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1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
2
3 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
5
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
8
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
10
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 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 * About external Lisp packages
25
26 \f
27 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
28
29 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
30
31 ** The Mac Carbon port is no longer supported.
32 Instead, use... [what?]
33
34 ** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
35 a GIF library.
36
37 ** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
38
39 ** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
40
41 ** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
42
43 \f
44 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
45
46 ** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
47 You can also use any number of different ttys.
48
49 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
50 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
51
52 ** Emacs comes with a new set of icons for Mac OS X.
53 OS-X-style icons (an application icon and a relevant document icon)
54 were contributed by Kentaro Ohkouchi.
55 Source files for these icons can be found in Emacs.app/Contents/Resources.
56
57 ** Built-in functions (subr) can now have an interactive specification
58 that is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
59 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
60
61 ** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
62 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
63
64 ** split-window-preferred-function specifies whether display-buffer should
65 split windows vertically or horizontally.
66
67 ** Emacsclient has been extended to support opening a new terminal
68 frame. Its behavior has been changed to open a new Emacs frame by
69 default. Use the -c option to get the old behavior of opening files in
70 the currently selected Emacs frame.
71
72 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
73
74 ** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
75
76 ** If you set find-file-confirm-nonexistent-file to t, then C-x C-f
77 requires confirmation before opening a non-existent file.
78
79 ** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode enabled, Emacs uses a
80 Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server, rather than faking events
81 using the client program mev. This C level approach provides mouse
82 highlighting, and help echoing in the minibuffer.
83
84 ** The new variable next-error-recenter specifies how next-error should
85 recenter the visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example,
86 0 for top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
87
88 ** The mode-line displays a `@' if the default-directory for the current buffer
89 is on a remote machine, or a hyphen otherwise.
90
91 ** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a minor mode,
92 in the same way as it already did for major modes.
93
94 ** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both vertically
95 and horizontally.
96
97 ** The new command close-display-connection can be used to close a connection
98 to a remote display, e.g. because the display is about to become unreachable.
99
100 ** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
101 called with a prefix, and the default directory is a remote file name.
102 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
103 run processes remotely.
104
105 ** The new command `display-time-world' starts an updating time display
106 using several time zones, in a buffer.
107 \f
108 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
109
110 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
111 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
112 file or directory.
113
114 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
115 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
116 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
117 following arguments.
118
119 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
120 \f
121 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
122
123 +++
124 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
125 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
126 the history list.
127
128 \f
129 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
130
131 +++
132 ** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
133 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
134 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
135
136 +++
137 ** M-q now fills the region if the region is active and
138 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on. Otherwise, it fills the current
139 paragraph.
140
141 +++
142 ** M-$ now checks spelling of the region if the region is active and
143 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
144 word at point.
145
146 ** TAB now indents the region if the region is active and
147 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on.
148
149 ** C-z now invokes `suspend-frame', C-x C-c now invokes
150 `save-buffers-kill-terminal'.
151
152 ** New command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name matches a regexp.
153
154 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
155 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
156 strings on the kill ring.
157
158 ** Minibuffer changes:
159
160 *** In C-x d, if you type M-n you get the visited file name of the
161 current buffer.
162
163 *** In Dired, a list of commands for ! extracted from mailcap according to
164 file extensions are added to the default list accessible by M-n.
165
166 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
167 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
168 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last isearch
169 regexp, the last isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
170
171 *** isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
172 Reverse isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
173 history elements, and forward isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
174 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
175 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
176 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
177 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
178
179 \f
180 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
181
182 ** The package doc-view.el has been added. It supports viewing of PDF,
183 PostScript and DVI documents inside an Emacs buffer by converting the
184 document to a set of PNG images first. One can also search for a
185 regular expression in the document. The commentary of the file explains
186 its usage.
187
188 ** The nXML package has been added.
189 [FIXME someone who uses this, please write a brief description.]
190
191 ** A new game called `bubbles' has been added.
192
193 ** minibuffer-indicate-depth-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
194
195 ** Remember Mode (remember.el) is now included with Emacs. It is a
196 mode for quickly jotting down things to remember. Included with
197 remember.el is a backend that can save notes to a Diary file. Please
198 consult the Remember Manual for usage details.
199
200 \f
201 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
202
203 ** abbrev was rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
204 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
205 abbrev-table-p.
206 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
207 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
208 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
209 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
210 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
211 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
212 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
213 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
214 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
215 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
216
217 ** Help mode.
218 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
219 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
220 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
221 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
222 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits to specify new
223 position of point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
224
225 ** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
226 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
227
228 ** isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
229 When running isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
230 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
231 if there is one (e.g. go from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
232
233 This is enabled if isearch-buffers-multi is non-nil.
234
235 ** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
236 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see smerge-auto-refine.
237
238 ** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
239 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see diff-auto-refine.
240
241 ** archive-mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
242
243 ** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
244
245 ** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
246 the first error encountered during compilations.
247
248 ** In the `copyright' package, you can specify your copyright holders' names.
249 Only copyright lines with holders matching copyright-names-regexp will be
250 considered for update.
251
252 ** eldoc highlights the function argument under point
253 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
254
255 +++
256 ** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
257 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
258
259 ** Etags changes.
260 *** The --members option is now the default.
261
262 Use --no-members if you want the old default behaviour of not tagging
263 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
264
265 ** VC
266 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
267
268 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
269
270 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
271
272 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
273 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, and
274 Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems
275 as a single changeset.
276
277 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type V to toggle the annotation visibility.
278
279 ** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
280
281 ** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
282 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
283 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
284 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
285
286 ** BibTeX mode:
287
288 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
289 `string', disabled by default.
290
291 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
292 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
293
294 *** Command `bibtex-url' now allows multiple URLs per entry.
295
296 +++
297 ** Tramp
298
299 *** New connection methods.
300 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
301 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
302 "tunnel" and "socks".
303
304 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
305 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead of, multi hops
306 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
307
308 *** More default settings.
309 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
310 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
311
312 *** Connection information is cached.
313 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
314 connections are kept persistent in a file. The name of this file is
315 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
316
317 *** Control of remote processes.
318 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
319 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
320
321 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
322 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
323 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
324
325 ** Miscellaneous programming mode changes
326
327 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
328 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
329
330 *** The variable `fortran-line-length' can change the fixed-form line-length.
331
332 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
333 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
334
335 +++
336 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
337
338 ** Miscellaneous
339
340 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
341 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
342 on the corresponding remote system.
343
344 *** C-x C-q in dired-mode now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
345 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
346 saving changes.
347
348 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
349
350 \f
351 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
352
353 ---
354 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
355 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
356 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. Previously IPv6 was
357 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
358 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
359
360 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
361 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
362 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
363 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
364 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
365
366 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
367 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
368 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
369 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
370 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
371 for the list of extra keys that are available.
372 \f
373 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
374
375 +++
376 ** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
377
378 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
379 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
380 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
381 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
382 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
383 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
384 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
385
386 ** shell.el no longer defines the aliases `dirtrack-toggle' and
387 `dirtrack-mode' for `shell-dirtrack-mode'. These names were removed
388 because they clash with commands provided by dirtrack.el. Use
389 `shell-dirtrack-mode' instead.
390
391 \f
392 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
393
394 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count
395 given to `beginning-of-defun'.
396
397 +++
398 ** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
399 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
400
401 +++
402 ** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
403 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
404 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
405 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
406 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
407
408 ** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a certain
409 variable as having been made within Custom.
410
411 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
412 the selected frame.
413
414 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
415 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
416 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
417 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
418
419 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
420 undefined functions. The new `check-declare' package verifies that such
421 statements are accurate (i.e. the functions are actually defined in
422 the specified files).
423
424 ** The new function `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
425
426 ** Changes related to multiple tty support.
427
428 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
429 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
430
431 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
432
433 *** The `window-system' variable has been made frame-local. The new
434 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
435 for the first frame.
436
437 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
438 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
439
440 *** The new function `make-frame-on-tty' allows you to create a new
441 frame on another tty device interactively.
442
443 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
444 session, and `make-frame-on-tty' works during a graphical session.
445
446 *** New functions: `delete-tty', `suspend-tty', `resume-tty'.
447
448 *** A new data type for terminals with functions: `get-device-terminal',
449 `terminal-parameters', `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter'.
450
451 *** New hooks: `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions'
452 are called after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed,
453 respectively. The functions are called with the terminal id of the frame
454 being suspended/resumed as a parameter.
455
456 *** New function: `environment'.
457
458 *** New variable: `local-function-key-map'.
459 This in addition to the global function-key-map variable that
460 already existed. The global variable is not used directly any more;
461 instead, the local-function-key-map is initialized so as to inherit from
462 function-key-map.
463
464 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
465
466 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
467 keyboard coding systems have been made terminal-local.
468
469 *** In addition to the global function-key-map, Emacs has terminal-local
470 local-function-key-map variables, and uses them instead of the
471 global keymaps to set up translations and function key sequences
472 relevant to a specific terminal device.
473
474
475 ** You can now also pass the value of the `invisible' property to invisible-p
476 to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible. Convenient when
477 checking invisibility of text which has no buffer position
478 (e.g. in before/after-strings).
479
480 ** Non-breaking space now acts as whitespace.
481
482 +++
483 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
484
485 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
486 like this:
487
488 (condition-case nil
489 (foo bar)
490 ((debug error) nil))
491
492 ** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts a new value
493 `confirm-only'.
494
495 +++
496 ** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
497
498 ** New function `window-full-width-p' returns t if a window is as wide
499 as its frame.
500
501 ** The new function `split-string-and-unquote' does (what?)
502
503 ** The new function `combine-and-quote-strings' does (what?)
504
505 ** The new function `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated
506 with a given image specification.
507
508 +++
509 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
510 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
511
512 +++
513 ** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
514 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
515 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
516 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
517 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
518
519 ** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
520 returns its output as a list of lines.
521
522 +++
523 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
524 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
525 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
526 remote connection has been established already.
527
528 ** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
529 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
530 the match data.
531
532 ** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
533 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex interactive
534 forms to subroutines.
535 \f
536 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
537
538 ** The package isearch-multi.el has been added. It implements a new mode
539 `isearch-buffers-minor-mode' that allows isearch to search through
540 multiple buffers. In this mode a new variable
541 `isearch-buffers-next-buffer-function' defines the function to call
542 to get the next buffer to search in the series of multiple buffers.
543
544 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
545
546 \f
547 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
548 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
549
550 GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
551 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
552 the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
553 any later version.
554
555 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
556 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
557 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
558 GNU General Public License for more details.
559
560 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
561 along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
562 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
563 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
564
565 \f
566 Local variables:
567 mode: outline
568 paragraph-separate: "[ \f]*$"
569 end:
570
571 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2