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