1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.4
26 ** Emacs can be compiled with ACL support.
27 This happens by default if a suitable support library is found at
28 build time, like libacl on GNU/Linux. To prevent this, use the
29 configure option `--disable-acl'.
31 ** Emacs can be compiled with file notification support.
32 The configure option `--with-file-notification=LIB' enables file
33 notification support in Emacs. This option's value should be `yes',
34 `no', `gfile', `inotify' or `w32'. `yes' is a synonym for `w32' on
35 MS-Windows, and for `gfile' otherwise. The default value is `yes'.
37 ** The configure option --with-crt-dir has been removed.
38 It is no longer needed, as the crt*.o files are no longer linked
41 ** Emacs for MS-Windows can now be built by running the configure script
42 using the MSYS environment and MinGW development tools.
43 This is from now on the preferred method of building Emacs on
44 MS-Windows. The Windows-specific configure.bat and makefile.w32-in
45 files are deprecated. See the file nt/INSTALL.MSYS for detailed
48 Using the Posix configure script and Makefile's also means a change in
49 the directory structure of the Emacs installation on Windows. It is
50 now the same as on GNU and Unix systems. In particular, the auxiliary
51 programs, such as cmdproxy.exe and hexl.exe, are in
52 libexec/emacs/VERSION/i686-pc-mingw32 (where VERSION is the Emacs
53 version), version-independent site-lisp is in share/emacs/site-lisp,
54 version-specific Lisp files are in share/emacs/VERSION/lisp and in
55 share/emacs/VERSION/site-lisp, Info docs are in share/info, and data
56 files are in share/emacs/VERSION/etc. (Emacs knows about all these
57 directories and will find the files in there automatically; there's no
58 need to set any variables due to this change.)
60 ** Directories passed to configure option `--enable-locallisppath' are
61 no longer created during installation.
64 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.4
67 * Changes in Emacs 24.4
69 ** Key ? also describes prefix bindings like C-h.
72 ** `apropos-variable' is now `apropos-user-option'
73 `apropos-user-option' shows all user options while `apropos-variable'
74 shows all variables. When called with a universal prefix argument,
75 the two commands swap their behaviors. When `apropos-do-all' is
76 non-nil, they output the same results.
79 ** `eval-defun' on an already defined defcustom calls the :set function,
82 ** If the new variable `enable-dir-local-variables' is nil,
83 directory local variables are ignored. May be useful for some modes
84 that want to ignore directory-locals while still respecting file-locals.
86 ** The option `set-mark-default-inactive' has been deleted.
87 This unfinished feature was introduced by accident in Emacs 23.1;
88 simply disabling Transient Mark mode does the same thing.
90 ** `initial-buffer-choice' can now specify a function to set up the
93 ** `write-region-inhibit-fsync' now defaults to t in batch mode.
95 ** ACL support has been added.
97 *** Emacs preserves the ACL entries of files when backing up.
99 *** New functions `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' get and set the ACL
100 entries of a file. On GNU/Linux, the POSIX ACL interface is used via
101 libacl. On MS-Windows, the NT Security APIs are used to emulate the
102 POSIX ACL interfaces.
104 ** New option `scroll-bar-adjust-thumb-portion'.
105 Available only on X, this option allows to control over-scrolling
106 using the scroll bar (i.e. dragging the thumb down even when the end
107 of the buffer is visible).
109 ** New function `add-face-text-property' has been added, which can be
110 used to conveniently prepend/append new face attributes to text.
112 ** In compiled Lisp files, the header no longer includes a timestamp.
114 ** Multi-monitor support has been added.
116 *** New functions `display-monitor-attributes-list' and
117 `frame-monitor-attributes' can be used to obtain information about
118 each physical monitor on multi-monitor setups.
121 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.4
123 ** `split-window' is no longer a command, just a non-interactive function.
124 As a command it was a special case of `split-window-below', and as such
125 superfluous. After being reimplemented in Lisp, its interactive form
126 was mistakenly retained.
128 ** New commands `toggle-frame-fullscreen' and `toggle-frame-maximized',
129 bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.
131 ** In keymaps where SPC scrolls, S-SPC now scrolls in the reverse direction.
135 ** New option `visual-order-cursor-movement'.
136 If this is non-nil, cursor motion with arrow keys will follow the
137 visual order of characters on the screen: <left> always moves to the
138 left, <right> always moves to the right, disregarding the surrounding
139 bidirectional context.
141 ** New command `kmacro-to-register' to store keyboard macros in registers.
145 *** `sh-mode' now has the mode own `add-log-current-defun-function'.
146 You can pick the name of the function and the variables with `C-x 4 a'.
149 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
151 ** `eshell' now supports visual subcommands and options
152 Eshell has been able to handle "visual" commands (interactive,
153 non-line oriented commands such as top that require display
154 capabilities not provided by eshell) by running them in an Emacs
155 terminal emulator. See `eshell-visual-commands'.
157 This feature has been extended to subcommands and options that make a
158 usually line-oriented command a visual command. Typical examples are
159 "git log" and "git <command> --help" which display their output in a
160 pager by default. See `eshell-visual-subcommands' and
161 `eshell-visual-options'.
163 ** If your Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, you can use the new
164 built-in web browser `eww'.
166 ** `remember' can now store notes in separates files
167 You can use the new function `remember-store-in-files' within the
168 `remember-handler-functions' option.
170 See `remember-data-directory' and `remember-directory-file-name-format'
171 for new options related to this function.
172 ** `ido-decorations' has been slightly extended to give a bit more control.
174 ** More packages look for ~/.emacs.d/<foo> additionally to ~/.<foo>.
176 ~/.emacs.d/timelog replaces ~/.timelog
177 ~/.emacs.d/vip replaces ~/.vip
178 ~/.emacs.d/viper replaces ~/.viper
179 ~/.emacs.d/ido.last replaces ~/.ido.last
180 ~/.emacs.d/kkcrc replaces ~/.kkcrc
181 ~/.emacs.d/quickurls replaces ~/.quickurls
182 ~/.emacs.d/idlwave replaces ~/.idlwave
183 ~/.emacs.d/bdfcache.el replaces ~/.bdfcache.el
184 ~/.emacs.d/places replaces ~/.emacs-places
185 ~/.emacs.d/shadows replaces ~/.shadows
186 ~/.emacs.d/shadow_todo replaces ~/.shadow_todo
187 ~/.emacs.d/strokes replaces ~/.strokes
188 ~/.emacs.d/notes replaces ~/.notes
189 ~/.emacs.d/type-break replaces ~/.type-break
190 Also the following files used by the now obsolete otodo-mode.el:
191 ~/.emacs.d/todo-do replaces ~/.todo-do
192 ~/.emacs.d/todo-done replaces ~/.todo-done
193 ~/.emacs.d/todo-top replaces ~/.todo-top
196 ** Delphi mode is now called OPascal mode.
197 *** All delphi-* variables and functions have been renamed to opascal-*.
198 *** `delphi-newline-always-indents' is not supported any more.
199 Use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
200 *** `delphi-tab' is gone, replaced by `indent-for-tab-command'.
202 ** Eldoc Mode works properly in the minibuffer.
204 ** jit-lock-debug-mode lets you use the debuggers on code run via jit-lock.
206 ** completing-read-multiple's separator can now be a regexp.
207 The default separator is changed to allow surrounding spaces around the comma.
211 *** Battery information via the BSD `apm' utility is now supported.
213 ** Calendar and Diary
216 *** New variable `diary-from-outlook-function', used by the command
217 `diary-from-outlook'.
221 *** New macro cl-tagbody.
224 *** letf is now just an alias for cl-letf.
228 *** Calc by default now uses the Gregorian calendar for all dates, and
229 uses January 1, 1 AD as its day number 1. Previously Calc used the
230 Julian calendar for dates before September 14, 1752, and it used
231 December 31, 1 BC as its day number 1; the new scheme is more
232 consistent with Calendar's calendrical system and day numbering.
234 *** The new variable `calc-gregorian-switch' lets you configure the
235 date when Calc switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
236 Nil, the default value, means to always use the Gregorian calendar.
237 The value (YEAR MONTH DAY) means to start using the Gregorian calendar
240 *** Support for ISO 8601 dates.
244 *** `desktop-auto-save-timeout' defines the number of seconds between
245 auto-saves of the desktop.
247 *** `desktop-save-windows' enables saving and restoring the window/frame
252 *** New minor mode `dired-hide-details-mode' hides details.
256 *** New option `erc-accidental-paste-threshold-seconds'.
257 If set to a number, this can be used to avoid accidentally paste large
258 amounts of data into the ERC input.
261 ** New F90 mode option `f90-smart-end-names'.
263 ** Icomplete is a bit more like Ido.
264 *** key bindings to navigate through and select the completions.
265 *** The icomplete-separator is customizable, and its default has changed.
266 *** Removed icomplete-show-key-bindings.
270 *** New commands `n' (`image-next-file') and `p' (`image-previous-file')
271 visit the next image file and the previous image file in the same
272 directory, respectively.
274 *** New commands to show specific frames of multi-frame images.
275 `f' (`image-next-frame') and `b' (`image-previous-frame') visit the
276 next or previous frame. `F' (`image-goto-frame') shows a specific frame.
279 *** The command `image-mode-fit-frame' deletes other windows.
280 When toggling, it restores the frame's previous window configuration.
281 It also has an optional frame argument, which can be used by Lisp
282 callers to fit the image to a frame other than the selected frame.
286 *** New face `info-index-match' is used to highlight matches in index
287 entries displayed by `Info-index-next', `Info-virtual-index' and
292 *** New option `hi-lock-auto-select-face'. When non-nil, hi-lock commands
293 will cycle through faces in `hi-lock-face-defaults' without prompting.
296 *** New global command `M-s h .' (`highlight-symbol-at-point')
297 highlights the symbol found near point without prompting,
298 using the next face automatically.
300 ** Search and Replace
302 *** New global command `M-s .' (`isearch-forward-symbol-at-point')
303 starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search forward with the
304 symbol found near point added to the search string initially.
306 *** `C-x 8 RET' in Isearch mode reads a character by its Unicode name
307 and adds it to the search string.
309 *** `M-s i' in Isearch mode toggles the variable `isearch-invisible'
310 between nil and the value of the option `search-invisible' (or `open'
313 *** `query-replace' skips invisible text when `search-invisible' is nil,
314 and opens overlays with hidden text when `search-invisible' is `open'.
317 *** By default, prefix arguments do not now terminate Isearch mode.
318 Set `isearch-allow-prefix' to nil to restore old behavior.
320 *** More Isearch commands accept prefix arguments, namely
321 `isearch-printing-char', `isearch-quote-char', `isearch-yank-word',
324 *** Word search now matches whitespace at the beginning/end
325 of the search string if it contains leading/trailing whitespace.
326 In an incremental word search or when using a non-nil LAX argument
327 of `word-search-regexp', the lax matching can also match part of
328 the first word (in addition to the lax matching of the last word).
329 The same rules are now applied to the symbol search with the difference
330 that it matches symbols, and non-symbol characters between symbols.
332 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.5.
333 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
336 ** The unrmail command converts from BABYL to mboxrd rather than mboxo.
337 Customize `unrmail-mbox-format' to change this.
340 ** Similarly, customize `rmail-mbox-format' to influence some minor aspects
341 of how Rmail displays non-MIME messages.
344 ** New function `ses-rename-cell' to give SES cells arbitrary names.
346 ** trace-function was largely rewritten.
347 New features include:
348 - no prompting for the destination buffer, unless a prefix-arg was used.
349 - additionally to prompting for a destination buffer, when a prefix-arg is
350 used, the user can enter a "context", i.e. Lisp expression whose value at the
351 time the function is entered/exited will be printed along with the function
352 name and arguments. Useful to trace the value of (current-buffer) or
353 (point) when the function is invoked.
355 ** New command `delete-duplicate-lines' has new types of operation:
356 When its arg ADJACENT is non-nil (when called interactively with C-u C-u)
357 it works like the utility `uniq'. Otherwise by default it deletes
358 duplicate lines everywhere in the region without regard to adjacency.
359 When its arg KEEP-BLANKS is non-nil (when called interactively with
360 C-u C-u C-u), duplicate blank lines are preserved.
362 ** New `cycle-spacing' command allows cycling between having just one
363 space, no spaces, or reverting to the original spacing. Like
364 `just-one-space' command it can handle or ignore newlines and
365 leave different number of spaces.
367 ** Todo mode has been rewritten and enhanced.
368 New features include:
369 - support for multiple todo files and archive files of done items;
370 - renaming, reordering, moving, merging, and deleting categories;
371 - sortable tabular summaries of categories and the types of items they contain;
372 - cross-category lists of items filtered by specific criteria;
373 - more fine-grained interaction with the Emacs diary, by being able to decide
374 for each todo item whether it appears in the Fancy Diary display;
375 - highly flexible new item insertion and item editing;
376 - moving items between categories, storing done items in their category or in
377 archive files, undoing or unarchiving done items;
378 - reprioritizing items by inputting a numerical priority;
379 - extensive customizability of operation and display, including numerous faces.
380 To support some of these features, a new file format is used, which is
381 incompatible with the old format; however, you can convert old todo and done
382 item files to the new format on initializing the first new todo file, or at any
383 later time with the provided conversion command. The old version of
384 todo-mode.el has been made obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
389 *** New connection method "adb", which allows to access Android
390 devices by the Android Debug Bridge. The variable `tramp-adb-program'
391 can be used to adapt the path of the "adb" program, if needed.
393 *** The connection methods "plink1", "ssh1", "ssh2", "scp1", "scp2",
394 "scpc" and "rsyncc" are discontinued. The ssh option
395 "ControlMaster=auto" is set automatically in all ssh-based methods,
399 *** Handlers for `file-acl' and `set-file-acl' for remote machines
400 which support POSIX ACLs.
404 *** New options: `vhdl-actual-generic-name', `vhdl-beautify-options'.
406 *** New commands: `vhdl-fix-statement-region', `vhdl-fix-statement-buffer'.
410 *** The commands `woman-default-faces' and `woman-monochrome-faces'
411 are obsolete. Customize the `woman-* faces instead.
415 *** Added Eshell-TRAMP module
416 External su and sudo commands are now the default; the internal,
417 TRAMP-using variants can still be used by enabling the eshell-tramp
420 ** New term.el option `term-suppress-hard-newline'.
422 ** Obsolete packages:
424 *** longlines.el is obsolete; use visual-line-mode instead.
429 *** terminal.el is obsolete; use term.el instead.
431 *** The previous version of todo-mode.el is obsolete and renamed otodo-mode.el.
436 *** yow.el is obsolete; use fortune.el or cookie1.el instead.
439 *** The Info-edit command is obsolete. Editing Info nodes by hand
440 has not been relevant for some time.
443 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.4
445 ** New `superword-mode' in subword.el
446 `superword-mode' overrides the default word motion commands to treat
447 symbol_words as a single word, similar to what `subword-mode' does and
448 using the same internal functions.
450 ** New nadvice.el package offering lighter-weight advice facilities.
452 - add-function/remove-function which can be used to add/remove code on any
453 function-carrying place, such as process-filters or `<foo>-function' hooks.
454 - advice-add/advice-remove to add/remove a piece of advice on a named function,
455 much like `defadvice' does.
458 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
460 ** The syntax of ?» and ?« is now punctuation instead of matched parens.
461 Some languages match those as »...« and others as «...» so better stay neutral.
463 ** The default file coding for Emacs Lisp files is now utf-8.
464 (See file-coding-system-alist.) In most cases, this change is transparent, but
465 files that contain unusual characters without specifying an explicit coding
466 system may fail to load with obscure errors.
467 You should either convert them to utf-8 or add an explicit `coding:' cookie.
469 ** overriding-terminal-local-map does not replace the local keymaps any more.
470 It used to disable the minor mode, major mode, and text-property keymaps,
471 whereas now it simply has higher precedence.
473 ** Default process filters and sentinels are not nil any more.
474 Instead they default to a function which does what the nil value used to do.
476 ** `read-event' does not return decoded chars in ttys any more.
477 Just as was the case in Emacs-22 and before, decoding of tty input according to
478 keyboard-coding-system is not performed in read-event any more. But contrary
479 to that past, it is still done before input-decode-map/function-key-map/...
481 ** Removed inhibit-local-menu-bar-menus.
483 ** frame-local variables that affect redisplay do not work any more.
484 More specifically, the redisplay does not bother to check for a frame-local
485 value when looking up variables.
487 ** nil and "unbound" are indistinguishable in symbol-function.
488 `symbol-function' never signals `void-function' any more.
489 `fboundp' returns non-nil if the symbol was `fset' to nil.
491 ** `defadvice' does not honor the `freeze' flag and cannot advise
492 special-forms any more.
494 ** `dolist' in lexical-binding mode does not bind VAR in RESULT any more.
495 VAR was bound to nil which was not tremendously useful and just lead to
496 spurious warnings about an unused var.
498 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
499 The second argument is no longer an SELinux context, instead it is an
500 alist of extended attributes as returned by the new function
501 `file-extended-attributes'. The attributes can be applied to another
502 file using `set-file-extended-attributes'.
505 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.4
508 ** New macro with-eval-after-load. Like eval-after-load, but better behaved.
510 ** Obsoleted functions:
513 *** `lisp-complete-symbol'
515 *** `minibuffer-completion-contents'
516 *** `isearch-nonincremental-exit-minibuffer'
517 *** `isearch-filter-visible'
518 *** `generic-make-keywords-list'
520 ** `with-wrapper-hook' is obsoleted by `add-function'.
521 The few hooks that used with-wrapper-hook are replaced as follows:
522 *** `abbrev-expand-function' obsoletes `abbrev-expand-functions'.
523 *** `completion-in-region-function' obsoletes `completion-in-region-functions'.
524 *** `filter-buffer-substring-function' obsoletes `filter-buffer-substring-functions'.
527 ** `get-upcase-table' is obsoleted by the new `case-table-get-table'.
529 ** Support for filesystem notifications.
530 Emacs now supports notifications of filesystem changes, such as
531 creation, modification, and deletion of files. This requires the
532 `glib' API, or the 'inotify' API (on GNU/Linux systems only). On
533 MS-Windows systems, this is supported for Windows XP and newer
536 ** Changes in autorevert.el
539 *** If Emacs is compiled with file notification support, notifications
540 are used instead of checking the time stamp of the files. You can
541 disable this by setting the user option `auto-revert-use-notify' to
542 nil. Alternatively, a regular expression of directories to be
543 excluded from file notifications can be specified by
544 `auto-revert-notify-exclude-dir-regexp'.
547 *** The new user option `auto-revert-remote-files' enables reversion
548 of remote files when set to non-nil.
552 *** The function `face-spec-set' is now analogous to `setq' for face specs.
553 Its third arg now accepts values specifying exactly which face spec to
554 set (defface, custom, or user spec), and it directly sets the relevant
555 property using the supplied face spec.
557 *** Face specs set via Custom themes now replace the `defface' spec
558 rather than inheriting from it (as do face specs set via Customize).
560 *** New face characteristic (supports :underline (:style wave))
561 specifies whether or not the terminal can display a wavy line.
566 *** `image-animated-p' is now `image-multi-frame-p'.
567 It returns non-nil for any image that contains multiple frames,
568 whether or not it specifies a frame delay.
571 *** When animating images that do not specify a frame delay,
572 Emacs uses `image-default-frame-delay'.
575 *** New functions `image-current-frame' and `image-show-frame' for getting
576 and setting the current frame of a multi-frame image.
578 ** time-to-seconds is not obsolete any more.
579 ** New function special-form-p.
580 ** Docstrings can be made dynamic by adding a `dynamic-docstring-function'
581 text-property on the first char.
583 ** The `defalias-fset-function' property lets you catch calls to defalias
584 and redirect them to your own function instead of `fset'.
586 ** The lock for 'DIR/FILE' is now 'DIR/.#FILE' and may be a regular file.
587 When you edit DIR/FILE, Emacs normally creates a symbolic link
588 DIR/.#FILE as a lock that warns other instances of Emacs that DIR/FILE
589 is being edited. Formerly, if there was already a non-symlink file
590 named DIR/.#FILE, Emacs fell back on the lock names DIR/.#FILE.0
591 through DIR/.#FILE.9. These fallbacks have been removed, so that
592 Emacs now no longer locks DIR/FILE in that case.
594 On file systems that do not support symbolic links, the lock is now a
595 regular file with contents being what would have been in the symlink.
597 ** The 9th element returned by `file-attributes' is now unspecified.
598 Formerly, it was t if the file's gid would change if file were deleted
599 and recreated. This value has been inaccurate for years on many
600 platforms, and nobody seems to have noticed or cared.
602 ** The function `file-ownership-preserved-p' now has an optional
603 argument GROUP which causes it check for file group too. This can be
604 used in place of the 9th element of `file-attributes'.
606 ** New functions `group-gid' and `group-real-gid'.
608 ** The 6th argument to `copy-file' has been renamed to
609 `preserve-extended-attributes' as it now handles both SELinux context
612 ** Changes to the Emacs Lisp Coding Conventions in Emacs 24.4
614 *** The package descriptor and name of global variables, constants,
615 and functions should be separated by two hyphens if the symbol is not
616 meant to be used by other packages.
619 * Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems
622 ** The "generate a backtrace on fatal error" feature now works on MS Windows.
623 The backtrace is written to the 'emacs_backtrace.txt' file in the
624 directory where Emacs was running.
627 ** The variable `buffer-file-type' is no longer supported.
628 Setting it has no effect, and %t in the mode-line format is ignored.
629 Likewise, `file-name-buffer-file-type-alist' is now obsolete, and
630 modifying it has no effect.
633 ** Lock files now work on MS-Windows.
634 This allows to avoid losing your edits if the same file is being
635 edited in another Emacs session or by another user. See the node
636 "Interlocking" in the Emacs User Manual for the details. To disable
637 file locking, customize `create-lockfiles' to nil.
639 ** Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.
640 Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported.
641 Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7
642 native is the default.
645 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
647 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+ version 3.
648 If you don't pass `--with-x-toolkit' to configure, or if you use
649 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk' or `--with-x-toolkit=yes', configure will try
650 to build with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
651 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
652 `--with-x-toolkit=gtk2' or `--with-x-toolkit=gtk3' to configure.
654 ** New configure option `--enable-link-time-optimization', to utilize
655 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
657 ** New configure option `--without-all' to disable most of the optional
658 features (image support, etc.) that are normally enabled by default.
660 ** New configure option `--enable-gcc-warnings' (for developing/debugging
661 Emacs). If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that
662 warn/give errors about possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU
663 system there should be no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems
664 the results may be useful to developers.
666 ** The configure option `--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
667 renamed to `--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
668 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
669 check that this option enables.
671 ** The configure option `--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
672 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
674 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
675 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
676 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
677 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
678 links between the various manuals.
680 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
681 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
684 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
686 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
687 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
690 ** The standalone scripts `rcs-checkin' and `vcdiff' have been removed
691 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
692 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
695 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
697 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
698 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
699 been adding them there, put them somewhere else; e.g., site-lisp.
701 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
704 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
708 *** `C-h f' (`describe-function') can now perform autoloading.
709 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
710 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
711 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
712 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
714 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
715 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
716 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
720 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
721 :background image specification property.
723 *** When available, ImageMagick support is automatically enabled.
724 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
725 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
726 automatically at startup, or when customizing an imagemagick- option.
728 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
729 ImageMagick to view images. (You must call `imagemagick-register-types'
730 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.)
732 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
733 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
734 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
737 *** ImageMagick images now support the :max-width and :max-height
742 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
743 next and previous path separator, respectively.
745 *** `minibuffer-electric-default-mode' can shorten "(default ...)" to "[...]"
746 in minibuffer prompts. Just set `minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default'
747 non-nil before enabling the mode.
751 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
752 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
753 that does not have its own specialized help text.
755 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
756 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
760 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
761 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
762 or expression to evaluate.
764 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
766 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
767 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
768 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
769 that support backtraces.
771 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
772 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
774 ** Most `y-or-n' prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
775 Typing `C-v' or `M-v' at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
776 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
778 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
779 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
781 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
782 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
784 ** New option `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
785 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
786 files (use this with caution).
788 ** New option `enable-remote-dir-locals', if non-nil, allows directory-local
789 variables on remote hosts.
791 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
792 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
794 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
795 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
797 ** In the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug', the `C-c m' binding
798 has been changed to `C-c M-i' (`report-emacs-bug-insert-to-mailer').
799 The previous binding, introduced in Emacs 24.1, was a mistake, because
800 `C-c LETTER' bindings are reserved for user customizations.
802 ** Internationalization
804 *** New language environment: Persian.
806 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
808 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port
810 *** Support for fullscreen and the frame parameter fullscreen.
812 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
816 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
818 ** Search and Replace
820 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
821 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
822 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
823 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
824 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch.)
826 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
827 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
829 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
830 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
833 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
834 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
835 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
837 ** Navigation commands
839 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
841 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
843 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
844 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
846 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
847 properties on yanked text, in ways that are more general than just
848 removing them (as is done by `yank-excluded-properties').
850 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
851 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
852 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
854 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
856 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
857 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
859 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
860 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
863 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (`copy-rectangle-as-kill').
864 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
868 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register'.
870 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
871 the text to put between collected texts for use with
872 M-x append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
875 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
877 ** Common Lisp emulation (CL)
879 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
880 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly;
881 i.e., all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions
882 use the "cl--" prefix).
884 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib'
885 provides it under the name `cl-foo' instead; with the exceptions of the
886 few `cl' definitions that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with
887 pre-existing Elisp entities. These have been renamed to `cl-foo'
888 rather than `cl-foo*'.
890 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is mainly just a bunch of aliases that
891 provide the old, non-prefixed names. Some exceptions are listed below:
893 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
894 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
895 In particular, in cl-flet function definitions are lexically scoped,
896 whereas in flet the scoping is dynamic.
898 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
899 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery
900 (as opposed to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture
901 definitions in closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding'
904 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
905 The only difference is in details that relate to some deprecated usage
906 of `symbol-function' in place forms.
908 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
909 A side effect is that variables without corresponding values are bound
910 to nil rather than being made unbound.
912 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete
913 (use features from gv.el instead):
914 `define-modify-macro' (use `gv-letplace')
915 `defsetf' (use `gv-define-simple-setter' or `gv-define-setter')
916 `define-setf-expander' (use `gv-define-setter' or `gv-define-expander')
917 `get-setf-method' no longer exists (see "Incompatible Lisp Changes")
921 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
922 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
923 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed', and new definition
924 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
925 and `smerge-refined-added', and new definition of `diff-added').
927 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
928 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
929 changes in context diffs.
931 *** The new command `diff-delete-trailing-whitespace' removes trailing
932 whitespace introduced by a diff.
934 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
938 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
939 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
940 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
943 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed, including (old -> new):
944 **** python-indent -> python-indent-offset
945 **** python-guess-indent -> python-indent-guess-indent-offset
946 **** python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p -> python-pdbtrack-activate
947 **** python-use-skeletons -> python-skeleton-autoinsert
949 *** Some user options have been removed, including:
951 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
953 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
954 Comments are always considered as indentation markers.
956 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
957 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
959 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
960 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
962 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
963 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
965 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
966 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
969 *** Some commands have been replaced (old -> new):
970 **** python-insert-class -> python-skeleton-class
971 **** python-insert-def -> python-skeleton-def
972 **** python-insert-for -> python-skeleton-for
973 **** python-insert-if -> python-skeleton-if
974 **** python-insert-try/except -> python-skeleton-try
975 **** python-insert-try/finally -> python-skeleton-try
976 **** python-insert-while -> python-skeleton-while
977 **** python-find-function -> python-nav-jump-to-defun
978 **** python-next-statement -> python-nav-forward-sentence
979 **** python-previous-statement -> python-nav-backward-sentence
980 **** python-beginning-of-defun-function -> python-nav-beginning-of-defun
981 **** python-end-of-defun-function -> python-nav-end-of-defun
982 **** python-send-buffer -> python-shell-send-buffer
983 **** python-send-defun -> python-shell-send-defun
984 **** python-send-region -> python-shell-send-region
985 **** python-send-region-and-go -> emulate with python-shell-send-region
986 and python-shell-switch-to-shell
987 **** python-send-string -> python-shell-send-string
988 **** python-switch-to-python -> python-shell-switch-to-shell
989 **** python-describe-symbol -> python-eldoc-at-point
993 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
995 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
997 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
998 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
1000 *** The function `dbus-call-method' is now non-blocking.
1001 It can be interrupted by `C-g'. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
1003 *** Signals can also be sent as unicast messages.
1005 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
1006 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus.
1008 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
1010 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
1012 ** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory.
1013 Desktop files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
1017 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
1018 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
1019 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
1021 *** Typing `M-n' in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
1022 `dired-do-chown', and `dired-do-touch' yanks the attributes of the
1025 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
1026 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), and `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
1027 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
1029 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
1030 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
1031 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
1033 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
1034 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
1038 *** New module "notifications", which can send a notification when you
1039 receive a private message or your nickname is mentioned.
1041 *** ERC will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use any
1044 *** New option `erc-lurker-hide-list', similar to `erc-hide-list', but
1045 only applies to messages sent by lurkers.
1047 ** reStructuredText mode
1049 *** Keybindings (see `C-c C-h'), TAB indentation, filling and auto-filling,
1050 fontification, comment handling, and customization have all been revised
1053 *** Support for `imenu' and `which-function-mode'.
1055 *** The reStructuredText syntax is more closely covered.
1056 Sphinx support has been improved.
1058 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
1060 *** A negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
1062 *** The window configuration is reset after displaying a TOC.
1064 *** The constant `rst-version' describes the rst.el package version.
1068 *** Support for percent literals and recognition of regular expressions
1069 in method calls without parentheses with more methods, including Cucumber
1072 *** Improved syntax highlighting and indentation.
1074 *** New command `ruby-toggle-block', bound to `C-c {'.
1076 *** Some non-standard keybindings/commands have been removed:
1078 **** `ruby-electric-brace'; use `electric-indent-mode' instead.
1080 **** `ruby-mark-defun'; use `mark-defun'.
1082 **** `ruby-beginning-of-defun' and `ruby-end-of-defun' are replaced by
1083 appropriate settings for the variables `beginning-of-defun-function'
1084 and `end-of-defun-function'.
1086 **** Non-standard keybindings for `backward-kill-word', `comment-region',
1087 `reindent-then-newline-and-indent' and `newline' have been removed.
1089 ** Shell Script mode
1091 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses `electric-pair-mode' instead of skeleton-pair.
1093 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
1095 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
1099 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
1101 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
1103 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
1105 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
1109 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
1110 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
1111 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
1113 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use have been removed
1114 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
1118 *** This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
1120 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
1121 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
1125 *** Algebraic simplification mode is now the default.
1126 To restrict to the limited simplifications given by the former
1127 default simplification mode, use `m I'.
1131 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
1132 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
1134 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
1136 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
1137 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
1141 *** The major modes from the parser generators "Bovine" and "Wisent"
1142 are now properly integrated in Emacs. The file suffixes ".by" and ".wy"
1143 are in `auto-mode-alist', and the corresponding manuals are included.
1147 **** Menu support for the "Configuration" feature. This allows users to
1148 choose the active configuration (such as debug or install) from the menu.
1150 **** New command `ede-set' to interactively set project-local variables.
1152 **** Support for compiling, debugging, and running in "generic" projects.
1154 **** Autoconf editing support for M4 macros with complex arguments.
1156 **** Compilation support for the "linux" project type.
1158 **** "simple" projects have been removed; use "generic" projects instead.
1162 **** Support for parsing #include statements inside a namespace in C/C++.
1164 **** Improved support for 'extern "C"' declarations in C/C++.
1166 **** The ability to ignore more common special C/C++ preprocessor symbols,
1167 such as '__nonnull' and '__asm'. Add '__cplusplus' macro when parsing C++.
1168 If available, include cdefs.h as an additional source of preprocessor symbols.
1170 **** Improved C/C++ function pointer parsing.
1172 **** In Python, support for converting imports to include file names.
1174 **** Ability to dynamically determine the Python load path.
1176 **** Support for the Python 'WITH' and 'AT' keywords.
1178 **** Improved tooltip completion.
1182 **** The SRecode manual is now included.
1184 **** Tag generation supports constructor/destructor settings and system
1185 include differentiation.
1187 **** Addition of 'Framework' support: Frameworks are specified when a
1188 particular kind of library (such as Android) is needed in a common language
1191 **** Support for nested templates and let variables override based on priority.
1193 **** Support for merging tables from multiple related modes, such as
1194 default -> c++ -> arduino.
1196 ** Compile has a new option `compilation-always-kill'.
1200 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
1202 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
1203 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e., the prefix argument does nothing for
1204 these commands now).
1208 *** The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color'
1209 are now deprecated in favor of the customizable face `term'.
1211 *** You can customize how to display ANSI terminal colors and styles
1212 by customizing the corresponding `term-color-<COLOR>',
1213 `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold' faces.
1217 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy definitions.
1219 *** Remote processes are now also supported on remote MS-Windows hosts.
1223 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
1224 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
1225 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
1226 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components,
1227 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
1229 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
1230 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
1231 in case that is not properly encoded.
1233 *** New command `url-cookie-list' displays all the current cookies, and
1234 allows deleting selected cookies.
1236 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
1237 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
1240 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
1241 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
1242 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
1244 ** The FFAP option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
1245 specifying URL types that should be converted to remote file names at
1246 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
1248 ** New Ibuffer `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
1249 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
1251 ** New option `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
1252 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
1254 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
1255 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
1257 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
1259 ** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies the buffer to use
1260 for a new asynchronous `shell-command' when the default output buffer
1261 `*Async Shell Command*' is already in use.
1263 ** SQL mode has a new option `sql-db2-escape-newlines'.
1264 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
1265 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
1266 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
1268 ** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S' in Tabulated List mode
1269 (and modes that derive from it), sorts the column at point, or the Nth
1270 column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
1272 ** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
1273 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
1275 ** `winner-mode-hook' now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when
1278 ** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
1279 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
1281 ** `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
1283 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
1284 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
1285 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
1286 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
1287 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
1288 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
1289 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
1290 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
1291 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
1292 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
1293 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
1294 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
1295 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
1296 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
1297 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
1298 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
1299 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
1300 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
1301 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
1302 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
1303 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
1304 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
1305 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
1307 ** Obsolete packages
1310 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
1311 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
1312 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
1321 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1323 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
1324 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
1325 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
1326 `custom-variable-p'.
1328 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
1329 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, `defun' and
1330 `defmacro' currently return the name of the newly defined
1331 function/macro, but this should not be relied upon.
1333 ** `random' by default now returns a different random sequence in
1334 every Emacs run. Use `(random S)', where S is a string, to set the
1335 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
1336 sequence in later calls.
1338 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
1339 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
1340 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
1342 ** `select-window' now always makes the window's buffer current.
1343 It does so even if the window was selected before.
1345 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
1346 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
1347 depends on the graphical library.
1349 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
1350 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
1352 ** `set-buffer-multibyte' now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
1354 ** The CL package's `get-setf-method' function no longer exists.
1355 Generalized variables are now part of core Emacs Lisp, and implemented
1356 differently to the way cl.el used to do it. It is not possible to
1357 define a compatible replacement for `get-setf-method'. See the file
1358 gv.el for internal details of the new implementation.
1360 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
1361 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
1362 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
1364 ** Miscellaneous name changes
1365 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to correct their spelling,
1366 or to be more consistent with standard Emacs terminology.
1368 *** Renamed functions
1369 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
1370 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
1371 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
1372 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
1373 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
1374 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
1375 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
1376 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
1379 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
1380 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
1381 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
1382 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
1383 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
1385 *** Renamed variables
1386 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
1387 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
1388 deactivate-current-input-method-function
1390 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces have been removed:
1391 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'
1392 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
1393 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
1394 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
1395 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
1396 *** `set-char-table-default'
1397 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector')
1398 *** `compile-internal'
1400 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
1401 *** `follow-mode-off-hook'
1402 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
1403 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
1404 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
1405 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
1406 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
1407 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1408 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
1409 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
1412 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
1414 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
1415 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
1416 You can define your own generalized variables using `gv-define-simple-setter',
1417 `gv-define-setter', etc.
1419 ** Emacs tries to macroexpand interpreted (non-compiled) files during load.
1420 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
1421 but can also bump into previously unnoticed cyclic dependencies.
1422 These are generally harmless: they will simply cause the macro calls
1423 to be left for later expansion (as before), but will result in a
1424 warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle") describing the cycle.
1425 You may wish to restructure your code so this does not happen.
1427 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
1428 Try M-x profiler-start, do some work, and then call M-x profiler-report.
1429 When finished, use M-x profiler-stop. The sampling rate can be based on
1430 CPU time or memory allocations.
1432 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
1433 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
1435 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
1437 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
1439 ** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
1440 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
1441 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via `M-n'
1442 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
1443 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
1447 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
1448 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
1450 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
1451 table, but with a different prefix.
1455 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
1456 These do not trigger the debugger.
1458 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill', saying what to do with the
1459 debugger buffer when exiting debug.
1461 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
1462 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
1463 to work out which code is doing something.
1465 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
1466 recursive invocations.
1470 *** New command `fit-frame-to-buffer' adjusts the frame height to
1473 *** The command `fit-window-to-buffer' can adjust the frame height
1474 if the new option `fit-frame-to-buffer' is non-nil.
1476 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window', similar to
1477 `with-output-to-temp-buffer'.
1479 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
1482 *** New option `switch-to-buffer-preserve-window-point' to restore a
1483 window's point when switching buffers.
1485 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
1486 specify the size of new windows created by `display-buffer'.
1488 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
1489 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
1491 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
1492 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
1495 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
1496 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1498 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
1499 and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
1501 *** The functions `get-lru-window', `get-mru-window' and `get-largest-window'
1502 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
1504 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
1506 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
1507 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
1509 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
1510 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
1511 **** `display-buffer-function'
1512 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
1513 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
1514 **** `special-display-function'
1515 **** `special-display-regexps'
1519 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
1520 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
1521 by the underlying C implementation.
1523 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
1524 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
1525 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
1526 functions that use this format, such as `file-attributes' and
1527 `format-time-string', have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
1528 stamps are still accepted.
1530 *** The format of timers in `timer-list' and `timer-idle-list' is now
1531 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
1532 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
1533 accessed via the new `timer--psecs' accessor.
1535 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
1536 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
1540 *** Improved security when handling persistent objects:
1542 **** `eieio-persistent-read' now features optional arguments for specifying
1543 the class to load, as well as a flag stating whether subclasses are allowed;
1544 if provided, other classes will be rejected by the reader. For
1545 compatibility with existing code, if the class is omitted only a
1548 **** New specialized reader for pulling in classes and signaling errors
1549 without evaluation of suspicious code.
1551 **** All slots that contain objects must have a :type. Slots with lists
1552 of objects must use a new type predicate for a list of an object type.
1554 *** Support for `find-function' and similar utilities, through the addition
1555 of filename support to generated symbols.
1557 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
1558 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args; e.g., (log -1.0).
1559 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
1560 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
1561 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
1563 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
1565 ** Miscellaneous changes to special forms and macros
1567 *** `defun' and `defmacro' are now macros rather than special forms.
1569 *** `kbd' is now a function rather than a macro.
1571 ** Miscellaneous new functions
1573 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary keymap that
1574 takes precedence over most other maps for a short while (normally one key).
1576 *** `autoloadp' tests if its argument is an autoloaded object.
1578 *** `autoload-do-load' performs the autoloading operation.
1580 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
1582 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
1584 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
1586 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
1588 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
1590 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
1592 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
1594 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
1595 *** `automount-dir-prefix' (use `directory-abbrev-alist')
1596 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
1597 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
1598 *** `window-system-version' (provides no useful information)
1599 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
1600 *** `query-replace-interactive'
1601 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
1604 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on Non-Free Operating Systems
1606 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
1607 Pass `--with-w32' to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
1609 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
1610 `cygwin-convert-file-name-from-windows' and
1611 `cygwin-convert-file-name-to-windows'. These functions allow Lisp
1612 code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping machinery to convert
1613 between Cygwin and Windows-native file and directory names.
1615 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
1616 Emacs now supports `mouse-highlight', help-echo (in the echo area), and
1617 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
1619 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
1621 ** On MS Windows, you can pass `--without-libxml2' to configure.bat to omit
1622 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
1624 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
1626 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink "/sw"
1627 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
1630 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
1632 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
1635 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
1637 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
1638 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
1639 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
1642 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
1643 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1644 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1645 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
1647 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
1648 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1649 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1650 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
1652 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
1653 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1654 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1655 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1656 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1658 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1659 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1660 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1661 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1663 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1664 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1666 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1667 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1668 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1671 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1672 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1673 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1675 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1676 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1677 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1679 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1680 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1682 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1683 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1686 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1688 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1689 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1690 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1692 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1693 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1694 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1698 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1702 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1703 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1705 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1707 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1708 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1710 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1712 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1713 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1715 *** New completion style `substring'.
1717 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1719 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1723 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1724 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1725 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1726 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1727 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1728 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1730 *** Typing `C-c m' in the buffer made by `M-x report-emacs-bug'
1731 transfers the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there
1732 is one. This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open"
1735 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1736 and Mail mode changes
1738 ** Emacs server and client changes
1740 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1742 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1744 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1745 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1747 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1748 its exit status is 1.
1750 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1751 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1752 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1754 ** Internationalization changes
1756 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1757 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1758 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1759 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1760 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1761 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1763 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1764 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1766 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1767 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1768 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1769 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1772 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1773 the right window edge.
1775 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1776 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1777 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1778 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1779 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1781 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1782 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1784 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1785 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1787 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1788 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1789 automatically select it.
1791 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1792 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1793 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1795 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1796 selected for installation.
1798 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1800 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1801 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1802 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1804 ** Custom theme changes
1806 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1807 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1809 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1810 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1811 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1812 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1813 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1814 built-in Custom themes.
1816 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1817 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1818 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1819 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1821 ** Improved GTK integration
1823 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1824 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1826 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1827 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1828 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1830 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1831 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1832 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1835 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1836 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1838 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1839 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1841 ** Graphical interface changes
1843 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1844 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1845 displayed as a space.
1847 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1848 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1850 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1851 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1852 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1856 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1857 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1859 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1860 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1861 do the right thing in batch mode.
1863 ** Scrolling changes
1865 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1866 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1867 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1868 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1870 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1872 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1873 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1875 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1876 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1878 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1879 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1880 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1881 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1882 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1884 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1885 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1886 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1887 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1890 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1891 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1893 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1894 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1895 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1896 now includes the SELinux context.
1898 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1899 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1903 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1904 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1906 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1907 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1909 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1911 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1912 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1913 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1916 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1917 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1918 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1919 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1920 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1922 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1923 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1925 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1926 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1927 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1928 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1933 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1934 in the quitted window.
1936 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1937 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1939 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1941 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1942 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1943 for choosing the displaying window).
1945 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1946 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1948 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1949 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1951 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1952 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1953 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1954 from which such space was obtained.
1956 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1957 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1958 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1959 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1960 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1962 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1963 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1964 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1966 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1967 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1969 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1970 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1971 been shown in a specific window.
1973 ** Minibuffer changes
1975 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1976 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1977 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1979 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1980 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1981 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1983 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1985 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1987 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1988 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1989 successful operation.
1991 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1992 for `list-colors-display'.
1994 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1997 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
2001 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
2002 `isearch-yank-line'.
2004 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
2005 `isearch-yank-kill'.
2007 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
2009 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
2011 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
2012 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
2013 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
2014 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
2017 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
2018 also deletes newlines around point.
2022 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
2023 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
2024 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
2027 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
2028 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
2029 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
2031 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
2032 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
2033 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
2034 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
2036 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
2038 ** Selection changes.
2040 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
2041 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
2042 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
2043 mouse commands use the primary selection.
2045 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
2046 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
2048 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
2049 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
2050 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
2051 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
2053 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
2054 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
2055 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
2056 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
2057 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
2059 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
2061 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
2062 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
2063 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
2065 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
2067 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
2068 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
2069 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
2071 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
2072 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
2074 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
2075 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
2076 between applications.
2078 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
2080 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
2081 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
2082 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
2083 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
2084 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
2086 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
2088 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
2089 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
2091 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
2092 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
2093 number to count from and for a format string.
2095 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
2096 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
2097 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
2098 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
2099 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
2101 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
2102 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
2103 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
2104 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
2105 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
2107 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
2108 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
2109 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
2110 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
2111 follows `replace-match'.
2114 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2116 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
2120 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
2121 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
2122 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
2123 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
2125 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
2127 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
2129 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
2133 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
2135 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
2136 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
2140 *** Support for musical notes.
2142 *** Support for logarithmic units.
2144 *** No longer uses the tex prefix for TeX specific unit names when
2145 using TeX or LaTeX mode.
2147 *** New option to highlight selections using faces.
2149 *** `calc-histogram' has the option of using a vector to determine the bins.
2151 *** New "O" option prefix.
2153 *** Use the "O" prefix to "d r" (`calc-radix') to turn on twos-complement mode.
2155 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
2157 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
2158 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
2160 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
2161 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
2163 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
2164 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
2165 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
2167 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
2169 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
2170 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
2172 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
2173 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
2174 Use `appt-activate' instead.
2176 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2177 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
2178 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
2180 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
2181 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
2185 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
2186 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
2188 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
2190 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
2191 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
2194 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
2195 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
2196 parsed as a statement continuation.
2198 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
2202 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
2203 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
2205 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
2206 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
2207 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
2209 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
2210 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
2211 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
2216 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
2217 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
2218 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
2220 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
2221 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
2223 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
2225 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
2226 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
2230 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
2233 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
2234 optionally do not register names.
2236 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
2237 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
2241 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
2242 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
2243 instead of using the current buffer.
2245 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
2246 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
2250 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
2251 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
2253 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
2254 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
2255 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
2256 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
2260 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
2261 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
2262 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
2266 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
2267 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
2268 debugging of several threads.
2272 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
2273 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
2277 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
2278 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
2279 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
2280 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
2281 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
2283 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
2284 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
2285 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
2288 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
2290 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
2292 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
2293 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
2294 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
2296 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
2297 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
2299 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
2301 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
2303 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
2304 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
2305 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
2306 default), this performs tag completion.
2308 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
2309 See ORG-NEWS for details.
2311 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
2312 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
2313 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
2317 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
2318 in the Rmail incoming message.
2320 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
2321 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
2322 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
2326 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
2327 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
2328 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
2330 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
2331 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
2335 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
2336 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
2337 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
2340 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
2341 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
2342 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
2343 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
2344 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
2345 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
2346 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
2347 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
2349 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
2350 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
2352 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
2354 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
2356 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
2357 the credentials file.
2359 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
2360 If you had that set, you need to put
2362 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
2364 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
2366 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
2367 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
2368 to the address you wish to use instead.
2372 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
2373 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
2375 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
2376 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
2377 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
2378 connection is established.
2380 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
2381 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
2383 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
2384 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
2385 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
2386 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
2388 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
2389 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
2390 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
2391 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
2392 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
2393 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
2395 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
2396 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
2398 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
2399 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
2400 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
2402 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
2403 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
2405 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
2409 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
2413 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
2415 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
2416 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
2418 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
2419 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
2421 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
2422 default value to "".
2424 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
2425 for remote machines which support SELinux.
2427 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
2428 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
2429 the degree of parallelism.
2431 ** VC and related modes
2433 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
2434 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
2435 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
2436 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
2437 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
2439 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
2441 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
2442 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
2443 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
2444 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
2445 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
2447 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
2448 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
2450 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
2451 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
2452 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
2453 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
2454 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
2455 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
2457 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
2458 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
2460 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
2461 this was not advertised at the time.
2463 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
2464 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
2465 this was not advertised at the time.
2471 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
2473 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
2474 You can get a comparable behavior with:
2475 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
2476 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
2478 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
2480 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
2482 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
2484 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
2485 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
2487 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
2491 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
2492 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
2494 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
2495 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
2497 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
2499 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
2501 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
2504 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
2506 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
2507 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
2509 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
2510 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
2511 matching closing one.
2513 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
2514 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
2515 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
2516 electric-indent-functions.
2518 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
2519 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
2520 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
2522 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
2523 from which other modes can be derived.
2525 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
2527 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
2528 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
2529 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
2530 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
2533 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
2534 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
2536 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
2537 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
2539 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
2541 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
2542 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
2543 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
2544 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
2545 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
2546 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
2549 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2551 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
2552 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
2554 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
2556 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
2557 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
2558 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
2559 command still toggles the minor mode.
2561 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
2562 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
2563 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
2564 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
2565 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
2567 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
2568 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
2569 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
2570 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
2571 argument `bidi-class'.
2573 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
2574 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
2575 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
2576 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
2578 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
2579 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
2580 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
2583 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
2584 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
2585 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
2586 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
2587 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
2588 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
2589 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
2591 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
2592 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
2593 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
2594 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
2597 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
2598 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
2599 replaced all known uses.
2601 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
2602 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
2603 major mode is special).
2605 ** Menu and tool bar changes
2607 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
2608 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
2609 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
2610 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
2611 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
2612 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
2614 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
2615 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
2617 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
2618 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
2619 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
2620 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
2622 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
2623 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
2624 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
2626 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
2628 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
2629 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
2630 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
2632 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
2633 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
2634 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
2635 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
2636 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
2637 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
2638 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
2639 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
2640 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
2641 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
2642 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
2643 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
2644 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
2645 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
2646 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
2647 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
2648 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
2649 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
2650 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
2651 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
2652 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
2654 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
2655 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
2657 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
2658 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
2659 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
2660 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
2661 *** `e' (`float-e').
2663 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
2664 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
2666 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
2667 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
2668 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
2669 `finder-keywords-hash'.
2671 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2672 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2673 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2676 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
2678 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2679 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2680 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2681 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2684 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2685 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2687 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2688 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2690 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2692 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2693 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2695 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2696 declared as dynamically bound.
2698 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2700 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2701 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2702 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2704 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2706 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2707 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2709 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2710 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2711 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2712 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2713 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2714 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2716 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2717 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2718 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2722 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2723 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2724 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2725 buffer) in the window tree.
2727 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2730 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2731 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2732 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2733 act on any window including internal ones.
2735 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2736 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2737 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2738 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2739 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2741 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2742 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2743 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2744 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2745 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2747 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2748 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2749 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2750 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2751 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2752 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2754 *** Window resizing functions.
2755 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2756 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2757 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2759 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2760 live window on that frame instead.
2762 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2763 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2764 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2765 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2766 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2767 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2769 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2770 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2771 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2772 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2773 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2774 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2776 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2777 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2778 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2779 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2781 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2782 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2783 The old names are kept as aliases.
2787 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2788 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2789 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2790 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2792 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2794 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2795 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2796 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2797 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2798 are user-customizable variables.
2800 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2802 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2803 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2804 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2808 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2809 properties of the current completion:
2810 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2811 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2813 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2814 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2816 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2818 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2819 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2820 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2821 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2822 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2823 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2824 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2826 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2827 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2828 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2830 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2831 behavior of `completing-read'.
2833 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2834 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2836 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2837 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2841 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2842 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2843 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2844 non-nil return value.
2846 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2847 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2848 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2849 advertised at the time.)
2853 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2854 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2856 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2858 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2860 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2861 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2862 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2864 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2865 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2867 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2868 named Emacs server instances.
2870 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2871 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2873 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2874 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2876 ** New input reading functions
2878 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2879 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2881 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2882 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2885 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2887 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2888 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2889 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2892 ** Syntax parsing changes
2894 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2895 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2896 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2897 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2898 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2899 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2900 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2901 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2904 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2906 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2908 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2910 ** Major and minor mode changes
2912 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2913 as well as those in the -*- line.
2915 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2918 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2919 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2920 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2922 **** New minor modes `prettify-symbols-mode' and
2923 `global-prettify-symbols-mode' let the user enable symbol
2924 prettification (replacing a string like "lambda" with the Greek lambda
2927 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2928 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2930 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2931 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2932 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2934 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2936 ** File-handling changes
2938 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2939 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2940 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2941 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2943 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2945 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2946 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2947 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2951 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2953 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2955 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2957 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2960 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2961 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2963 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2964 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2966 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2967 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2968 ImageMagick installation supports.
2970 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2971 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2974 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2975 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2977 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2978 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2979 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2980 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2982 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2983 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2984 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2985 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2987 ** XML and HTML parsing
2988 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2989 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2990 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2991 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2993 ** Networking and encryption changes
2995 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2996 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2997 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2998 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2999 must also be supplied.
3001 *** New library gnutls.el.
3002 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
3003 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
3004 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
3005 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
3006 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
3007 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
3010 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
3011 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
3012 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
3016 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
3018 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
3019 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
3020 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
3021 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
3022 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
3023 displayed with a "spinning bar".
3025 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
3026 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
3028 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
3029 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
3030 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
3031 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
3032 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
3033 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
3035 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
3037 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
3038 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
3039 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
3040 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
3042 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
3043 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
3045 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
3046 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
3047 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
3048 an empty uninterned symbol.
3050 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
3052 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
3054 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
3055 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
3057 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
3058 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
3060 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
3062 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
3063 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
3065 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
3068 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on Non-Free Operating Systems
3070 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
3071 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
3073 ** New configure.bat options
3075 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
3077 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
3079 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
3081 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
3083 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
3085 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
3086 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
3088 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
3089 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
3091 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
3092 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
3095 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3096 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
3098 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
3099 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
3100 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
3101 (at your option) any later version.
3103 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3104 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3105 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3106 GNU General Public License for more details.
3108 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3109 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
3114 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"