1 GNU Emacs NEWS -- history of user-visible changes.
3 Copyright (C) 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 Please send Emacs bug reports to emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org.
7 If possible, use M-x report-emacs-bug.
9 This file is about changes in Emacs version 23.
11 See files NEWS.22, NEWS.21, NEWS.20, NEWS.19, NEWS.18, and NEWS.1-17
12 for changes in older Emacs versions.
14 You can narrow news to a specific version by calling `view-emacs-news'
15 with a prefix argument or by typing C-u C-h C-n.
18 +++ indicates that the appropriate manual has already been updated.
19 --- means no change in the manuals is called for.
20 When you add a new item, please add it without either +++ or ---
21 so we will look at it and add it to the manual.
24 * About external Lisp packages
27 * Installation Changes in Emacs 23.1
29 ** The default X toolkit is now Gtk+, rather than Lucid.
31 ** Fonts are handled by new code capable of dealing with multiple font
32 backends. This requires the freetype and fontconfig libraries, and
33 supports local fonts (fonts installed on the machine where Emacs is
34 running). Additionally, the Xft library can be used for antialiasing
35 support, the otf library for complex text layout by OpenType fonts,
36 and the m17n library for text shaping. Fontconfig-like font names
37 (e.g. monospace-12) are accepted. The old font handling code can
38 be used by passing the configure option `--disable-font-backend'
39 (also available as a run-time option).
41 ** The new configuration option "--with-dbus" enables D-Bus language
44 ** The Mac Carbon port is no longer supported.
45 Instead, use... [FIXME what?]
47 ** configure now checks for libgif before libungif when searching for
50 ** Support for systems without alloca has been removed.
52 ** Support for Sun windows has been removed.
54 ** Support for many obsolete platforms has been removed.
55 See the list at the end of etc/MACHINES for details.
57 ** The `emacstool' utility has been removed.
59 ** The configure options `--with-gcc', `--without-gcc' have been removed.
60 Configure will use gcc by default. Set the CC environment variable if
61 you need control over which C compiler is used.
63 ** The configure option `--with-gtk' has been removed. Gtk is now the
64 default toolkit, but you can use --with-x-toolkit=gtk if necessary.
66 * Changes in Emacs 23.1
68 ** Operations like C-x b and C-x C-f which use switch-to-buffer do not fail
69 any more when used in a minibuffer or a dedicated window. Instead, they
70 fallback on using pop-to-buffer which will use some other window.
72 ** Emacs now supports using both X displays and ttys in one session.
73 Start the server (M-x server-start). Then `emacsclient -t' creates a
74 tty frame connected to the running emacs server. You can also use any
75 number of different ttys. `emacsclient -c' creates a new X11 frame on
76 the current $DISPLAY or a tty frame if $DISPLAY is not set.
78 You can test for the presence of this feature in your Lisp code by
79 testing for the `multi-tty' feature.
81 ** The Emacs character set is now a superset of Unicode.
82 (It has about four times the code space, which should be plenty).
84 The internal encoding used for buffers and strings is now
85 Unicode-based and called `utf-8-emacs'. utf-8-emacs is backwards
86 compatible with the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode. The `emacs-mule'
87 coding system can still read and write data in the old internal encoding.
89 Since the internal encoding is also used by default for byte-compiled
90 files -- i.e. the normal coding system for byte-compiled Lisp files is
91 now utf-8-Emacs -- Lisp containing non-ASCII characters which is
92 compiled by Emacs 23 can't be read by earlier versions of Emacs. Files
93 compiled by Emacs 20, 21, or 22 are loaded correctly as emacs-mule
94 (whether or not they contain multibyte characters), which makes loading
95 them somewhat slower than Emacs 23-compiled files. Thus it may be worth
96 recompiling existing .elc files which don't need to be shared with older
99 ** There are assorted new coding systems/aliases -- see M-x list-coding-systems.
101 ** There is a new charset implementation with many new charsets.
102 See M-x list-character-sets. New charsets can be defined conveniently
103 as tables of unicodes.
105 The dimension of a charset is now 1, 2, 3, or 4, and the size of each
106 dimension is no longer limited to 94 or 96.
108 A dynamic charset priority list is used to infer the charset of
109 characters for display.
111 ** There are new Chinese-GBK, Chinese-GB18030, Khmer, Bengali,
112 Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, Sinhala, and TaiViet language
115 ** Emacs now supports the XEmbed specification.
116 You can embed Emacs in another application on X11. The new command line option
117 --parent-id is used to pass the parent window id to Emacs. See
118 http://standards.freedesktop.org/xembed-spec/xembed-spec-latest.html
119 for details about XEmbed.
121 ** Emacs comes with a new set of default icons.
122 Various resolutions are available as etc/images/icons/hicolor/*/apps/emacs.png.
123 The Emacs 22 icon is available as `emacs22.png' in the same location.
125 ** Built-in functions (subr) can now have an interactive specification
126 that is not a prompt string. If the `intspec' parameter of a `DEFUN'
127 starts with a `(', the string is evaluated as a Lisp form.
129 ** set-file-modes is now interactive and can take the mode value in
130 symbolic notation thanks to auxiliary functions.
132 ** split-window-preferred-function specifies whether display-buffer should
133 split windows vertically or horizontally.
135 ** Emacsclient has been extended to support opening a new terminal
136 frame. Its behavior has been changed to open a new Emacs frame by
137 default. Use the -c option to get the old behavior of opening files in
138 the currently selected Emacs frame.
140 ** The refcards are now shipped as PDF files.
142 ** Emacs now supports the SVG image format through librsvg2.
144 ** C-SPC C-SPC in transient-mark-mode pushes a mark without activating it.
146 ** If you set find-file-confirm-nonexistent-file to t, then C-x C-f
147 requires confirmation before opening a non-existent file.
149 ** If the gpm mouse server is running and t-mouse-mode enabled, Emacs uses a
150 Unix socket in a GNU/Linux console to talk to server, rather than faking events
151 using the client program mev. This C level approach provides mouse
152 highlighting, and help echoing in the minibuffer.
154 ** The new variable next-error-recenter specifies how next-error should
155 recenter the visited source file. Its value can be a number (for example,
156 0 for top line, -1 for bottom line), or nil for no recentering.
158 ** New command recenter-top-bottom moves the current line to window
159 center, top and bottom on successive invokations.
161 ** C-l is bound to the new command recenter-top-bottom, rather than recenter.
163 ** The mode-line displays a `@' if the default-directory for the current buffer
164 is on a remote machine, or a hyphen otherwise.
166 ** The mode-line displays a mode menu when mouse-1 is clicked on a minor mode,
167 in the same way as it already did for major modes.
169 ** The new command balance-windows-area balances windows both vertically
172 ** The new command close-display-connection can be used to close a connection
173 to a remote display, e.g. because the display is about to become unreachable.
175 ** The command shell prompts for the default directory, when it is
176 called with a prefix, and the default directory is a remote file name.
177 This is because some file name handlers (like ange-ftp) are not able to
178 run processes remotely.
180 ** The new command `display-time-world' starts an updating time display
181 using several time zones, in a buffer.
183 ** The new function `format-seconds' converts a number of seconds into a
184 readable string of days, hours, etc.
186 ** The new variables `before-init-time' and `after-init-time' record the
187 value of `current-time' before and after Emacs loads the init files.
189 ** The new function `emacs-uptime' returns the uptime of an Emacs instance.
191 ** The new function `emacs-init-time' returns the duration of the
192 Emacs initialization.
194 ** The minor modes unify-8859-on-encoding-mode, unify-8859-on-decoding-mode
198 * Startup Changes in Emacs 23.1
200 ** New user option `initial-buffer-choice' specifies what to display
201 after starting Emacs: startup screen, *scratch* buffer, visiting a
204 ** New alias `argv' for `command-line-args-left'
205 This is a convenience alias, so that one can write `(pop argv)'
206 inside of --eval command line arguments in order to access
209 ** The new command-line option `--disable-font-backend' disables the
210 new font backend code at runtime. This option is not available if
211 Emacs was compiled without font-backend support.
213 ** The abbrev file is no longer read at startup in batch mode.
215 * Incompatible Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
218 ** In Dired-x, all command guesses for ! are now added to the default
219 list accessible by M-n instead of pushing all guesses temporarily into
223 * Editing Changes in Emacs 23.1
226 ** C-M-% now shows replacement as it would look in the buffer, with
227 `\N' and `\&' substituted according to the match. Old behavior can be
228 restored by customizing `query-replace-show-replacement'.
231 ** M-q now fills the region if the region is active and
232 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on. Otherwise, it fills the current
236 ** M-$ now checks spelling of the region if the region is active and
237 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on. Otherwise, it checks spelling of the
240 ** TAB now indents the region if the region is active and
241 `transient-mark-mode' is turned on.
243 ** `use-empty-active-region' controls whether an empty active region
244 in Transient Mark mode should make commands operate on that empty region.
246 ** C-z now invokes `suspend-frame', C-x C-c now invokes
247 `save-buffers-kill-terminal'.
249 ** New command kill-matching-buffers kills buffers whose name matches a regexp.
251 ** You can disable kill ring commands from accessing the primary selection
252 by setting `x-select-enable-primary' to nil.
254 ** If `select-active-regions' is t, setting the mark automatically
255 makes the new region into the primary selection (for interaction with
256 other window applications). If you enable this, you might want to bind
257 `mouse-yank-primary' to Mouse-2.
259 ** If `yank-pop-change-selection' is t, rotating the kill ring
260 also updates the selection or clipboard to the current yank,
261 just as M-w would do so with the text it copies to the kill ring.
263 ** Minibuffer changes
265 *** Many commands that read a buffer name now provide a list of all buffers
266 sorted by recency in the list of minibuffer default values available
267 via M-n or down-arrow. It is also possible to search this buffer list
268 in the minibuffer using incremental search commands C-s and C-M-s
269 (for instance, `C-x b C-s buf-name RET RET' to select a buffer by name).
271 *** In C-x d, if you type M-n you get the visited file name of the
274 *** In Dired, a list of commands for ! extracted from mailcap according to
275 file extensions are added to the default list accessible by M-n.
277 *** A list of regexp default values is available via M-n for `occur',
278 `keep-lines', `flush-lines' and `how-many'. This list includes the active
279 region in transient-mark-mode, the word under the cursor, the last isearch
280 regexp, the last isearch string and the last replacement regexp.
282 *** isearch started in the minibuffer searches in the minibuffer history.
283 Reverse isearch commands (C-r, C-M-r) search in previous minibuffer
284 history elements, and forward isearch commands (C-s, C-M-s) search in
285 next history elements. When the reverse search reaches the first history
286 element, it wraps to the last history element, and the forward search
287 wraps to the first history element. When the search is terminated, the
288 history element containing the search string becomes the current.
292 *** `mode-line-emphasis' is used to highlight certain mode-line information;
293 for example while waiting for a VC command to finish.
295 ** Font-Lock (syntax highlighting) changes
297 *** `font-lock-comment-face' once again differs from the default on displays
298 with fewer than 16 colors (e.g. older xterms and the Linux console),
299 but only in the light background case.
303 *** The new function `face-all-attributes' returns an alist describing
304 all the basic attributes of a given face.
307 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
309 ** FIXME add details of new packages imported from lisp/gnus.
310 [Maybe some information from doc/misc/gnus-coding.texi can be reused]
312 ** The package doc-view.el has been added. It supports viewing of PDF,
313 PostScript and DVI documents inside an Emacs buffer by converting the
314 document to a set of PNG images first. One can also search for a
315 regular expression in the document. The commentary of the file explains
318 ** The nXML package has been added. It is a new mode for editing XML
319 documents. nXML mode allows a schema to be associated with the XML
320 document being edited. nXML mode uses Relax NG as its schema
321 language. The schema is used to provide two key features:
323 *** Continuous validation. nXML validates as you type, highlighting
324 any invalid parts of your document.
326 *** Completion. nXML can assist you in entering an element name,
327 attribute name or data value by using information about what is
328 allowed by the schema in that context.
330 ** A new game called `bubbles' has been added. This is a version of
331 the "Same Game" with configurable difficulty level.
333 ** minibuffer-indicate-depth-mode shows the minibuffer depth in the prompt.
335 ** Remember Mode (remember.el) is now included with Emacs. It is a
336 mode for quickly jotting down things to remember. Included with
337 remember.el is a backend that can save notes to a Diary file. Please
338 consult the Remember Manual for usage details.
340 ** D-Bus language bindings for Elisp are provided by the package
341 dbus.el and by extensions to the C modules of Emacs. D-Bus is an
342 inter-process communication mechanism for applications residing on the
343 same host, based on messages. See the manual for further details.
345 ** EasyPG is now part of the Emacs distribution. It is an all-in-one
346 GnuPG interface which includes GnuPG keyring browser, cryptographic
347 operations on regions and files, and automatic encryption of *.gpg
348 files. See the EasyPG Assistant User's Manual for further details.
350 ** json.el is now included with Emacs. It is a library for parsing
351 and generating JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). JSON is a
352 lightweight data-interchange format.
354 ** Auto Composition Mode is a minor mode that composes characters
355 automatically when they are displayed. It is globally on by default.
356 It uses `auto-composition-function' (default `auto-compose-chars').
358 ** The package linum.el is now included with Emacs. It it a new minor
359 mode to display line numbers for the current buffer.
362 * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 23.1
364 ** A new `whitespace' package has been installed, and the pre-existing one
365 renamed to `old-whitespace'.
366 [FIXME someone explain why this is good, if it is...]
368 ** In Change Log mode, the new function `change-log-find-file', bound to
369 C-c C-f, finds the file associated with the current log entry.
371 ** abbrev was rewritten in Elisp and extended with more flexibility.
372 *** New functions: abbrev-get, abbrev-put, abbrev-table-get, abbrev-table-put,
374 *** Special hook `abbrev-expand-functions' obsoletes `pre-abbrev-expand-hook'.
375 *** `make-abbrev-table', `define-abbrev', `define-abbrev-table' all take
376 extra arguments for arbitrary properties.
377 *** New variable `abbrev-minor-mode-table-alist'.
378 *** `local-abbrev-table' can hold a list of abbrev-tables.
379 *** Abbrevs have now the following special properties:
380 `:count', `:system', `:enable-function', `:case-fixed'.
381 *** Abbrev-tables have now the following special properties:
382 `:parents', `:case-fixed', `:enable-function', `:regexp',
383 `abbrev-table-modiff'.
386 *** New macro `with-help-window' should set up help windows better
387 than `with-output-to-temp-buffer' with `print-help-return-message'.
388 *** New option `help-window-select' permits to customize whether help
389 window shall be automatically selected when invoking help.
390 *** New variable `help-window-point-marker' permits to specify new
391 position of point in help window (for example in `view-lossage').
393 ** view-remove-frame-by-deleting is now by default t
394 since users found iconification of view-mode frames distracting.
398 *** New command `isearch-occur' bound to `M-s o' in isearch mode
399 runs `occur' with the current search string.
401 *** isearch can now search through multiple ChangeLog files.
402 When running isearch in a ChangeLog file, if the search fails,
403 then another C-s tries searching the previous ChangeLog,
404 if there is one (e.g. go from ChangeLog to ChangeLog.12).
406 This is enabled if isearch-buffers-multi is non-nil.
408 *** The part of an isearch that failed to match is highlighted in `isearch-fail'
411 ** smerge-refine highlights word-level details of changes in conflict.
412 It's used automatically as you move through conflicts, see smerge-auto-refine.
416 *** diff-refine-hunk highlights word-level details of changes in a diff hunk.
417 It's used automatically as you move through hunks, see
418 diff-auto-refine. It is bound to `C-c C-b'.
420 *** diff-add-change-log-entries-other-window iterates through the diff
421 buffer and tries to create ChangeLog entries for each change.
422 It is bound to `C-x 4 A'.
424 ** archive-mode has basic support to browse Rar archives.
426 ** talk.el has been extended for multiple tty support.
428 ** compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error tells `compile' to jump to
429 the first error encountered during compilations.
431 ** In the `copyright' package, you can specify your copyright holders' names.
432 Only copyright lines with holders matching copyright-names-regexp will be
433 considered for update.
435 ** eldoc highlights the function argument under point
436 with the face `eldoc-highlight-function-argument'.
438 ** hide-ifdef-mode permits to shadow ifdef-blocks instead of hiding them.
439 See option `hide-ifdef-shadow' and function `hide-ifdef-toggle-shadowing'.
442 ** defcustom accepts new keyword arguments, `:safe' and `:risky', which
443 set a variable's `safe-local-variable' and `risky-local-variable' property.
446 *** The --members option is now the default.
448 Use --no-members if you want the old default behaviour of not tagging
449 struct members in C, members variables in C++ and variables in PHP.
452 *** Clicking on the VC mode-line entry now pops the VC menu.
454 *** The VC mode-line entry now has a tooltip that explains the VC file status.
456 *** VC now supports applying VC operations to a set of files at a time.
458 This enables VC to work much more effectively with changeset-oriented
459 version-control systems such as Subversion, GNU Arch, Mercurial, and
460 Bzr. VC will now pass a multiple-file commit to these systems
461 as a single changeset.
463 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type V to toggle the annotation visibility.
465 *** In VC Annotate mode, you can type f to show the file revision on
468 ** log-edit now has a command bound to C-c C-d to show the diff for
471 ** sgml-electric-tag-pair-mode lets you simultaneously edit matched tag pairs.
473 ** The appearance of superscript and subscript in TeX is more customizable.
474 See the documentation of the variables: tex-fontify-script,
475 tex-font-script-display, tex-suscript-height-ratio, and
476 tex-suscript-height-minimum.
480 *** New command `bibtex-initialize' (re)initializes BibTeX buffers.
482 *** New `bibtex-entry-format' options `whitespace', `braces', and
483 `string', disabled by default.
485 *** New variable `bibtex-cite-matcher-alist' contains rules to
486 identify cited keys in BibTeX entries, used by `bibtex-find-crossref'.
488 *** Command `bibtex-url' allows multiple URLs per entry.
493 *** New connection methods.
494 The new methods "plinkx", "plink2", "psftp", "sftp" and "fish" have
495 been introduced. There are also new so-called gateway methods
496 "tunnel" and "socks".
498 *** Multihop syntax has been removed.
499 The pseudo-method "multi" has been removed. Instead of, multi hops
500 can be specified by the new variable `tramp-default-proxies-alist'.
502 *** More default settings.
503 Default values can be set via the variables `tramp-default-user',
504 `tramp-default-user-alist' and `tramp-default-host'.
506 *** Connection information is cached.
507 In order to reduce connection setup, information about used
508 connections are kept persistent in a file. The name of this file is
509 defined in the variable `tramp-persistency-file-name'.
511 *** Control of remote processes.
512 Running processes on a remote host can be controlled by settings in
513 `tramp-remote-path' and `tramp-remote-process-environment'.
515 *** Success of remote copy is checked.
516 When the variable `file-precious-flag' is set, the success of a remote
517 file copy is checked via the file's checksum.
519 ** Miscellaneous programming mode changes
521 *** The file etc/emacs.py now supports both Python 2 and 3, meaning
522 that either version can be used as inferior Python by python.el.
524 *** Python mode now has `pdbtrack' functionality. When using pdb to
525 debug a Python program, pdbtrack notices the pdb prompt and displays
526 the source file and line that the program is stopped at, much the same
527 way as gud-mode does for debugging C programs with gdb.
529 *** The variable `fortran-line-length' can change the fixed-form line-length.
531 *** In Fortran mode, M-; is now bound to the standard comment-dwim,
532 rather than fortran-indent-comment.
535 *** (The increasingly misnamed) F90 mode supports Fortran 2003 syntax.
539 *** The Gnus package has been updated
541 *** In Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs' new internal coding system `utf-8-emacs' for
542 saving articles drafts and ~/.newsrc.eld. These file may not be read
543 correctly in Emacs 22 and below. If you want to Gnus across different Emacs
544 versions, you may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.
546 *** There are many news features, bug fixes and improvements.
548 See the file GNUS-NEWS or the node "No Gnus" in the Gnus manual for details.
552 *** comint-mode uses `start-file-process' now (see Lisp Changes).
553 If `default-directory' is a remote file name, subprocesses are started
554 on the corresponding remote system.
556 *** C-x C-q in dired-mode now runs the command wdired-change-to-wdired-mode,
557 and C-x C-q in wdired-mode exits it with asking a question about
560 *** The new command `eshell/info' runs info in an eshell buffer.
562 *** The pcmpl-unix package supports hostname completion for ssh and scp.
564 *** WoMan tries to add locale-specific manual page directories to the
565 search path. This can be disabled by setting `woman-locale' to nil.
567 *** The new variable `ffap-rfc-directories' specifies a list of local
568 directories in which `ffap-rfc' will first search for RFCs.
570 *** net-utils has an `iwconfig' command, similar to the existing `ifconfig'.
571 It is used to configure wireless interfaces.
574 * Changes in Emacs 23.1 on non-free operating systems
577 ** IPv6 is supported on MS-Windows.
578 Emacs now supports IPv6 on Windows XP and later, and earlier versions
579 of Windows with third party IPv6 stacks installed. Previously IPv6 was
580 supported on other platforms, but not on Windows due to using the winsock
581 1.1 header file, even though Emacs was linking to the winsock 2 library.
583 ** More keys available on MS-Windows.
584 Keys normally associated with IMEs, and some exotic keys not normally found
585 on standard keyboards have been given names so they can be bound to functions
586 inside Emacs. If there are keys on your keyboard that have not been exposed
587 to Emacs in the past, try C-h k to see if they are available now.
589 Emacs can now bind functions to the extra buttons for media player and
590 browser control present on some keyboards. These buttons are disabled
591 by default, since enabling them prevents their system-wide use when
592 Emacs has focus. To enable them, set the variable
593 w32-pass-multimedia-buttons to nil. See the doc string of that variable
594 for the list of extra keys that are available.
596 * Incompatible Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
598 ** The behavior of map-char-table has changed. It may call the
599 specified function with a cons (FROM . TO) as a key if characters in
600 that range have the same value.
602 ** The value of the function `charset-id' is now always 0.
604 ** The functions `register-char-codings' and `coding-system-spec'
607 ** The cpXXX coding systems are now supported automatically. The
608 functions cp-...-codepage, which you had to use in Emacs 22 to enable
609 support for these coding systems, have been deleted.
612 ** The function `dired-call-process' has been removed.
614 ** The variable `byte-compile-warnings' can now be a list starting with `not',
615 meaning to disable the specified warnings. The meaning of this list
616 may therefore be the reverse of what you expect (of course, this is
617 only an issue if you make use of the new `not' syntax). Rather than
618 checking/manipulating elements directly, use the new functions
619 `byte-compile-warning-enabled-p', `byte-compile-disable-warning', and
620 `byte-compile-enable-warning.'
622 ** `mode-name' is no longer guaranteed to be a string.
623 Use `(format-mode-line mode-name)' to ensure a string value.
625 ** The following features have been removed. They were used for
626 displaying various scripts with specific fonts, and are no longer
627 needed now that OpenType font support is available:
629 *** `devanagari' and `devan-util', and all associated devanagari-* and
630 dev-* functions and variables (formerly used for Devanagari script).
632 *** `kannada' and `knd-util', and all associated kannada-* and knd-*
633 functions and variables (formerly used for Kannada script).
635 *** `malayalam' and `mlm-util', and all associated malayalam-* and
636 mlm-* functions and variables (formerly used for Malayalam script).
638 *** `tamil' and `tml-util, and all associated tamil-* and tml-*
639 functions and variables (formerly used for Tamil script).
642 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 23.1
644 ** The new `buffer-swap-text' function can swap the text between two buffers.
645 This can be useful for modes such as tar-mode, archive-mode, RMAIL.
647 ** `clear-image-cache' can be told to flush only images of a specific file.
649 ** clone-indirect-buffer now runs the clone-indirect-buffer-hook.
651 ** `beginning-of-defun-function' now takes one argument, the count
652 given to `beginning-of-defun'.
654 ** The variable `inhibit-changing-match-data', if non-nil, prevents the
655 search and match primitives from changing the match data.
658 ** New function `match-substitute-replacement' returns the result of
659 `replace-match' without actually using it in the buffer.
661 ** If a local hook function has a non-nil `permanent-local-hook'
662 property, then `kill-all-local-variables' does not remove it from
663 the local value of the hook variable. This means it remains
664 even if you change major modes.
667 ** A list of default values can be specified for the DEFAULT argument of
668 functions `read-from-minibuffer', `read-string', `read-command',
669 `read-variable', `read-buffer', `completing-read'. Elements of this list
670 are available for inserting into the minibuffer by typing `M-n'.
671 For empty input these functions return the first element of this list.
673 ** `custom-note-var-changed' tells Custom to treat the change in a certain
674 variable as having been made within Custom.
676 ** `frame-inherited-parameters' lets new frames inherit parameters from
679 ** Commands should use `use-region-p' to test whether there is
680 an active region that they should operate on.
682 ** `region-active-p' returns non-nil when Transient Mark mode
683 is enabled and there is an active region. This is NOT the best function
684 to use to test whether a command should operate on the region instead
685 of the usual behavior -- for that, use `use-region-p'.
687 ** New keymap `input-decode-map' overrides like key-translation-map, but
688 applies before function-key-map. Also it is terminal-local contrary to
689 key-translation-map. Terminal-specific key-sequences are generally added to
690 this map rather than to function-key-map now.
692 ** The new macro `declare-function' suppresses compiler warnings about
693 undefined functions. The new `check-declare' package verifies that such
694 statements are accurate (i.e. the functions are actually defined in
695 the specified files).
697 ** The new function `read-color' reads a color name using the minibuffer.
699 ** `interprogram-paste-function' can now return one string or a list
700 of strings. In the latter case, Emacs puts the second and following
701 strings on the kill ring.
703 ** Character code, representation, and charset changes.
705 The character code space is now 0x0..0x3FFFFF with no gap.
706 Characters of code 0x0..0x10FFFF are Unicode characters of the same code points.
707 Characters of code 0x3FFF80..0x3FFFFF are raw 8-bit bytes.
709 Generic characters no longer exist.
711 In buffer and string, characters are represented by UTF-8 byte
712 sequence in a multibyte buffer/string.
714 The concept of a charset has changed. A single character may belong to
715 multiple charsets (e.g. a-grave, U+00E0, belongs to charsets unicode,
716 iso-8859-1, iso-8859-3, etc).
718 *** The new function `characterp' returns t if and only if the argument
719 is a character. This replaces `char-valid-p', which is now obsolete.
721 *** The new function `max-char' returns the maximum character code
722 (currently it is #x3FFFFF).
724 *** The functions `encode-char' and `decode-char' now accept any character sets.
726 *** The function `define-charset' now accepts a completely different
727 form of arguments (old-style arguments still work).
729 *** The new function `define-charset-alias' defines an alias of a charset.
731 *** The value of the function `char-charset' depends on the current
732 priorities of charsets.
734 *** The new function `charset-priority-list' returns the list of
735 charsets ordered by priority.
737 *** The new function `set-charset-priority' sets priorities of charsets.
739 *** The new function `unibyte-charset' returns the current unibyte
740 charset. The unibyte charset determines how unibyte/multibyte
743 *** The new function `set-unibyte-charset' sets the unibyte charset.
745 *** The new function `unibyte-string' make a unibyte string from bytes.
747 *** The new function `define-char-code-property' defines a character
750 *** The new function `char-code-property-description' returns the
751 description string of a character code property.
753 *** The function get-char-code-property now accepts many Unicode base
754 character properties. They are `name', `general-category',
755 `canonical-combining-class', `bidi-class', `decomposition',
756 `decimal-digit-value', `digit-value', `numeric-value', `mirrored',
757 `old-name', `iso-10646-comment', `uppercase', `lowercase', and
760 *** The new variable `find-word-boundary-function-table' is a
761 char-table of functions to search for a word boundary.
763 *** The new variable `char-script-table' is a char-table of script names.
765 *** The new variable `char-width-table' is a char-table of character widths.
767 *** The new variable `print-charset-text-property' controls how to
768 handle `charset' text property on printing a string.
770 *** The new variable `printable-chars' is a char-table defining if a
771 character is printable or not.
773 *** The functions `modify-syntax-entry' and `modify-category-entry' now
774 accepts a cons of characters as the first argument, and modify all
775 entries in that range of characters.
777 ** Code conversion changes
779 *** The new function `define-coding-system' should be used to define a
780 coding system instead of `make-coding-system' (which is now obsolete).
782 *** The functions `encode-coding-region' and `decode-coding-region'
783 have an optional 4th argument to specify where the result of
784 conversion should go.
786 *** The functions `encode-coding-string' and `decode-coding-string'
787 have an optional 4th argument specifying a buffer to store the result
790 *** The new function `with-coding-priority' executes the body part with
791 the specified coding system priority order.
793 *** The new function `check-coding-systems-region' checks if the text
794 in the region is encodable by the specified coding systems.
796 *** The new function `coding-system-aliases' returns a list of aliases
799 *** The new function `coding-system-charset-list' returns a list of
800 charsets supported by a coding system.
802 *** The new function `coding-system-priority-list' returns a list of
803 coding systems ordered by their priorities.
805 *** The new function `set-coding-system-priority' sets priorities of
808 *** The functions `set-coding-priority' and `make-coding-system' are obsolete.
810 ** There is a new input method, Robin, different from Quail.
811 It has three functionalities:
812 i) a simple input method (converts an ASCII sequence into a string).
813 ii) converts an existing buffer substring into another string
814 iii) reverse conversion (each character produced by a
815 robin rule can hold the original ASCII sequence as a char-code-property)
817 *** The new function `robin-define-package' defines a Robin package.
819 *** The new function `robin-modify-package' modifies an existing Robin package.
821 *** The new function `robin-use-package' starts using a Robin package
824 ** Changes related to the new font backend
826 Which font backends to use can be specified by the X resource "FontBackend".
827 For instance, to use both X core fonts and Xft fonts:
829 Emacs.FontBackend: x,xft
831 If this resource is not set, Emacs tries to use all font backends
832 available on your graphic device.
834 *** New frame parameter `font-backend' specifies a list of
835 font-backends supported by the frame's graphic device. On X, they are
836 currently `x' and `xft'.
838 *** New function `fontp' checks if the argument is a font-spec or font-entity.
840 *** New function `font-spec' creates a new font-spec object.
842 *** New function `font-get' returns a font property value.
844 *** New function `font-put' sets a font property value.
846 *** New function `list-fonts' returns a list of font-entities matching
847 the given specification.
849 *** New function `list-families' returns a list of family names of
852 *** New function `font-font' returns a font-entity best matching with
853 the given specification.
855 *** New function `font-xlfd-name' returns an XLFD name of a given font
856 (font-spec, font-entity, or font-object).
858 *** New function `clear-font-cache' clears all font caches.
860 *** The function `set-fontset-font' now accepts a script name as the
861 second argument, and has an optional 5th argument to control how to
864 ** Changes related to multiple tty support
866 *** $TERM is now set to `dumb' for subprocesses. If you want to know the
867 $TERM inherited by Emacs you will have to look inside initial-environment.
869 *** $DISPLAY is now dynamically inherited from the frame's `display'.
871 *** The `window-system' variable has been made frame-local. The new
872 `initial-window-system' variable contains the `window-system' value
875 *** You can specify a terminal device (`tty' parameter) and a terminal
876 type (`tty-type' parameter) to `make-terminal-frame'.
878 *** The new function `make-frame-on-tty' allows you to create a new
879 frame on another tty device interactively.
881 *** The function `make-frame-on-display' now works during a tty
882 session, and `make-frame-on-tty' works during a graphical session.
884 *** New functions: `delete-tty', `suspend-tty', `resume-tty'.
886 *** A new data type for terminals with functions: `get-device-terminal',
887 `terminal-parameters', `terminal-parameter', `set-terminal-parameter'.
889 *** New hooks: `suspend-tty-functions' and `resume-tty-functions'
890 are called after a tty frame has been suspended or resumed,
891 respectively. The functions are called with the terminal id of the frame
892 being suspended/resumed as a parameter.
894 *** New function: `environment'.
896 *** New variable: `local-function-key-map'.
897 This in addition to the global function-key-map variable that
898 already existed. The global variable is not used directly any more;
899 instead, the local-function-key-map is initialized so as to inherit from
902 *** `initial-environment' holds the environment inherited from Emacs's parent.
904 *** The `keyboard-translate-table' variable and the terminal and
905 keyboard coding systems have been made terminal-local.
907 *** In addition to the global function-key-map, Emacs has terminal-local
908 local-function-key-map variables, and uses them instead of the
909 global keymaps to set up translations and function key sequences
910 relevant to a specific terminal device.
913 ** You can now also pass the value of the `invisible' property to invisible-p
914 to check whether it would cause the text to be invisible. Convenient when
915 checking invisibility of text which has no buffer position
916 (e.g. in before/after-strings).
918 ** Non-breaking space now acts as whitespace.
921 ** In `condition-case', a handler can specify "let the debugger run first".
923 You do this by writing `debug' in the list of conditions to be handled,
930 ** The `require-match' argument to `completing-read' accepts a new value
934 ** The regexp form \(?<num>:<regexp>\) specifies the group number explicitly.
936 ** New function `window-full-width-p' returns t if a window is as wide
939 ** The new function `split-string-and-unquote' does (what?)
941 ** The new function `combine-and-quote-strings' does (what?)
943 ** The new function `image-refresh' refreshes all images associated
944 with a given image specification.
947 ** New variable `user-emacs-directory'.
948 Use this instead of "~/.emacs.d".
951 ** The new function `start-file-process' is similar to `start-process',
952 but obeys file handlers. The file handler is chosen based on
953 `default-directory'. The functions `start-file-process-shell-command'
954 and `process-file-shell-command' are also new; they call internally
955 `start-file-process' and `process-file', respectively.
957 ** The new function `process-lines' executes an external program and
958 returns its output as a list of lines.
961 ** `file-remote-p' has new optional parameters IDENTIFICATION and CONNECTED.
962 IDENTIFICATION specifies which part of the remote identifier has to be
963 returned. With CONNECTED passed non-nil, it is checked whether a
964 remote connection has been established already.
966 ** The two new functions `looking-at-p' and `string-match-p' can do
967 the same matching as `looking-at' and `string-match' without changing
970 ** The interactive-form of a function can be added post-facto via the
971 `interactive-form' symbol property. Mostly useful to add complex interactive
972 forms to subroutines.
974 * New Packages for Lisp Programming in Emacs 23.1
976 ** The package isearch-multi.el has been added. It implements a new mode
977 `isearch-buffers-minor-mode' that allows isearch to search through
978 multiple buffers. In this mode a new variable
979 `isearch-buffers-next-buffer-function' defines the function to call
980 to get the next buffer to search in the series of multiple buffers.
982 ** The new package avl-tree.el deals with the AVL tree data structure.
985 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
986 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
988 GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
989 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
990 the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
993 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
994 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
995 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
996 GNU General Public License for more details.
998 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
999 along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
1000 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
1001 Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
1006 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"
1009 arch-tag: e759449d-88b3-4de4-9900-3a6c3dfa23e2