1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 24.
11 See files NEWS.23, NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18,
12 and NEWS.1-17 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.3
27 ** The default toolkit has been changed to Gtk+ version 3.
28 If you don't pass --with-x-toolkit to configure or if you pass
29 --with-x-toolkit=gtk or --with-x-toolkit=yes, configure will try to build
30 with Gtk+ version 3, and if that fails, try Gtk+ version 2.
31 You can explicitly require a specific version by passing
32 --with-x-toolkit=gtk2 or --with-x-toolkit=gtk3 to configure.
35 ** New configure option '--without-all' to disable additional features.
36 This disables most of the features that are normally enabled by default.
39 ** New configure option '--enable-link-time-optimization' to utilize
40 an appropriate feature provided by GCC since version 4.5.0.
43 ** New configure option '--enable-gcc-warnings', intended for developers.
44 If building with GCC, this enables compile-time checks that warn about
45 possibly-questionable C code. On a recent GNU system there should be
46 no warnings; on older and on non-GNU systems the generated warnings
50 ** The configure option '--enable-use-lisp-union-type' has been
51 renamed to '--enable-check-lisp-object-type', as the resulting
52 Lisp_Object type no longer uses a union to implement the compile time
53 check that this option enables.
56 ** The configure option '--disable-maintainer-mode' has been removed,
57 as it was confusingly-named and rarely useful.
60 ** You can use `NO_BIN_LINK=t make install' to prevent the installation
61 overwriting "emacs" in the installation bin/ directory with a link
65 ** The configure options `--program-prefix', `--program-suffix', and
66 `--program-transform-name' apply to more than just the installed
67 binaries. Now they also affect the man pages, icons, and the
68 etc/emacs.desktop file; but not the info pages, since this would break
69 links between the various manuals.
72 ** Emacs uses libtinfo in preference to libncurses, if available.
75 ** On FreeBSD and NetBSD, configure no longer adds /usr/local/lib and
76 /usr/pkg/lib to the linker search path. You must add them yourself if
80 ** The standalone scripts rcs-checkin and vcdiff have been removed
81 (from the bin and libexec directories, respectively). The former is
82 no longer relevant, the latter is replaced by lisp (in vc-sccs.el).
85 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.3
88 ** Emacs no longer searches for `leim-list.el' files beneath the standard
89 lisp/ directory. There should not be any there anyway. If you have
90 been adding them there, put them somewhere else, eg site-lisp.
93 ** The `--no-site-lisp' command line option now works for Nextstep builds.
96 * Changes in Emacs 24.3
99 ** Most y-or-n prompts now allow you to scroll the selected window.
100 Typing C-v or M-v at a y-or-n prompt scrolls forward or backward
101 respectively, without exiting from the prompt.
105 *** New option `mode-line-default-help-echo' specifies the help text
106 (shown in a tooltip or in the echo area) for any part of the mode line
107 that does not have its own specialized help text.
109 *** You can now click mouse-3 in the coding system indicator to invoke
110 `set-buffer-file-coding-system'.
115 *** `C-h f' (describe-function) can now perform autoloading.
116 When this command is called for an autoloaded function whose docstring
117 contains a key substitution construct, that function's library is
118 automatically loaded, so that the documentation can be shown
119 correctly. To disable this, set `help-enable-auto-load' to nil.
122 *** `C-h f' now reports previously-autoloaded functions as "autoloaded",
123 even after their associated libraries have been loaded (and the
124 autoloads have been redefined as functions).
126 ** Minibuffer changes
128 *** In minibuffer filename prompts, `C-M-f' and `C-M-b' now move to the
129 next and previous path separator, respectively.
131 *** minibuffer-electric-default-mode can rewrite (default ...) to [...].
132 Just set minibuffer-eldef-shorten-default to t before enabling the mode.
134 ** ImageMagick support, if available, is automatically enabled.
135 It is no longer necessary to call `imagemagick-register-types'
136 explicitly to install ImageMagick image types; that function is called
137 automatically at startup, or when customizing a relevant imagemagick-
140 *** Setting `imagemagick-types-inhibit' to t now disables the use of
141 ImageMagick to view images. You must call imagemagick-register-types
142 afterwards if you do not use customize to change this.
144 *** The new variable `imagemagick-enabled-types' also affects which
145 ImageMagick types are treated as images. The function
146 `imagemagick-filter-types' returns the list of types that will be
149 *** Images displayed via ImageMagick now support transparency and the
150 :background image spec property.
152 ** Server and client changes
154 *** emacsclient now obeys string values for `initial-buffer-choice',
155 if it is told to open a new frame without specifying any file to visit
156 or expression to evaluate.
158 *** New option `server-auth-key' specifies a shared server key.
161 ** In the Package Menu, newly-available packages are listed as "new",
162 and sorted above the other "available" packages by default.
165 ** `C-x C-q' is now bound to the new minor mode `read-only-mode'.
166 This minor mode replaces `toggle-read-only', which is now obsolete.
168 ** Emacs now generates backtraces on fatal errors.
169 On encountering a fatal error, Emacs now outputs a textual description
170 of the fatal signal, and a short backtrace on platforms like glibc
171 that support backtraces.
174 ** If your Emacs was built from a bzr checkout, the new variable
175 `emacs-bzr-version' contains information about the bzr revision used.
178 ** New variable `create-lockfiles' specifies usage of lockfiles.
179 It defaults to t. Changing it to nil inhibits the creation of lock
180 files (use this with caution).
183 ** Using "unibyte: t" in Lisp source files is obsolete.
184 Use "coding: raw-text" instead.
187 ** Setting `enable-remote-dir-locals' to non-nil allows directory
188 local variables on remote hosts.
191 ** The entry for PCL-CVS has been removed from the Tools menu.
192 The PCL-CVS commands are still available via the keyboard.
194 ** Internationalization changes
196 *** New language environment: Persian.
198 *** New input method `vietnamese-vni'.
200 ** Nextstep (GNUstep / Mac OS X) port changes
202 *** Fullscreen and frame parameter fullscreen is supported.
204 *** A file dialog is used for open/save operations initiated from the
208 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.3
210 ** Navigation command changes
212 *** New binding `M-g c' for `goto-char'.
214 *** New binding `M-g TAB' for `move-to-column'.
216 *** `M-g TAB' (`move-to-column') prompts for a column number if called
217 interactively with no prefix arg. Previously, it moved to column 1.
219 ** Search and Replace changes
221 *** Non-regexp Isearch now performs "lax" space matching.
222 Each sequence of spaces in the supplied search string may match any
223 sequence of one or more whitespace characters, as specified by the
224 variable `search-whitespace-regexp'. (This variable is also used by a
225 similar existing feature for regexp Isearch).
227 *** New Isearch command `M-s SPC' toggles lax space matching.
228 This applies to both ordinary and regexp Isearch.
230 *** New option `replace-lax-whitespace'.
231 If non-nil, `query-replace' uses flexible whitespace matching too.
234 *** Global `M-s _' starts a symbol (identifier) incremental search,
235 and `M-s _' in Isearch toggles symbol search mode.
236 `M-s c' in Isearch toggles search case-sensitivity.
239 ** `C-x 8 RET' is now bound to `insert-char', which is now a command.
240 `ucs-insert' is now an obsolete alias for `insert-char'.
243 ** The `z' key no longer has a binding in most special modes.
244 It used to be bound to `kill-this-buffer', but `z' is too easy to
248 ** New option `delete-trailing-lines' specifies whether
249 M-x delete-trailing-whitespace should delete trailing lines at the end
250 of the buffer. It defaults to t.
254 *** `C-x r +' is now overloaded to invoke `append-to-register.
256 *** New option `register-separator' specifies the register containing
257 the text to put between collected texts for use with M-x
258 append-to-register and M-x prepend-to-register.
261 ** `C-u M-=' now counts lines/words/characters in the entire buffer.
264 ** New command `C-x r M-w' (copy-rectangle-as-kill).
265 It copies the region-rectangle as the last rectangle kill.
268 ** New option `yank-handled-properties' allows processing of text
269 properties on yanked text, in more ways that are more general than
270 just removing them, as done by `yank-excluded-properties'.
273 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
277 *** The faces used by Apropos are now directly customizable.
278 These faces are named `apropos-symbol', `apropos-keybinding', and so on;
279 see the `apropos' Custom group for details.
281 *** The old options whose values specified faces to use were removed
282 (i.e. `apropos-symbol-face', `apropos-keybinding-face', etc.).
285 This package has been rewritten to use Tabulated List mode.
287 *** Option `Buffer-menu-buffer+size-width' is now obsolete.
288 Use `Buffer-menu-name-width' and `Buffer-menu-size-width' instead.
293 *** You can customize the header text that appears above each calendar month.
294 See the variable `calendar-month-header'.
297 *** New LaTeX calendar style, produced by `cal-tex-cursor-week2-summary'.
300 *** The calendars produced by cal-html include holidays.
301 Customize `cal-html-holidays' to change this.
305 *** CL's main entry is now (require 'cl-lib).
306 `cl-lib' is like the old `cl' except that it uses the namespace cleanly,
307 i.e. all its definitions have the "cl-" prefix (and internal definitions use
310 If `cl' provided a feature under the name `foo', then `cl-lib' provides it
311 under the name `cl-foo' instead, with the exceptions of the few definitions
312 that had to use `foo*' to avoid conflicts with pre-existing Elisp entities,
313 which have not been renamed to `cl-foo*' but just `cl-foo'.
315 The old `cl' is now deprecated and is just a bunch of aliases that
316 provide the old non-prefixed names.
318 *** `cl-flet' is not like `flet' (which is deprecated).
319 Instead it obeys the behavior of Common-Lisp's `flet'.
321 *** `cl-labels' is slightly different from `labels'.
322 The difference is that it relies on the `lexical-binding' machinery (as opposed
323 to the `lexical-let' machinery used previously) to capture definitions in
324 closures, so such closures will only work if `lexical-binding' is in use.
326 *** `cl-letf' is not exactly like `letf'.
329 *** `progv' was rewritten to use the `let' machinery.
330 A side effect is that vars without corresponding value are bound to nil
331 rather than making them unbound.
333 *** The following methods of extending `setf' are obsolete.
334 Use gv.el instead (FIXME; details).
335 `define-setf-expander', `defsetf', `define-modify-macro'
339 *** New option `compilation-always-kill'.
343 *** `custom-reset-button-menu' now defaults to t.
345 *** Non-option variables are never matched in `customize-apropos' and
346 `customize-apropos-options' (i.e. the prefix argument does nothing for
351 *** `desktop-path' no longer includes the "." directory. Desktop
352 files are now located in ~/.emacs.d by default.
357 *** New variables `dbus-compiled-version' and `dbus-runtime-version'.
360 *** The D-Bus object manager interface is implemented.
363 *** Variables of type :(u)int32 and :(u)int64 accept floating points,
364 if their value does not fit into Emacs's integer range.
367 *** The function `dbus-call-method' works non-blocking now, it can be
368 interrupted by C-g. `dbus-call-method-non-blocking' is obsolete.
371 *** Signals can be sent also as unicast message.
374 *** The argument list of `dbus-register-signal' has been extended,
375 according to the new match rule types of D-Bus. See the manual for
379 *** `dbus-init-bus' supports private connections.
382 *** There is a new function `dbus-setenv'.
386 *** Changes are now highlighted using the same color scheme as in
387 modern VCSes. Deletions are displayed in red (new faces
388 `diff-refine-removed' and `smerge-refined-removed' and new definition
389 of `diff-removed'), insertions in green (new faces `diff-refine-added'
390 and `smerge-refined-added' and new definition of `diff-added').
392 *** The variable `diff-use-changed-face' defines whether to use the
393 face `diff-changed', or `diff-removed' and `diff-added' to highlight
394 changes in context diffs.
396 *** The new command `diff-remove-trailing-whitespace' fixes trailing
397 whitespace problems introduced by the diff.
401 *** `dired-do-async-shell-command' executes each file sequentially
402 if the command ends in `;' (when operating on multiple files).
403 Otherwise, it executes the command on each file in parallel.
405 *** Typing M-n in the minibuffer of `dired-do-chmod', `dired-do-chgrp',
406 `dired-do-chown', `dired-do-touch' pulls the file attributes of the
409 *** When the region is active, `m' (`dired-mark'), `u' (`dired-unmark'),
410 `DEL' (`dired-unmark-backward'), `d' (`dired-flag-file-deletion')
411 mark/unmark/flag all files in the active region.
413 *** The minibuffer default for `=' (`dired-diff) has changed.
414 It is now the backup file for the file at point, if one exists.
415 In Transient Mark mode the default is the file at the active mark.
417 *** `M-=' is no longer bound to `dired-backup-diff' in Dired buffers.
418 The global binding for `M-=', `count-words-region' is in effect.
421 ** Ediff now uses the same color scheme as Diff mode.
423 ** erc will look up server/channel names via auth-source and use the
424 channel keys found, if any.
426 ** Flymake uses fringe bitmaps to indicate errors and warnings.
427 See `flymake-fringe-indicator-position', `flymake-error-bitmap' and
428 `flymake-warning-bitmap'.
432 *** The obsolete variable `follow-mode-off-hook' has been removed.
434 *** Follow mode no longer works by using advice.
435 The option `follow-intercept-processes' has been removed.
439 *** The option `ffap-url-unwrap-remote' can now be a list of strings,
440 specifying URL types which should be converted to remote file names at
441 the FFAP prompt. The default is now '("ftp").
444 `javascript-generic-mode' is now an obsolete alias for `js-mode'.
448 *** New `derived-mode' filter, bound to `/ M'.
449 The old binding for `/ M' (filter by used-mode) is now bound to `/ m'.
451 ** Mouse Avoidance mode
453 *** New variable `mouse-avoidance-banish-position' specifies where the
454 `banish' mouse avoidance setting moves the mouse.
457 ** notifications.el supports now version 1.2 of the Notifications API.
458 The function `notifications-get-capabilities' returns the supported
461 ** In Perl mode, new option `perl-indent-parens-as-block' causes non-block
462 closing brackets to be aligned with the line of the opening bracket.
464 ** In Proced mode, new command `proced-renice' renices marked processes.
468 A new version of python.el, which provides several new features, including:
469 per-buffer shells, better indentation, Python 3 support, and improved
470 shell-interaction compatible with iPython (and virtually any other
473 *** Some user options have been replaced/renamed:
474 Old defcustom: | New defcustom:
475 python-indent | python-indent-offset
476 python-guess-indent | python-indent-guess-indent-offset
477 python-pdbtrack-do-tracking-p | python-pdbtrack-activate
478 python-use-skeletons | python-skeleton-autoinsert
480 *** Some user options have been removed:
482 **** `python-indent-string-contents': Strings are never indented.
484 **** `python-honour-comment-indentation':
485 Comments are never considered as indentation markers themselves.
487 **** `python-continuation-offset': Indentation is automatically
488 calculated in a pep8 compliant way depending on the context.
490 **** `python-shell-prompt-alist', `python-shell-continuation-prompt-alist':
491 Have no direct mapping as the shell interaction is completely different.
493 **** `python-python-command', `python-jython-command':
494 Replaced by `python-shell-interpreter'.
496 **** `inferior-python-filter-regexp', `python-remove-cwd-from-path',
497 `python-pdbtrack-minor-mode-string', `python-source-modes':
500 *** Some commands have been replaced:
501 Old command | New command
502 python-insert-class | python-skeleton-class
503 python-insert-def | python-skeleton-def
504 python-insert-for | python-skeleton-for
505 python-insert-if | python-skeleton-if
506 python-insert-try/except | python-skeleton-try
507 python-insert-try/finally | python-skeleton-try
508 python-insert-while | python-skeleton-while
509 python-find-function | python-nav-jump-to-defun
510 python-next-statement | python-nav-forward-sentence
511 python-previous-statement | python-nav-backward-sentence
512 python-send-buffer | python-shell-send-buffer
513 python-send-defun | python-shell-send-defun
514 python-send-region | python-shell-send-region
515 python-send-region-and-go | Emulate with python-shell-send-region and
516 python-shell-switch-to-shell
517 python-send-string | python-shell-send-string
518 python-switch-to-python | python-shell-switch-to-shell
519 python-describe-symbol | python-eldoc-at-point
521 ** reStructuredText mode
523 *** Rebind nearly all keys making room for more keys and complying
524 better to usage in other modes. Describe bindings with C-c C-h.
526 *** Major revision of indentation working very similar to other
527 modes. TAB is your friend.
529 *** Major revision of filling working fine with most of
530 reStructuredText syntax. Support auto-filling.
532 *** Major revision of comment handling.
534 *** Major revision of fontification working with `jit-lock-mode'.
536 *** Cover reStructuredText syntax more closely. Improve
537 the experience for Sphinx users.
539 *** `rst-insert-list' inserts new list or continues existing lists.
541 *** Extend correct and improve customization.
543 *** Negative prefix argument always works for `rst-adjust'.
545 *** Reset window configuration after displaying TOC.
547 *** Package version in `rst-version'.
549 *** Support `imenu' and `which-func'.
553 *** Pairing of parens/quotes uses electric-pair-mode instead of skeleton-pair.
555 *** `sh-electric-here-document-mode' now controls auto-insertion of here-docs.
557 *** `sh-use-smie' lets you choose a new indentation and navigation code.
561 *** New option `async-shell-command-buffer' specifies what buffer to use
562 for a new asynchronous shell command when the default output buffer
563 `*Async Shell Command*' is already taken by another running command.
567 *** DB2 added `sql-db2-escape-newlines'
569 If non-nil, newlines sent to the command interpreter will be escaped
570 by a backslash. The default does not escape the newlines and assumes
571 that the sql statement will be terminated by a semicolon.
573 ** Tabulated List and packages derived from it
575 *** New command `tabulated-list-sort', bound to `S', sorts the column
576 at point, or the Nth column if a numeric prefix argument is given.
580 The variables `term-default-fg-color' and `term-default-bg-color' are
581 now deprecated in favor of the `term-face' face, that you can
582 customize. Also, it is now possible to customize how are displayed the
583 ANSI terminal colors and styles by customizing the corresponding
584 `term-color-<COLOR>', `term-color-underline' and `term-color-bold'
589 *** The syntax has been extended in order to allow ad-hoc proxy
590 definitions. See the manual for details.
592 *** Remote processes are now supported also on remote Windows host.
596 *** Structs made by `url-generic-parse-url' have nil `attributes' slot.
597 Previously, this slot stored semicolon-separated attribute-value pairs
598 appended to some imap URLs, but this is not compatible with RFC 3986.
599 So now the `filename' slot stores the entire path and query components
600 and the `attributes' slot is always nil.
602 *** New function `url-encode-url' for encoding a URI string.
603 The `url-retrieve' function now uses this to encode its URL argument,
604 in case that is not properly encoded.
609 *** The free software compiler GHDL is supported (and now the default).
611 *** Support for the VHDL-AMS packages has been added/updated.
613 *** Updated to the 2002 revision of the VHDL standard.
615 *** Accepts \r and \f as whitespace.
617 ** Which Function mode
619 *** `which-func-modes' now defaults to t, so Which Function mode, when
620 enabled, applies to all applicable major modes.
623 ** winner-mode-hook now runs when the mode is disabled, as well as when it is
626 ** FIXME something happened to ses.el, 2012-04-17.
628 ** Hooks renamed to avoid obsolete "-hooks" suffix:
629 *** semantic-lex-reset-hooks -> semantic-lex-reset-functions
630 *** semantic-change-hooks -> semantic-change-functions
631 *** semantic-edits-new-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-new-change-functions
632 *** semantic-edits-delete-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-delete-change-functions
633 *** semantic-edits-reparse-change-hooks -> semantic-edits-reparse-change-functions
634 *** semanticdb-save-database-hooks -> semanticdb-save-database-functions
635 *** c-prepare-bug-report-hooks -> c-prepare-bug-report-hook
636 *** rcirc-sentinel-hooks -> rcirc-sentinel-functions
637 *** rcirc-receive-message-hooks -> rcirc-receive-message-functions
638 *** rcirc-activity-hooks -> rcirc-activity-functions
639 *** rcirc-print-hooks -> rcirc-print-functions
640 *** dbus-event-error-hooks -> dbus-event-error-functions
641 *** eieio-pre-method-execution-hooks -> eieio-pre-method-execution-functions
642 *** checkdoc-style-hooks -> checkdoc-style-functions
643 *** checkdoc-comment-style-hooks -> checkdoc-comment-style-functions
644 *** archive-extract-hooks -> archive-extract-hook
645 *** filesets-cache-fill-content-hooks -> filesets-cache-fill-content-hook
646 *** hfy-post-html-hooks -> hfy-post-html-hook
647 *** nndiary-request-create-group-hooks -> nndiary-request-create-group-functions
648 *** nndiary-request-update-info-hooks -> nndiary-request-update-info-functions
649 *** nndiary-request-accept-article-hooks -> nndiary-request-accept-article-functions
650 *** gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-hooks -> gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-functions
652 ** Obsolete packages:
655 In most cases, assoc+member+push+delq work just as well.
656 And in any case it's just a terrible package: ugly semantics, terrible
657 inefficiency, and not namespace-clean.
672 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.3
674 FIXME? erc-desktop-notifications.el, gv.el, profiler.el,
675 gnus-notifications.el, mm-archive.el
678 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.3
681 ** set-buffer-multibyte now signals an error in narrowed buffers.
684 ** (random) by default now returns a different random sequence in
685 every Emacs run. Use (random S), where S is a string, to set the
686 random seed to a value based on S, in order to get a repeatable
687 sequence in later calls.
690 ** The function `x-select-font' can return a font spec, instead of a
691 font name as a string. Whether it returns a font spec or a font name
692 depends on the graphical library.
694 ** If the NEWTEXT arg to `replace-match' contains a substring "\?",
695 that substring is inserted literally even if the LITERAL arg is
696 non-nil, instead of causing an error to be signaled.
699 ** Docstrings starting with `*' no longer indicate user options.
700 Only variables defined using `defcustom' are considered user options.
701 The function `user-variable-p' is now an obsolete alias for
705 ** The return values of `defalias', `defun' and `defmacro' have changed,
706 and are now undefined. For backwards compatibility, defun and
707 defmacro currently return the name of the newly defined function/macro
708 but this should not be relied upon.
711 ** `face-spec-set' no longer sets frame-specific attributes when the
712 third argument is a frame (that usage was obsolete since Emacs 22.2).
715 ** The arguments of `dbus-register-signal' are no longer just strings,
716 but keywords or keyword-string pairs. The old argument list will
717 still be supported for Emacs 24.x.
720 Some Lisp symbols have been renamed to avoid problems with spelling
721 that is incorrect or inconsistent with how Emacs normally spells a word.
724 *** Renamed functions
726 **** hangul-input-method-inactivate -> hangul-input-method-deactivate
727 **** inactivate-input-method -> deactivate-input-method
728 **** quail-inactivate -> quail-deactivate
729 **** robin-inactivate -> robin-deactivate
730 **** viper-inactivate-input-method -> viper-deactivate-input-method
731 **** viper-inactivate-input-method-action ->
732 viper-deactivate-input-method-action
733 **** ucs-input-inactivate -> ucs-input-deactivate
737 The old hooks are still supported for backward compatibility, but they
738 are deprecated and will be removed eventually.
739 **** input-method-inactivate-hook -> input-method-deactivate-hook
740 **** robin-inactivate-hook -> robin-deactivate-hook
741 **** quail-inactivate-hook -> quail-deactivate-hook
744 *** Renamed Lisp variables
745 **** follow-deactive-menu -> follow-inactive-menu
746 **** inactivate-current-input-method-function ->
747 deactivate-current-input-method-function
750 ** Some obsolete functions, variables, and faces were removed:
751 *** `facemenu-unlisted-faces'
752 *** `rmail-decode-mime-charset'
753 *** `last-input-char', `last-command-char', `unread-command-char'.
754 *** `iswitchb-read-buffer'
755 *** `sc-version', `sc-submit-bug-report'
756 *** `set-char-table-default'
757 *** `string-to-sequence' (use `string-to-list' or `string-to-vector').
758 *** `compile-internal'
759 *** `mode-line-inverse-video'
760 *** `cvs-commit-buffer-require-final-newline'
761 (use `log-edit-require-final-newline' instead)
762 *** `cvs-changelog-full-paragraphs'
763 (use `log-edit-changelog-full-paragraphs' instead)
764 *** `cvs-diff-ignore-marks', `cvs-diff-buffer-name'
765 *** `vc-ignore-vc-files' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
766 *** `vc-master-templates' (use `vc-handled-backends' instead)
767 *** `vc-checkout-carefully'
771 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.3
773 ** New sampling-based Elisp profiler.
774 Try M-x profiler-start ... M-x profiler-stop; and then M-x profiler-report.
775 The sampling rate can be based on CPU time (only supported on some
776 systems), or based on memory allocations.
778 ** CL-style generalized variables are now in core Elisp.
779 `setf' is autoloaded; `push' and `pop' accept generalized variables.
782 ** `defun' also accepts a (declare DECLS) form, like `defmacro'.
783 The interpretation of the DECLS is determined by `defun-declarations-alist'.
787 *** `read-regexp' has a new argument HISTORY; the first argument PROMPT
788 of `read-regexp' accepts a string ending with a colon and space, and its
789 second argument DEFAULTS can be a list of strings accessible via M-n
790 in the minibuffer ahead of other hard-coded useful regexp-related values.
791 More commands use `read-regexp' now to read their regexp arguments.
795 *** New function `completion-table-with-quoting' to handle completion
796 in the presence of quoting, such as file completion in shell buffers.
798 *** New function `completion-table-subvert' to use an existing completion
799 table, but with a different prefix.
803 *** New error type and new function `user-error'.
804 These do not trigger the debugger.
806 *** New option `debugger-bury-or-kill'.
808 *** Set `debug-on-message' to enter the debugger when a certain
809 message is displayed in the echo area. This can be useful when trying
810 to work out which code is doing something.
812 *** New var `inhibit-debugger', automatically set to prevent accidental
813 recursive invocations.
817 *** The functions get-lru-window, get-mru-window and get-largest-window
818 now accept a third argument to avoid choosing the selected window.
820 *** Additional values recognized for option `window-combination-limit'.
822 *** New macro `with-temp-buffer-window'.
824 *** `temp-buffer-resize-mode' no longer resizes windows that have been
827 *** New function `fit-frame-to-buffer' and new options
828 `fit-frame-to-buffer' and `fit-frame-to-buffer-bottom-margin'.
830 *** New display action functions `display-buffer-below-selected',
831 `display-buffer-at-bottom' and `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
833 *** New display action alist entry `inhibit-switch-frame', if non-nil,
834 tells display action functions to avoid changing which frame is
837 *** New display action alist entry `pop-up-frame-parameters', if
838 non-nil, specifies frame parameters to give any newly-created frame.
840 *** New display action alist entry `previous-window', if non-nil,
841 specifies window to reuse in `display-buffer-in-previous-window'.
843 *** New display action alist entries `window-height' and `window-width'
844 to specify size of new window created by `display-buffer'.
846 *** The following variables are obsolete, as they can be replaced by
847 appropriate entries in the `display-buffer-alist' function introduced
850 **** `display-buffer-reuse-frames'
852 **** `special-display-regexps'
854 **** `special-display-frame-alist'
856 **** `special-display-buffer-names'
858 **** `special-display-function'
860 **** `display-buffer-function'
862 **** `dired-shrink-to-fit'
866 *** `current-time-string' no longer requires that its argument's year
867 must be in the range 1000..9999. It now works with any year supported
868 by the underlying C implementation.
870 *** `current-time' now returns extended-format time stamps
871 (HIGH LOW USEC PSEC), where the new PSEC slot specifies picoseconds.
872 PSEC is typically a multiple of 1000 on current machines. Other
873 functions that use this format, such as file-attributes and
874 format-time-string, have been changed accordingly. Old-format time
875 stamps are still accepted.
877 *** The format of timers in timer-list and timer-idle-list is now
878 [TRIGGERED-P HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS REPEAT-DELAY FUNCTION ARGS IDLE-DELAY PSECS].
879 The PSECS slot is new, and uses picosecond resolution. It can be
880 accessed via the new timer--psecs accessor.
882 *** Last-modified time stamps in undo lists now are of the form
883 (t HI-SECS LO-SECS USECS PSECS) instead of (t HI-SECS . LO-SECS).
886 ** Floating point functions now always return special values like NaN,
887 instead of signaling errors, if given invalid args, e.g. (log -1.0).
888 Previously, they returned NaNs on some platforms but signaled errors
889 on others. The affected functions are acos, asin, tan, exp, expt,
890 log, log10, sqrt, and mod.
892 ** Interpreted files are eagerly macro-expanded during load.
893 This can significantly speed up execution of non-byte-compiled code,
894 but can also bump into harmless and previously unnoticed cyclic
895 dependencies. These should not be fatal: they will simply cause the
896 macro-calls to be left for later expansion (as before), but will also
897 result in a warning ("Eager macro-expansion skipped due to cycle")
898 describing the cycle.
900 ** Miscellaneous new functions:
904 *** `autoload-do-load'
906 *** `buffer-narrowed-p' tests if the buffer is narrowed.
908 *** `file-name-base' returns a file name sans directory and extension.
910 *** `function-get' fetches a function property, following aliases.
912 *** `posnp' tests if an object is a `posn'.
913 *** `set-temporary-overlay-map' sets up a temporary overlay map.
915 *** `system-users' returns the user names on the system.
917 *** `system-groups' returns the group names on the system.
919 *** `tty-top-frame' returns the topmost frame of a text terminal.
921 ** New macros `setq-local' and `defvar-local'.
924 ** New fringe bitmap `exclamation-mark'.
926 ** Face underlining can now use a wave.
927 See the "Face Attributes" section of the Elisp manual.
929 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
931 *** `automount-dir-prefix'
933 *** `buffer-has-markers-at'
935 *** `macro-declaration-function' (use `macro-declarations-alist')
937 *** `window-system-version'
939 *** `dired-pop-to-buffer' (use `dired-mark-pop-up')
941 *** `query-replace-interactive'
943 *** `font-list-limit' (has had no effect since Emacs < 23)
946 * Changes in Emacs 24.3 on non-free operating systems
949 ** Cygwin builds can use the native MS Windows user interface.
950 Pass --with-w32 to configure. The default remains the X11 interface.
952 ** Two new functions are available in Cygwin builds:
953 `cygwin-convert-path-from-windows' and `cygwin-convert-path-to-windows'.
954 These functions allow Lisp code to access the Cygwin file-name mapping
955 machinery to convert between Cygwin and Windows-native file names.
957 ** When invoked with the -nw switch to run on the Windows text-mode terminal,
958 Emacs now supports mouse highlight, help-echo (in the echo area), and
959 `mouse-autoselect-window'.
962 ** On MS Windows Vista and later Emacs now supports symbolic links.
965 ** On MS Windows, you can pass --without-libxml2 to configure.bat to omit
966 support for libxml2, even if its presence is detected.
969 ** On Mac OS X, the Nextstep port requires OS X 10.4 or later.
972 ** On Mac OS X, configure no longer automatically adds the Fink /sw
973 directories to the search path. You must add them yourself if you want them.
976 * Changes in Emacs 24.2
978 ** This is mainly a bug-fix release.
981 * Installation Changes in Emacs 24.1
983 ** Emacs can be compiled with Gtk+ 3.0 if you pass --with-x-toolkit=gtk3
984 to configure. Note that other libraries used by Emacs, RSVG and GConf,
985 also depend on Gtk+. You can disable them with --without-rsvg and
988 ** Emacs can be compiled with GnuTLS support.
989 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
990 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
991 `--without-gnutls'. See below for GnuTLS features.
993 ** Emacs can be compiled with SELinux support.
994 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
995 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
996 `--without-selinux'. See below for SELinux features.
998 ** Emacs can be compiled with ImageMagick support.
999 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1000 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1001 `--without-imagemagick'. See below for ImageMagick features.
1002 This feature is not available for the Nextstep or MS ports.
1004 ** Emacs can be compiled with libxml2 support.
1005 This happens by default if a suitably recent version of the library is
1006 found at build time. To prevent this, use the configure option
1007 `--without-xml2'. See below for libxml2 features.
1009 ** By default, the installed Info and man pages are compressed.
1010 You can disable this by configuring --without-compress-info.
1012 ** New configure option --with-wide-int.
1013 With it, Emacs integers typically have 62 bits, even on 32-bit machines.
1014 On 32-bit hosts, this raises the limit on buffer sizes from about 512 MiB
1017 ** New configure options: --with-mmdf, --with-mail-unlink, --with-mailhost.
1018 These provide no new functionality, they just remove the need to edit
1019 lib-src/Makefile by hand in order to use the associated features.
1021 ** New configure option --enable-use-lisp-union-type.
1022 This is only useful for Emacs developers to debug certain types of bugs.
1023 This is not a new feature; only the configure flag is new.
1025 ** The standalone programs digest-doc and sorted-doc are removed.
1026 Emacs now uses Lisp commands `doc-file-to-man' and `doc-file-to-info'.
1028 ** The standalone program `fakemail' is removed.
1029 If you need it, feedmail.el provides a superset of the functionality.
1032 * Startup Changes in Emacs 24.1
1034 ** The --unibyte, --multibyte, --no-multibyte, and --no-unibyte
1035 command line arguments, and the EMACS_UNIBYTE environment variable, no
1036 longer have any effect. (They were declared obsolete in Emacs 23.)
1038 ** New command line option `--no-site-lisp' removes site-lisp directories
1039 from load-path. -Q now implies this. This option does not affect the
1040 EMACSLOADPATH environment variable (and hence has no effect for
1044 * Changes in Emacs 24.1
1048 *** Many packages now use the `completion-at-point' command,
1049 rather than implementing separate completion commands.
1051 *** `completion-at-point' now handles tags and semantic completion.
1053 *** Completion in a non-minibuffer now tries to detect the end of completion
1054 and pops down the *Completions* buffer accordingly.
1056 *** New option `completion-cycle-threshold' allows completion cycling.
1058 *** New option `completion-category-overrides' for overriding the
1059 default completion style in certain circumstances.
1061 *** New completion style `substring'.
1063 *** Completion of buffer names uses `substring' completion by default.
1065 *** The option `widget-complete-field' has been removed.
1069 *** The first time you try sending mail, Emacs asks for a mail method.
1070 This is implemented by a new default for `send-mail-function', which
1071 is `sendmail-query-once'. This offers to use the smtpmail package, or
1072 to use the old defaults relying on external mail facilities
1073 (`sendmail-send-it' on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems, and
1074 `mailclient-send-it' on Windows).
1076 *** Typing C-c m in the buffer made by M-x report-emacs-bug transfers
1077 the report to your desktop's preferred mail client, if there is one.
1078 This uses either the "xdg-email" utility, or Mac OS's "open" command.
1080 *** See Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages for SMTPmail changes
1081 and Mail mode changes
1083 ** Emacs server and client changes
1085 *** New option `server-port' specifies the port for TCP Emacs servers.
1087 *** New emacsclient argument -q/--quiet suppresses some status messages.
1089 *** New emacsclient argument --frame-parameters specifies the frame
1090 parameters of any newly-created graphical frame.
1092 *** If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs signaling an error,
1093 its exit status is 1.
1095 *** New emacsclient argument --parent-id ID.
1096 This opens a client frame in parent X window ID, via XEmbed, similar
1097 to the --parent-id argument to Emacs.
1099 ** Internationalization changes
1101 *** Emacs now supports display and editing of bidirectional text.
1102 Right-to-left (RTL) scripts, such as Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, are
1103 displayed in the correct visual order as expected by users of those
1104 scripts. The display reordering is a "full bidirectionality" class
1105 implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA). Buffers
1106 with no RTL text should look exactly the same as before.
1108 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-display-reordering'.
1109 To disable display reordering in a buffer, change this to nil.
1111 **** New buffer-local variable `bidi-paragraph-direction'.
1112 If nil (the default), Emacs determines the base direction of each
1113 paragraph from its text, as specified by the UBA. Setting the value
1114 to `right-to-left' or `left-to-right' forces a base direction on each
1117 Paragraphs with right-to-left base direction are displayed starting at
1118 the right window edge.
1120 *** Enhanced support for characters with no glyphs in available fonts,
1121 or, on text terminals, characters that cannot be encoded by the
1122 terminal coding system. The new option `glyphless-char-display-control'
1123 specifies how to display them: as a hexadecimal code in a box, a thin
1124 1-pixel space, an empty box, etc.
1126 *** New input methods for Farsi and Bulgarian
1127 (farsi-isiri-9147, farsi-transliterate-banan, bulgarian-alt-phonetic).
1129 *** `nobreak-char-display' now also highlights Unicode hyphen chars
1130 (U+2010 and U+2011).
1132 *** New Hebrew translation of the Emacs Tutorial.
1133 Type `C-u C-h t' to choose it in case your language setup doesn't
1134 automatically select it.
1136 ** An Emacs Lisp package manager is now included.
1137 This is a convenient way to download and install additional packages,
1138 from a package repository at http://elpa.gnu.org.
1140 *** M-x list-packages shows a list of packages, which can be
1141 selected for installation.
1143 *** New command `describe-package', bound to `C-h P'.
1145 *** By default, all installed packages are loaded automatically when
1146 Emacs starts up. To disable this, set `package-enable-at-startup' to
1147 nil. To specify the packages to load, customize `package-load-list'.
1149 ** Custom theme changes
1151 *** New command `M-x customize-themes', which provides a convenient
1152 interface for enabling and disabling Custom themes.
1154 *** New option `custom-theme-load-path' is the load path for themes.
1155 Emacs no longer looks for Custom themes in `load-path'. The default
1156 value of `custom-theme-load-path' says to look for themes in
1157 `custom-theme-directory', followed by a subdirectory of
1158 `data-directory' named "themes/", which contains a small selection of
1159 built-in Custom themes.
1161 *** New option `custom-safe-themes' records known-safe theme files.
1162 If a theme is not in this list, Emacs queries before loading it, and
1163 offers to save the theme to `custom-safe-themes' automatically. By
1164 default, all themes included in Emacs are treated as safe.
1166 ** Improved GTK integration
1168 *** GTK scroll-bars are now placed on the right by default.
1169 The function `set-scroll-bar-mode' can change this.
1171 *** GTK tool bars can have just text, just images or images and text.
1172 Customize `tool-bar-style' to choose the style. On a Gnome desktop,
1173 the default is taken from desktop settings.
1175 *** GTK tool bars can be placed on any edge of the frame.
1176 The frame-parameter tool-bar-position controls this. It takes the
1177 values top, left, right or bottom. The Options => Show/Hide menu has
1180 *** The default colors for selected text (the `region' face) are taken
1181 from the GTK theme when Emacs is built with GTK.
1183 *** Emacs uses GTK tooltips by default if built with GTK.
1184 You can disable this by changing `x-gtk-use-system-tooltips' to nil.
1186 ** Graphical interface changes
1188 *** On graphical displays, the mode-line no longer ends in dashes.
1189 Also, the first dash (which does not indicate anything) is just
1190 displayed as a space.
1192 *** `menu-bar-select-buffer-function' lets you choose another operation
1193 instead of `switch-to-buffer' when selecting an item in the Buffers menu.
1195 *** Lucid menus and dialogs can display antialiased fonts if Emacs is
1196 built with Xft. These fonts can be set via X resources, for example:
1197 Emacs.pane.menubar.font: Courier-12
1201 *** Emacs now calls `kill-emacs' if it receives SIGTERM or SIGHUP,
1202 or if it receives a SIGINT signal in batch mode.
1204 *** `kill-emacs-hook' is now also run in batch mode.
1205 Third-party code which adds to `kill-emacs-hook' should check if they
1206 do the right thing in batch mode.
1208 ** Scrolling changes
1210 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-command' and `scroll-down-command'
1211 (bound to C-v/[next] and M-v/[prior]) do not signal errors at top/bottom
1212 of buffer at first key-press (instead they move to top/bottom of buffer)
1213 when `scroll-error-top-bottom' is non-nil.
1215 *** New option `scroll-error-top-bottom' (see above).
1217 *** New scrolling commands `scroll-up-line' and `scroll-down-line'
1218 scroll a line instead of full screen.
1220 *** New property `scroll-command' should be set on a command's symbol to
1221 define it as a scroll command affected by `scroll-preserve-screen-position'.
1223 *** If you customize `scroll-conservatively' to a value greater than 100,
1224 Emacs will never recenter point in the window when it scrolls due to
1225 cursor motion commands or commands that move point (e.f., `M-g M-g').
1226 Previously, you needed to use `most-positive-fixnum' as the value of
1227 `scroll-conservatively' to achieve the same effect.
1229 *** "Aggressive" scrolling now honors the scroll margins.
1230 If you customize `scroll-up-aggressively' or
1231 `scroll-down-aggressively' and move point off the window, Emacs now
1232 scrolls the window so as to avoid positioning point inside the scroll
1235 ** Basic SELinux support has been added.
1236 This requires Emacs to be linked with libselinux at build time.
1238 *** Emacs preserves the SELinux file context when backing up.
1239 Also, the function `copy-file' has an extra optional argument for
1240 preserving SELinux context, and the return value of `backup-buffer'
1241 now includes the SELinux context.
1243 *** New functions `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1244 get and set the SELinux context of a file.
1248 *** `delete-by-moving-to-trash' now only affects commands that specify
1249 trashing. This avoids inadvertently trashing temporary files.
1251 *** Calling `delete-file' or `delete-directory' with a prefix argument
1252 now forces true deletion, regardless of `delete-by-moving-to-trash'.
1254 ** File- and directory-local variable changes
1256 *** You can stop directory local vars from applying to subdirectories.
1257 Add an element (subdirs . nil) to the alist portion of any variables
1258 settings to indicate that the section should not apply to
1261 *** Directory local variables can apply to some file-less buffers.
1262 Affected modes include dired, vc-dir, and log-edit. For example,
1263 adding "(diff-mode . ((mode . whitespace)))" to .dir-locals.el will
1264 turn on `whitespace-mode' for *vc-diff* buffers. Modes should call
1265 `hack-dir-local-variables-non-file-buffer' to support this.
1267 *** Using "mode: MINOR-MODE" to enable a minor mode is deprecated.
1268 Instead, use "eval: (minor-mode 1)".
1270 *** The variable `inhibit-first-line-modes-regexps' has been renamed
1271 to `inhibit-local-variables-regexps'. As the name suggests, it now
1272 applies to ALL file local variables, not just -*- lines. The
1273 associated `inhibit-first-line-modes-suffixes' has been renamed in the
1278 *** The `quit-window' command now restores the last buffer displayed
1279 in the quitted window.
1281 *** Resizing an Emacs frame now preserves proportional window sizes,
1282 modulo restrictions like window minimum sizes and fixed-size windows.
1284 *** The behavior of `display-buffer' is now customizable in detail.
1286 **** New option `display-buffer-base-action' specifies a list of
1287 user-determined display "actions" (functions and optional arguments
1288 for choosing the displaying window).
1290 This takes precedence over the default display action, which is
1291 specified by `display-buffer-fallback-action'.
1293 **** New option `display-buffer-alist' maps buffer name regexps to
1294 display actions, taking precedence over `display-buffer-base-action'.
1296 *** New option `window-combination-limit'.
1297 The new option `window-combination-limit' allows to return the space
1298 obtained for resizing or creating a window more reliably to the window
1299 from which such space was obtained.
1301 *** New option `window-combination-resize'.
1302 The new option `window-combination-resize' allows to split a window that
1303 otherwise cannot be split because it's too small by stealing space from
1304 other windows in the same combination. Subsequent resizing or deletion
1305 of the window will resize all windows in the same combination as well.
1307 *** New option `frame-auto-hide-function' lets you choose between
1308 iconifying or deleting a frame when burying a buffer in a dedicated
1309 frame, or quitting a window showing a buffer in a frame of its own.
1311 *** New commands `maximize-window' and `minimize-window'.
1312 These maximize and minimize the size of a window within its frame.
1314 *** New commands `switch-to-prev-buffer' and `switch-to-next-buffer'.
1315 These functions allow to navigate through the live buffers that have
1316 been shown in a specific window.
1318 ** Minibuffer changes
1320 *** The inactive minibuffer has its own major mode `minibuffer-inactive-mode'.
1321 This is handy for minibuffer-only frames, and is also used for the feature
1322 where mouse-1 pops up *Messages*"', which can now easily be changed.
1324 *** Minibuffers set `truncate-lines' to nil.
1325 If you want to change the value to something else, you could use
1326 for example `minibuffer-setup-hook'.
1328 ** `auto-mode-case-fold' is now enabled by default.
1330 ** `backup-by-copying-when-mismatch' now defaults to t.
1332 ** New basic faces `error', `warning', `success'.
1333 These are used to highlight text indicating failure, caution or
1334 successful operation.
1336 ** New option `list-colors-sort' defines the color sort order
1337 for `list-colors-display'.
1339 ** The variable `focus-follows-mouse' now always defaults to nil.
1342 * Editing Changes in Emacs 24.1
1346 *** C-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-kill', instead of
1347 `isearch-yank-line'.
1349 *** M-y in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-pop', instead of
1350 `isearch-yank-kill'.
1352 *** M-s C-e in Isearch is now bound to `isearch-yank-line'.
1354 ** New commands `count-words-region' and `count-words'.
1356 *** M-= is bound to `count-words-region', not `count-lines-region'.
1357 The `count-words-region' command, when called interactively, reports
1358 the number of lines, words, and characters in the region. It is a
1359 superset of the old `count-lines-region', which is now an obsolete
1362 ** The command `just-one-space' (M-SPC), if given a negative argument,
1363 also deletes newlines around point.
1367 *** New option `delete-active-region'.
1368 If non-nil, [delete] and DEL delete the region if it is active and no
1369 prefix argument is given. If set to `kill', those commands kill
1372 *** New command `delete-forward-char', bound to [delete].
1373 This is meant for interactive use, and obeys `delete-active-region'.
1374 The command `delete-char' does not obey `delete-active-region'.
1376 *** `delete-backward-char' is now a Lisp function.
1377 Apart from obeying `delete-active-region', its behavior is unchanged.
1378 However, the byte compiler now warns if it is called from Lisp; Lisp
1379 callers should use delete-char with a negative argument instead.
1381 *** The option `mouse-region-delete-keys' has been deleted.
1383 ** Selection changes.
1385 The default handling of clipboard and primary selections has been
1386 changed to conform with modern X applications. In short, most
1387 commands for killing and yanking text now use the clipboard, while
1388 mouse commands use the primary selection.
1390 In the following, we provide a list of these changes, followed by a
1391 list of steps to get the old behavior back if you prefer that.
1393 *** `select-active-regions' now defaults to t.
1394 Merely selecting text (e.g. with drag-mouse-1) no longer puts it in
1395 the kill ring. The selected text is put in the primary selection, if
1396 the system possesses a separate primary selection facility (e.g. X).
1398 **** `select-active-regions' also accepts a new value, `only'.
1399 This means to only set the primary selection for temporarily active
1400 regions (usually made by mouse-dragging or shift-selection);
1401 "ordinary" active regions, such as those made with C-SPC followed by
1402 point motion, do not alter the primary selection.
1404 **** `mouse-drag-copy-region' now defaults to nil.
1406 *** mouse-2 is now bound to `mouse-yank-primary'.
1407 This pastes from the primary selection, ignoring the kill-ring.
1408 Previously, mouse-2 was bound to `mouse-yank-at-click'.
1410 *** `x-select-enable-clipboard' now defaults to t on all platforms.
1412 *** `x-select-enable-primary' now defaults to nil.
1413 Thus, commands that kill text or copy it to the kill-ring (such as
1414 M-w, C-w, and C-k) also use the clipboard---not the primary selection.
1416 **** The "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" items in the "Edit" menu are now
1417 exactly equivalent to M-w, C-w, and C-y respectively.
1419 **** Note that on MS-Windows, `x-select-enable-clipboard' was already
1420 non-nil by default, as Windows does not support the primary selection
1421 between applications.
1423 *** To return to the previous behavior, do the following:
1425 **** Change `select-active-regions' to nil.
1426 **** Change `mouse-drag-copy-region' to t.
1427 **** Change `x-select-enable-primary' to t (on X only).
1428 **** Change `x-select-enable-clipboard' to nil.
1429 **** Bind `mouse-yank-at-click' to mouse-2.
1431 *** Support for X cut buffers has been removed.
1433 *** X clipboard managers are now supported.
1434 To inhibit this, change `x-select-enable-clipboard-manager' to nil.
1436 ** New command `C-x r N' (`rectangle-number-lines') numbers the lines
1437 in the current rectangle. With a prefix argument, this prompts for a
1438 number to count from and for a format string.
1440 ** `redisplay-dont-pause' now defaults to t.
1441 This makes Emacs feel more responsive to editing commands that arrive
1442 at high rate, e.g. if you lean on some key, because stopping redisplay
1443 in the middle (when this variable is nil) forces more expensive
1444 updates later on, and Emacs appears to be unable to keep up.
1446 ** The behavior of <TAB> for active regions in Text mode has changed.
1447 In Text and related modes, typing <TAB> (`indent-for-tab-command')
1448 when the region is active causes Emacs to indent all the lines in the
1449 region, aligning them with the line previous to the first line in the
1450 region (or with the left margin if there is no previous line).
1452 ** When `occur' is called with a prefix argument, matching strings are
1453 collected into the `*Occur*' buffer without line numbers. If there
1454 are parenthesized subexpressions in the specified regexp, `occur'
1455 reads replacement text that may contain \\& and \\N whose convention
1456 follows `replace-match'.
1459 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1461 ** Archive Mode has basic support for browsing and updating 7z archives.
1465 *** BibTeX mode now supports biblatex.
1466 Use the variable `bibtex-dialect' to select different BibTeX dialects.
1467 `bibtex-entry-field-alist' is now an obsolete alias for
1468 `bibtex-BibTeX-entry-alist'.
1470 *** New command `bibtex-search-entries', bound to C-c C-a.
1472 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' option `sort-fields', disabled by default.
1474 *** New variable `bibtex-search-entry-globally'.
1478 *** New option `browse-url-mailto-function' specifies how to handle "mailto:"s.
1480 *** The default browser used by the package is now the "xdg-open" program,
1481 on platforms that support it. This calls your desktop's preferred browser.
1483 ** Calendar, Diary, and Appt
1485 *** Diary entries can contain non-printing "comments".
1486 See the variable `diary-comment-start'.
1488 *** Appointments can specify their individual warning times.
1489 See the variable `appt-warning-time-regexp'.
1491 *** The function specified by `appt-disp-window-function' may be passed
1492 lists of arguments if multiple appointments are due at similar times.
1493 If you are using a custom function for this, you should update it.
1495 *** New function `diary-hebrew-birthday'.
1497 *** Elements of `calendar-day-abbrev-array' and `calendar-month-abbrev-array'
1498 may no longer be nil, but must all be strings.
1500 *** The obsolete (since Emacs 22.1) method of enabling the appt
1501 package by adding `appt-make-list' to `diary-hook' has been removed.
1502 Use `appt-activate' instead.
1504 *** Some appt variables (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1505 appt-issue-message (use the function appt-activate)
1506 appt-visible/appt-msg-window (use the variable appt-display-format)
1508 *** Some diary function aliases (obsolete since Emacs 22.1) have been removed:
1509 view-diary-entries, list-diary-entries, show-all-diary-entries
1513 *** New feature to "guess" the style in an existing buffer.
1514 The main entry point is M-x c-guess.
1516 *** Java Mode now supports Java 5.0 (Tiger) and 6 (Mustang).
1518 *** `c-beginning-of-defun' and `c-end-of-defun' now respect nested scopes.
1519 Thus C-M-a will, by default, go to the beginning of the immediate function,
1522 *** "Macros with semicolons" can be registered for correct indentation.
1523 Where such a macro ends a line (no semicolon) the next statement is no longer
1524 parsed as a statement continuation.
1526 ** Comint and modes derived from it use the standard completion code.
1530 *** Compilation mode can be used without Font Lock mode.
1531 `compilation-parse-errors-function' is now obsolete.
1533 *** New variable `compilation-filter-start', which is bound while
1534 `compilation-filter-hook' runs. It records the start position of the
1535 text inserted by `compilation-filter'.
1537 *** `compilation-error-screen-columns' and `compilation-first-column'
1538 are obeyed in the editing buffer. So programming language modes can
1539 set them, whereas previously only the value in the *Compilation*
1544 *** Customize buffers now contain a search field.
1545 The search is performed using `customize-apropos'.
1546 To turn off the search field, set `custom-search-field' to nil.
1548 *** Options in customize group buffers start out hidden if not customized.
1549 Use the arrow to the left of the option name to toggle visibility.
1551 *** custom-buffer-sort-alphabetically now defaults to t.
1553 *** The color widget now has a "Choose" button, which allows you to
1554 choose a color via `list-colors-display'.
1558 *** It is now possible to access buses other than the default system
1561 *** The `dbus-register-method' and `dbus-register-property' functions
1562 optionally do not register names.
1564 *** The new function `dbus-register-service' registers a known service
1565 name on a D-Bus without also registering a property or a method.
1569 *** C-x C-j (`dired-jump') and C-x 4 C-j (`dired-jump-other-window'),
1570 if called with a prefix argument, read a file name from the minibuffer
1571 instead of using the current buffer.
1573 *** The "dired local variables" feature of Dired-x is obsolete.
1574 The standard directory local variables feature replaces it.
1578 *** New options `erc-autojoin-timing' and `erc-autojoin-delay',
1579 controlling attempts to autojoin a channel.
1581 *** New variable `erc-coding-system-precedence': If we use `undecided'
1582 as the server coding system, this variable will then be consulted.
1583 The default is to decode strings that can be decoded as utf-8 as
1584 utf-8, and do the normal `undecided' decoding for the rest.
1588 *** The default value of `eshell-directory-name' has changed
1589 to be an "eshell" directory in `user-emacs-directory'.
1590 The old "~/.eshell/" directory is still used if it exists, though.
1594 *** The M-x gdb command now uses the GDB Machine Interface protocol.
1595 It now supports multithread non-stop debugging and simultaneous
1596 debugging of several threads.
1600 *** RET (`image-toggle-animation') toggles animation, if applicable.
1601 Animation plays once, unless the option `image-animate-loop' is non-nil.
1605 *** New command M-x info-display-manual displays a named Info manual.
1606 If that manual is already visited in some Info buffer, it displays
1607 that buffer. (This is handy if you have many manuals in many *info*
1608 buffers, and don't remember the name of the buffer visiting the manual
1609 you want to consult.) Otherwise, it loads and displays the manual.
1611 *** `e' is now bound to `end-of-buffer' rather than to `Info-edit'.
1612 This is for compatibility with the stand-alone Info reader program,
1613 and also because `Info-edit' is a rarely used command that is disabled
1616 ** Mail mode changes (not Message mode)
1618 *** New command M-x mail-add-attachment for adding MIME attachments
1620 *** The command M-x mail-attach-file was renamed to M-x mail-insert-file.
1621 (Its name is misleading, since it has nothing to do with MIME
1622 attachments.) The old name is now an obsolete alias to the new name.
1624 ** MH-E has been updated to MH-E version 8.3.1.
1625 See MH-E-NEWS for details.
1627 ** Modula-2 mode provides auto-indentation.
1629 ** mpc.el: Can use pseudo tags of the form tag1|tag2 as a union of two tags.
1631 ** nXML mode no longer binds C-RET to `nxml-complete'.
1632 Completion is now performed via `completion-at-point', bound to C-M-i
1633 or M-TAB. If `nxml-bind-meta-tab-to-complete-flag' is non-nil (the
1634 default), this performs tag completion.
1636 ** Org mode has been updated to version 7.8.09.
1637 See ORG-NEWS for details.
1639 ** Prolog mode has been completely revamped, with lots of additional
1640 functionality such as more intelligent indentation, electricity,
1641 support for more variants, including Mercury, and a lot more.
1645 *** The command `rmail-epa-decrypt' decrypts OpenPGP data
1646 in the Rmail incoming message.
1648 *** The variable `rmail-message-filter' no longer has any effect.
1649 This change was made in Emacs 23.1 but was not advertised at the time.
1650 Try using `rmail-show-message-hook' instead.
1654 *** M-x shell prompts for the shell path name if the default directory
1655 is a remote file name and neither the environment variable $ESHELL nor
1656 the variable `explicit-shell-file-name' is set.
1658 *** TAB is now bound to the standard `completion-at-point' command,
1659 which now implements the pcomplete rules for shell command completion.
1663 *** SMTPmail now uses encrypted connections (via STARTTLS) by default
1664 if the mail server supports them. This uses either built-in GnuTLS
1665 support, or the starttls.el library. Customize `smtpmail-stream-type'
1668 *** The variable `smtpmail-auth-credentials' has been removed.
1669 By default, the information is now stored in the file ~/.authinfo.
1670 This was the default value of smtpmail-auth-credentials. If you had
1671 customized smtpmail-auth-credentials to a list of user names and
1672 passwords, those settings are not used. During your first connection
1673 to the smtp server, Emacs will prompt for the user name and password,
1674 and offer to save them to ~/.authinfo. Or you can manually copy the
1675 credentials to ~/.authinfo. For example, if you had
1677 (setq smtpmail-auth-credentials
1678 '(("mail.example.org" 25 "jim" "s!cret")))
1680 then the equivalent line in ~/.authinfo would be
1682 machine mail.example.org port 25 login jim password s!cret
1684 See the auth-source manual for more information, e.g. on encrypting
1685 the credentials file.
1687 *** The variable `smtpmail-starttls-credentials' has been removed.
1688 If you had that set, you need to put
1690 machine smtp.whatever.foo port 25 key "~/.my_smtp_tls.key" cert "~/.my_smtp_tls.cert"
1692 in your ~/.authinfo file instead.
1694 *** SMTPmail defaults to using the address in the From: header as the
1695 SMTP MAIL FROM envelope. To override this, set `mail-envelope-from'
1696 to the address you wish to use instead.
1700 *** New options `sql-port', `sql-connection-alist', `sql-send-terminator',
1701 and `sql-oracle-scan-on'.
1703 *** New options controlling prompting for login parameters.
1704 Each supported product has a custom variable `sql-*-login-params',
1705 which is a list of the parameters to be prompted for before a
1706 connection is established.
1708 *** The command `sql-product-interactive' now takes a prefix argument,
1709 which causes it to prompt for an SQL product.
1711 *** Product-specific SQL interactive commands now take prefix arguments.
1712 These commands (`sql-sqlite', `sql-postgres', `sql-mysql', etc.),
1713 given a prefix argument, prompt for a name for the SQL interactive
1714 buffer. This reduces the need for calling `sql-rename-buffer'.
1716 *** SQL interactive modes suppress command continuation prompts, and
1717 replace tabs with spaces. The first change impacts multiple line SQL
1718 statements entered with C-j between each line, statements yanked into
1719 the buffer and statements sent with `sql-send-*' functions. The
1720 second prevents the MySQL and Postgres interpreters from listing
1721 object name completions when sent text via `sql-send-*' functions.
1723 *** New command `sql-connect' starts a predefined SQLi session,
1724 using the login parameters from `sql-connection-alist'.
1726 *** New "Save Connection" menu item in SQLi buffers.
1727 This gathers the login params specified for the SQLi session, if it
1728 was not started by a connection, and saves them as a new connection.
1730 *** New commands for listing database objects and details:
1731 sql-list-all and sql-list-table.
1733 *** An API for manipulating SQL product definitions has been added.
1737 *** latex-electric-env-pair-mode keeps \begin..\end matched on the fly.
1741 *** New inline access method "ksu" (kerberized su).
1743 *** The following access methods are discontinued: "ssh1_old",
1744 "ssh2_old", "scp1_old", "scp2_old", "imap", "imaps" and "fish".
1746 *** The user option `remote-file-name-inhibit-cache' controls whether
1747 remote file attributes are cached for better performance.
1749 *** The option `ange-ftp-binary-file-name-regexp' has changed its
1750 default value to "".
1752 *** Handlers for `file-selinux-context' and `set-file-selinux-context'
1753 for remote machines which support SELinux.
1755 ** New function `url-queue-retrieve', which behaves like url-retrieve,
1756 but with limits (`url-queue-parallel-processes', `url-queue-timeout') on
1757 the degree of parallelism.
1759 ** VC and related modes
1761 *** Support for pulling on distributed version control systems.
1762 The command C-x v + (`vc-pull') runs a "pull" operation, if it is
1763 supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to update the
1764 current branch and working tree. A prefix argument means to prompt
1765 the user for specifics, e.g. a pull location.
1767 *** `vc-update' is now an alias for `vc-pull'.
1769 *** Support for merging on distributed version control systems.
1770 The command C-x v m (`vc-merge') now runs a "merge" operation, if it
1771 is supported (currently with Bzr, Git, and Mercurial), to merge
1772 changes from another branch into the current one. It prompts for
1773 specifics, e.g. a merge source.
1775 *** New option `vc-revert-show-diff' controls whether `vc-revert'
1776 shows a diff while querying the user. It defaults to t.
1778 *** Log entries in some Log View buffers can be toggled to display a
1779 longer description by typing RET (log-view-toggle-entry-display).
1780 This is currently supported for Bzr, Git, and Mercurial (to support
1781 another backend, define a `log-view-expanded-log-entry-function').
1782 In the Log View buffers made by C-x v L (`vc-print-root-log'), you can
1783 use this to display the full log entry for the revision at point.
1785 *** New command `vc-ediff' allows visual comparison of two revisions
1786 of a file similar to `vc-diff', but using ediff backend.
1788 *** The option `vc-initial-comment' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but
1789 this was not advertised at the time.
1791 *** `vc-toggle-read-only' is an obsolete alias for `toggle-read-only'.
1792 Since Emacs 23, it has done the same thing as `toggle-read-only', but
1793 this was not advertised at the time.
1799 *** erc-hecomplete.el (use erc-pcomplete.el instead)
1801 *** partial-completion-mode (complete.el) is obsolete.
1802 You can get a comparable behavior with:
1803 (setq completion-styles '(partial-completion initials))
1804 (setq completion-pcm-complete-word-inserts-delimiters t)
1806 *** pc-mode.el is obsolete (CUA mode is much more comprehensive).
1808 *** pgg is obsolete (use EasyPG instead).
1810 *** sregex.el is obsolete, since rx.el is a strict superset.
1812 *** s-region.el and pc-select.el are obsolete.
1813 They are superseded by shift-select-mode, enabled by default since 23.1.
1815 *** vc-mcvs.el is obsolete (for lack of a maintainer).
1819 *** The Landmark game is now invoked with `landmark', not `lm'.
1820 Its functions and variables have been similarly renamed.
1822 *** In `ido-file-completion-map', C-v is no longer bound to `ido-toggle-vc'.
1823 (This interfered with cua-mode.)
1825 *** f90.el has some support for Fortran 2008 syntax.
1827 *** `copyright-fix-years' can optionally convert consecutive years to ranges.
1829 *** New command `nato-region' converts text to NATO phonetic alphabet.
1832 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 24.1
1834 ** Occur Edit mode applies edits made in *Occur* buffers to the
1835 original buffers. It is bound to "e" in Occur mode.
1837 ** New global minor mode electric-pair-mode.
1838 When enabled, typing an open parenthesis automatically inserts the
1839 matching closing one.
1841 ** New global minor mode electric-indent-mode.
1842 When enabled, typing certain characters triggers reindentation.
1843 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-indent-chars or
1844 electric-indent-functions.
1846 ** New global minor mode electric-layout-mode.
1847 When enabled, typing certain characters automatically inserts newlines.
1848 Major modes wishing to use this can set electric-layout-rules.
1850 ** tabulated-list.el provides a generic major mode for tabulated data,
1851 from which other modes can be derived.
1853 ** pcase.el provides the ML-style pattern matching macro `pcase'.
1855 ** secrets.el is an implementation of the Secret Service API, an
1856 interface to password managers like GNOME Keyring or KDE Wallet. The
1857 Secret Service API requires D-Bus for communication. The command
1858 `secrets-show-secrets' offers a buffer with a visualization of the
1861 ** notifications.el provides an implementation of the Desktop
1862 Notifications API. It requires D-Bus for communication.
1864 ** soap-client.el supports access to SOAP web services from Emacs.
1865 soap-inspect.el is an interactive inspector for SOAP WSDL structures.
1867 ** New generic mode, xmodmap-generic-mode, for xmodmap files.
1869 ** New emacs-lock.el package.
1870 The previous version has been moved to obsolete/old-emacs-lock.el.
1871 Now, there is a proper minor mode `emacs-lock-mode'. Protection
1872 against exiting Emacs and killing the buffer can be set separately.
1873 The mechanism for automatically turning off protection for buffers
1874 with dead inferior processes has been generalized.
1877 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 24.1
1879 ** Passing a nil argument to a minor mode function call now ENABLES
1880 the minor mode unconditionally. This is so that you can write e.g.
1882 (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'foo-mode)
1884 to enable foo-mode in Text mode buffers, removing the need for
1885 `turn-on-foo-mode' style functions. This affects all mode commands
1886 defined by `define-minor-mode'. If called interactively, the mode
1887 command still toggles the minor mode.
1889 ** The return value of `backup-buffer' has changed.
1890 It is now a list of three elements, where the second element is a list
1891 describing the original file's SELinux context. If Emacs or the
1892 system lacks SELinux support, the context list is (nil nil nil nil).
1893 See "Basic SELinux support" above, under "Changes in Emacs 24.1".
1895 ** `char-direction-table' and the `char-direction' function were deleted.
1896 They were buggy and inferior to the new support of bidirectional
1897 editing introduced in Emacs 24. If you need the bidirectional
1898 properties of a character, use `get-char-code-property' with the last
1899 argument `bidi-class'.
1901 ** `copy-directory' now copies the source directory as a subdirectory
1902 of the target directory, if the latter is an existing directory. The
1903 new optional arg COPY-CONTENTS, if non-nil, makes the function copy
1904 the contents directly into a pre-existing target directory.
1906 ** For mouse click input events in the text area, the Y pixel
1907 coordinate in the POSITION list now counts from the top of the text
1908 area, excluding any header line. Previously, it counted from the top
1911 ** Support for "old-style" backquotes, obsolete for 10+ years, has
1912 been further reduced. Now a backquote not followed by a space is
1913 always treated as a "new-style" backquote. Please remove all
1914 "old-style" backquotes from your code. If your code uses backquotes
1915 as documented in the Elisp manual, and compiles without warning, then
1916 you have nothing to do in this regard. Code not following the
1917 appropriate conventions may fail to compile.
1919 The most common cause of trouble seems to be an old-style backquote
1920 followed by a newline. Another cause of trouble is vector notation
1921 for key sequence notation: instead of [(control ,)] and [(control ')],
1922 you should write [(control ?,)] and [(control ?')], which will work in
1925 ** The macro `eval-at-startup' was removed in Emacs 23.2, but this
1926 was not advertised at the time. The function `custom-initialize-delay'
1927 replaced all known uses.
1929 ** `view-buffer' now treats special mode-class in the same way that
1930 `view-file' has since Emacs 22 (i.e. it won't enable View mode if the
1931 major mode is special).
1933 ** Menu and tool bar changes
1935 *** During startup, Emacs no longer adds entries for `menu-bar-lines'
1936 and `tool-bar-lines' to `default-frame-alist' and `initial-frame-alist'.
1937 With these alist entries omitted, `make-frame' checks the value of the
1938 variable `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode' to determine whether to create
1939 a menu-bar or tool-bar, respectively. If the alist entries are added,
1940 they override the value of `menu-bar-mode'/`tool-bar-mode'.
1942 *** The menu bar bindings's caches are not used any more.
1943 Use (where-is-internal <def> nil t) instead.
1945 ** Regions created by mouse dragging are now normal active regions,
1946 similar to those created by shift-selection (see Selection changes
1947 above). In previous Emacs versions, these regions were delineated by
1948 `mouse-drag-overlay'; that variable has been removed.
1950 ** The fourth argument of `filter-buffer-substring' has been removed.
1951 If you want to remove text properties from the final result, simply
1952 pass the result through substring-no-properties.
1954 ** cl.el no longer provides `cl-19'.
1956 ** The following obsolete functions and aliases have been removed
1957 (the appropriate new function is given in parentheses; "not needed"
1958 means you can just remove all calls to the function in question):
1960 *** `comint-kill-output' (`comint-delete-output')
1961 *** `decompose-composite-char' (`char-to-string')
1962 *** `outline-visible' (`outline-invisible-p')
1963 *** `internal-find-face' (`facep')
1964 *** `internal-get-face' (`facep and check-face')
1965 *** `frame-update-faces' (not needed)
1966 *** `frame-update-face-colors' (`frame-set-background-mode')
1967 *** `x-frob-font-weight' and `x-frob-font-slant' (`make-face-*' functions)
1968 *** `x-make-font-bold and x-make-font-demibold (`make-face-bold')
1969 *** `x-make-font-italic' and `x-make-font-oblique' (`make-face-italic')
1970 *** `x-make-font-bold-italic' (`make-face-bold-italic')
1971 *** `x-make-font-unbold' (`make-face-unbold')
1972 *** `x-make-font-unitalic' (`make-face-unitalic')
1973 *** `mldrag-drag-mode-line' (`mouse-drag-mode-line')
1974 *** `mldrag-drag-vertical-line' (`mouse-drag-vertical-line')
1975 *** `iswitchb-default-keybindings' (`iswitchb-mode')
1976 *** `char-bytes' (== 1)
1977 *** `isearch-return-char' (`isearch-printing-char')
1978 *** `make-local-hook' (not needed)
1979 *** `set-screen-height' (`set-frame-height')
1980 *** `set-screen-width' (`set-frame-width')
1982 ** The following obsolete variables and varaliases have been removed
1983 (the appropriate new variable is given in parentheses):
1985 *** `checkdoc-minor-keymap' (`checkdoc-minor-mode-map')
1986 *** `vc-header-alist' (`vc-BACKEND-header')
1987 *** `directory-sep-char' (== ?/)
1988 *** `font-lock-defaults-alist' (`font-lock-defaults')
1989 *** `e' (`float-e').
1991 ** The following obsolete files were removed:
1992 sc.el, x-menu.el, rnews.el, rnewspost.el
1994 ** The format of the finder-inf.el file has changed, since the Finder
1995 mechanism is now based on the package system. The variable
1996 `finder-package-info' is replaced by `package--builtins' and
1997 `finder-keywords-hash'.
1999 ** When generating autoloads, `update-directory-autoloads' no longer
2000 assumes every inspected file is in your `load-path'. It instead
2001 generates relative names according to the current `load-path'.
2004 * Lisp changes in Emacs 24.1
2006 ** Code can now use lexical scoping by default instead of dynamic scoping.
2007 The `lexical-binding' variable enables lexical scoping for local
2008 variables. It is typically set via a file-local variable in the first
2009 line of the file, in which case it applies to all the code in that
2012 *** `eval' takes a new optional argument `lexical' to choose the new lexical
2013 binding instead of the old dynamic binding mode.
2015 *** Lexically scoped interpreted functions are represented with a new form
2016 of function value which looks like (closure ENV ARGS &rest BODY).
2018 *** New macro `letrec' to define recursive local functions.
2020 *** `defvar' and `defconst' now mark the variable as special (dynamic).
2021 So do `defcustom' and other forms that call `defvar' as a subroutine.
2023 *** New function `special-variable-p' to check whether a variable is
2024 declared as dynamically bound.
2026 *** The form ((lambda ...) ...) is deprecated.
2028 ** An Emacs Lisp testing tool is now included.
2029 Emacs Lisp developers can use this tool to write automated tests for
2030 their code. See the ERT info manual for details.
2032 ** Changes for bidirectional display and editing
2034 *** New function `current-bidi-paragraph-direction'.
2035 This returns the base direction of the paragraph at point.
2037 *** New function `bidi-string-mark-left-to-right'.
2038 Given a string containing characters from right-to-left scripts, this
2039 function returns another string which can be safely inserted into a
2040 buffer, such that any following text will be always displayed to the
2041 right of that string. (This works by appending an invisible Unicode
2042 "LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK" character if the argument string might need it.)
2044 This is useful when the buffer has overall left-to-right paragraph
2045 direction and you need to insert a string whose contents are not known
2046 in advance, without disrupting the layout of the line.
2050 *** Window tree functions are accessible in Elisp.
2051 Functions are provided to return the parent, siblings or child windows
2052 of any window including internal windows (windows not associated with a
2053 buffer) in the window tree.
2055 **** New function `window-valid-p' gives non-nil for live and internal
2058 **** Window manipulation can deal with internal windows.
2059 Many window handling functions like `split-window', `delete-window', or
2060 `delete-other-windows' as well as the window resizing functions can now
2061 act on any window including internal ones.
2063 *** window-total-height/-width vs window-body-height/-width.
2064 The function `window-height' has been renamed to `window-total-height'
2065 and `window-width' has been renamed to `window-body-width'. The old
2066 names are provided as aliases. Two new functions `window-total-width'
2067 and `window-body-height' are provided.
2069 *** Window parameters specific to window handling functions.
2070 For each window you can specify a parameter to override the default
2071 behavior of a number of functions like `split-window', `delete-window'
2072 and `delete-other-windows'. The variable `ignore-window-parameters'
2073 allows to ignore processing such parameters.
2075 *** New semantics of third argument of `split-window'.
2076 The third argument of `split-window' has been renamed to SIDE and can be
2077 set to any of the values 'below, 'right, 'above, or 'left to make the
2078 new window appear on the corresponding side of the window that shall be
2079 split. Any other value of SIDE will cause `split-window' to split the
2080 window into two side-by-side windows as before.
2082 *** Window resizing functions.
2083 A new standard function for resizing windows called `window-resize' has
2084 been introduced. This and all other functions for resizing windows no
2085 longer delete any windows when they become too small.
2087 *** Deleting the selected window now selects the most recently selected
2088 live window on that frame instead.
2090 *** `adjust-window-trailing-edge' adjustments.
2091 `adjust-window-trailing-edge' can now deal with fixed-size windows and
2092 is able to resize other windows if a window adjacent to the trailing
2093 edge cannot be shrunk any more. This makes its behavior more similar to
2094 that of Emacs 21 without compromising, however, its inability to delete
2095 windows which was introduced in Emacs 22.
2097 *** Window-local buffer lists.
2098 Windows now have local buffer lists. This means that removing a buffer
2099 from display in a window will preferably show the buffer previously
2100 shown in that window with its previous window-start and window-point
2101 positions. This also means that the same buffer may be automatically
2102 shown twice even if it already appears in another window.
2104 *** `switch-to-buffer' has a new optional argument FORCE-SAME-WINDOW,
2105 which if non-nil requires the buffer to be displayed in the currently
2106 selected window, signaling an error otherwise. If nil, another window
2107 can be used, e.g. if the selected one is strongly dedicated.
2109 *** `split-window-vertically' and `split-window-horizontally' renamed
2110 to `split-window-below' and `split-window-right' respectively.
2111 The old names are kept as aliases.
2115 **** The second arg to `display-buffer' and `pop-to-buffer' is now
2116 named ACTION, and takes a display action of the same form as
2117 `display-buffer-base-action' (see Changes, above). A non-nil,
2118 non-list value is treated specially, as the old meaning.
2120 **** New variable `display-buffer-overriding-action'.
2122 **** The procedure of `display-buffer' etc. to choose a window is
2123 determined by combining `display-buffer-overriding-action',
2124 `display-buffer-alist', the ACTION arg, `display-buffer-base-action',
2125 and `display-buffer-fallback-action'. The second and fourth of these
2126 are user-customizable variables.
2128 See the docstring of `display-buffer' for details.
2130 *** New functions `window-state-get' and `window-state-put'.
2131 These functions allow to save and restore the state of an arbitrary
2132 frame or window as an Elisp object.
2136 *** New variable `completion-extra-properties' used to specify extra
2137 properties of the current completion:
2138 - :annotate-function, same as the old completion-annotate-function.
2139 - :exit-function, function to call after completion took place.
2141 *** Functions on `completion-at-point-functions' can return any of the
2142 properties valid for `completion-extra-properties'.
2144 *** `completion-annotate-function' is obsolete.
2146 *** New `metadata' method for completion tables. The metadata thus returned
2147 can specify various details of the data returned by `all-completions':
2148 - `category' is the kind of objects returned (e.g., `buffer', `file', ...),
2149 used to select a style in completion-category-overrides.
2150 - `annotation-function' to add annotations in *Completions*.
2151 - `display-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries in *Completions*.
2152 - `cycle-sort-function' to specify how to sort entries when cycling.
2154 *** `minibuffer-local-filename-must-match-map' is not used any more.
2155 Instead, the bindings in `minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map'
2156 are combined with `minibuffer-local-must-match-map'.
2158 *** New variable `completing-read-function' allows overriding the
2159 behavior of `completing-read'.
2161 ** `glyphless-char-display' can now distinguish between graphical and
2162 text terminal display, via a char-table entry that is a cons cell.
2164 ** `pre-command-hook'/`post-command-hook' are not reset to nil on error.
2165 Instead, the offending function is removed.
2169 *** New function `run-hook-wrapped' for running an abnormal hook by
2170 passing the hook functions as arguments to a "wrapping" function.
2171 Like `run-hook-with-args-until-success', it stops at the first
2172 non-nil return value.
2174 *** New macro `with-wrapper-hook' for running an abnormal hook as a
2175 set of "wrapping" filters, similar to around advice.
2176 (A version of this macro was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not
2177 advertised at the time.)
2181 *** New macro `condition-case-unless-debug' (this was actually added in
2182 Emacs 23.1 as condition-case-no-debug, but not advertised)
2184 *** The macro `with-demoted-errors' was added in Emacs 23.1, but not advertised.
2186 *** Variable `stack-trace-on-error' removed.
2188 *** The debugger can now "continue" from an error, which means it will
2189 jump to the error handler as if the debugger had not been invoked
2190 instead of jumping all the way to the top-level.
2192 *** Set `debug-on-event' to enter the debugger on events like SIGUSR1.
2193 This can be useful when `inhibit-quit' is set.
2195 ** The new function `server-eval-at' allows evaluation of Lisp forms on
2196 named Emacs server instances.
2198 ** `call-process' and `call-process-region' allow a `(:file "file")' spec
2199 to redirect STDOUT to a file.
2201 ** The function `format-time-string' now supports the %N directive,
2202 for higher-resolution time stamps.
2204 ** New input reading functions
2206 *** New function `read-char-choice' reads a restricted set of
2207 characters, discarding any inputs not inside the set.
2209 *** The command `read-color' now requires a match for a color name
2210 or RGB triplet, instead of signaling an error if the user provides
2213 **** `facemenu-read-color' is now an alias for `read-color'.
2215 ** `image-library-alist' is renamed to `dynamic-library-alist'.
2216 The variable is now used to load all kind of supported dynamic libraries,
2217 not just image libraries. The previous name is still available as an
2220 ** Syntax parsing changes
2222 *** New variable `syntax-propertize-function'.
2223 This replaces `font-lock-syntactic-keywords' which is now obsolete.
2224 This allows syntax-table properties to be set independently from font-lock:
2225 just call syntax-propertize to make sure the text is propertized.
2226 Together with this new variable come a new hook
2227 syntax-propertize-extend-region-functions, as well as two helper functions:
2228 syntax-propertize-via-font-lock to reuse old font-lock-syntactic-keywords
2229 as-is; and syntax-propertize-rules which provides a new way to specify
2232 *** Syntax tables support a new "comment style c" additionally to style b.
2234 ** New hook `post-self-insert-hook', run after `self-insert-command'.
2236 ** frame-local variables cannot be let-bound any more.
2238 ** Major and minor mode changes
2240 *** `set-auto-mode' now respects mode: local variables at the end of files,
2241 as well as those in the -*- line.
2243 *** `prog-mode' is a new major mode from which programming modes
2246 **** `prog-mode-hook' can be used to enable features for programming
2247 modes, e.g. (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode) to enable
2248 on-the-fly spell checking for comments and strings.
2250 *** New hook `change-major-mode-after-body-hook', run by
2251 `run-mode-hooks' just before any other mode hooks.
2253 *** Enabled globalized minor modes can be disabled in specific major modes.
2254 If the global mode is global-FOO-mode, then run (FOO-mode -1) in the
2255 major mode's hook, where FOO-mode toggles the mode on a per-buffer basis.
2257 *** `define-minor-mode' accepts new keywords :variable, :after-hook.
2259 ** File-handling changes
2261 *** `delete-file' and `delete-directory' now accept optional arg TRASH.
2262 Trashing is performed if TRASH and `delete-by-moving-to-trash' are
2263 both non-nil. Interactively, TRASH defaults to t, unless a prefix
2264 argument is supplied (see Trash changes, above).
2266 *** New file predicates: `file-equal-p', `file-in-directory-p'.
2268 ** Tool-bars can display separators.
2269 Tool-bar separators are handled like menu separators in menu-bar maps,
2270 i.e. via menu entries of the form `(menu-item "--")'.
2274 *** Animated images support (currently animated gifs only).
2276 **** `image-animated-p' returns non-nil if an image can be animated.
2278 **** `image-animate' animates a supplied image spec.
2280 **** `image-animate-timer' returns the timer object for an image that
2283 *** `image-extension-data' has been renamed to `image-metadata'.
2284 The old name is an obsolete alias to the new one.
2286 *** Image mode can view any image type that ImageMagick supports.
2287 This requires Emacs to be built with ImageMagick support.
2289 **** New function `imagemagick-types', defined if ImageMagick support
2290 is enabled, returns a list of image file extensions that your
2291 ImageMagick installation supports.
2293 **** New function `imagemagick-register-types' enables ImageMagick
2294 image types in Image mode and in `create-image' and other helper
2297 **** New option `imagemagick-types-inhibit' excludes certain
2298 ImageMagick image types from `imagemagick-register-types'.
2300 **** With ImageMagick support, there are extra Image mode commands to
2301 resize and rotate images: `image-transform-fit-to-height',
2302 `image-transform-fit-to-width', `image-transform-set-rotation', and
2303 `image-transform-set-scale'.
2305 ** `compose-mail' now accepts an optional 8th arg, RETURN-ACTION, and
2306 passes it to the mail user agent function. This argument specifies an
2307 action for returning to the caller after finishing with the mail. For
2308 example, this is used by Rmail to optionally delete a mail window.
2310 ** XML and HTML parsing
2311 If Emacs is compiled with libxml2 support, there are two new
2312 functions: `libxml-parse-html-region' (which parses "real world" HTML)
2313 and `libxml-parse-xml-region' (which parses XML). Both return an
2314 Emacs Lisp parse tree.
2316 ** Networking and encryption changes
2318 *** `open-network-stream' can now be used to open an encrypted stream.
2319 It now accepts an optional `:type' parameter for initiating a TLS
2320 connection, directly or via STARTTLS. To do STARTTLS, additional
2321 parameters (`:end-of-command', `:success', `:capabilities-command')
2322 must also be supplied.
2324 *** New library gnutls.el.
2325 The new function `gnutls-available-p' returns non-nil if Emacs is
2326 built with GnuTLS support. The main entry points are
2327 `open-gnutls-stream' and `gnutls-negotiate'. It's easiest to use
2328 these functions through `open-network-stream', because that can
2329 upgrade connections through STARTTLS opportunistically or use plain
2330 SSL, depending on your needs. For debugging, set `gnutls-log-level'
2333 *** New primitive `secure-hash' that supports many secure hash algorithms:
2334 md5, sha1, sha2, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512. The lisp library
2335 sha1.el has been removed. The `sha1' feature is provided by default.
2339 *** New hook `isearch-update-post-hook' that runs in `isearch-update'.
2341 ** Progress reporters can now "spin".
2342 The MIN-VALUE and MAX-VALUE arguments of `make-progress-reporter' can
2343 now be nil, or omitted. This makes a "non-numeric" reporter. Each
2344 time you call `progress-reporter-update' on that progress reporter,
2345 with a nil or omitted VALUE argument, the reporter message is
2346 displayed with a "spinning bar".
2348 ** New variable `revert-buffer-in-progress-p' is true while a buffer is
2349 being reverted, even if the buffer has a local `revert-buffer-function'.
2351 ** New variables `delayed-warnings-list' and `delayed-warnings-hook'.
2352 If delayed-warnings-list is non-nil, the command loop calls
2353 `delayed-warnings-hook' after `post-command-hook'. At present, this
2354 is only used by Emacs on some platforms to display warnings during
2355 startup, which might otherwise not be noticed. This uses the
2356 functions `display-delayed-warnings' and `collapse-delayed-warnings'.
2358 ** rx.el has a new `group-n' construct for explicitly numbered groups.
2360 ** New function `make-composed-keymap' that constructs a new keymap
2361 from multiple input maps. You can use this to make a keymap that
2362 inherits from multiple maps, eg:
2363 (set-keymap-parent newmap (make-composed-keymap othermap parent))
2365 ** New function `string-prefix-p'.
2366 (This was actually added in Emacs 23.2 but was not advertised at the time.)
2368 ** New reader macro ## that stands for the empty symbol.
2369 This means that the empty symbol can now be read back. Also, #: by itself
2370 (when not immediately followed by a possible symbol character) stands for
2371 an empty uninterned symbol.
2373 ** New math functions `isnan', `copysign', `frexp', `ldexp'.
2375 ** The following functions and variables are obsolete:
2377 *** `tooltip-use-echo-area' is obsolete.
2378 Rather than setting this to t, disable Tooltip mode instead.
2380 *** buffer-substring-filters is obsolete.
2381 Use `filter-buffer-substring-functions' instead.
2383 *** `byte-compile-disable-print-circle' is obsolete.
2385 *** `deferred-action-list' and `deferred-action-function' are obsolete.
2386 Use `post-command-hook' instead.
2388 *** `font-lock-maximum-size' is obsolete.
2391 * Changes in Emacs 24.1 on non-free operating systems
2393 ** On MS Windows, Emacs warns when using the obsolete init file _emacs,
2394 and also when HOME is set to C:\ by default.
2396 ** New configure.bat options
2398 *** --enable-checking builds Emacs with extra runtime checks.
2400 *** --distfiles specifies files to be included in binary distribution.
2402 *** --without-gnutls disables automatic GnuTLS detection.
2404 *** --lib for general library linkage, works with the USER_LIBS build variable.
2406 ** New make target `dist' to create binary distribution for MS Windows.
2408 ** The Lisp function `w32-default-color-map' is now obsolete.
2409 (It is only used internally in the Emacs C code.)
2411 ** Customize ns-auto-hide-menu-bar to have the menu-bar hidden, but
2412 reappear on mouse-over. (Requires OS X 10.6 or later.)
2414 ** On Mac OS X, dragging a file into Emacs visits the file, like on
2415 other platforms, rather than inserting its contents into the buffer.
2418 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2419 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
2421 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
2422 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
2423 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
2424 (at your option) any later version.
2426 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2427 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2428 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
2429 GNU General Public License for more details.
2431 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
2432 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
2437 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"