scratch* buffer.
7745
7746 ** The new function regexp-opt returns an efficient regexp to match a string.
7747 The arguments are STRINGS and (optionally) PAREN. This function can be used
7748 where regexp matching or searching is intensively used and speed is important,
7749 e.g., in Font Lock mode.
7750
7751 ** The variable buffer-display-count is local to each buffer,
7752 and is incremented each time the buffer is displayed in a window.
7753 It starts at 0 when the buffer is created.
7754
7755 ** The new function compose-mail starts composing a mail message
7756 using the user's chosen mail composition agent (specified with the
7757 variable mail-user-agent). It has variants compose-mail-other-window
7758 and compose-mail-other-frame.
7759
7760 ** The `user-full-name' function now takes an optional parameter which
7761 can either be a number (the UID) or a string (the login name). The
7762 full name of the specified user will be returned.
7763
7764 ** Lisp packages that load files of customizations, or any other sort
7765 of user profile, should obey the variable init-file-user in deciding
7766 where to find it. They should load the profile of the user name found
7767 in that variable. If init-file-user is nil, meaning that the -q
7768 option was used, then Lisp packages should not load the customization
7769 files at all.
7770
7771 ** format-time-string now allows you to specify the field width
7772 and type of padding. This works as in printf: you write the field
7773 width as digits in the middle of a %-construct. If you start
7774 the field width with 0, it means to pad with zeros.
7775
7776 For example, %S normally specifies the number of seconds since the
7777 minute; %03S means to pad this with zeros to 3 positions, %_3S to pad
7778 with spaces to 3 positions. Plain %3S pads with zeros, because that
7779 is how %S normally pads to two positions.
7780
7781 ** thing-at-point now supports a new kind of "thing": url.
7782
7783 ** imenu.el changes.
7784
7785 You can now specify a function to be run when selecting an
7786 item from menu created by imenu.
7787
7788 An example of using this feature: if we define imenu items for the
7789 #include directives in a C file, we can open the included file when we
7790 select one of those items.
7791 \f
7792 * Emacs 19.34 is a bug-fix release with no user-visible changes.
7793 \f
7794 * Changes in Emacs 19.33.
7795
7796 ** Bibtex mode no longer turns on Auto Fill automatically. (No major
7797 mode should do that--it is the user's choice.)
7798
7799 ** The variable normal-auto-fill-function specifies the function to
7800 use for auto-fill-function, if and when Auto Fill is turned on.
7801 Major modes can set this locally to alter how Auto Fill works.
7802 \f
7803 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.32
7804
7805 ** C-x f with no argument now signals an error.
7806 To set the fill column at the current column, use C-u C-x f.
7807
7808 ** Expanding dynamic abbrevs with M-/ is now smarter about case
7809 conversion. If you type the abbreviation with mixed case, and it
7810 matches the beginning of the expansion including case, then the
7811 expansion is copied verbatim. Using SPC M-/ to copy an additional
7812 word always copies it verbatim except when the previous copied word is
7813 all caps.
7814
7815 ** On a non-windowing terminal, which can display only one Emacs frame
7816 at a time, creating a new frame with C-x 5 2 also selects that frame.
7817
7818 When using a display that can show multiple frames at once, C-x 5 2
7819 does make the frame visible, but does not select it. This is the same
7820 as in previous Emacs versions.
7821
7822 ** You can use C-x 5 2 to create multiple frames on MSDOS, just as on a
7823 non-X terminal on Unix. Of course, only one frame is visible at any
7824 time, since your terminal doesn't have the ability to display multiple
7825 frames.
7826
7827 ** On Windows, set win32-pass-alt-to-system to a non-nil value
7828 if you would like tapping the Alt key to invoke the Windows menu.
7829 This feature is not enabled by default; since the Alt key is also the
7830 Meta key, it is too easy and painful to activate this feature by
7831 accident.
7832
7833 ** The command apply-macro-to-region-lines repeats the last defined
7834 keyboard macro once for each complete line within the current region.
7835 It does this line by line, by moving point to the beginning of that
7836 line and then executing the macro.
7837
7838 This command is not new, but was never documented before.
7839
7840 ** You can now use Mouse-1 to place the region around a string constant
7841 (something surrounded by doublequote characters or other delimiter
7842 characters of like syntax) by double-clicking on one of the delimiting
7843 characters.
7844
7845 ** Font Lock mode
7846
7847 *** Font Lock support modes
7848
7849 Font Lock can be configured to use Fast Lock mode and Lazy Lock mode (see
7850 below) in a flexible way. Rather than adding the appropriate function to the
7851 hook font-lock-mode-hook, you can use the new variable font-lock-support-mode
7852 to control which modes have Fast Lock mode or Lazy Lock mode turned on when
7853 Font Lock mode is enabled.
7854
7855 For example, to use Fast Lock mode when Font Lock mode is turned on, put:
7856
7857 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'fast-lock-mode)
7858
7859 in your ~/.emacs.
7860
7861 *** lazy-lock
7862
7863 The lazy-lock package speeds up Font Lock mode by making fontification occur
7864 only when necessary, such as when a previously unfontified part of the buffer
7865 becomes visible in a window. When you create a buffer with Font Lock mode and
7866 Lazy Lock mode turned on, the buffer is not fontified. When certain events
7867 occur (such as scrolling), Lazy Lock makes sure that the visible parts of the
7868 buffer are fontified. Lazy Lock also defers on-the-fly fontification until
7869 Emacs has been idle for a given amount of time.
7870
7871 To use this package, put in your ~/.emacs:
7872
7873 (setq font-lock-support-mode 'lazy-lock-mode)
7874
7875 To control the package behaviour, see the documentation for `lazy-lock-mode'.
7876
7877 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
7878
7879 *** For all entries allow spaces and tabs between opening brace or
7880 paren and key.
7881
7882 *** Non-escaped double-quoted characters (as in `Sch"of') are now
7883 supported.
7884
7885 ** Gnus changes.
7886
7887 Gnus, the Emacs news reader, has undergone further rewriting. Many new
7888 commands and variables have been added. There should be no
7889 significant incompatibilities between this Gnus version and the
7890 previously released version, except in the message composition area.
7891
7892 Below is a list of the more user-visible changes. Coding changes
7893 between Gnus 5.1 and 5.2 are more extensive.
7894
7895 *** A new message composition mode is used. All old customization
7896 variables for mail-mode, rnews-reply-mode and gnus-msg are now
7897 obsolete.
7898
7899 *** Gnus is now able to generate "sparse" threads -- threads where
7900 missing articles are represented by empty nodes.
7901
7902 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
7903
7904 *** Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server.
7905
7906 To disable this: (setq gnus-message-archive-group nil)
7907
7908 *** Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
7909 referred.
7910
7911 *** Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions:
7912
7913 (setq gnus-use-grouplens t)
7914
7915 *** A trn-line tree buffer can be displayed.
7916
7917 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
7918
7919 *** An nn-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
7920 buffers.
7921
7922 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7923
7924 *** In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode:
7925
7926 `M-x gnus-binary-mode'
7927
7928 *** Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy.
7929
7930 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
7931
7932 *** Gnus can re-send and bounce mail.
7933
7934 Use the `S D r' and `S D b'.
7935
7936 *** Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
7937 is possible.
7938
7939 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
7940
7941 *** Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
7942 groups of groups.
7943
7944 *** Caching is possible in virtual groups.
7945
7946 *** nndoc now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews news
7947 batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything else.
7948
7949 *** Gnus has a new backend (nnsoup) to create/read SOUP packets.
7950
7951 *** The Gnus cache is much faster.
7952
7953 *** Groups can be sorted according to many criteria.
7954
7955 For instance: (setq gnus-group-sort-function 'gnus-group-sort-by-rank)
7956
7957 *** New group parameters have been introduced to set list-address and
7958 expiration times.
7959
7960 *** All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used.
7961
7962 *** There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on
7963 process marked articles on the `M P' submap.
7964
7965 *** The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
7966 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
7967 bound to keys on the `/' submap.
7968
7969 *** Articles can be made persistent -- as an alternative to saving
7970 articles with the `*' command.
7971
7972 *** All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
7973
7974 *** Article headers can be buttonized.
7975
7976 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
7977
7978 *** All mail backends support fetching articles by Message-ID.
7979
7980 *** Duplicate mail can now be treated properly. See the
7981 `nnmail-treat-duplicates' variable.
7982
7983 *** All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
7984 buffer.
7985
7986 *** Frames can be part of `gnus-buffer-configuration'.
7987
7988 *** Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process.
7989
7990 *** Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to filter spam.
7991
7992 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
7993
7994 *** Groups can be made permanently visible.
7995
7996 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
7997
7998 *** Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
7999
8000 *** Gnus respects the Mail-Copies-To header.
8001
8002 *** Threads can be gathered by looking at the References header.
8003
8004 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
8005 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
8006
8007 *** Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
8008 refetching.
8009
8010 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
8011
8012 *** A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
8013 buffer to allow easier treatment.
8014
8015 *** Gnus can suggest where to save articles. See `gnus-split-methods'.
8016
8017 *** Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving.
8018
8019 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
8020
8021 *** gnus-uu can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
8022 articles.
8023
8024 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
8025
8026 *** Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text.
8027
8028 *** Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
8029 cited text to hide is now customizable.
8030
8031 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
8032
8033 *** Boring headers can be hidden.
8034
8035 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers)
8036
8037 *** Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
8038
8039 *** Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
8040
8041 The Gnus manual has been expanded. It explains all these new features
8042 in greater detail.
8043 \f
8044 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 19.32
8045
8046 ** The function set-visited-file-name now accepts an optional
8047 second argument NO-QUERY. If it is non-nil, then the user is not
8048 asked for confirmation in the case where the specified file already
8049 exists.
8050
8051 ** The variable print-length applies to printing vectors and bitvectors,
8052 as well as lists.
8053
8054 ** The new function keymap-parent returns the parent keymap
8055 of a given keymap.
8056
8057 ** The new function set-keymap-parent specifies a new parent for a
8058 given keymap. The arguments are KEYMAP and PARENT. PARENT must be a
8059 keymap or nil.
8060
8061 ** Sometimes menu keymaps use a command name, a symbol, which is really
8062 an automatically generated alias for some other command, the "real"
8063 name. In such a case, you should give that alias symbol a non-nil
8064 menu-alias property. That property tells the menu system to look for
8065 equivalent keys for the real name instead of equivalent keys for the
8066 alias.
8067 \f
8068 * Editing Changes in Emacs 19.31
8069
8070 ** Freedom of the press restricted in the United States.
8071
8072 Emacs has been censored in accord with the Communications Decency Act.
8073 This includes removing some features of the doctor program. That law
8074 was described by its supporters as a ban on pornography, but it bans
8075 far more than that. The Emacs distribution has never contained any
8076 pornography, but parts of it were nonetheless prohibited.
8077
8078 For information on US government censorship of the Internet, and what
8079 you can do to bring back freedom of the press, see the web site
8080 `http://www.vtw.org/'.
8081
8082 ** A note about C mode indentation customization.
8083
8084 The old (Emacs 19.29) ways of specifying a C indentation style
8085 do not normally work in the new implementation of C mode.
8086 It has its own methods of customizing indentation, which are
8087 much more powerful than the old C mode. See the Editing Programs
8088 chapter of the manual for details.
8089
8090 However, you can load the library cc-compat to make the old
8091 customization variables take effect.
8092
8093 ** Marking with the mouse.
8094
8095 When you mark a region with the mouse, the region now remains
8096 highlighted until the next input event, regardless of whether you are
8097 using M-x transient-mark-mode.
8098
8099 ** Improved Windows NT/95 support.
8100
8101 *** Emacs now supports scroll bars on Windows NT and Windows 95.
8102
8103 *** Emacs now supports subprocesses on Windows 95. (Subprocesses used
8104 to work on NT only and not on 95.)
8105
8106 *** There are difficulties with subprocesses, though, due to problems
8107 in Windows, beyond the control of Emacs. They work fine as long as
8108 you run Windows applications. The problems arise when you run a DOS
8109 application in a subprocesses. Since current shells run as DOS
8110 applications, these problems are significant.
8111
8112 If you run a DOS application in a subprocess, then the application is
8113 likely to busy-wait, which means that your machine will be 100% busy.
8114 However, if you don't mind the temporary heavy load, the subprocess
8115 will work OK as long as you tell it to terminate before you start any
8116 other DOS application as a subprocess.
8117
8118 Emacs is unable to terminate or interrupt a DOS subprocess.
8119 You have to do this by providing input directly to the subprocess.
8120
8121 If you run two DOS applications at the same time in two separate
8122 subprocesses, even if one of them is asynchronous, you will probably
8123 have to reboot your machine--until then, it will remain 100% busy.
8124 Windows simply does not cope when one Windows process tries to run two
8125 separate DOS subprocesses. Typing CTL-ALT-DEL and then choosing
8126 Shutdown seems to work although it may take a few minutes.
8127
8128 ** M-x resize-minibuffer-mode.
8129
8130 This command, not previously mentioned in NEWS, toggles a mode in
8131 which the minibuffer window expands to show as many lines as the
8132 minibuffer contains.
8133
8134 ** `title' frame parameter and resource.
8135
8136 The `title' X resource now specifies just the frame title, nothing else.
8137 It does not affect the name used for looking up other X resources.
8138 It works by setting the new `title' frame parameter, which likewise
8139 affects just the displayed title of the frame.
8140
8141 The `name' parameter continues to do what it used to do:
8142 it specifies the frame name for looking up X resources,
8143 and also serves as the default for the displayed title
8144 when the `title' parameter is unspecified or nil.
8145
8146 ** Emacs now uses the X toolkit by default, if you have a new
8147 enough version of X installed (X11R5 or newer).
8148
8149 ** When you compile Emacs with the Motif widget set, Motif handles the
8150 F10 key by activating the menu bar. To avoid confusion, the usual
8151 Emacs binding of F10 is replaced with a no-op when using Motif.
8152
8153 If you want to be able to use F10 in Emacs, you can rebind the Motif
8154 menubar to some other key which you don't use. To do so, add
8155 something like this to your X resources file. This example rebinds
8156 the Motif menu bar activation key to S-F12:
8157
8158 Emacs*defaultVirtualBindings: osfMenuBar : Shift<Key>F12
8159
8160 ** In overwrite mode, DEL now inserts spaces in most cases
8161 to replace the characters it "deletes".
8162
8163 ** The Rmail summary now shows the number of lines in each message.
8164
8165 ** Rmail has a new command M-x unforward-rmail-message, which extracts
8166 a forwarded message from the message that forwarded it. To use it,
8167 select a message which contains a forwarded message and then type the command.
8168 It inserts the forwarded message as a separate Rmail message
8169 immediately after the selected one.
8170
8171 This command also undoes the textual modifications that are standardly
8172 made, as part of forwarding, by Rmail and other mail reader programs.
8173
8174 ** Turning off saving of .saves-... files in your home directory.
8175
8176 Each Emacs session writes a file named .saves-... in your home
8177 directory to record which files M-x recover-session should recover.
8178 If you exit Emacs normally with C-x C-c, it deletes that file. If
8179 Emacs or the operating system crashes, the file remains for M-x
8180 recover-session.
8181
8182 You can turn off the writing of these files by setting
8183 auto-save-list-file-name to nil. If you do this, M-x recover-session
8184 will not work.
8185
8186 Some previous Emacs versions failed to delete these files even on
8187 normal exit. This is fixed now. If you are thinking of turning off
8188 this feature because of past experiences with versions that had this
8189 bug, it would make sense to check whether you still want to do so
8190 now that the bug is fixed.
8191
8192 ** Changes to Version Control (VC)
8193
8194 There is a new variable, vc-follow-symlinks. It indicates what to do
8195 when you visit a link to a file that is under version control.
8196 Editing the file through the link bypasses the version control system,
8197 which is dangerous and probably not what you want.
8198
8199 If this variable is t, VC follows the link and visits the real file,
8200 telling you about it in the echo area. If it is `ask' (the default),
8201 VC asks for confirmation whether it should follow the link. If nil,
8202 the link is visited and a warning displayed.
8203
8204 ** iso-acc.el now lets you specify a choice of language.
8205 Languages include "latin-1" (the default) and "latin-2" (which
8206 is designed for entering ISO Latin-2 characters).
8207
8208 There are also choices for specific human languages such as French and
8209 Portuguese. These are subsets of Latin-1, which differ in that they
8210 enable only the accent characters needed for particular language.
8211 The other accent characters, not needed for the chosen language,
8212 remain normal.
8213
8214 ** Posting articles and sending mail now has M-TAB completion on various
8215 header fields (Newsgroups, To, CC, ...).
8216
8217 Completion in the Newsgroups header depends on the list of groups
8218 known to your news reader. Completion in the Followup-To header
8219 offers those groups which are in the Newsgroups header, since
8220 Followup-To usually just holds one of those.
8221
8222 Completion in fields that hold mail addresses works based on the list
8223 of local users plus your aliases. Additionally, if your site provides
8224 a mail directory or a specific host to use for any unrecognized user
8225 name, you can arrange to query that host for completion also. (See the
8226 documentation of variables `mail-directory-process' and
8227 `mail-directory-stream'.)
8228
8229 ** A greatly extended sgml-mode offers new features such as (to be configured)
8230 skeletons with completing read for tags and attributes, typing named
8231 characters including optionally all 8bit characters, making tags invisible
8232 with optional alternate display text, skipping and deleting tag(pair)s.
8233
8234 Note: since Emacs' syntax feature cannot limit the special meaning of ', " and
8235 - to inside <>, for some texts the result, especially of font locking, may be
8236 wrong (see `sgml-specials' if you get wrong results).
8237
8238 The derived html-mode configures this with tags and attributes more or
8239 less HTML3ish. It also offers optional quick keys like C-c 1 for
8240 headline or C-c u for unordered list (see `html-quick-keys'). Edit /
8241 Text Properties / Face or M-g combinations create tags as applicable.
8242 Outline minor mode is supported and level 1 font-locking tries to
8243 fontify tag contents (which only works when they fit on one line, due
8244 to a limitation in font-lock).
8245
8246 External viewing via browse-url can occur automatically upon saving.
8247
8248 ** M-x imenu-add-to-menubar now adds to the menu bar for the current
8249 buffer only. If you want to put an Imenu item in the menu bar for all
8250 buffers that use a particular major mode, use the mode hook, as in
8251 this example:
8252
8253 (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
8254 '(lambda () (imenu-add-to-menubar "Index")))
8255
8256 ** Changes in BibTeX mode.
8257
8258 *** Field names may now contain digits, hyphens, and underscores.
8259
8260 *** Font Lock mode is now supported.
8261
8262 *** bibtex-make-optional-field is no longer interactive.
8263
8264 *** If bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is non-nil, inserting new
8265 entries is now done with a faster algorithm. However, inserting
8266 will fail in this case if the buffer contains invalid entries or
8267 isn't in sorted order, so you should finish each entry with C-c C-c
8268 (bibtex-close-entry) after you have inserted or modified it.
8269 The default value of bibtex-maintain-sorted-entries is nil.
8270
8271 *** Function `show-all' is no longer bound to a key, since C-u C-c C-q
8272 does the same job.
8273
8274 *** Entries with quotes inside quote-delimited fields (as `author =
8275 "Stefan Sch{\"o}f"') are now supported.
8276
8277 *** Case in field names doesn't matter anymore when searching for help
8278 text.
8279
8280 ** Font Lock mode
8281
8282 *** Global Font Lock mode
8283
8284 Font Lock mode can be turned on globally, in buffers that support it, by the
8285 new command global-font-lock-mode. You can use the new variable
8286 font-lock-global-modes to control which modes have Font Lock mode automagically
8287 turned on. By default, this variable is set so that Font Lock mode is turned
8288 on globally where the buffer mode supports it.
8289
8290 For example, to automagically turn on Font Lock mode where supported, put:
8291
8292 (global-font-lock-mode t)
8293
8294 in your ~/.emacs.
8295
8296 *** Local Refontification
8297
8298 In Font Lock mode, editing a line automatically refontifies that line only.
8299 However, if your change alters the syntactic context for following lines,
8300 those lines remain incorrectly fontified. To refontify them, use the new
8301 command M-g M-g (font-lock-fontify-block).
8302
8303 In certain major modes, M-g M-g refontifies the entire current function.
8304 (The variable font-lock-mark-block-function controls how to find the
8305 current function.) In other major modes, M-g M-g refontifies 16 lines
8306 above and below point.
8307
8308 With a prefix argument N, M-g M-g refontifies N lines above and below point.
8309
8310 ** Follow mode
8311
8312 Follow mode is a new minor mode combining windows showing the same
8313 buffer into one tall "virtual window". The windows are typically two
8314 side-by-side windows. Follow mode makes them scroll together as if
8315 they were a unit. To use it, go to a frame with just one window,
8316 split it into two side-by-side windows using C-x 3, and then type M-x
8317 follow-mode.
8318
8319 M-x follow-mode turns off Follow mode if it is already enabled.
8320
8321 To display two side-by-side windows and activate Follow mode, use the
8322 command M-x follow-delete-other-windows-and-split.
8323
8324 ** hide-show changes.
8325
8326 The hooks hs-hide-hooks and hs-show-hooks have been renamed
8327 to hs-hide-hook and hs-show-hook, to follow the convention for
8328 normal hooks.
8329
8330 ** Simula mode now has a menu containing the most important commands.
8331 The new command simula-indent-exp is bound to C-M-q.
8332
8333 ** etags can now handle programs written in Erlang. Files are
8334 recognised by the extensions .erl and .hrl. The tagged lines are
8335 those that begin a function, record, or macro.
8336
8337 ** MSDOS Changes
8338
8339 *** It is now possible to compile Emacs with the version 2 of DJGPP.
8340 Compilation with DJGPP version 1 also still works.
8341
8342 *** The documentation of DOS-specific aspects of Emacs was rewritten
8343 and expanded; see the ``MS-DOS'' node in the on-line docs.
8344
8345 *** Emacs now uses ~ for backup file names, not .bak.
8346
8347 *** You can simulate mouse-3 on two-button mice by simultaneously
8348 pressing both mouse buttons.
8349
8350 *** A number of packages and commands which previously failed or had
8351 restricted functionality on MS-DOS, now work. The most important ones
8352 are:
8353
8354 **** Printing (both with `M-x lpr-buffer' and with `ps-print' package)
8355 now works.
8356
8357 **** `Ediff' works (in a single-frame mode).
8358
8359 **** `M-x display-time' can be used on MS-DOS (due to the new
8360 implementation of Emacs timers, see below).
8361
8362 **** `Dired' supports Unix-style shell wildcards.
8363
8364 **** The `c-macro-expand' command now works as on other platforms.
8365
8366 **** `M-x recover-session' works.
8367
8368 **** `M-x list-colors-display' displays all the available colors.
8369
8370 **** The `TPU-EDT' package works.
8371 \f
8372 * Lisp changes in Emacs 19.31.
8373
8374 ** The function using-unix-filesystems on Windows NT and Windows 95
8375 tells Emacs to read and write files assuming that they reside on a
8376 remote Unix filesystem. No CR/LF translation is done on any files in
8377 this case. Invoking using-unix-filesystems with t activates this
8378 behavior, and invoking it with any other value deactivates it.
8379
8380 ** Change in system-type and system-configuration values.
8381
8382 The value of system-type on a Linux-based GNU system is now `lignux',
8383 not `linux'. This means that some programs which use `system-type'
8384 need to be changed. The value of `system-configuration' will also
8385 be different.
8386
8387 It is generally recommended to use `system-configuration' rather
8388 than `system-type'.
8389
8390 See the file LINUX-GNU in this directory for more about this.
8391
8392 ** The functions shell-command and dired-call-process
8393 now run file name handlers for default-directory, if it has them.
8394
8395 ** Undoing the deletion of text now restores the positions of markers
8396 that pointed into or next to the deleted text.
8397
8398 ** Timers created with run-at-time now work internally to Emacs, and
8399 no longer use a separate process. Therefore, they now work more
8400 reliably and can be used for shorter time delays.
8401
8402 The new function run-with-timer is a convenient way to set up a timer
8403 to run a specified amount of time after the present. A call looks
8404 like this:
8405
8406 (run-with-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8407
8408 SECS says how many seconds should elapse before the timer happens.
8409 It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the timer
8410 becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments ARGS.
8411
8412 REPEAT gives the interval for repeating the timer (measured in
8413 seconds). It may be an integer or a floating point number. nil or 0
8414 means don't repeat at all--call FUNCTION just once.
8415
8416 *** with-timeout provides an easy way to do something but give
8417 up if too much time passes.
8418
8419 (with-timeout (SECONDS TIMEOUT-FORMS...) BODY...)
8420
8421 This executes BODY, but gives up after SECONDS seconds.
8422 If it gives up, it runs the TIMEOUT-FORMS and returns the value
8423 of the last one of them. Normally it returns the value of the last
8424 form in BODY.
8425
8426 *** You can now arrange to call a function whenever Emacs is idle for
8427 a certain length of time. To do this, call run-with-idle-timer. A
8428 call looks like this:
8429
8430 (run-with-idle-timer SECS REPEAT FUNCTION ARGS...)
8431
8432 SECS says how many seconds of idleness should elapse before the timer
8433 runs. It may be an integer or a floating point number. When the
8434 timer becomes ripe, the action is to call FUNCTION with arguments
8435 ARGS.
8436
8437 Emacs becomes idle whenever it finishes executing a keyboard or mouse
8438 command. It remains idle until it receives another keyboard or mouse
8439 command.
8440
8441 REPEAT, if non-nil, means this timer should be activated again each
8442 time Emacs becomes idle and remains idle for SECS seconds The timer
8443 does not repeat if Emacs *remains* idle; it runs at most once after
8444 each time Emacs becomes idle.
8445
8446 If REPEAT is nil, the timer runs just once, the first time Emacs is
8447 idle for SECS seconds.
8448
8449 *** post-command-idle-hook is now obsolete; you shouldn't use it at
8450 all, because it interferes with the idle timer mechanism. If your
8451 programs use post-command-idle-hook, convert them to use idle timers
8452 instead.
8453
8454 *** y-or-n-p-with-timeout lets you ask a question but give up if
8455 there is no answer within a certain time.
8456
8457 (y-or-n-p-with-timeout PROMPT SECONDS DEFAULT-VALUE)
8458
8459 asks the question PROMPT (just like y-or-n-p). If the user answers
8460 within SECONDS seconds, it returns the answer that the user gave.
8461 Otherwise it gives up after SECONDS seconds, and returns DEFAULT-VALUE.
8462
8463 ** Minor change to `encode-time': you can now pass more than seven
8464 arguments. If you do that, the first six arguments have the usual
8465 meaning, the last argument is interpreted as the time zone, and the
8466 arguments in between are ignored.
8467
8468 This means that it works to use the list returned by `decode-time' as
8469 the list of arguments for `encode-time'.
8470
8471 ** The default value of load-path now includes the directory
8472 /usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp In addition to
8473 /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp. You can use this new directory for
8474 site-specific Lisp packages that belong with a particular Emacs
8475 version.
8476
8477 It is not unusual for a Lisp package that works well in one Emacs
8478 version to cause trouble in another. Sometimes packages need updating
8479 for incompatible changes; sometimes they look at internal data that
8480 has changed; sometimes the package has been installed in Emacs itself
8481 and the installed version should be used. Whatever the reason for the
8482 problem, this new feature makes it easier to solve.
8483
8484 ** When your program contains a fixed file name (like .completions or
8485 .abbrev.defs), the file name usually needs to be different on operating
8486 systems with limited file name syntax.
8487
8488 Now you can avoid ad-hoc conditionals by using the function
8489 convert-standard-filename to convert the file name to a proper form
8490 for each operating system. Here is an example of use, from the file
8491 completions.el:
8492
8493 (defvar save-completions-file-name
8494 (convert-standard-filename "~/.completions")
8495 "*The filename to save completions to.")
8496
8497 This sets the variable save-completions-file-name to a value that
8498 depends on the operating system, because the definition of
8499 convert-standard-filename depends on the operating system. On
8500 Unix-like systems, it returns the specified file name unchanged. On
8501 MS-DOS, it adapts the name to fit the limitations of that system.
8502
8503 ** The interactive spec N now returns the numeric prefix argument
8504 rather than the raw prefix argument. (It still reads a number using the
8505 minibuffer if there is no prefix argument at all.)
8506
8507 ** When a process is deleted, this no longer disconnects the process
8508 marker from its buffer position.
8509
8510 ** The variable garbage-collection-messages now controls whether
8511 Emacs displays a message at the beginning and end of garbage collection.
8512 The default is nil, meaning there are no messages.
8513
8514 ** The variable debug-ignored-errors specifies certain kinds of errors
8515 that should not enter the debugger. Its value is a list of error
8516 condition symbols and/or regular expressions. If the error has any
8517 of the condition symbols listed, or if any of the regular expressions
8518 matches the error message, then that error does not enter the debugger,
8519 regardless of the value of debug-on-error.
8520
8521 This variable is initialized to match certain common but uninteresting
8522 errors that happen often during editing.
8523
8524 ** The new function error-message-string converts an error datum
8525 into its error message. The error datum is what condition-case
8526 puts into the variable, to describe the error that happened.
8527
8528 ** Anything that changes which buffer appears in a given window
8529 now runs the window-scroll-functions for that window.
8530
8531 ** The new function get-buffer-window-list returns a list of windows displaying
8532 a buffer. The function is called with the buffer (a buffer object or a buffer
8533 name) and two optional arguments specifying the minibuffer windows and frames
8534 to search. Therefore this function takes optional args like next-window etc.,
8535 and not get-buffer-window.
8536
8537 ** buffer-substring now runs the hook buffer-access-fontify-functions,
8538 calling each function with two arguments--the range of the buffer
8539 being accessed. buffer-substring-no-properties does not call them.
8540
8541 If you use this feature, you should set the variable
8542 buffer-access-fontified-property to a non-nil symbol, which is a
8543 property name. Then, if all the characters in the buffer range have a
8544 non-nil value for that property, the buffer-access-fontify-functions
8545 are not called. When called, these functions should put a non-nil
8546 property on the text that they fontify, so that they won't get called
8547 over and over for the same text.
8548
8549 ** Changes in lisp-mnt.el
8550
8551 *** The lisp-mnt package can now recognize file headers that are written
8552 in the formats used by the `what' command and the RCS `ident' command:
8553
8554 ;; @(#) HEADER: text
8555 ;; $HEADER: text $
8556
8557 in addition to the normal
8558
8559 ;; HEADER: text
8560
8561 *** The commands lm-verify and lm-synopsis are now interactive. lm-verify
8562 checks that the library file has proper sections and headers, and
8563 lm-synopsis extracts first line "synopsis'"information.
8564
8565
8566 \f
8567 * For older news, see the file ONEWS
8568
8569 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
8570 Copyright information:
8571
8572 Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
8573
8574 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
8575 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
8576 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
8577 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
8578
8579 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
8580 of this document, or of portions of it,
8581 under the above conditions, provided also that they
8582 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
8583 \f
8584 Local variables:
8585 mode: outline
8586 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
8587 end: