1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
25 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
26 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
29 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
32 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
33 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
34 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
36 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
38 ** New commands `toggle-frame-maximized' and `cycle-frame-maximized',
39 bound to <f11> and S-<f11>, respectively.
42 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
46 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
49 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
53 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
54 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
55 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
56 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
57 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
59 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
60 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
61 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
62 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
67 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
68 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
69 amounts of data into the ERC input.
71 ** Icomplete is a bit more like IDO.
72 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
73 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
74 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
78 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
79 and adds it to the search string.
81 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.4.
82 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
85 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
86 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
89 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
90 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
93 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
95 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
97 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
98 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
99 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
100 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
101 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
102 (point) when the function is invoked.
104 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has two types of operation:
105 when its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
106 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
107 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
111 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
112 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-sdk-dir'
113 must be set to the Android SDK installation directory.
117 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
118 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
120 ** Obsolete packages:
122 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
124 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
127 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
128 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
130 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
131 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
132 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
133 much like `defadvice' does.
135 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
137 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
138 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
139 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
141 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
142 special-forms any more.
144 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
145 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
146 spurious warnings about an unused var.
148 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.4
150 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
151 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
152 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
153 'inotify' API on GNU/Linux systems. On MS-Windows systems, this is
154 supported for Windows XP and newer versions.
158 *** The `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
159 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
160 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
161 property using the supplied face spec.
163 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
164 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
166 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
167 ** New function special-form-p.
168 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
169 text-property on the first char.
171 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
172 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
174 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
175 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
176 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
177 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
179 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
180 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
181 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
183 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
185 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on non-free operating systems
188 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
189 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
190 directory where Emacs was running.
193 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
196 ** The default toolkit has been changed to Gtk+ version 3.
197 If you don't pass --with-x-toolkit to configure or if you pass
198 --with-x-toolkit=gtk or --with-x-toolkit=yes, configure will try to build
199 with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
200 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
201 --with-x-toolkit=gtk2 or --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 to configure.
204 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
205 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
208 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
209 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
212 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
213 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
214 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
215 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
219 ** The configure option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
220 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
221 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
222 check that this option enables.
225 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
226 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
229 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
230 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
234 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
235 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
236 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
237 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
238 links between the various manuals.
241 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
244 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
245 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
249 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
250 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
251 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
254 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
257 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
258 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
259 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
262 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
265 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
268 ** Most y-or-n prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
269 Typing C-v or M-v at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
270 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
274 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
275 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
276 that does not have its own specialized help text.
278 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
279 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
284 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
285 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
286 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
287 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
288 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
291 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
292 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
293 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
295 ** Minibuffer changes
297 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
298 next and previous path separator, respectively.
300 *** minibuffer-electric-default-mode can rewrite (default ...) to [...].
301 Just set minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default to t before enabling the mode.
304 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
305 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
306 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
307 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
309 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
310 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
311 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
313 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
314 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
315 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
318 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
319 :background image spec property.
321 ** Server and client changes
323 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
324 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
325 or expression to evaluate.
327 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
330 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
331 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
334 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
335 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
338 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
339 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
340 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
341 that support backtraces.
344 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
345 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
348 ** New variable `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
349 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
350 files (use this with caution).
353 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
354 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
357 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
358 local variables on remote hosts.
361 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
362 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
364 ** Internationalization changes
366 *** New language environment: Persian.
368 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
370 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port changes
372 *** Fullscreen and frame parameter fullscreen is supported.
374 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
378 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
380 ** Navigation command changes
382 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
384 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
386 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
387 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
389 ** Search and Replace changes
391 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
392 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
393 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
394 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
395 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch).
397 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
398 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
400 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
401 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
404 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
405 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
406 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
409 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
410 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
413 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
414 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
418 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
419 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
420 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
424 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register.
426 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
427 the text to put between collected texts for use with M-x
428 append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
431 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
434 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
435 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
438 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
439 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
440 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
443 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
447 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
448 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
449 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
451 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
452 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
455 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
457 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
458 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
463 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
464 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
467 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
470 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
471 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
476 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
477 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
478 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
481 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
482 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
483 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
484 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
486 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
487 provide the old non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below.
490 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
491 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
492 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
493 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
496 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
497 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
498 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
499 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
502 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
503 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
504 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
507 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
508 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
509 rather than making them unbound.
512 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
513 (use features from gv.el instead):
514 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
515 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
516 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
517 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
520 ** New compilation option `compilation-always-kill'.
524 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
526 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
527 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
531 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
532 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
537 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
540 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
543 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
544 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
547 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
548 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
551 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
554 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
555 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
559 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
562 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
567 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
568 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
569 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
570 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
571 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
574 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
575 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
576 changes in context diffs.
579 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
580 whitespace introduced by a diff.
584 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
585 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
586 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
588 *** Typing M-n in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
589 `dired-do-chown', `dired-do-touch' pulls the file attributes of the
592 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
593 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
594 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
596 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
597 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
598 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
600 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
601 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
604 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
609 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
610 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
613 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
617 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
618 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
621 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
622 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
623 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
626 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
627 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
630 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
631 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
632 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
635 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
636 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
639 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
642 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
643 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
646 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
647 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
651 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
652 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
655 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
660 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
661 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
662 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
665 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
666 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
667 python-indent | python-indent-offset
668 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
669 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
670 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
672 *** Some user options have been removed:
674 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
676 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
677 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
679 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
680 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
682 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
683 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
685 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
686 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
688 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
689 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
692 *** Some commands have been replaced:
693 Old command | New command
694 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
695 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
696 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
697 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
698 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
699 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
700 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
701 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
702 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
703 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
704 python-beginning-of-defun-function | python-nav-beginning-of-defun
705 python-end-of-defun-function | python-nav-end-of-defun
706 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
707 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
708 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
709 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
710 python-shell-switch-to-shell
711 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
712 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
713 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
716 ** reStructuredText mode
718 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
719 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
722 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
724 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
725 Sphinx support has been improved.
727 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
729 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
731 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
733 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
738 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
740 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
742 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
745 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
746 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
747 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
750 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
751 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
752 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
753 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
755 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
757 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
758 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
762 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
763 now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
765 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
766 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
767 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
771 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
772 See the manual for details.
774 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
778 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
779 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
780 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
781 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
782 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
784 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
785 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
786 in case that is not properly encoded.
791 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
793 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
795 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
797 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
800 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
801 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
804 ** winner-mode-hook now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when it is
808 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
809 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
810 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
811 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
812 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
813 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
814 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
815 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
816 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
817 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
818 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
819 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
820 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
821 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
822 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
823 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
824 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
825 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
826 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
827 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
828 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
829 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
830 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
832 ** Obsolete packages:
835 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
836 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
837 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
852 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
855 ** set-buffer-multibyte now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
858 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
859 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
860 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
861 sequence in later calls.
864 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
865 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
866 depends on the graphical library.
869 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
870 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
871 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
874 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
875 It does so even if the window was selected before.
878 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
879 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
880 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
884 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
885 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
886 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
887 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
890 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
891 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
894 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
895 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
896 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
899 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
900 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
901 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
902 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
903 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
906 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
907 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
910 *** Renamed functions
912 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
913 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
914 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
915 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
916 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
917 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
918 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
919 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
923 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
924 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
925 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
926 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
927 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
930 *** Renamed Lisp variables
931 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
932 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
933 deactivate-current-input-method-function
936 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
937 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
938 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
939 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
940 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
941 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
942 *** `set-char-table-default'
943 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
944 *** `compile-internal'
946 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
947 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
948 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
949 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
950 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
951 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
952 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
953 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
954 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
955 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
958 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
960 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
961 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
962 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
963 CPU time or memory allocations.
966 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
967 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
968 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
969 `gv-define-setter', etc.
972 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
973 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
977 *** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
978 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
979 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via M-n
980 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
981 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
985 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
986 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
989 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
990 table, but with a different prefix.
995 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
996 These do not trigger the debugger.
999 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1000 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1003 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1004 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1005 to work out which code is doing something.
1007 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1008 recursive invocations.
1012 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
1013 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1015 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1018 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1019 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1022 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1026 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1030 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1031 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1034 *** New option switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point to restore a
1035 window's point when switching buffers.
1037 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1038 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1040 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1041 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1044 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1045 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1047 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1048 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1050 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1051 to specify size of new window created by `display-buffer'.
1053 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1054 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1057 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1059 **** `special-display-regexps'
1061 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1063 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1065 **** `special-display-function'
1067 **** `display-buffer-function'
1069 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1073 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1074 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1075 by the underlying C implementation.
1077 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1078 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1079 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1080 functions that use this format, such as file-attributes and
1081 format-time-string, have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1082 stamps are still accepted.
1084 *** The format of timers in timer-list and timer-idle-list is now
1085 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1086 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1087 accessed via the new timer--psecs accessor.
1089 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1090 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1093 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1094 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args, e.g. (log -1.0).
1095 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1096 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1097 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1100 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1101 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1102 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1103 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1104 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1105 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1106 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1108 ** Miscellaneous new functions:
1110 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1112 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1114 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1116 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1118 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1120 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1122 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1123 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1125 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1127 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1129 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1132 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1134 ** Changes to special forms and macros
1136 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms
1138 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1141 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1144 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1146 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1148 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1150 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1152 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1154 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1156 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1158 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1160 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1163 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
1166 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1167 Pass --with-w32 to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1169 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1170 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1171 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1172 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1173 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1175 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1176 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
1177 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1180 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1183 ** On MS Windows, you can pass --without-libxml2 to configure.bat to omit
1184 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1187 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1190 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
1191 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1194 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1196 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1199 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1201 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1202 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1203 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1206 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1207 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1208 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1209 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1211 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1212 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1213 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1214 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1216 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1217 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1218 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1219 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1220 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1222 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1223 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1224 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1225 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1227 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1228 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1230 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1231 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1232 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1235 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1236 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1237 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1239 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1240 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1241 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1243 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1244 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1246 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1247 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1250 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1252 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1253 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1254 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1256 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1257 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1258 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1262 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1266 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1267 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1269 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1271 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1272 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1274 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1276 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1277 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1279 *** New completion style `substring'.
1281 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1283 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1287 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1288 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1289 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1290 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1291 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1292 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1294 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
1295 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
1296 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
1298 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1299 and Mail mode changes
1301 ** Emacs server and client changes
1303 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1305 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1307 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1308 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1310 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1311 its exit status is 1.
1313 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1314 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1315 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1317 ** Internationalization changes
1319 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1320 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1321 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1322 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1323 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1324 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1326 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1327 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1329 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1330 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1331 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1332 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1335 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1336 the right window edge.
1338 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1339 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1340 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1341 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1342 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1344 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1345 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1347 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1348 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1350 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1351 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1352 automatically select it.
1354 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1355 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1356 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1358 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1359 selected for installation.
1361 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1363 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1364 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1365 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1367 ** Custom theme changes
1369 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1370 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1372 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1373 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1374 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1375 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1376 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1377 built-in Custom themes.
1379 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1380 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1381 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1382 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1384 ** Improved GTK integration
1386 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1387 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1389 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1390 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1391 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1393 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1394 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1395 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1398 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1399 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1401 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1402 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1404 ** Graphical interface changes
1406 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1407 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1408 displayed as a space.
1410 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1411 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1413 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1414 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1415 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1419 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1420 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1422 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1423 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1424 do the right thing in batch mode.
1426 ** Scrolling changes
1428 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1429 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1430 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1431 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1433 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1435 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1436 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1438 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1439 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1441 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1442 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1443 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1444 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1445 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1447 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1448 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1449 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1450 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1453 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1454 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1456 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1457 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1458 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1459 now includes the SELinux context.
1461 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1462 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1466 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1467 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1469 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1470 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1472 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1474 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1475 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1476 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1479 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1480 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1481 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1482 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1483 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1485 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1486 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1488 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1489 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1490 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1491 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1496 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1497 in the quitted window.
1499 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1500 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1502 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1504 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1505 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1506 for choosing the displaying window).
1508 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1509 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1511 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1512 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1514 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1515 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1516 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1517 from which such space was obtained.
1519 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1520 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1521 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1522 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1523 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1525 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1526 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1527 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1529 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1530 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1532 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1533 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1534 been shown in a specific window.
1536 ** Minibuffer changes
1538 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1539 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1540 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1542 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1543 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1544 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1546 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1548 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1550 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1551 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1552 successful operation.
1554 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1555 for `list-colors-display'.
1557 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1560 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1564 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1565 `isearch-yank-line'.
1567 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1568 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1570 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1572 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1574 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1575 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1576 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1577 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1580 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1581 also deletes newlines around point.
1585 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1586 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1587 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1590 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1591 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1592 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1594 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1595 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1596 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1597 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1599 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1601 ** Selection changes.
1603 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1604 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1605 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1606 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1608 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1609 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1611 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1612 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1613 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1614 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1616 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1617 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1618 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1619 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1620 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1622 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1624 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1625 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1626 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1628 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1630 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1631 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1632 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1634 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1635 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1637 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1638 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1639 between applications.
1641 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1643 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1644 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1645 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1646 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1647 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1649 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1651 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1652 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1654 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1655 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1656 number to count from and for a format string.
1658 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1659 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1660 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1661 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1662 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1664 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1665 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1666 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1667 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1668 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1670 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1671 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1672 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1673 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1674 follows `replace-match'.
1677 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1679 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1683 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1684 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1685 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1686 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1688 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1690 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1692 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1696 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1698 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1699 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1701 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1703 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1704 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1706 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1707 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1709 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1710 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1711 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1713 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1715 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1716 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1718 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1719 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1720 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1722 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1723 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1724 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1726 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1727 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1731 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1732 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1734 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1736 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1737 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1740 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1741 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1742 parsed as a statement continuation.
1744 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1748 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1749 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1751 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1752 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1753 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1755 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1756 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1757 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1762 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1763 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1764 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1766 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1767 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1769 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1771 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1772 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1776 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1779 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1780 optionally do not register names.
1782 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1783 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1787 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1788 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1789 instead of using the current buffer.
1791 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1792 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1796 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1797 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1799 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1800 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1801 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1802 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1806 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1807 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1808 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1812 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1813 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1814 debugging of several threads.
1818 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1819 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1823 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1824 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1825 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1826 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1827 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1829 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1830 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1831 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1834 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1836 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1838 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1839 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1840 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1842 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1843 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1845 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1847 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1849 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1850 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1851 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1852 default), this performs tag completion.
1854 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1855 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1857 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1858 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1859 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1863 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1864 in the Rmail incoming message.
1866 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1867 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1868 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1872 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1873 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1874 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1876 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1877 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1881 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1882 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1883 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1886 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1887 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1888 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1889 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1890 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1891 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1892 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1893 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1895 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1896 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1898 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1900 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1902 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1903 the credentials file.
1905 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1906 If you had that set, you need to put
1908 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1910 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1912 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1913 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1914 to the address you wish to use instead.
1918 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1919 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1921 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1922 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1923 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1924 connection is established.
1926 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1927 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1929 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1930 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1931 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1932 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1934 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1935 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1936 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1937 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1938 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1939 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1941 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1942 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1944 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1945 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1946 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1948 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1949 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1951 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1955 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1959 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1961 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1962 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1964 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1965 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1967 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1968 default value to "".
1970 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1971 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1973 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1974 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1975 the degree of parallelism.
1977 ** VC and related modes
1979 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1980 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1981 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1982 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1983 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1985 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1987 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1988 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1989 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1990 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1991 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1993 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1994 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1996 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1997 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1998 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1999 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2000 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2001 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2003 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2004 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2006 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2007 this was not advertised at the time.
2009 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2010 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2011 this was not advertised at the time.
2017 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2019 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2020 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2021 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2022 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2024 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2026 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2028 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2030 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2031 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2033 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2037 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2038 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2040 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2041 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2043 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2045 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2047 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2050 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2052 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2053 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2055 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2056 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2057 matching closing one.
2059 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2060 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2061 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2062 electric-indent-functions.
2064 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2065 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2066 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2068 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2069 from which other modes can be derived.
2071 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2073 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2074 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2075 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2076 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2079 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2080 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2082 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2083 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2085 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2087 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2088 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2089 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2090 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2091 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2092 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2095 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2097 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2098 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2100 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2102 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2103 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2104 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2105 command still toggles the minor mode.
2107 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2108 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2109 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2110 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2111 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2113 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2114 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2115 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2116 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2117 argument `bidi-class'.
2119 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2120 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2121 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2122 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2124 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2125 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2126 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2129 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2130 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2131 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2132 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2133 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2134 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2135 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2137 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2138 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2139 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2140 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2143 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2144 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2145 replaced all known uses.
2147 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2148 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2149 major mode is special).
2151 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2153 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2154 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2155 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2156 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2157 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2158 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2160 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2161 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2163 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2164 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2165 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2166 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2168 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2169 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2170 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2172 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2174 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2175 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2176 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2178 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2179 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2180 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2181 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2182 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2183 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2184 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2185 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2186 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2187 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2188 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2189 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2190 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2191 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2192 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2193 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2194 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2195 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2196 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2197 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2198 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2200 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2201 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2203 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2204 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2205 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2206 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2207 *** `e' (`float-e').
2209 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2210 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2212 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2213 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2214 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2215 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2217 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2218 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2219 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2222 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
2224 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2225 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2226 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2227 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2230 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2231 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2233 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2234 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2236 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2238 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2239 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2241 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2242 declared as dynamically bound.
2244 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2246 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2247 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2248 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2250 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2252 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2253 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2255 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2256 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2257 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2258 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2259 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2260 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2262 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2263 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2264 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2268 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2269 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2270 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2271 buffer) in the window tree.
2273 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2276 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2277 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2278 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2279 act on any window including internal ones.
2281 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2282 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2283 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2284 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2285 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2287 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2288 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2289 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2290 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2291 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2293 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2294 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2295 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2296 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2297 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2298 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2300 *** Window resizing functions.
2301 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2302 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2303 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2305 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2306 live window on that frame instead.
2308 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2309 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2310 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2311 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2312 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2313 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2315 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2316 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2317 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2318 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2319 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2320 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2322 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2323 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2324 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2325 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2327 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2328 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2329 The old names are kept as aliases.
2333 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2334 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2335 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2336 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2338 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2340 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2341 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2342 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2343 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2344 are user-customizable variables.
2346 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2348 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2349 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2350 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2354 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2355 properties of the current completion:
2356 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2357 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2359 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2360 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2362 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2364 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2365 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2366 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2367 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2368 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2369 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2370 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2372 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2373 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2374 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2376 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2377 behavior of `completing-read'.
2379 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2380 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2382 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2383 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2387 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2388 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2389 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2390 non-nil return value.
2392 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2393 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2394 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2395 advertised at the time.)
2399 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2400 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2402 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2404 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2406 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2407 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2408 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2410 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2411 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2413 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2414 named Emacs server instances.
2416 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2417 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2419 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2420 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2422 ** New input reading functions
2424 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2425 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2427 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2428 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2431 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2433 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2434 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2435 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2438 ** Syntax parsing changes
2440 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2441 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2442 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2443 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2444 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2445 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2446 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2447 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2450 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2452 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2454 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2456 ** Major and minor mode changes
2458 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2459 as well as those in the -*- line.
2461 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2464 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2465 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2466 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2468 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2469 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2471 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2472 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2473 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2475 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2477 ** File-handling changes
2479 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2480 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2481 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2482 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2484 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2486 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2487 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2488 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2492 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2494 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2496 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2498 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2501 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2502 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2504 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2505 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2507 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2508 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2509 ImageMagick installation supports.
2511 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2512 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2515 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2516 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2518 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2519 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2520 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2521 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2523 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2524 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2525 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2526 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2528 ** XML and HTML parsing
2529 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2530 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2531 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2532 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2534 ** Networking and encryption changes
2536 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2537 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2538 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2539 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2540 must also be supplied.
2542 *** New library gnutls.el.
2543 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2544 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2545 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2546 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2547 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2548 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2551 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2552 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2553 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2557 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2559 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2560 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2561 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2562 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2563 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2564 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2566 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2567 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2569 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2570 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2571 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2572 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2573 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2574 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2576 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2578 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2579 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2580 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2581 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2583 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2584 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2586 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2587 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2588 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2589 an empty uninterned symbol.
2591 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2593 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2595 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2596 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2598 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2599 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2601 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2603 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2604 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2606 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2609 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2611 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2612 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2614 ** New configure.bat options
2616 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2618 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2620 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2622 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2624 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2626 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2627 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2629 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2630 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2632 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2633 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2636 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2637 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2639 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2640 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2641 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2642 (at your option) any later version.
2644 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2645 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2646 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2647 GNU General Public License for more details.
2649 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2650 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2655 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"