1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * About external Lisp packages
27 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
29 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
30 The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
31 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
34 Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
35 backends. This requires the freetype and fontconfig libraries
37 *** Emacs now accepts font names supplied in the fontconfig format
38 (e.g. "monospace-12:bold") and GTK format (e.g. "Monospace Bold 12").
40 *** Added support for local fonts (fonts installed on the machine
41 where Emacs is running).
43 *** Added support for the Xft library for antialiasing.
45 *** Added support for the otf library for complex text layout by
48 *** Added support for the m17n library for text shaping.
50 ** Changes to image support
52 *** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
55 *** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
57 ** The Mac Carbon port is no longer supported.
58 Instead, use... [FIXME what?]
60 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
63 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
64 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
66 *** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
68 *** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
70 ** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
72 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
73 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
74 you need control over which C compiler is used.
76 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
78 ** Emacs 23 comes with a new set of default icons.
79 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
80 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
82 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
84 ** Improved X Window System support
86 *** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
87 With an Emacs server active (M-x server-start), `emacsclient -t'
88 creates a tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can
89 use any number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11
90 frame on the current $DISPLAY (or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set).
92 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
93 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
95 **** Emacsclient can now open new terminal frames.
96 Now, the default behavior is to open a new Emacs frame by default.
97 Use the -c option to get the old behavior of opening files in the
98 currently selected Emacs frame.
100 *** The new command close-display-connection closes a connection to a
103 *** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
104 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line
105 option --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
106 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
107 for details about XEmbed.
109 *** Emacs can now set the frame opacity.
110 The opacity of a frame can be controlled by setting the `alpha' frame
111 parameter. This only takes effect on a compositing window manager for
112 the X Window System, such as Compiz, Beryl and Compiz Fusion, or on
113 Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows.
115 The alpha parameter should be an integer between 0 (transparent) and
116 100 (opaque), or a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. It can also be a
117 cons cell (ACTIVE . INACTIVE), where ACTIVE is the opacity of an
118 active frame and INACTIVE is the opactity of non-active frames.
120 The variable `frame-alpha-lower-limit' defines a lower bound for the
121 opacity; the default is 20.
123 ** Internationalization changes
125 *** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
126 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
128 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
129 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs'. This encoding is backwards
130 compatible with Unicode's UTF-8 encoding. The internal encoding
131 previously used by Emacs, `emacs-mule', is still available.
133 During byte-compilation, Emacs 23 uses `utf-8-emacs' to write files.
134 As a result, byte-compiled files containing non-ASCII characters can't
135 be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files compiled by Emacs 20, 21,
136 or 22 are loaded correctly as emacs-mule (whether or not they contain
137 multibyte characters). This takes somewhat more time, so it may be
138 worth recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be shared
141 *** There are new coding systems/aliases; see M-x list-coding-systems.
143 *** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
144 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
145 as tables of unicodes.
147 **** The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of
148 each dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
150 **** A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
151 characters for display.
153 *** There are new language environments for Chinese-GBK,
154 Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu,
155 Sinhala, and TaiViet.
157 *** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode and
158 unify-8859-on-decoding-mode are obsolete.
160 ** Emacs now supports serial port access on GNU/Linux, Unix, and
161 Windows. `serial-term' starts an interactive terminal,
162 `make-serial-process' and `serial-process-configure' provide a Lisp
163 interface. The serial port can be configured at runtime with the
164 mode-line mouse menu.
168 *** In the Options menu, the "Set Default Font" item applies the
169 selected font to the `default' face on all frames, not just the
170 current frame. Furthermore, if Emacs is compiled with both GTK and
171 Fontconfig support, the "Set Default Font" item uses the GTK font
172 selection dialog instead of an Emacs pop-up menu.
174 *** The font setting chosen by "Set Default Font" is saved if the
175 "Save Options" item is used.
177 *** The Tools menu contains a new Encryption/Decryption submenu.
178 This contains commands provided by EasyPG, the newly-included
179 interface to GnuPG (see New Modes and Packages).
181 *** The Options menu contains a new entry to turn on Longlines mode.
185 *** The mode-line displays a `@', instead of `-', if the
186 default-directory for the current buffer is on a remote machine.
188 *** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a
189 minor mode, in the same way as it already did for major modes.
191 *** The `mode-line-emphasis' face is used to highlight certain
192 mode-line information (e.g. waiting for a VC command to finish).
194 ** Directory-local variables can now be defined.
195 By default, Emacs looks in .dir-settings.el for directory-local
196 variables. For more information, see `set-directory-project' and
197 `define-project-bindings'.
200 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
202 ** The option `inhibit-startup-screen' (with aliases to old names
203 `inhibit-splash-screen' and `inhibit-startup-message') doesn't inhibit
204 display of the initial message in the *scratch* buffer. If you don't
205 want to display the initial message in the *scratch* buffer at startup,
206 you can set the option `initial-scratch-message' to nil.
208 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
209 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
212 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
213 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
214 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
217 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
219 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
222 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
223 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
226 ** The following input methods were removed in Emacs 22.2, but this was
227 not advertised: danish-alt-postfix, esperanto-alt-postfix,
228 finnish-alt-postfix, german-alt-postfix, icelandic-alt-postfix,
229 norwegian-alt-postfix, scandinavian-alt-postfix, spanish-alt-postfix,
230 and swedish-alt-postfix. Use the versions without "alt-", which are
234 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
236 ** C-x C-c now invokes `save-buffers-kill-terminal', and C-z now
237 invokes `suspend-frame'. This change is for compatibility with the
238 new multi-tty support (see `Improved X Window System support' above).
242 *** Transient Mark mode is now on by default.
244 *** mark-even-if-inactive now defaults to t
246 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, C-SPC C-SPC pushes a mark without
249 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-q now fills the region if the
250 region is active. Otherwise, it fills the current paragraph.
252 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, M-$ now checks spelling of the
253 region if the region is active. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
255 *** When Transient Mark mode is on, TAB now indents the region if the
257 *** `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty active region
258 in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on that empty
261 ** Temporarily active regions
263 *** The new variable shift-select-mode, non-nil by default, controls
264 shift-selection. When Shift Select mode is on, shift-translated
265 motion keys (e.g. S-left and S-down) activate and extend a temporary
266 region, similar to mouse-selection.
268 *** Temporarily active regions, created using shift-selection or
269 mouse-selection, are not necessarily deactivated in the next command.
270 They are only deactivated after point motion commands that are not
271 shift-translated, or after commands that would ordinarily deactivate
272 the mark in Transient Mark mode (e.g., any command that modifies the
275 ** Minibuffer changes
277 *** Operations like C-x b and C-x C-f, which use switch-to-buffer, do
278 not fail any more when used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window.
279 Instead, they fallback on using pop-to-buffer, which will use some
282 *** When M-n in the minibuffer reaches the end of the list of defaults,
283 it adds the completion list to the end, so next M-n continues putting
284 completion items to the minibuffer. The same principle applies to
285 incremental search commands as well: C-s or C-M-s starts searching
286 the default values and after the end of defaults they continue
287 searching minibuffer completion items.
289 *** Minibuffer input of shell commands now comes with completion.
291 *** In the `C-x d' (Dired) prompt, typing M-n gives the visited file
292 name of the current buffer.
294 *** In the M-! (shell-command) prompt, M-n provides some default commands.
295 These are guessed using the file extension of the current file, based
296 on the file-handlers specified in the operating system's `mailcap'
297 file. The ! command in Dired (dired-do-shell-command) works
298 similarly, using the file displayed on the current line.
300 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
301 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
302 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last isearch
303 regexp, the last isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
305 *** isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
306 Reverse isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
307 history elements, and forward isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
308 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
309 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
310 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
311 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
315 *** S-down-mouse-1 now pops up a menu for changing the font and text
316 size of the default face in the current buffer. The face is changed
317 via face remapping (see below).
321 ** Primary selection changes
323 *** If `select-active-regions' is t, setting the mark automatically
324 makes the new region into the primary selection (for interaction with
325 other window applications). If you enable this, you might want to
326 bind `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
328 *** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary
329 selection by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
331 ** Completion changes
333 *** `completion-styles' can be customized to choose your favorite
336 *** The default completion styles include a form of partial-completion.
338 *** The new command `minibuffer-force-complete' chooses one of the
339 possible completions, rather than stopping at the common prefix.
341 *** `completion-auto-help' can be set to `lazy' to list the
342 completions only if you repeat the completion. This was already
343 supported in `partial-completion-mode'.
345 ** Continuation lines can be wrapped at word boundaries
346 (word-wrapping) instead of the right window edge. The new per-buffer
347 variable `word-wrap', if non-nil turns on word-wrapping. Word
348 wrapping does not take place if continuation lines are not shown,
349 e.g. if truncate-lines is non-nil.
351 ** Window management changes
353 *** truncate-partial-width-windows now accepts integer values, which
354 specify a minimum window width for partial-width windows, below which
355 lines are truncated. The default has been changed to 30.
357 *** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both
358 vertically and horizontally.
360 ** Miscellaneous changes:
362 *** New keymap `search-map' bound to `M-s' provides global bindings
363 for search related commands: `M-s o' for `occur', `M-s h r' for
364 `highlight-regexp' and other hi-lock commands on the `M-s h' prefix.
366 *** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
367 This moves the current line to window center, top and bottom on
368 successive invokations.
370 *** scroll-preserve-screen-position also preserves the column position.
372 *** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring also
373 updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank, just as M-w
374 would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
377 *** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
378 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
379 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
381 *** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
382 called with a prefix and the default directory is a remote file name.
383 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
384 run processes remotely.
386 *** The new command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name
389 *** The new commands `pp-macroexpand-expression' and
390 `pp-macroexpand-last-sexp' pretty-print macro expansions.
393 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
395 ** FIXME add details of new packages imported from lisp/gnus.
396 [Maybe some information from doc/misc/gnus-coding.texi can be reused]
398 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
399 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
400 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
402 ** Bubbles, a new game, is similar to SameGame.
404 ** bug-reference.el provides clickable links to bug reports.
406 ** copyright.el provides utilities for updating copyright notices in files.
408 ** dbus.el provides D-Bus language bindings.
409 D-Bus is an inter-process communication mechanism for applications
410 residing on the same host. See the manual for details.
412 ** Doc View Mode allows viewing of PDF, PostScript and DVI documents.
413 One can also search for a regular expression in the document. For
414 details, see the commentary in doc-view.el.
416 ** EasyPG provides an interface to the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG).
417 It includes a GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic operations on
418 regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg files. For
419 details, see the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual.
421 ** json.el is a library for parsing and generating JSON
422 (JavaScript Object Notation), a lightweight data-interchange format.
424 ** linum.el is a new minor mode to display line numbers for the
427 ** minibuffer-indicate-depth-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
430 This is a new mode for editing XML documents. It allows a schema to
431 be associated with the XML document being edited, using Relax NG as
432 the schema language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
434 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
435 any invalid parts of your document.
437 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
438 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
439 allowed by the schema in that context.
441 ** proced.el provides a Dired-like interface for operating on processes.
442 Proced makes an Emacs buffer containing a listing of the current
443 processes (using ps(1)). You can use the normal Emacs commands to
444 move around in this buffer, and special Proced commands to operate on
445 the processes listed.
447 ** Remember Mode is a mode for jotting down things to remember.
448 Notes can be saved to a Diary file. For details, see the Remember
451 ** RST mode is a major mode for editing ReSTructured-Text files.
453 ** A new `whitespace' package has been installed, and the pre-existing one
454 renamed to `old-whitespace'.
455 [FIXME someone explain why this is good, if it is...]
457 ** zeroconf.el offers service discovery and service publishing
458 interfaces according to the zeroconf specification. It communicates
459 with Avahi, a zeroconf implementation, via D-Bus messages on systems
460 which have installed this software.
463 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
465 ** Abbrev has been rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
466 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
467 abbrev-table-p, abbrev-insert, abbrev-table-menu.
468 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
469 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
470 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
471 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
472 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
473 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
474 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
475 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
476 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
477 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
480 *** `apropos-library' describes the elements defined in a given library.
481 *** Set `apropos-compact-layout' is you want a more compact (but wider) layout.
483 ** Archive Mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
487 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
489 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
490 `string', disabled by default.
492 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
493 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
495 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
497 ** Calendar and diary
500 *** There is a new date style, `iso', essentially year/month/day.
501 The variable `european-calendar-style' is obsolete - use `calendar-date-style'.
502 Similarly, the commands `american-calendar' and `european-calendar'
503 should be replaced by `calendar-set-date-style'.
506 *** The calendar namespace has been rationalized.
507 All functions and variables now begin with a `calendar-', `diary-', or
508 `holiday-' prefix. The various calendar systems have secondary
509 prefixes, eg `calendar-french-'. The old names you are likely to use
510 directly still exist, for the time being, as aliases, but please start
513 *** The whitespace in the calendar layout can be customized.
515 calendar-left-margin, calendar-intermonth-spacing, calendar-column-width,
516 calendar-day-header-width, and calendar-day-digit-width.
518 *** Text (e.g. ISO weeks) can be displayed between the calendar months.
519 See the variables calendar-intermonth-header and calendar-intermonth-text.
521 *** The function `holiday-chinese' computes holidays on the Chinese calendar.
522 It has been used to add items to the list `holiday-oriental-holidays'.
524 *** `diary-remind' accepts a negative number -DAYS as a shorthand for
525 the list (1 2 ... DAYS).
527 ** Compile and grep modes
529 *** The mode-line entry for the *compilation* and *grep* buffer is color coded.
530 It has different colors for to show that: (a) the command is still
531 running, (b) successful completion, (c) error.
533 *** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
534 the first error encountered during compilations.
538 *** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
539 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
543 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
544 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
545 diff-auto-refine. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
547 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
548 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
549 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
552 *** The variable `fortran-line-length' can change the fixed-form line-length.
554 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
555 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
558 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
562 *** The Gnus package has been updated
563 There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements; see the file
564 GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
566 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
567 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
568 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
569 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
572 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
573 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
574 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
575 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
576 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits to specify new
577 position of point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
581 *** New command `isearch-highlight-regexp' bound to `M-s h r'
582 in isearch mode runs `highlight-regexp' (`hi-lock-face-buffer')
583 with the current search string as its regexp argument.
585 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in isearch mode
586 runs `occur' with the current search string.
588 *** isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
589 When running isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
590 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
591 if there is one (e.g. go from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
593 This is enabled if isearch-buffers-multi is non-nil.
595 *** The part of an isearch that failed to match is highlighted in `isearch-fail'
598 *** `C-h C-h' in isearch mode displays isearch-specific Help screen,
599 `C-h b' displays all isearch key bindings, `C-h k' displays the full
600 documentation of the given isearch key sequence, `C-h m' displays
601 documentation of isearch mode. All the rest Help commands exit isearch mode
602 and execute their global definitions.
604 *** When started in the minibuffer, Isearch searches in the minibuffer
605 history. See `Minibuffer changes', above.
608 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
609 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
611 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
612 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
613 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
614 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
618 *** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode is enabled,
619 Emacs uses a Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server,
620 rather than faking events using the client program mev. This C level
621 approach provides mouse highlighting and help echoing in the
627 *** New connection methods.
628 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
629 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
630 "tunnel" and "socks".
632 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
633 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead of, multi hops
634 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
636 *** More default settings.
637 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
638 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
640 *** Connection information is cached.
641 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
642 connections are kept persistent in a file. The name of this file is
643 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
645 *** Control of remote processes.
646 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
647 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
649 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
650 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
651 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
653 *** Passwords can be read from an authentification file.
654 Tramp uses the package `auth-source' to read passwords from a file, if
659 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
660 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
661 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, Git
662 and Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems as
665 *** vc-dir is a new command that displays file names and their VC
666 status. It allows to apply various VC operations to a file or a
669 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
671 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
673 *** In VC Annotate mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
674 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
675 by using the vc-annotate-show-changeset-diff-revision-at-line function.
677 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type V to toggle the annotation visibility.
679 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
682 *** vc-git supports the "git grep" command.
684 *** Asynchronous VC commands display [Waiting...] in the mode-line
685 of the corresponding buffer as long as the asynchronous process is
688 *** Log entries can be modified using the key "e" in log-view.
689 For now only CVS, RCS, SCCS and SVN support this functionality.
690 This is done by the `modify-change-comment' backend function.
692 *** In log-view-mode, for VC systems that support changesets, you can
693 see the diff for the whole changeset (not only for the current file)
694 by typing the D key or using the "Changeset Diff" menu entry.
696 *** VC Support for Meta-CVS has been removed for lack of maintainer able
697 to update it to the new VC.
701 *** In Change Log mode, the new command C-c C-f (change-log-find-file)
702 finds the file associated with the current log entry.
704 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
705 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
706 on the corresponding remote system.
708 *** In Dired, C-x C-q now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
709 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
712 *** Eldoc highlights the function argument under point
713 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
715 *** In Etags, the --members option is now the default.
716 Use --no-members if you want the old default behavior of not tagging
717 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
719 *** The `gdb' command only works with the graphical interface now.
720 Use `gud-gdb' if you want the (old) text command mode.
722 *** goto-address.el provides two new minor modes, goto-address-mode and
723 goto-address-prog-mode, which buttonize URLS and email addresses.
725 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
727 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
728 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
730 *** hide-ifdef-mode allows shadowing ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
731 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
733 *** `icomplete-prospects-height' now supercedes `icomplete-prospects-length'.
735 *** Info displays breadcrumbs in the header of the page.
736 See Info-breadcrumbs-depth to control it.
738 *** In Log Edit mode, C-c C-d now shows the diff for the files involved.
740 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
741 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
743 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
745 *** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
747 *** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
748 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see smerge-auto-refine.
750 *** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
752 *** A new command `display-time-world' has been added to the Time
753 package. It creates a buffer with an updating time display using
756 *** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
757 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
758 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
759 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
761 *** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
762 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
764 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
765 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
768 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
770 ** Case is now considered significant in completion on MS-Windows.
771 The default value of `completion-ignore-case' is now nil on
772 MS-Windows, the same as it is for other operating systems. The
773 variable doesn't apply to reading a file name -- in that case Emacs
774 heeds `read-file-name-completion-ignore-case' instead.
777 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
778 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
779 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. In Emacs 22, IPv6 was
780 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
781 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
784 ** Busy cursor (hourglass) now displays on MS-Windows.
785 When Emacs is busy, an hourglass mouse cursor is displayed on Windows.
786 In Emacs 22 only X supported the busy cursor.
789 ** Battery status is available on MS-Windows
790 Emacs can now display the battery status in the mode-line when enabled with
791 display-battery-mode or from the Options menu. More verbose battery
792 information is also available with the command `battery'. In Emacs 22
793 battery status was supported only on GNU/Linux and Mac.
795 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
796 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
797 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
798 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
799 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
801 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
802 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
803 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
804 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
805 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
806 for the list of extra keys that are available.
809 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
811 ** Variables cannot be both buffer-local and frame-local any more.
813 ** `functionp' returns nil for special forms.
814 I.e., it only returns t for objects that can be passed to `funcall'.
816 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
817 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
818 that range have the same value.
822 *** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
824 *** The multibyteness of process filters is now determined by the
825 coding-system used for decoding. The functions
826 `process-filter-multibyte-p' and `set-process-filter-multibyte' are
829 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
830 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
831 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
832 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
833 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
834 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
835 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
837 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
838 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
840 ** Internationalization changes
842 *** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
844 *** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
847 *** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically.
848 The functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to
849 enable support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
851 *** The following features have been removed. They were used for
852 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
853 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
855 **** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
856 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
858 **** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
859 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
861 **** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
862 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
864 **** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
865 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
868 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
871 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
872 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
874 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
875 property, `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from the local
876 value of the hook variable; it remains even if you change major modes.
878 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
881 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
882 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
883 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
884 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
886 ** `ignore-errors' is now a standard macro (does not require the CL package).
888 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
889 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
890 strings on the kill ring.
893 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
894 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
901 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
903 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count
904 given to `beginning-of-defun'.
907 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
908 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
909 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
910 remote connection has been established already.
912 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
915 ** Changes to interactive function handling
917 *** The new interactive spec code ^ says to first call
918 handle-shift-selection if shift-select-mode is non-nil, before reading
919 the command arguments. This is used for shift-selection (see above).
921 *** Built-in functions can now have an interactive specification that
922 is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
923 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
925 *** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
926 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex
927 interactive forms to subroutines.
931 *** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
932 an active region that they should operate on.
934 *** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode is
935 enabled and there is an active region. This is NOT the best function
936 to use to test whether a command should operate on the region instead
937 of the usual behavior -- for that, use `use-region-p'.
939 *** If a command sets `transient-mark-mode' to (only . OLDVAL), that
940 means to activate transient-mark-mode temporarily, until the next
941 unshifted point motion command or mark deactivation. Afterwards,
942 reset transient-mark-mode to the value OLDVAL. The values `only' and
943 `identity', introduced in Emacs 22, are now deprecated.
945 ** Emacs session information
947 *** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
948 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
950 *** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
952 *** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
953 Emacs initialization.
955 ** Changes affecting display-buffer
957 *** New value nil for split-height-threshold inhibits vertical splitting
958 unless there's no other window.
960 *** New option split-width-threshold controls horizontal splitting.
962 *** A window can be split horizontally even when it's not full-width.
964 *** New option split-window-preferred-function can be set to a function
965 to override the default splitting mechanism of display-buffer.
967 ** Minibuffer and completion changes
969 *** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
970 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
971 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
972 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
973 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
975 *** New function `read-regexp' uses the regexp history and some useful
976 regexp defaults (string at point, last isearch/replacement regexp/string)
977 via M-n when reading a regexp in the minibuffer.
979 *** minibuffer-local-must-match-filename-map is now named
980 minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map.
982 *** `all-completions' may now return the base size in the last cdr.
983 Since this means the returned list is not properly nil-terminated, this
984 is an incompatible change and is thus enabled by the new variable
985 completion-all-completions-with-base-size.
987 *** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts a new value
990 ** Search and replacement changes
992 *** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
994 *** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
995 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
997 *** The new variable `replace-search-function' determines the function
998 to use for searching in query-replace and replace-string.
1000 *** The new variable `replace-re-search-function' determines the
1001 function to use for searching in `query-replace-regexp',
1002 `replace-regexp', `query-replace-regexp-eval', and
1003 `map-query-replace-regexp'.
1005 *** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents
1006 the search and match primitives from changing the match data.
1008 ** File handling changes
1010 *** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
1011 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
1013 *** If you set find-file-confirm-nonexistent-file to t, then C-x C-f
1014 requires confirmation before opening a non-existent file.
1018 *** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
1019 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
1020 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
1021 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
1022 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
1024 *** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
1025 returns its output as a list of lines.
1027 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
1029 The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF with no gap.
1030 Characters of code 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the same code points.
1031 Characters of code 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit bytes.
1033 Generic characters no longer exist.
1035 In buffers and strings, characters are represented by UTF-8 byte
1036 sequences in a multibyte buffer/string.
1038 The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may belong
1039 to multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets
1040 unicode, iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
1042 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
1044 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
1045 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
1047 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
1048 priorities of charsets.
1050 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
1051 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
1052 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
1053 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
1054 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
1057 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
1058 accept a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
1059 entries in that range of characters.
1062 *** `translation-table-for-input' is now obsolete.
1066 **** `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument is a character.
1067 This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
1069 **** `max-char' returns the maximum character code (currently #x3FFFFF).
1071 **** `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
1073 **** `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
1075 **** `charset-priority-list' returns a prioritized list of charsets.
1077 **** `unibyte-string' makes a unibyte string from bytes.
1079 **** `define-char-code-property' defines a character code property.
1081 **** `char-code-property-description' returns the description string of
1082 a character code property.
1086 **** `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a char-table of functions to
1087 search for a word boundary.
1089 **** `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
1091 **** `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
1093 **** `print-charset-text-property' controls how to handle `charset' text
1094 property on printing a string.
1096 **** `printable-chars' is a char-table of printable characters.
1098 ** Code conversion changes
1100 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
1101 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
1103 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
1104 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
1105 conversion should go.
1107 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
1108 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
1111 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
1115 **** `with-coding-priority' executes Lisp code using the specified
1116 coding system priority order.
1118 **** `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text in the region is
1119 encodable by the specified coding systems.
1121 **** `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases of a coding system.
1123 **** `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of charsets supported
1126 **** `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of coding systems
1127 ordered by their priorities.
1129 **** `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of coding systems.
1131 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
1132 It has three functionalities:
1133 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
1134 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
1135 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
1136 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
1138 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
1140 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
1142 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
1145 *** The new function `string-to-unibyte' is like `string-as-unibyte'
1146 but signals an error if STRING contains a non-ASCII, non-eight-bit
1149 ** Changes related to the new font backend
1151 Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource "FontBackend".
1152 For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
1154 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
1156 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
1157 available on your graphic device.
1159 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
1160 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
1161 currently `x' and `xft'.
1163 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
1164 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
1169 **** `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
1171 **** `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
1173 **** `font-get' returns a font property value.
1175 **** `font-put' sets a font property value.
1177 **** `font-face-attributes' returns a plist of face attributes set by a font.
1179 **** `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching a font spec.
1181 **** `font-font' returns the font-entity best matching the given font spec.
1183 **** `list-families' returns a list of family names of available fonts.
1185 **** `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font spec, font
1186 entity, or font object.
1188 **** `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
1190 ** Changes related to multiple-terminal (multi-tty) support
1192 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
1193 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
1195 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
1197 *** The `window-system' variable is now frame-local. The new
1198 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
1199 for the first frame. `window-system' is also now a function that
1200 takes a frame argument.
1202 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
1203 keyboard coding systems are now terminal-local.
1205 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
1206 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
1208 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
1209 session, and `make-frame-on-tty' works during a graphical session.
1211 *** A new data type for terminals with functions: `get-device-terminal',
1212 `terminal-parameters', `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter'.
1214 *** Function key sequences are now mapped using `local-function-key-map',
1215 a new variable. This inherits from the global variable function-key-map,
1216 which is not used directly any more.
1220 **** `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions' are called
1221 after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed, respectively. The
1222 functions are called with the terminal id of the frame being
1223 suspended/resumed as a parameter.
1225 **** The special hook `delete-terminal-functions' is called before
1226 deleting a terminal.
1232 **** `make-frame-on-tty' creates a new frame on another tty device.
1240 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
1242 ** Redisplay changes
1244 *** For underlined characters, the distance between the underline and
1245 the baseline is controlled by a new variable, `underline-minimum-offset'.
1247 *** You can now pass the value of the `invisible' property to
1248 invisible-p to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible.
1249 Convenient when checking invisibility of text with no buffer position
1250 (e.g. in before/after-strings).
1252 *** Non-breaking space is now displayed as whitespace.
1254 *** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
1256 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1258 *** `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a readable
1259 string of days, hours, etc.
1261 *** `apply-partially' performs a "curried" application of a function.
1263 *** `read-shell-command' does what its name says, with completion. It
1264 uses the minibuffer-local-shell-command-map for that.
1266 *** `buffer-swap-text' swaps text between two buffers. This can be
1267 useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
1269 *** `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
1271 *** `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing all the basic
1272 attributes of a given face.
1274 *** `window-full-width-p' returns t if a window is as wide as its
1277 *** `split-string-and-unquote' does (what?)
1279 *** `combine-and-quote-strings' does (what?)
1281 *** `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated with a given image
1284 *** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
1285 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
1288 ** Miscellaneous new variables
1290 *** `this-command-keys-shift-translated' is non-nil if the key
1291 sequence invoking the current command was found by shift-translation.
1293 *** `window-point-insertion-type' determines the insertion-type of the
1294 marker used for window-point.
1296 *** bookmark provides `bookmark-make-record-function' so special major
1297 modes like Info can teach bookmark.el how to save and restore the
1300 *** `next-error-recenter' specifies how next-error should recenter the
1301 visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example, 0 for
1302 top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
1304 *** `fill-forward-paragraph-function' specifies which function the
1305 filling code should use to find paragraph boundaries.
1307 *** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a
1308 certain variable as having been made within Custom.
1311 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
1313 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
1315 ** The new package check-declare.el verifies the accuracy of
1316 declare-function macros (see Lisp Changes, above).
1318 ** find-cmd.el can build `find' commands using lisp syntax.
1320 ** The package isearch-multi.el has been added. It implements a new mode
1321 `isearch-buffers-minor-mode' that allows isearch to search through
1322 multiple buffers. In this mode a new variable
1323 `isearch-buffers-next-buffer-function' defines the function to call
1324 to get the next buffer to search in the series of multiple buffers.
1326 ** The new major mode `special-mode' is intended as a parent for
1327 major modes such as those that set the "'mode-class 'special" property.
1330 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1331 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
1333 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
1334 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
1335 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
1336 (at your option) any later version.
1338 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
1339 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
1340 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
1341 GNU General Public License for more details.
1343 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
1344 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
1349 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
1352 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2