1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * About external Lisp packages
27 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
29 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
31 ** The Mac Carbon port is no longer supported.
32 Instead, use... [what?]
34 ** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
37 ** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
39 ** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
41 ** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
44 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
46 ** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
47 You can also use any number of different ttys.
49 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
50 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
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.
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.
61 ** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
62 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
64 ** split-window-preferred-function specifies whether display-buffer should
65 split windows vertically or horizontally.
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.
72 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
74 ** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
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.
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.
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.
88 ** The mode-line displays a `@' if the default-directory for the current buffer
89 is on a remote machine, or a hyphen otherwise.
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.
94 ** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both vertically
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.
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.
105 ** The new command `display-time-world' starts an updating time display
106 using several time zones, in a buffer.
108 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
110 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
111 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
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
119 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
121 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
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
129 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
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'.
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
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
146 ** TAB now indents the region if the region is active and
147 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on.
149 ** C-z now invokes `suspend-frame', C-x C-c now invokes
150 `save-buffers-kill-terminal'.
152 ** New command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name matches a regexp.
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.
158 ** Minibuffer changes:
160 *** In C-x d, if you type M-n you get the visited file name of the
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.
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.
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.
180 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
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
188 ** The nXML package has been added.
189 [FIXME someone who uses this, please write a brief description.]
191 ** A new game called `bubbles' has been added.
193 ** minibuffer-indicate-depth-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
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.
201 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
203 ** abbrev was rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
204 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
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'.
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').
225 ** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
226 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
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).
233 This is enabled if isearch-buffers-multi is non-nil.
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.
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.
241 ** archive-mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
243 ** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
245 ** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
246 the first error encountered during compilations.
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.
252 ** eldoc highlights the function argument under point
253 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
256 ** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
257 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
260 *** The --members option is now the default.
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.
266 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
268 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
270 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
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.
277 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type V to toggle the annotation visibility.
279 ** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
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.
288 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
289 `string', disabled by default.
291 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
292 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
294 *** Command `bibtex-url' now allows multiple URLs per entry.
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".
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'.
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'.
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'.
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'.
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.
325 ** Miscellaneous programming mode changes
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.
330 *** The variable `fortran-line-length' can change the fixed-form line-length.
332 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
333 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
336 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
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.
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
348 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
351 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
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.
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.
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.
373 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
376 ** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
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.'
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.
392 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
394 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count
395 given to `beginning-of-defun'.
398 ** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
399 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
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.
408 ** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a certain
409 variable as having been made within Custom.
411 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
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.
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).
424 ** The new function `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
426 ** Changes related to multiple tty support.
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.
431 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
433 *** The `window-system' variable has been made frame-local. The new
434 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
437 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
438 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
440 *** The new function `make-frame-on-tty' allows you to create a new
441 frame on another tty device interactively.
443 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
444 session, and `make-frame-on-tty' works during a graphical session.
446 *** New functions: `delete-tty', `suspend-tty', `resume-tty'.
448 *** A new data type for terminals with functions: `get-device-terminal',
449 `terminal-parameters', `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter'.
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.
456 *** New function: `environment'.
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
464 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
466 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
467 keyboard coding systems have been made terminal-local.
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.
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).
480 ** Non-breaking space now acts as whitespace.
483 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
485 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
492 ** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts a new value
496 ** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
498 ** New function `window-full-width-p' returns t if a window is as wide
501 ** The new function `split-string-and-unquote' does (what?)
503 ** The new function `combine-and-quote-strings' does (what?)
505 ** The new function `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated
506 with a given image specification.
509 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
510 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
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.
519 ** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
520 returns its output as a list of lines.
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.
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
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.
536 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
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.
544 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
547 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
548 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
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)
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.
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.
568 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
571 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2